Fiji Saltwater Fishing Report - April-May 2008

[BiteMeFiji]

Fiji Saltwater Fishing Report - April-May 2008

For the waters around Kadavu Island- Fiji Islands - South Pacific.

Charter Operator - Matava Resort Gamefishing

Boat Names - Bite Me (Offshore) and Offensive Tackle (Inshore)

Average Water Temp - 29.5

Average Sea State - 40% Wind chop to 2ft, groundswell to 4ft / 60% calm

Average Winds - 50% 5-10kts / 50% calm

Water Clarity - Variable inshore after tropical rain, good offshore

The summer Yellowfin run has proved to be plentiful with many fish to 100Lbs. Large schools of smaller fish offered great sport on the light tackle and plenty of bait for the heavy tackle marlin enthusiasts.

Blue marlin to 200kgs have been regularly seen with some much bigger fish mixed in. Bite Me fought a blue conservatively estimated at 700lbs for almost two hours only to have the line eventually part under sunset drag.

With the water temp now at almost 30 degrees, the blue bite is quiet but will fire up again from the end of April when water temperatures start to ease. The GTs however are loving it with a superb bite all month - especially around the full moon when they went completely berserk. Anglers aboard Bite Me made the most of it taking three new Fiji National Records on the poppers.

Outlook:
May will see the start of the much anticipated wahoo and sailfish run that Fiji is famous for. Packs of sails start to congregate and the big packs of marauding wahoo gather along the Great Astrolabe barrier reef from May. These pack wahoo average about 50lbs with fish to 100lbs.

This season, anglers aboard Bite Me will be making several attempts an the IGFA World Records on line class and on the fly. Amazingly, the first wahoo pack has already turned up on the Kadavu seamount and the first sails tagged. Very early but very welcome and the coming light tackle mayhem is eagerly anticipated by all.

Summary:

Blue marlin - Bite easing but will fire up again in May

Yellowfin - Thinning out now but still some big fish on the seamount

Sailfish - First few of the season starting to turn up

Wahoo - First pack on the seamount - More soon

Mahi Mahi - Bit thin on the ground with just the occasional pair here and there

Mackerel - Good quantities with some nice fish to 50lbs landed recently

GTs - Crazy bite on at the moment with excellent weather conditions for popper casting

[arrowhd]

Adrian, sweet ride and sweet location. I don't know if you read my reply yesterday but I had the opportunity to work on Kadavu Island three times about 15 years ago guiding multi-day 5, 7 and (1) 10 day kayak trips for South Pacific Kayaks sponsored by the Dive Kadavu Resort. Once we had set camp each afternoon I would gather our Fijian Crew led by a really nice guy named Tom jump in the support boat and going fishing with the only gear I had, namely salmon fishing gear brought from Oregon. We had some epic days fishing mainly around the Nagagia Island area. There wasn't any charter operations or boats down there then, but I thought what a great place to bring a boat and set up shop. You are truly a very fortunate person in a great place. I will definitely try to come visit you sometime. What a treat it would be to fish those waters in a boat that can get you further from shore in a comfortable boat. Boys you better go visit this area while it remains pristine.

[BiteMeFiji]

15 years ago, before our time here even... Matava built in 1998-2000, we bought it in 2000.

The fishing is great, we starting to get busy into the sailfish/wahoo season! Looking forward to it.

[BiteMeFiji]

Just a thought - Salmon fishing gear on the kadavu Seamount off Nagigia - The yellowfin must have been a handful !
We use 14-17 weight fly rods on the wahoo and sails but throwing a fly out on the seamount - Thats brave !

[arrowhd]

Fortunately for me the Yellowfin were schoolies, about 15-20 pounds and skipjacks to about 10 pounds. I was using a Lamiglas salmon rod Medium Heavy with a 5500 Abu Garcia Reel spooled with 20# Maxima. I was a little under gunned. The line from one days fishing off the Surf Resort caused the 20# test to get scalped beyond use. One skipjack I fought came to the surface jumping three times. The third jump a 150-200# Marlin caught the skippy in mid air and broke the line. Thank God. Never hooked a Wahoo, that trip took place in late November. However on earlier trips we were hand lining off our kayaks in the deep water next to the surf island and we were getting snapped off on 'something' very big, may have been Wahoo. There are some big buggers down there, I saw one that was hand lined by a Fijian local that was well over 100#. Just thinking about my time down there makes me miss the island and the people. You have a great gig going down there.

[BiteMeFiji]

Yes - its an amazing place. Lots of big wahoo off Nagigia, even out of season. We were there about 10 days ago and got jumped by a big wahoo pack. Season is not supposed to start until May/June. Always a few marlin around and always yellowfin / skipjack. I have never been to the seamount off Nagigia and blanked. Must have given you a heart attack when the marlin went after your skippie :-)

[Muskie14]

Does anyone have any experience shore fishing in Fiji? I'll be there for a week in June and plan on bringing some heavy spinning gear and my cast net.
What can I expect??? Any help is appreciated.

[Upper Deckz]

Thank god for fast foward...

[Sam Salmon]

Originally Posted by Muskie14

Does anyone have any experience shore fishing in Fiji? I'll be there for a week in June and plan on bringing some heavy spinning gear and my cast net.
What can I expect??? Any help is appreciated.

Leave the net it's of no use and may anger locals.

The thing about Fiji is that all land is private property all the way to the outside of the reef-where you're standing/trying to cast belongs to someone somewhere I mean every grain of sand-this is serious.

Usually just asking around will get you an OK to let 'er fly people are friendly and helpful-some resorts do have a No Fishing from the beach policy though.

The challenge is that the water is almost as clear as the air fish can be quite spooky and reluctant to leave their hidey holes.

So early/late low light over cast/windy days are when you'll do best with small silver spoons or poppers.

Hiring a skiff to take you to the outside of the reef to cast is much more productive than pounding from the beach IME.

[tap]

Concur with Sam. The Fijians are friendly but have a complicated culture so be cautious regarding just going anywhere you think looks good and start fishing. You'll see the men wading and casting nets all around the islands and they are getting their FOOD not sportfishing in most cases. Fishing without permission is like taking their food and trespassing at the same time. Just remember that Fiji was known as the
"Cannibal Islands" and the crude tools for the job are on prominent display in the local musums and shops.

For best results hire a boat and look for white terns hovering over small reef areas and stay with them as they move while casting poppers. Giant trevally, bluefin trevally and green jobfish may be lurking and feeding in those areas. Blind casting, like we do in Panama, is not as productive because you may have a hundred miles of reef area that all looks the same to the casual observer but only small spots have any concentration of fish. The reef inlets are another good area to set up in. The good thing about using a boat is that you're pulling fish AWAY from the structure while shore fishing you're pulling them in which is much more diificult.

Tony Pena
"The Roving Angler"

[hatidua]

Originally Posted by tap

The Fijians are friendly

I've been fortunate enough to travel to just about every corner of the globe and I've never been anywhere with people more friendly than Fiji! By the second day I felt rude if I wasn't the one to say "Bula!" first. Great people in Fiji.