Arrived in Vanuatu on the 17^th to a beautiful 26 degrees after happily leaving the polar blast back home.  We booked this trip with Tonto2, his wife Andrea and mate Lyle who we’d never met but had been messaging on Fishing.net.

Day 1, Martin (tonto2) and his mate Lyle were fishing with Russ Housby while we kicked back at the resort drinking/swimming.  The wind restricted their fishing options so unfortunately they didn’t get any target species ... a day of popping/stick baiting for very little reward, just some smaller reef fish .  After this news over dinner, we were a bit skeptical about our day out with Russ planned for the next day.

Day 2 was our turn with Russ.  The wind had dropped from the previous day so we got to get to some good spots .  We headed in the opposite direction to the lads trip the day before and fished around the back of Moso Island.  We started off chucking small poppers and stick baits around some shallow reefy areas.  Kylie nailed a nice bluefin trevally of around 5kg on the popper, while I got many follows and strikes but nothing stuck .

 

Kylie got another Bluefin Trevally, smaller this time, and also got reefed by a massive coral trout.

Kylie 2, Aaron 0.

After mucking around in the shallows for a bit, we headed off for a trawl in the hope for a sailfish or doggy or both.  As Russ was putting the bait out, a small sailfish hit the bait but didn’t hook up … bugger .

Trawling only produced a small barracuda so we headed off for some more popping in search of some GTs with the heavier gear.

After many casts and getting  sore arms, it was time for me to get some action … finally got smashed, nailing my first GT, est. 10kg on a popper … stoked!

 

Then Kylie gets a mean take with a wall of white water.  She was struggling as the fish was pulling plenty of line heading into the reef.  After applying a bit more drag, some moans and groans, up comes her first GT, est. 15kg... jammy bugger… she shows me up again .. Choice one babe

She was so rapt with her star fish that she decided to spend the rest of the avo sunning herself while I caught some other reef fish and literally popped till I dropped!

We loved the fight in these GTs and then how polite they were on the boat for the pics... compared to our stroppy kingi's here in nz.

Day 3 – fishing with Nautilus

Martin, Lyle, Kylie and I headed out on Wild Blue. Trawled out to the Fad as they had seen quite a few yellow fin the day before.  Spotted what the skipper thought were yellow fin, headed in that direction, had a strike, but dropped off.

Shortly after, got hit again by what the skipper thought was a marlin but again no luck.

Got to the fad, Martin and Lyle got jigging and Martin reeled in a sweet skippy.  Lyle hooked up next, at first we thought he was onto a decent yellowfin but was a bronze whaler est. 40-50kg, which almost pulled the lightweight deckhand overboard twice!

The next 3 hours we popped for GTs till we dropped and also tried jigging for doggy’s but for no prizes. A very disappointing day.

4am wakeup call – and not for fishing this time!  The bed was rocking – and not in a fun way!   A pretty terrifying earthquake struck and we were fair sh*tting ourselves.  The threat of a tsunami was pretty real so we were up and dressed in seconds and off to the resort reception for instructions.  All ok, no tsunami warning so back off to bed. 5:26am and a bigger, more violent quake sends us into another panic. Back into clothes and into reception.  Perhaps the earthquakes we had in the wee hours that morning had something to do with the disappearing fish!

We still headed out with Russ after the mornings events … popped till we dropped around Hat Island for bugger all results … again.  Damn earthquakes.

A well deserved few days off fishing including a massage, shopping, good food, plenty of p*ss, and an awesome snorkeling experience at Hideaway Island.  Had a wicked time overall .

We tried the flying fox (bat)  and snails at le houstalet ..had to be done.  Thanks for the recommendation of this seedy little joint Carl … NOT!

Was cool to meet you guys (Andrea, Martin, Lyle) loved hanging out with you and having some mean laughs.  Sorry we out shone you in the fishing stakes but that’s how it goes.  Pleased you could take the sh*t we flung at ya.. Good buggers!

The snorkling was awesome but we got well and truly zilched as far as desirable species were concerned but not for the lack of trying. Good company good weather and a choice spot. I am blaming the earthquakes for our non performance on the fish scoreboard. Wish I was still there

You could have covered my guts or at least blurred it