BiteMeFiji

Hi guys, Can't post commercial stuff, I'll get my knuckles rapped Drop me or Stickfacewrangler a PM and one of us will point you in the right direction..

Glen mate, why didn't you post some pictures of the big ones ? Ha ha ha.. Glen releasing yet another nice GT. Sometimes anglers will do anything to get that shot....

Congrats mate, hope you have a great time. Feb is an excellent time to fish in Fiji. Calm weather with lots of YFT, mahi and big blues.

Thanks Steve. Yes, Been hearing it has been a tough winter for weather over your way but some good yellowfin for you this season ? Its been great here in the weather windows but sods law is on the good days you are sitting in the office and the bad days you are out there eating salt. Been worth it though with some nice fish. Pics here taken by Jessie Mumford of his dad on a nice black marlin.

The fickle winter weather conditions continued to frustrate with weeks of trade wind chop separated by perfect weather days and big fish numbers. Wahoo and sails have dominated with plenty of winter Yellowfin for added variety. Warmer water currents moved through in August to quiet the wahoo bite a little but with it came huge numbers of mahi mahi for excellent light tackle action. Most are small around 20lbs but some good bulls mixed in to 50lbs. All in all, the winter wahoo season didn’t live up to early expectations, mostly because of unusually poor weather. The GTs however love nothing more than crashing barrier reefs breakers and the popper casting has been and continues to be absolutely outstanding. Still seeing a few nice black marlin along the reef edge for the heavy tackle fans who don't mind spending all day watching their carefully rigged baits being smashed by the razor gang. Its usually worth the effort when a big black gobbles a bait and puts on the normal spectaculor aiborne display. October will see game boats start to move offshore and dust off the heavy tackle with blue marlin and Yellowfin the main targets. Expect the usual by-catch of mahi mahi, wahoo and the occasional spearfish making a valiant attempt at eating an 18” marlin lure.

The Fiji water temp is now starting to ease back from its summer peak of 30 degrees and the relatively quiet month of April actually turned out to be quite good, especially for the popper casting fanatics hunting the big GTs and Bluefin trevally when the bite just went berserk a week either side of the full moon. Game boats reported a generally mixed bag in April and early May with mahi mahi, yellowfin and recently, wahoo being the main species caught. Boats should start to pick up black marlin from mid May and the blue marlin will really fire up again by the start of June when the water temp hits 27. Sails are being tagged on most day trips but the big packs should form from June onwards. The hot news however is that an unusual event occured recently. There was a huge run of whale sharks accompanied by good sized yellowfin tuna through the Kadavu passage, the stretch of water that seperates Fiji's main island of Viti Levu and Kadavu island, 50nm to the South. The last time this occured was prior to the start of the 2005 winter wahoo and sailfish season. That season was one of the best on record with large wahoo packs everywhere. The wahoo averaged 50lbs with fish to 80lbs being common and many fish over 100lb landed. The sailfish packs were also in plague numbers along Kadavu Island's Great Astrolabe barrier reef with the pack average being about 6 fish ranging from 60lbs to 120lbs. The wahoo are here already, unusually early in the season but with packs found recently on the Kadavu seamount and off Beqa's 'Golden Mile'and every boat in the recent Suva Game Fishing Club 2 day Tournament coming home each day with wahoo, it is clear that the oceanic currents this year are bringing in the start of what should be a spectaculor 2008 season. Down here around Kadavu Island we will be focusing on fishing the light tackle from 12lb to 20lb line class for the wahoo and sailfish as well as some specialised ultra-light tackle fishing on the 8lb (4kg) custom gear. Looks like my bait catching guy is going to be busy.

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 http://youtube.com/watch?v=mCfVFFqv_90 Cpt Adrian Watt Director, Matava Resort Gamefishing, Tel: + (679) 333 7222 or 333 6098