I headed to Aitutaki last week for some R&R and to have a crack at catching a bonefish. I’d heard some great stories about how tough and strong bonefish are and given I could count the days I’ve spent flyfishing on one hand, was looking forward to the challenge.
Good mates Al Brown and Jeremy Coombes joined Marie and I on the trip and it was a real cracker. Norman Luxemburg had invited us to stay at the Pacific Resort for the few days and Donna Watson had helped organise the trip from this end. The full story will appear in the February issue of NZ Fishing News but here’s a sneak preview.
Our first day was a self-guided tour of Aitutaki by scooter - a heap of fun and such a great way to get around and see everything there is to see. We then moved to some offshore fishing with Black Pearl Charters and after putting a few football-size YFT in the bin, Al bagged a nice bull mahi-mahi at ~25kg. A bit later Jeremy caught and released a grumpy GT at a similar weight. Nice job lads!
John Donald from Catch fishing had lent me their new
5 piece popper/stickbait travel rod and it’s a ripper. It loads up brilliantly, fits in your suitcase and that one is going to sell well. We also had plenty of ammo in terms of Catch stickbaits and jigs so thanks John! Mike and Mere run Black Pearl charters and along with Leo, they are will really treat you to a great day out.
The bonefish were challenging and mainly because they’re damn hard to spot. Wading the flats requires experienced eyes to identify them and thankfully we had the expert guidance of Rua, Tia and Itu to help us. Without their eagle eyes, it would’ve been a real hit, and more likely miss, type of exercise. They have years of experience spotting these things and enabled even a complete newbie like me to catch and release my first bonefish on the flats.
Al and Jeremy both had good success and we enjoyed two full days of wading the flats and fishing from the boats around the edges of the flats and in the milky water of the deeper parts of the lagoon – the milky colour is a result of schools of bonefish feeding.
All up, Aitutaki excels across a range of fishing options. The bonefishing is now a world class fishery and produces some absolute stonkers. Rua caught one that he estimated was ~17lb the week before we arrived and once hooked, they are like a freight train, and can strip a 100m of line and backing in the blink of an eye. Apparently they have been clocked at over 60km/hr!
Bonefish used to be netted and eaten locally but it’s now is primarily a catch/release fishery and flourishing. We did some quick calcs and economically bonefishing now delivers about NZ$1,000 per bonefish caught and released. Or put another way, that’s 200 times more than when they were sold for about $5 each! It’s a great example of what some sensible direction can do to extract a far better economic benefit to a community – definitely something we can learn from here in New Zealand!
Outside the reef there’s a range of pelagic and reef species but mahimahi, tuna, and wahoo along with marlin are all found in the area. On the Friday before we left, Itu and Rua shot out for a quick morning fish, bagged a dozen yellowfin and a blue marlin and were home for morning tea!
A few pics here but keep an eye out for the February issue of NZ Fishing News...
Contact details:
Pacific Resort Aitutaki:
P +682 31 720
Bonefishing E2’s Way:
Itu & Kaleena
Ph: +682 31 686
Black Pearl Charters:
Mike and Mere
P: +682 31125