Back from Vanuatu
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Destinations
Forum Name: Vanuatu
Forum Description: Vanuatu destination and travel info, advice and trip reports here
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=44016
Printed Date: 03 Feb 2026 at 5:57pm
Topic: Back from Vanuatu
Posted By: Rotowarriors
Subject: Back from Vanuatu
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 3:30pm
when the shottie 50w peels off, brother gets there first, and settles in for the fight, He gets a full tour of the cockpit as the marlin drags him around the boat but after a relatively short fight (20min), squiddy our little local deckie has the leader and our other deckie whacks in the tag. Marlin 0 Brother 1, little bugger has beaten me to a stickie.
, but all good things must come to an end, and so did the holiday
. The roads are an adventure
, but the public transport is pretty good for getting around. Food is a bit on the steep side, but who cares, you only live once. And if going fishing, the advice from our first deckie, is to go on a stayaway trip and head out to one of the other islands as the waters are much more bountiful, and options greater than straight out of Mele bay. Of course if you can get the trip for the same price I paid then all power to ya. 
, no stickie in Vanuatu and no stickie with fnet Virgin killer supreme BA, beginning to think I'll never bloody catch oneReplies:
Posted By: Blue Asparagus
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 3:37pm
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nice report mate, this season is around the corner, you know where I am you just holler.
------------- Ultimate GAME Fishing Adventures. Northland |
Posted By: Kezza
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 3:37pm
| shot cuz!!!.....looks like ya had a good time despite the weather and fishing! The Waterfront is worth the trip alone I reckon.....mean... |
Posted By: kingieslayer
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 3:39pm
nice report mate. ------------- woman love me fish fear me! |
Posted By: Whizz
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 4:06pm
| Best steak in the world at the water front bar! |
Posted By: Bushpig
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 4:58pm
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I can think of worse places than the waterfront bar for a beer that for sure
------------- I would rather laugh with the Sinners, than cry with the Saints |
Posted By: JIMMY NAIL
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 5:28pm
| nice one! |
Posted By: Gottafew
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 5:41pm
| Good report mate..ah well there is always the west coast snapper spawning season to look forward too lol |
Posted By: ancient mariner
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 6:22pm
| Great report Roto, must get there myself! Plenty for wife and kids to do while I fish? |
Posted By: phantomdeviant
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 6:55pm
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Loving the photos Roto and your report is a good read. Bummer bout the beakies, your brother will be stoked though. Would love to go to Vanuatu myself one day
------------- Skirt Pulla |
Posted By: Rotowarriors
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 6:55pm
Dunno mate, left my wife and kids back in NZ  must admit kids would like the snorkelling, we saw nemo (clown fish), the little blues ones, a bluefin trev even followed a turtle round for a bit. very cool |
ancient mariner wrote:Posted By: ifish
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 7:58pm
cool roto, won the same trip last year didnt get there to late november had great wheather but the fishing was **** only one mahimahi caught(mate got that) and one marlin raised but no strike still great to be there. i have to go back for some unfinished business sounds like you too.
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Posted By: carlostairua
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 8:14pm
| Choice mate, wicked spot a! |
Posted By: tas-tackle
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2009 at 8:15pm
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Roto.. well put together report bud.. waterfront bar is well worth the tusker and a bite to eat... sounds like a great trip anyways even tho ya didn't burst ya bubble.. those roads are diabolical but the folks are cool and friendly.. back to reality and snapper now.. Huh.....
------------- http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow">  http://www.tas-tackle.co.nz |
Posted By: assassin
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2009 at 4:34pm
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we are off tomorrow looking forward to the tusker in the waterfront bar and a meal and talk fishing ,hope the fishing comes on with the new moon. see you all at the softbait comp Sept 12th |
Posted By: Fishb8
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2009 at 5:47pm
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Roto - I predict you will get your first marlin next February, in 50 - 60 metres off Raglan. BTW a great report and sounds like a good hol! I'm off to Samoa for 10 days, next week. I'm just taking a SP rod and will see if I can get out for a boat trip. ------------- Be yourself; everyone else is already taken |
Posted By: Stellamoon
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2009 at 8:27am
| Nice Report , want to go Fishing there one day..... |
Posted By: skidoggg
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2009 at 9:46am
| hard lines roto still ,better to be hooked up to a marlin than not even see one ...comunication between the angler and skipper is a big thing when hooked up ...bet your bro will rub it in for a long time! |
Posted By: Wahooo1
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2009 at 11:24am
 Cheer lads Cliff here from Surtees u guys come and talk to me every auckland boat show, i also have just got back from Vans well 2 weeks ago my parents live up in Santo Vanuatu we got out fishing a couple of times. The weather was crap due to the trade winds blowing so hard we got a Wahoo couple dog tooth and a couple of GTs but the fishing was very hard we spent a fiew hours on Island Escape drinking Tusker and they hadent caught anything in the last 2 weeks. We went 124miles up the west coast to look at some logs for the old man saw heeps of work ups but they disapear as soon as we get there and no strikes on the lines. The boat went flawlessley i sent a 6.7Workmate Hardtop up to the olds 4 months ago we burnt through about 350ltrs of gas going upthere and back in one day So much fish on the sounder but nothing bitting we were changing the lures every couple of hours. Some of the local fisherman said the tides were very high and low it was the same week as the eclipse in egypt they blame no fish on that??? Good on ya for standing up 4 the local barmaid some of the xpats up there are mailto:****#@$ - ****#@$ BUT i must disagree the best TUSKER is served at the Anchor Inn at the other end of town they got Tusker on tap cheeper if u buy it by the jug.
Sweet as as soon as i sus out how to post photos i will put some up
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Posted By: Monty
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2009 at 4:44pm
Nice one Roto, at least you were having a fish while everyone back in Aucks was having a cry because of some dead things around stopping the fishing in the gulf. Next time take the wife & kids & leave the brother home 
Welcome aboard Cliff, nice 1st report, lucky parents
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Posted By: Rotowarriors
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2009 at 6:23pm
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Kia Ora Cliff, How's tricks. Looks like you got mum n' dad one sweet rig, hope the boss gave ya a huge discount
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Posted By: Donald Duck
Date Posted: 17 Aug 2009 at 5:58am
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Don't worry Pete. As a marlin virgin myself I reckon catching your first on a charter is kinda like breaking your virginity with a hooker. No real challenge with a professional telling you when to pump and grind, then cleaning up the messy bit at the end. Better off to go to the bar in your own wheels and rough it out in the wild with your virgin mates off Raglan! So we'll do a bit of that this next season. Glad to hear the trip went well - I was so pleased for you when you told me you'd won, couldn't go to a better bloke. Still awaiting arrival of flounder vessel but will keep in touch. |
Posted By: tobez
Date Posted: 17 Aug 2009 at 8:15am
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nice trip roto..im a marlin virgin too mate so there are still some of us left ------------- Waikato North Harbourmaster...Got a Nav Safety question for the Waikato region?...call me 021705642 or download the app Marine Mate! |
Posted By: Memorymaker
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2009 at 6:33am
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Wicked man, don't get to wound up on the marlin it will come, I think I hooked and dropped 15 or more before I got my first one, ignore the buggers and you'll more than likely get one
awesome pics and a cool report
cheers ------------- Fish don't make mistakes |
Posted By: brown
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2009 at 7:53am
thats a mean report roto
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Posted By: biggear
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2009 at 8:01am
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Nice report Roto. Like Beagle says. Popping the cherry is better off your own boat, and thats what i will be hoping to do this summer. ------------- Dont let the grey hair fool you! |
Posted By: iank
Date Posted: 24 Aug 2009 at 8:17am
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Hi folks, I just got back from a trip to Vanuatu. I had seen this thread before I left so was concerned about the fishing. On our first day there we went down the wharf to have a beer and watch the boats come in. We were to go with Cruusoe charters on "reel capture" the next day and she came in flying marlin , mahimahi and wahoo flags....a real good sign. They had raised five marlin and got two to the boat. Incidently , every one talked of the weather for the previous four weeks, lots of rain and wind , we had a week of no rain and regular trade winds with no gales. The following day we took off on reel capture with Brad as the skipper. He was an aussie and I think often skippered "Nevigiveup" their other boat. The boat is very good , well equiped and immaculate. I have done a few charters in NZ and other parts of the world and I would say Crusoe would be one of the most professional outfits I have seen...very good shore administration , good boats very well maintained and crewed, they are not cheap but are good value. However our fishing ...we got out of the harbour and were fronted by a steady trade wind of 12 - 15 knots, just into white waves tops. However there was an unusual current running into the wind creating a very visious wind wave of 2 plus metres on top of the swell. The skipper said he would normally head around to the more protected side of the island but the marlin yesterday were straight out about 5 miles. We elected to brave the lumps and chase the marlin as we were both fairly experienced sailors and had taken our "sealegs " as a precaution. After an hour or so we started to get mahimahi and boated a couple of good ones and lost a couple. We then had a strike from a Marlin but it fell off fairly quickly, from what I gather the hook up ratio for blues is about one in three. Meanwhile it was getting more and more lumpy , the skipper decided to come down off the fly bridge , and my wife and I both started to feel sea sick. Trying to run with the seas helped , but not a lot. After five hours my wife was very ill , and as a diabetic this was not good for her so we decided reluctantly to head back early. So we did not have a great day fishing , but the fish were certainly there. The decision to try for marlin in the lumpy sea was ours and the boat and crew were excellent. We noticed the day after we were out they came in flying Marlin , mahimahi and wahoo flags also. We will be back next year, probably late August, and would use the same company , and would have a reasonable expectation of catching fish. One minor thing we might do next year is try a local fishing trip on one of the "longboats" . These are locals going out for a morning fish, leaving at 5.00 before the winds come up , and I think this might be fun, but you need to take your own life jacket. cheers Iank |
Posted By: carlostairua
Date Posted: 24 Aug 2009 at 9:01am
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Pretty standard weather and seas straight out of Vila. The converging seas, upwellings and currents so close to shore are why it is the best place to catch marlin too. Have got a US client over there on a trip I have teed up with Pete on either Shogun or V Factor at the moment, doing a three day stay away trip , two days on the marlin highway, two nights away on Kakula Island and a day jigging and popping Undine Bay in between. They left Vila this morning, well let ya's know what they turn up when he gets to NZ on Friday.
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