Bloodydecks in Tonga

[Bouldernz]

Bloody decks in ffice:smarttags" />Tonga
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A cunning plan saw myself and another bloodydecks member Bushie take a charter trip to Tonga on the 5^th of July for a week of fishing
Bloodydecks


Day 1 we fished out on the southern banks where I landed a nice Mahimahi for tea and can confirm it tasted just great.
My Mahimahi


We had three strikes on Marlin , two on a new Legend lure we had taken up this one was the 22inch Basilisk in green yellow over orange colors.
None stuck for long and we returned to Hakula lodge for tea . Plan then was to travel overnight to Toku an island about 50 miles north to tackle some Dog tooth Tuna. Conditions were a bit rolly and as we arrived and started fishing the sun had not started to rise. We were soon on to our first Dogs
Bushie fishing in the Dawn


After several fish we moved to another Island about 5miles away passing about 50 whales as we trolled along. Then it was time to have a crack at the dogs on jigs. It did not take long for us to get bitten and my fist dog on the new Avet Hx5/2 hit the deck. This is not the best dog I got but shows the wicked dental gear these fish have.
My dog on the Hoo


As the morning wore on the fishing slowed and with the conditions becoming less than pleasant to stand and jig we moved about another spot by a sea mount that rose out of 1000m to about 120m to see what that was holding
Fluffy conditions looking back to the bay we caught a lot of fish from.


After catching many new species for me on jigs, including Coral trout and Red emperor we decided to find our overnight anchorage and have a play with our small spin rods with soft plastics. The skipper and Deckie looked unconvinced after we rigged our little bit of rubber on Bass sized sets with 8lb braid but I was keen as to give it a crack.
In a very short time I was in and after an impressive scrap a little Bluefin tevally came reluctantly to the boat. These fish have an amazing amount of line pulling ability and pound for pound would be one of the toughest fish around. It’s a shame they don’t get really big or they would be a massive fish to tackle as they give a reel good account of themselves at that size
My Bluefin trev


Bushie had to get into the action and soon landed one of his own after a pretty solid scrap
Bushie,s Bluefin trev


The skipper warned us that some Whales would come check us out overnight and not to worry as he had never had them touch the boat!. This I thought was a bit of bullshit till I leapt in the air with fright as a huge WHooosh erupted about 20m away from the boat in the pitch dark. This happened many times that night and it sure took some getting used too!!. The skipper also said he had heard the whales singing through the hull of the boat on occasion but fortunately for me Bushie,s snoring must have silenced their efforts that night
Before dawn the next morning we were back trolling Rapala,s for Doggies with my mate Bushie landing two nice ones. I had my chances but could not stop the buggers from getting to the coral and busting me off. This was using a Shimano 50 wide at max drag and I still had little hope of slowing them down. The trick to hooking a doggie was to troll up to within 50 m of the beach over the shelf and on hooking a dog race back out past the drop off to give some fighting depth. Sometimes you were lucky but very often got dusted.
Bushies 2 best Dogs


Stopping off at Toku to repair a broken water impellor I pulled out the popper rod and rigged a 10 inch rubber shad on a 4oz jig head to land this nice Coral trout


We trolled all the way back to Vauvau for no result so a plan was hatched for the following day to get Bushie a mahimahi and this we did
Bushies Mahimahi


We lost a cute little Blue marlin when the deckie on the other boat we had chartered that day left the reel in freespool while he tried to put a rubber band on the line to put it up in the outrigger. As the marlin hit the lure and pulled the line out of his hand the reel overran and got tangled. SNAP Bugger as at app 60kg that would have been a fun fish on 15kg line for my first blue marlin
With Two days left it was definitely time to get a marlin as both Bushie and I had not had one of those yet. Back out to the southern bank with Jeff and Deckie Iki we eventually got struck and Bushie landed his fist blue marlin.
Marlin time


We had a brief hook up on a Sail fish on the way back in and this prompted us to make an effort on these on our last day out at the fads to the north of Vauvau. We trolled all day for little reward except for a bust off on a blue that killed my chance of a marlin. As a bit of a break from trolling we dropped some Soft plastics in beside one of the Fads. I was again using my light set and soon had the twinpower howling as a yellowfin Tuna of just a few kg had me doubled over. This was another tick in my column of things to achieve and it was lucky for me that it was a small one as anything over about 10kg would be a tough ask for the lighter gear


That ended our time in Tonga and left me with some unfinished business there so I will be going back next year to get that sail and Blue marlin for sure. Jeff at Hakula lodge is a great operator and if anyone is thinking of Vauvau and Tonga he would be the man to see. If anyone wants to go and needs a mate to go with just give me a shout as it’s a special place and I would go again at the drop of a hat.

[inSTANt bendo]

Great report and nice pics. Those dog toothed tuna are crazy looking! That looks like a blast. Always fun to read these reports and see the different species in exotic locations. Thanks for the post!

[captamb1]

I fished Tonga back in 1975 it was a blast glad you had a good trip.Congrats on an outstanding catch

[dru]

That is great! Thanks for the post

[daniel-neill]

Awsome fising!

Thank you for the report.

[phild]

Nice report and great doggies

A little info for you, the "Coral trout" in the photo is actually a Corination trout and as you know is one of the prettiest fish around.

Bad luck on the fin, marlin and sail but hey you always have to have one sp. to cross of the list.

[Bouldernz]

Thanks for that name corection Phild as I did wonder when the skipper called it the same as the brown spotty things he had earlier identifyed as Coral trout. Indeed fresh out of the water it was a very pretty colored fish and may have released it if the deckie had not asked for it for his family.

[mozza]

Awesome report Boulder....

very jealous right now

[SpikeCB22]

So the tuna patrol shallow water? Sounds pretty cool.

[Bouldernz]

Spike the doggies hang around the drop offs in pretty close to the islands and move into serious attack mode just before dawn an hour later its all over for trolling and you have to go deeper and throw long jigs of 350 gms at them.
The best way to target them is using live or big dead swimming baits rigged with wire traces on a down rigger. Strap yourself in and hold on!

[KeenAs]

Ka pai Koro!!!!!!

[Chas'n Tails]

Great report and awesome pics. That place is going on my places to go list for sure.