Pacific Fish Species (Part One)

Mark Kitteridge counts down his top 10 Pacific fish species...

Thank goodness for jobs in the recreational fishing trade, otherwise, I would never have caught so many amazing fish in a wide variety of overseas destinations! 

Obviously working for this magazine in various roles for almost 40 years has been very helpful, particularly in regard to the various Pacific Islands early on, with two or three fishing trips potentially on offer every year – if I was lucky. 

But, of course, there were still limits to the opportunities, particularly once I got married and had children, preventing me from going much further. Not to mention my always rickety bank balance. So the many other legendary species available elsewhere around the world, such as mahseer, tarpon, Nile perch, black bass, arapaima, taimen, cubera snapper, goliath tigerfish and roosterfish – to name but a few – have been left to those in more fortunate situations… for now, at least!  

But staying ‘local’ in the huge Pacific Ocean is hardly something to cry about. In addition to a variety of absolute beasts lurking within those azure depths, there are others possessing impressive qualities that make them well worth targeting too, such as being particularly acrobatic, having great speed, or simply tasting great and fighting well for their size. 

While there are many other species that came close, such as Napoleon/M?ori wrasse (too rare to encourage targeting), potato cod (often huge in size, impressive to wrestle, but generally not kept either) and red bass (exciting to hook on poppers but often toxic to eat), the following species are my personal ‘Top 10’. Rather tellingly, there are good arguments for the top eight choices to be rearranged and for all to be the top contender instead. A lot comes down to the individual’s own experiences – or lack of them.

10: Coral trout

Although coral trout give a decent tussle for their size when hooked, especially those weighing over 10 kilos, few anglers set out after them for the sport provided. Instead, coral trout are highly prized for their delicious eating qualities – except the largest, which may contain ciguatera toxins, a common potential problem for reef-dwelling predators which varies greatly from area to area.

Coral trout tend to be targeted with bait, but I’d rather encounter them as bycatch while chasing dogtooth, wahoo and giant trevally using jigs, poppers, bibbed minnows and stick baits. This strategy has resulted in some absolute stonkers to around 15 kilos, but 1.5-2kg specimens are more usual.

The coral trout is a voracious predator that fights hard and tastes amazing!

9: Spanish mackerel

These toothy predators provide the best of both worlds: they are really fun to catch and taste A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Most of my Spanish mackerel encounters have occurred while trolling bibbed and bibless minnows around various Fijian islands, including a couple of solid ones around 40lb (18kg). They are definitely worth waiting for. In addition to occasionally providing spectacular strikes that see them firing over six metres up into the air with your lure in their mouth, they also take off at high speed afterwards – if they haven’t snipped the lure off with their sharp teeth! Having said that, my most memorable experiences have been while fishing topwater poppers and stickbaits around deep water pins for giant trevally. Again, the strike can be similar to a missile launch, or like hooking a whirling dervish, with a lightning-fast strike followed by explosions of foam and a berserk Spaniard spinning and crashing around before frequently departing unhooked! 

The strike from a Spanish mackerel on a top-water lure can be very memorable, and they are delicious too.

8: Wahoo

Wahoo are like Spanish mackerel in several ways, possessing slim, streamlined bodies and razor-sharp teeth, and making jaw-dropping aerial strikes that see them launching several metres up in the air occasionally, sometimes connected to a rod and reel, sometimes not. But it is the run afterwards that really sets the wahoo apart. It’s not just fast, it’s supersonic! 

Indeed, upon hooking my first decent wahoo, I could only watch in awe as my spool unloaded hundreds of metres of 24kg line so fast I thought my drag had failed… so I put my thumb down to help slow it. Big mistake. The resulting thin stream of smoke mainly consisted of scorched and powdered skin, leaving me without a thumbprint for several months! Some anglers might be relieved to know after those first one or two blistering runs the wahoo is pretty much done, generally planning in steadily for gaffing afterwards.

Another memorable encounter occurred in Vanuatu after hooking a monster wahoo on heavy marlin gear over a deep-sea mount. The fish took off like a bullet, removing an incredible 700-750 metres of 37kg line within a couple of minutes. However, this impressive effort turned out to be partly due to the 100lb-plus wahoo’s will to live, with the fight ending in an explosion of foam, blood and writhing bodies!

The wahoo’s slender, streamlined form helps to make it unbeaten for speed – their first run is often jaw-droppingly fast.

7: Mahimahi

Mahimahi are close to being the perfect fish. They are reasonably numerous, usually hungry, grow quickly, can be caught using various methods, look great and provide some of the tastiest fillets in the sea. However, despite their sensational culinary qualities, it’s the fight that draws me to them. These fish pull remarkably hard for their size, jump high and often, and don’t give up easily. In short, if mahimahi grew to the size of marlin, they would be one of the most challenging fish on the planet to land! 

Mahimahi are also one of the most dangerous. Their fast-twitch power and never-say-die inclination frequently see poorly secured fish bouncing around decks uncontrollably to regularly hook their captors when multiple hooks are used. That’s a rather unpleasant situation to be in when bigger mahimahi keep jumping around afterwards! 

Mahimahi are potentially the perfect fish – what a shame they don’t grow bigger.

6: Sailfish

It’s easy to pass over sailfish when comparing their size to marlin, with most weighing around 20-50kg. But target them using 6-15kg tackle or a salt-fly outfit and they become very worthwhile opponents!

Smaller trolling lures and baits are used when fishing for sailfish, but turning interested fish into hooked ones can still be tricky. This challenge is part of the appeal. Then, when it all comes together, the fireworks start. Sailfish are equal-fastest fish in the sea along with wahoo, so line usually melts off the reel at an incredible rate, while at the same time, anglers are treated to the craziest acrobatics show, thanks to their seemingly inexhaustible energy, producing tail-walking galore and jump after jump after jump, before often dogging deeper down and stubbornly refusing to come up!  Fortunately for anglers, sailfish are not especially good to eat so tend to be released, leaving them in the water to be caught again perhaps!

This 58kg Tongan sailfish fought like a demon and was taken back for the local villagers to share.

September 2023 - Mark Kitteridge
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
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