At the end of a wet, cold Kiwi winter, what better way to prepare for summer than by spending a week in a tropical location with five days of gamefishing thrown in? Grant and Faith Dixon hosted the ‘Mr and Mrs Fishing News’ Fish Samoa’s South Side readers’ trip in late September, coming home with a tan and some good tales to tell…

Trips such as this one often provide a number of firsts, and ours was no exception. While the marlin stayed away (just one blue was caught over the five days of fishing), the acrobatic sailfish made up for it, and numerous big mahimahi could be seen everywhere.

Our group once again stayed at the delightful Aggie Grey’s Lagoon Resort and Spa, just five minutes from the airport and a short boat ride from the prolific grounds off Upolo’s southern side.

The South Side generally produces the better action, with several good seamounts not far offshore providing the opportunity to tangle with a range of tropical predators, including marlin. These structures come up to within jigging distance from the surface, and a couple of excellent catches were made here on our trip.

Purely on a whim, I had taken a couple of the 300gm Catch Betabug ‘slow’ jigs with me. Having just recovered from back surgery, the thought of mechanical jigging a 400g lure in deep water didn’t hold much appeal; working a slow-jig seemed more attractive.

Fishing aboard the Jonathon Barlow skippered Extreme Measures Bladerunner catamaran, the second day out saw ideal conditions for jigging the seamounts, which come up to within 80 metres of the surface. My primary job was photographer, not angler, so after setting my gear up, I handed it over to Andrew Pierce. After a couple of winds and a drop, the Betabug was nailed. We were thinking dogtooth tuna, perhaps even a shark, as Andrew struggled with his fish. The tackle consisted of a Shimano Trinidad 12 reel and Shimano Anarchy rod combo, spooled with 24kg braid – so not a heavyweight outfit by tropical standards.

It came as quite a surprise when a decent GT popped to the surface, putting a smile on the dial of the angler, who also sweated out a few bottles of the local Vailima brew from the night before!

I have caught a number of GTs jigging before, but never from anywhere near the 120 metres Andrew hooked his fish in. It tipped the scales at 20kg.

The Betabug was dropped down again, but its Kevlar-rigged assist hooks suffered at the hands of what I can only guess, looking at the toothmarks, was a decent dogtooth tuna.

Then, while jigging over the same seamount several days later, Ken Toon provided another of the trip’s highlights (Ken was already having a blinder, ending up with three sailfish to his credit). In this instance he dropped a 200g Raider jig – probably my all-time favourite speed-jigging lure – and it was smashed on the way down. This time the outfit was a Fin-Nor Marquesa 16 reel on a matching Fin-Nor 400g jig rod, and like its Shimano counterpart, it proved up to the challenge. It took a good 15 minutes for Ken to start making line, but eventually he had a nice 18kg dogtooth tuna on the deck – his first.

The only marlin of the trip was caught by Bill Walsh, fishing with Alfred Schwalger aboard his eight-metre Kingfisher II. While it wasn’t a monster by any stretch of the imagination, it was a first for Bill and he was understandably delighted.

Last year’s ‘hot’ boat, Pure Indulgence, had a relatively quiet week by its standards. In 2013 this boat was the one to fish on, producing four marlin for one crew on its best day.

As already mentioned, the sailfish were around in good numbers. We came across a dozen or so fish bailing up a hapless bait school, but despite our best plastic-pulling efforts, we could not entice a bite.

The mahimahi were also prolific this year and feeding on the same baitfish as the sailfish. Strangely, at no stage during the trip, despite their abundance, did the mahimahi ever really come on the bite. While there were plenty of lookers rushing in to check out the lures, they generally shied away again.

On board Extreme Measures we were pulling several mahimahi ‘killers’, including the G-Force Taipan in ‘Evil’ colours, which, while they did catch fish, were not the dead certs they normally are. Even going down a hook size (and even a lure size or two) and converting single-hook rigs into doubles did not help. Unfortunately, with a day to go, my ‘hot’ lure suffered from a sneaky wahoo attack; the fish missed the hooks, but made off with most of the skirts.

Overall, the fishing was steady rather than spectacular, but although some crews did have the odd fish-less days, mostly everyone had a share in the action.

The top crew, ‘Team Billfish’, made up of Chris Borcoskie, Bill Walsh and Ken Toon, accounted for 24 fish over the five days and were rapt with their efforts.

Samoa’s Aggie Grey’s is a great spot for couples to stay, especially where a partner is a non-angler. The ladies spent time exploring the main island of Upolo, as well as venturing across to Savaii, with highlights including swimming with the turtles and exploring the lava fields. While some folk ventured far and wide, others were content to just sit around the pool or on the beach, soaking up the sun and the pleasant, temperate climate. The spa is another favourite with the ladies, and all guests were offered a 15-minute complimentary massage. Several of the anglers took this up to ease aching muscles after a day on the water. The recently established casino was another attraction for some of our crew. In short, it’s a resort where you can do as much or as little as you please.

At Aggie’s there is a choice of several restaurants and bars. I personally recommend The Clubhouse, located in a traditionally-built fale in the middle of the golf course, where ‘Japanese infusion’ is the culinary style.

For our final night the chef produced a fantastic seafood meal using the fish we’d caught, providing a great end to the trip.