The luxury (and I mean LUXURY!) resort, a project of Australian property developer, Lang Walker, is a 40-minute sea-plane flight away from Nadi and boasts all the amazing things that Fiji is known for - sandy beaches, friendly people, GREAT diving but best of all was the fishing!

The island's fishing guide, Jaga Crossingham, and I set out a plan for my four days on the island - the goal was to catch as many new species to cross off my list as possible, not a difficult task given the breadth of marine life surrounding the island (there were even manta rays swimming around in front of the resort as we came in to land!).

Over my trip, I landed four new species, and one that I'd caught before (I won't spoil it all on here, check out the August edition of New Zealand Fishing News for the full monty, trust me, it's worth it!), but the one that I was the most thrilled about was my first GT!

Being an amateur topwater fisho (casting soft-baits is fine, but I felt a bit gumpy using the slightly heavier gear!), I was a bit hesitant about throwing my first cast, but nevertheless, I had to get stuck in - and I'm so glad that I did!

A few casts in my little gold Halco popper we demolished by a GT - no bigger than my forearm, from fingertip to elbow, this little guy still absolutely dealt to me and my 15kg "light topwater gear", with pulling power that I would never have expected from a fish so small. Even on the slightly heavier 24kg topwater gear (and a http://www.shimanofishing.co.nz/products/reels/spinning/saragosa-sw" rel="nofollow - Shimano Saragosa 20000 for those interested) playing a slightly bigger fish (maybe just reaching the length of my arm) I was completely spent by the time we got him to the boat. 

Given this experience, I've got a huge new respect for the monsters that they catch in the islands, and around the likes of Oman etc - and a healthy respect for those who manage to tangle with these beasts AND get them to the boat!

Time to hit the gym and prepare for my next trip.

Some pictures below of my catches and the beautiful Kokomo Private Island.

The biggest of my two GTs - what a thrill to catch something with so much power for it's size!

Letting my new mate head back into the briny. He gave me a big "thank you" splash as he floored it back down onto the reef.

Hooked up to something a bit bigger - check out the August issue to see what other species we caught!

The beautiful Kokomo Private Island - where you can enjoy an amazing meal right by the beach, and watch the baby black tip reef sharks cruising around in the shallows (very cute and definitely a highlight of my trip!)

Unfortunately, the wind didn't want to play ball, so we didn't get a chance to get out to the grounds where the bigger fish roamed, but I don't know that my little arms would have been able to handle it! Off to the gym to bulk up a bit, then I'll be back on the top water gear!

Looking forward to the read.

(I didn't think that boat looked like a new FC.)