Who's been saltwater fly fishing? The Tropics

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FishMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Feb 2019 at 4:46pm
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Sounds great! Looking forward to the pics. Be nice to see a pic of the trigger. Interested to know what species it was
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote Snuffit. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2019 at 7:14am
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I dont have a pic of the trigger yet. The boys' cameras packed up, luckily Rua had a Go Pro aboard so footage will show up sooner or later.



Coconut crab hunt. We were very privileged to be able to follow the boys on a crab hunt. Find husked coconut, look nearby for a crab hole then lookout! Flying crab...










This little blue did his best to tie me to a bommie. 



One Foot. The iconic Aitu scene.



Small GT that busted my bone fly.



26" of bone. Est 8lb. With a tape measure along but no scales, we ran weight estimates from previous data. Always variances of course, last year our mate Cheeko got a 27" fish that ran 11lb... Shocked




AB fires one out



About the ave sized bone we caught


You cant eat my toast fish
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FishMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2019 at 8:46am
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Excellent pics Nick! Thanks for posting. Some nice looking bones there and the weather looks pretty darn good.

It's my bet however that your smallish GT is actually a big brassy trevally (Caranx papuensis) . It's a big one! That's about as big as they get in Aitutaki and the large ones are generally very cunning. A good fish.

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Snuffit. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2019 at 11:17am
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I'll take that! It had some bait balled up in shallow water and ate my fly after beaching itself with its first attempt. Fought hard too, Party
You cant eat my toast fish
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Fraser Hocks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2019 at 11:44am
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Nice one Nick. Looks like you had a great trip?   

God dam those wasps / hornets.  I got attacked hard out one morning on the way to the boat ramp to meet Butch, while up there.  I got attached again only last week while on a trip into Fiordland.   Tried to clear a fallen tree of a track with a hand saw, that obviously had a wasp nest close by! Thumbs Down

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Snuffit. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2019 at 12:04pm
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Yeah, great trip Fraser. Much fun had with a bunch of good lads. 

Craig, here's a side on shot of Mr trev.

 

Wikepedia states "It is often confused with the giant trevallyCaranx ignobilis, but is best distinguished by its lighter dorsal colouring and abundant black spots."

Well, it confused me until you mentioned it. On review the smaller eye size, golden eye colour and distinctive spots give it away.

Clap

You cant eat my toast fish
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FishMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2019 at 12:16pm
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Yep,it's a bloody beauty! The eyeball is slightly behind the end of the maxilla in brassies whereas a GT's eyeball is directly above it. Plus add a white margin on the anal fin and a more sloping head profile. There are also other indicators that are not quite so clear in the pics but fairly sure it's a brassy.

I snorkelled the channel in front of Outu beach and was surprised by how many big brassies there were in there. All very hard to see in the low tide murkiness and all so educated that they're nearly impossible to catch.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Fraser Hocks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2019 at 2:31pm
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With 146 different species of carangidae (trevally) identified its hardly surprising that they can be miss identified.   What ever the way, they all pull string HARD!!  

I remember years ago catching what I though was a small (30kg) yellowfin tuna, until a friend passed the photo onto someone else that pointed out it was actually a very large specimen of a longtail tuna.  You learn something new every day Approve

Im assuming no one lost a finger to those crabs? LOL


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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FISHBYFLY Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2019 at 6:19pm
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greatreport nick!
 
love that place, some nice fish caughtClap
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Snuffit. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Feb 2019 at 6:47am
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Cheers AdamThumbs Up

By the way I should relate that while I didn't cross swords with a GT a couple of the boys did, on foot and in the reef. Jase took a wrap and held on, blew his aftermarket 50lb loop. Quite a sight apparently. Tim's fish got his head into a bommie and thrashed around, tail out of water. Leader went. LOL

Wish I'd seen it.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FishMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 1:54pm
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Heading off later this month on a big adventure. Lots of new things to fish for (like milkfish and permit) and some old acquaintances (like bonefish and golden trevally) that I haven't caught enough of. I've tied far too many flies and will probably return home with most of them not even getting wet, but it has all been good fun. There has been a heap of fly testing done on baby snapper along the way. No doubt I'll find out if that was a waste of time or not. All I've got to do now is wait wait wait for the leave date... I might have to go and tie some more flies...

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote WillP Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 4:10pm
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Where off to, Exmouth?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FishMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 6:27pm
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Nah, mahe, main island in the Seychelles. Son lives and works there. It has all the species that northern Australia has, but it also has 100,000 people. It will be interesting
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote WillP Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 6:39pm
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Awesome Living it.have a great time.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Jaapie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Apr 2019 at 9:44am
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Need some worms in that box Craig.

George's Wabnitz would be perfect.
"Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught,will we realize that we cannot eat money" - 19th Century Indian Creed
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FishMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Apr 2019 at 10:29am
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Yeah, there is several on the other side. That's only half the flies . Even I can tie a Wabnitz Worm but it is a hard fly to have any confidence in... piece of chenille tied to a hook... h'mmm
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Snuffit. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Apr 2019 at 11:32am
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Embellish it with a hump in the chenille just to be different
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FISHBYFLY Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Apr 2019 at 2:10pm
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Permit, permit, permit, if ya catch just one, I rekon itll make the whole trip.
 
Lucky bugger,
 
How did the airflight prices pan out?Via  Singapore?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FishMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Apr 2019 at 2:40pm
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No, direct to Dubai. 17 hours! Not sure how I'm going to handle that. Prices are expensive but accommodation fishing and travel are all sorted, so yeah, very lucky.

I've had a burning ambition to cast at a permit for a long time, and Oz is a pretty cheap option, but it's hard to do without a four wheel drive and a boat. This looks much easier, despite the big population. I'll be happy even with a baby permit.

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote FishMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Apr 2019 at 12:46pm
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My first flats fish of the trip!



It was at least eight inches long. Anyway, I managed to put a tick beside Scomberoides lysan on my species hit list. But some bigger fish would be nice.

Later in the day added permit to the list. Hooked it pretty quicky at secret permit spot but I held it too hard as I tried to bring it to hand and ripped the hook out! Josh told me off for being too brutal. Thinking about it though you don't survive Aitutaki bonefish without going hard and kiwi snapper need as much **** as you can give them. Obviously I'll have to modify my fish fighting behaviour.

We saw some big goldens too but couldn't get close.

This is Josh's permit he got half an hour later. A bit bigger than mine and a good specimen for that flat. They are pretty fish and use there body depth to good advantage when you're fighting them. Exciting fishing.



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