dirvin21 Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 Amy and I had this trip planned for many months, our destination Papatura retreat in the Isabel province of the Solomon Islands, Our aim for the trip, catch as many species as posdoble the trip started in shambles our international flight was delayed, our domestic airport was closed which meant a 4 hour boatride, but due to a stuff around by the airline we ended up with another closed airport resulting in us being stuck in the capital Honiara for 2 nights. Finally after thinking we would have to head home we were on a domestic flight to Kagao airstrip It was definetly a scenic flight Although the airstrip was rough, interestingly the airstrip was hand dug by a Yugoslavian man And the landing was somewhat terrifying, we were met by our boat driver and headed on our 4.5 hour boatride Papatura eas a welcome sight Before we even hit dry land Kym our host was telling us the airline had agreed to change our flights home so if we agreed we could extend our stay so we didn't lose our 2 nights.... obviously a no brainer After an evening drinking our duty free rum and eating a 5 star meal we were keen to get fishing plans were made. 6:30am couldn't come fast enough, I was burning keen to get fishing, We hit the water early with our guide Eric, we started with casting poppers it was a slow start no fish landed although I did hook a reasonable trevally and had a Spanish mackerel launch on my popper A bit of discussion with Eric we switched to dropping softvibes, it didn't take long for the fish to start hitting the deck Amy landed the first respectable fish of the trip A nice common trout I had a more modest start with a few smaller specimens Coral cod Coronation trout But after a few spot moves I finally stuck a decent fish A nice paddletail shortly followed by a couple of nice commons Amd a small redthroat Amy of course not to be outdone boated a solid highfin trout They ate beautiful fish There's moments in fishing that are never forgotten, Amy busted off on the reef, me being generous offered to tie her a new leader so I hand her my rod and while I'm busy tying An absolute tank of a highfin apparently this was a standing joke amongst the guides at Papatura during our trip We moved to some deeper water around 60m, for some solid passionfruit trout And a nice Golden hind, a type of rockcod We headed in at 11am to escape the heat and headed out again at 3pm the beauty of Papatura is theres great fishing minutes from the retreat. The arvo session was a little slow casting surface lures, I did hook a solid bluefin trevally on seriously shallow reef only to have it fall off boatside, but not long after I hook a fish again in the shallows RED BASS!!! Only small but an absolute bucket lister of mine, I managed 2 and Amy a massive longtom for the arvo session but otherwise it was a little slow, but plenty of fish landed on day 1 To be continued.... 22 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 Love your holiday fishing trips rough start to the trip - hopefully this becomes one of your most memorable! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 The shaky start must have been annoying but probably soon forgotten once you got out fishing. Great array of healthy looking species for you both. Looking forward to round 2. Keep safe and tight lines. bn 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 A great variety of different species, so far it is worth the trip over there. Nice of the airline to add extra days to make up for the stuff up. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 Great that you got your extra days back, sounds like a fantastic holiday. Awesome pictures as usual from your posts, looking forward to the next instalment 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 Sounds like an epic trip Dave and Amy, looking forward to the next instalment. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Ct Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 Amazing trip Dave, I was lucky enough to visit that same resort back in 2019, we went in our summer time and had a blast on the tuna. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james Cutler Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 Super photos & a top holiday. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bessell1955 Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 How amazing are the fish you both caught? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 Cracker shots. A rough start but looks like it paid off really well! I am excited to see the part 2 report. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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