The Fishing Website : Discussion Forums : Vanuatu trip https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/ Wed, 27 May 2026 14:16:56 +0000 Fri, 10 Oct 2025 11:39:26 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.01 360 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=140037 <![CDATA[The Fishing Website : Discussion Forums]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_images/web_wiz_forums.png https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/ <![CDATA[Vanuatu trip : My mate&#039;s ex missus also...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844302&title=vanuatu-trip#1844302 Author: Alan L
Subject: 140037
Posted: 10 Oct 2025 at 11:39am

My mate's ex missus also has a couple of other lighter doggie records - like 40kg on 6kg line or something. Those records will probably not be broken.
Firstly, it is hard to find doggies of 40+ kg these days, let alone 60+ kg. And then there are the sharks. They are far worse now than 10+ yrs ago. I have been fishing Vtu for about 13 yrs now. Earlier, we hardly gave the sharks a thought. That gave you lots of fishing options. They are near plague proportions now. I have lost maybe 50% or more of my fish this yr to sharks. A bloke here, last weekend, lost a marlin to sharks. We lost a bunch of good doggies to sharks. Any fish that is on for more than 10 minutes is likely to be sharked. So big fish on light gear are a major challenge now . One of my mates brought his favourite spinning reel with him. He has landed some nice fish on it here before. I told him he was wasting his time with it this time. Hard enough to snag a fish, let alone beat the sharks.
So those records I suspect will not be broken.
Alan
Alan
]]> Fri, 10 Oct 2025 11:39:26 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844302&title=vanuatu-trip#1844302 <![CDATA[Vanuatu trip : 63kg on 8kg!!! I share your sense...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844301&title=vanuatu-trip#1844301 Author: SaltyC
Subject: 140037
Posted: 10 Oct 2025 at 10:23am

63kg on 8kg!!! I share your sense of wonder Alan. Having caught a few doggies in Samoa up to only 20kg, I had enough trouble with them on 24 kg gear!

Sad to hear your commentary on the the current state of the fishery in Vanuatu as well. I haven't fished up there but have spent a few weeks diving out of Vila and at Santo based out of Aore, it was spectacular diving back in the 90s.
]]> Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:23:54 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844301&title=vanuatu-trip#1844301 <![CDATA[Vanuatu trip : Doggies can go 80-90 kg, maybe...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844300&title=vanuatu-trip#1844300 Author: Alan L
Subject: 140037
Posted: 10 Oct 2025 at 7:45am

Doggies can go 80-90 kg, maybe more.
My charter mate's ex missus has a world record with a 63kg one on 8kg line. I can't even figure how they did that. He showed me where they got it and how they managed it. Several factors in their favour in terms of location, but even so, the mind boggles.
Landing one over 40kg is considered a decent feat. Fish Addict got one with me a couple of years ago - around 30kg. It was trying to pull him out of the boat on 16-18kg drag. It is near impossible to land the big guys. The real big ones are generally speared. Even then, you have to hit them right in the brain , or it is goodbye spear.
The decline in the fishery is more severe than over a 10 yr period. It was like a switched turned off. It was noticeable over a 12 mth period. The Govt shut the border earlier than NZ during Covid. They kept it out for about 2 yrs. But tourism was about 50% of their GDP. So they got into financial strife very quickly. A certain country 'kindly' offered to boost their revenue - in exchange for greater access to the fishery. The decline in the first 12 months was very noticeable. And it has just carried on over the last few years.
Alan
]]> Fri, 10 Oct 2025 07:45:09 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844300&title=vanuatu-trip#1844300 <![CDATA[Vanuatu trip : Crikey, that&#039;s sad. With...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844299&title=vanuatu-trip#1844299 Author: smudge
Subject: 140037
Posted: 10 Oct 2025 at 6:12am

Crikey, that's sad. With a trip like that  & where you've seen the decline over only ten years it's not like you can put it down to any other factor. That big DTT must have been an epic bust off. How big do they get Alan?]]> Fri, 10 Oct 2025 06:12:46 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844299&title=vanuatu-trip#1844299 <![CDATA[Vanuatu trip : It rips me up seeing the decline...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844298&title=vanuatu-trip#1844298 Author: Alan L
Subject: 140037
Posted: 09 Oct 2025 at 11:23pm

It rips me up seeing the decline of the fishery. Same story over and over. The decline is real noticeable. It makes it hard to enjoy it when you do have success. It is called 'progress', I guess.
Anyhow , we had a great time on the water, in some great spots.
But you have to wonder for the future.
Alan
]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2025 23:23:37 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844298&title=vanuatu-trip#1844298 <![CDATA[Vanuatu trip : Sounds like a good trip anyway...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844297&title=vanuatu-trip#1844297 Author: krow
Subject: 140037
Posted: 09 Oct 2025 at 8:19pm

Sounds like a good trip anyway Alan. It must be hard knowing what it was and could still be had things been different.]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2025 20:19:35 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844297&title=vanuatu-trip#1844297 <![CDATA[Vanuatu trip : That is such a shame the fishing...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844296&title=vanuatu-trip#1844296 Author: Tonto2
Subject: 140037
Posted: 09 Oct 2025 at 12:59pm

That is such a shame the fishing has been affected. Only been there once and didnt do so good on the fishing then but really liked the place and the people ]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:59:58 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844296&title=vanuatu-trip#1844296 <![CDATA[Vanuatu trip : So I had a couple of mates...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844294&title=vanuatu-trip#1844294 Author: Alan L
Subject: 140037
Posted: 09 Oct 2025 at 10:23am


So I had a couple of mates come over for some fishing inVtu. We wanted to fish some unseen country on other islands, so I chartered mymates boat Nambas

 https://www.nambasfishingcharters.com/ .

We did 4 days away and one local day. The fishing here thesedays is very tough since the longliners from a certain country moved in a few yearsago (Covid). Nothing like it was 10 yrs ago, so you have to work very hard forevery fish. We caught more dogtooth than everything else combined.


 Maybe 20+ Thatwasn’t specifically the plan, but the cupboard is fairly bare in terms of freeranging pelagics. The dogtooth are territorial and prefer certain spots. Theyare a rare species these days locally – because of the fishing pressure fromRecs and charter boats. So moving a bit wider (beyond the range of daycharters) gave us access to them. We did our best to release as many aspossible and were quite successful – even with the ones on treble hooks. Aslightly hazardous occupation, but we wanted to free as many as possible –particularly the smaller guys.

They are brutal fighters and we got spooled by one in a singlevertical dive from hookup. 300+m of 100lb braid at 14+ kg drag. All gone in thespace of as long as it took to pull the line to the end of the reel. The spoolwas still too hot to touch 10 min later.


Over the 5 days and lots of ground covered (we trolled mosteverywhere), not 1 marlin bite.



We fished from dawn (or pre dawn) til sunset basically.




]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2025 10:23:34 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=140037&PID=1844294&title=vanuatu-trip#1844294