Anyone want to go fishing in the Solomon Islands?
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Destinations
Forum Name: Solomon Islands
Forum Description: Solomons destination and travel info, advice and trip reports here
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=80097
Printed Date: 30 Jan 2026 at 10:57pm
Topic: Anyone want to go fishing in the Solomon Islands?
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Subject: Anyone want to go fishing in the Solomon Islands?
Date Posted: 29 Jun 2012 at 1:22am
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OK, I have a hankering to return to Zipolo habu in the Solomon Islands again in August, probably a couple of weeks for me. If I do go, is there anyone here who would like to take the opportunity to come along as well? I will not be Camp Mother, or group leader or anything, you can do whatever you want, however I will be there to offer advice on where, what and how to those who will ask. I can advise on what to take etc and it will be a good way to share expenses such as fuel and charter costs. I will paste up a little more info about the place from my "Solomons Dreaming" thread tomorrow to give anyone interested a little more of an idea of what they can expect up there. cheers, Stu.
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Replies:
Posted By: Dagwood
Date Posted: 29 Jun 2012 at 6:21am
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Don't forget the diving is world class there too: Brings back memories: http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/report-family-dive-trip-to-the-solomons_topic58462.html - http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/report-family-dive-trip-to-the-solomons_topic58462.html
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Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 29 Jun 2012 at 8:01am
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Geez Stu .... hard case ..... reckon your lines will barely be dry from your
last trip ........ talk about if it itches then scatch it!
.
Yep definitely interested .... who wouldn't be after reading your
reports on the recent trip.
------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 29 Jun 2012 at 8:14am
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Here is a wrap-up of the last trip.... Where, Zipolo Habu Resort in the Solomon Islands. To get there, the cheapest route was via Brisbane to Honiara on Pacific Blue(Virgin), it required an overnight stay in Honiara (We stayed at the King Solomon Hotel, but others like the Royal Mendana are just as good ) to catch the next mornings internal flight to Munda in the Western Province, on New Georgia Island. Internal and international return tickets , with insurance, cost around $1,900. NZ aid dollars are at work here, rebuilding the Munda airport to international jet standard, the hope is that in a year or two you may be able to fly direct from Aus straight to Munda, cutting out the expensive and time-wasting stay in Honiara, which frankly is one of the arm-pits of the world. It would certainly save a day of your trip. Once at the resort (after being picked up at the airport and escorted to the near-by jetty and zapping out to the resort by boat), I stayed at my own bungalow (built for me about 5 years ago), which is the smaller of the 2 deluxe bungalows if you want to check out the Zipolo Habu Website (www.zipolohabu.com.sb I think). This has 2 double beds, and a single, the main master Bdrm has the huge kingsize bed and a spare single bed (if you need to have kids handy I guess), the smaller room also has a double bed. Both doubles have mozzie nets over a frame, with ceiling fans blowing straight down onto the bed, a HUGE relief in the muggy Solomons nights! The view from the balcony truly is a Million Dollar View....  looking out over the Vonavona lagoon toward Mt Kolombangara.Dawn to dusk, the view is always spectacular, with fish constantly working and moving thru the shallows in front of you, dug-out canoes of the locals paddling or sailing past at dawn and dusk.... just a total bliss out sort of scene...  sunset from my balcony(damn it is so nice loading these pics at broadband speeds!) The resort has a restaurant and bar, you can buy meal packages if you want, or just order your meals as you go, which is what I do as once you acclimatise, you find your need for food drops markedly in the heat. Trust me on this, eating is one of my speciality subjects! The meals are heavily fish based, being an island resort, not surprising really, with crayfish, mudcrab and fish meals the mainstay of the menus, although there is always a meat option for carnivores like myself who do not fancy fish. The maindrink is SolBrew, I am told this is a good beer, and it is reasonably priced too. They have a over-strength beer as well, SB, with a higher alch for thems as wants a faster buzz I guess. Perhaps someone else can rate the beer? For lunches, you gotta have the Soltai Tuna toasted sandwiches. Yum. Fishing options. This is why i come here, there is just so much you can do fishing wise. There is always somewhere to go, somethnig to do. If it happens to be a bit blowy, you have the option of heading into the mangroves or up the rivers for mangrove jack fishing etc, which for Kiwis is an exotic lark...  The Bairoko river. The dead trees are a result of the big earthquake up here 6 years ago, when the land dropped a metre or so, and the trees got flooded out. Makes for perfect habitat for the Mangrove jacks though, numbers are high, and Jacks are NOT shy about having a slash at your lures!  ...
however, there are more fish up here than just the jacks, there are all
sorts of jungle perch and other inter-tidal and fresh water fish, up to
the spot-tail bass in the upper waters of the larger rivers, these get
BIG, like over 10kg, and are well worth targeting. A lot of the fish are
smaller though, so a 6-10lb spin set is all you really need. Be
prepared to lose lures though :-) seki-seki,
or archer fish, will attack en masse anything that touches the water.
Their mini-frenzies as they attack lures often brings good jacks up to
see what is a-foot (sorry, a-fin).
Small lures are mugged by brassy and small GTs in the rivers as well,
and also other species like these two speciesus anonymouses...  On light gear, it is a bit of fun, and you never know when a decent fish is going to come charging in....  On the nice days, if you do not want to spend all your time in the boats, you can kayak or wade the sand flats around the resort....  ... the sand flats just a couple of hundred metres from the resort. Miles and miles of them.One of the main (hell, the main reson I guess) reasons I head back to Lola Island (Zipolo's island, from now on, I will refer to the resort as "lola" as it is faster than Zipolo Habu resort) is the popper and lure fishing. All around the vonavona lagoon, one of the worlds largest, you have a huge range of reefs. From the open-ocean coastline of Parara Island (Hilton Heads area)  .
to the sheltered reef lines along the Blackett Straits, there is just a
huge range of popper and lure fishing opportunities, and always,
always, somewhere calm to chuck your lures. Hotspot on the Blacketts.... The main target is of course the Giant Trevally. The standard size for these fish up here isnot huge, most will be in the 10-15lb range, many being nice 20lb fish, but I have got fish up to 60lb here... serious fish at that size.  A nice, standard sized GT. I have found that hese are easily targetted using good 30lb fireline sets, 50lb if you are really paranoid about losing gear, but 30lb gives you pretty much all the horsepower you will really need. This last trip I was using pretty much all the time my 20lb set, a rod made for me by the guys at Kilwell on one of their PE3 nano-blanks (just PM Nagged for the details), and man, what a sweet rod/set that was, teamed with a Penn Conquer 5000. My heavier set, which I used in places like the munda bar, hotspot or double Island usually, as these are tiger-country areas when fish can get much larger, is a Van Staal popper rod with a Quantum Boca 80 reel. Good reliable set-up, solid as, and not a budget-breaker either. Aside from the poppering, I really enjoy the bottom fishing up here, as you truly never know what the blazes is coming up next. In NZ, fishing in 200m (as you do here), you are going to get, well, Puka, maybe gemfish, a bluenose or a golden snapper, that is about it on a regular basis. Up in the solomons, multiply that list by ten... you never know what the heck is down there. Small things pop up among decent fish....   ... like these litlle colourful fellas, up to the very prized snappers and larger jobfish...  longtail snapper,  rusty or smalltooth jobfish, and hopefully the very common gold-lined jobfish.... which is a damn fine eating fish, and that is saying somethnig coming from someone who doesn't like fish that much!I guess most folks heading up there for the first time will be much more intent of "Big Game" type stuff though, yellowfin, marlin, sailfish, that sort of bluewater stuff. Well, they have that too, with several FADs within an hour or so of the resort, this trip we certainly had marlin in our lures at the fads, and we saw sailfish everywhere as well (read my earlier post about the sailfish being herded and eaten by the False Killer Whales)  ... oh, and yes, that IS normal sea-state up there.On our best day,we got a pile of small mahimahi, skippies and small yfin, and as we were using light spin-sets, it was a huge ball, flicking little lures around or towing small 3in skirts around the fad, constantly hooking, losing and landing all sorts of fish....  .... rainbow runners and mahimahi....  ...as you can see, it was just plain fun. So, there you go, as you can see, you have a huge range of options up here. Everywhere you look at sea you will find schools of tunas, mostly skippies, and the reefs and lagoons are just glorious in their clarity and their profusion of fishlife. These days i like to take a few different lures or toys up with me to try out. I go for 3 week spans, so have plenty of time to give stuff a pretty good crack. This trip I had with me as my "projects" my new Kilwell PE3 rod set, I had several River to Sea (R2C) lures that I wanted to use on the new rod, which I had built specifically to use such lures), and a range of Sebile and Berkley lures from Purefishing. Firstly, I had a bunch of little wee lures from Berkley, sub-dogs and... others, I have forgotten their names. Both little stickbaits, bibless lures and small bibbed minnows. I had these matched to a 6lb berkley nanofil line/1000 Abu Soron reel set, and man, they were a pile of fun. The first one I used was... I think... called a scum dog or something (I left all the packaging at home to save weight, so am a little shakey on the names now), a little floating surface/twitch bait lure. On the flats, this lure was just deadly, working on the top or at most an inch or so below the surface, it managed to stay out of the sea-grass, but was close enough to nail a succession of small fish like the os'sanga (sweetlips n roviana language) and trevallies...  .. this is a sub-dog, not the surface scum-dog, lure, with an os'sanga. Sorry it is in B/W. Flamin' camera, grrrr...... but I also had a ball, in the slightly deeper, less grassy, areas with the sub-dogs, as these slightly heavier lure cast about 10m further than the scumdogs. I also had a small popper from the range, which was a hit with trevallies on the shallows....  ...and the small bibbed minnows were also deadly flicking around mangrove and reefy areas... ...
only trouble is that the 2 or 3 examples I had did not last long enough
for more pictures :-) It is a hard and short life for light tackle
lures in the tropics! ... headin' fer the coral!I also was very keen to try the sebile lures I had with me, this time in sufficient numbers to be able to use them properly. By far the most effective Sebile I used this trip (as a surface/casting lure) was the small Stick Shadd. These just recently arrived in NZ, I had 2 with me, and after re-rigging them with decent salt water, solid hooks, (size 1 or 2 owner 4x strongs), they proved to be deadly as a faster retrieve lure for all sorts of fish....    ... again, all on my sweet 20lb Kilwell set-up.I got fish on the otehr sebiles, the splasher(popper) and bongo-jerks etc...  ...but the small stick shadd was for me the stand-out in this range, and one I think will be a superb general lure here in NZ too, for kings, kahawai and probably snapper as well. The next range of lures I had were the R2C lures. Without a doubt, for me the small R2C Wideglide was the go-to lure of the trip when working the reefs. This is because I was using the light set so much, when I used the heavy gear, my favourite was the R2C Doggie....  ....... but on the light set? The small Wideglide. I have so many pics of fish on this lure, where do I start?  . .......they are an excellent lure, given they have a very slow action, really just a twitch-retrieve style that leaves the lure jerking about over the target areas for much longer than other lures that need a faster retrieve, such as various poppers etc. Awesome little lure, just wish they had some sexier colours is all. Other R2C lures were also deadly of course, the bubble-pop poppers (not the biggest version but there 4inch one) was lethal (no, not you Eric) on all sorts of fish, mainly the trevallies....  ... and until I lost it right at the start of the trip, the small R2C Dumbell popper was just a machine... .All up, we had a ball with these smaller lures. They didn't just get small fish either, oh no. Phyllis was using my light set on the last day, with that bubble-pop popper, and scored one of the better GTs of the trip on it. The rod, a Kilwell PE3, made with an extra 6inches added into the butt to give me extra length for twitching the stick-baits, was really put to the turps....  , and the fish itself shows why.... ... bloody nice fish there Phyllie!What else. Oh yes. For the bottom fishing, this time i took up with me a few 300gm Intruder jigs from Jarvis Walker. First I was using them as plain lures (cheated by adding a small bait onto the hooks though I must admit), and for dropping 200m, they worked fine...  ... but as time went by, I took the hooks off the lures (after losing a couple in the bottom), and found that just as plain sinkers they were very effective, even more so as they are lumo-painted. Maybe not as effective as a cyalume, but certainly much more rugged and long-lasting, I definitely caught far more fish on my rigs than cliff, my mate, who was using normal sinkers, right beside me. I would say by a factor of at least 3 to 1. So, that was a discovery right there, take some good lumo bottom fishing gear, the Intruders do it for me, for sure. Well, that is about it I guess. If I think of anything else, I can add it later i suppose, but that was basically my trip. The weather is at it's most stable and calm in June and October as these are the times when the trades (only moderate really up here anyhow, not like further south among the pacific islands) are slowing and shifting from their SE to SW trends. However, the daily temps are a pretty standard low-30s, night temps ten degrees less I guess, dropping to a cool 18deg at around 4 am. The water temps are around the 30-32deg mark, going for a swim is just awesome, no groinal cringe as you wade into the water, the snorkeling is just mind-blowing around the reefs, there are plenty of old WW2 wrecks to dive on or look at as well, all in all it is a great holiday spot, at least, I think so. But really? It is not the catching of the fish that is so intoxicating about the place, it is simply the being of the there. Try it sometime.    |
Posted By: Firey
Date Posted: 29 Jun 2012 at 10:05am
Far out!! looks terrible  ------------- No sooner does man discover intelligence than he tries to involve it in his own stupidity. |
Posted By: whiti-fisho
Date Posted: 29 Jun 2012 at 10:20am
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My wife and I have been there and stayed in Stu's bungalo,we highly recommend the place .It was the best holiday we have had so far 10 days of sheer bliss ,Jo and his wife, Lisa are great hosts the food is brilliant I can recommend the chilli mudcrabs and the couda ,the bar snacks of fresh caught squid rings (Lisa went out in the bay on kayak and caught them ) I can also recommend the tuna sandwhiches with sweet thai chilli sauce .Sitting on the jetty in the morning sun watching fish jumping and duggouts go by waiting for your breakfast and coffee bought out to you is very relaxing . The fishing and diving is fantastic ,we caught alsorts and saw heaps ,still want to climb the mountain and fish some fresh water stuff The wife and I would love to go back in August especially with the good Capt as a guide and if work picks up ever so slightly we will do stiil have lots we want to do up there I would say that the locals are great people very friendly and will do anything for you so if you go up there please put some coloured pencils ,books etc in your suitcase if you have room the local schools really appreciated the stuff we took up as they dont have much ------------- I step out my door to paradise on earth |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 29 Jun 2012 at 3:28pm
| The Rainbow Kindie in Munda would really love colouring percils, paper and toys, the Lady was talking to me about it last week. They have literally nothing.... |
Posted By: Lineburningthugs
Date Posted: 29 Jun 2012 at 7:16pm
| when are you going mate? would be happy to gather up some toys, pencils etc for you to take if you want |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 29 Jun 2012 at 9:52pm
| Looking at around the 9th August til the 23rd August, but that is not set in stone just yet, thursday in is not as good as tuesday in. Plans are still somewhat fluid.... :-) |
Posted By: the angler
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2012 at 8:21am
| impressive variety of fish caught ,would love to fish and dive there one day . |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2012 at 10:13am
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The diving is, by all reports, spectacular. Even snorkeling is pretty damn good.... ...that was at hotspot, here.....  ....so it is a pretty good place to veg out for a few days I reckon. |
Posted By: tas-tackle
Date Posted: 02 Jul 2012 at 1:54am
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Stu... what an amazing world we live in... and what a great spot you have picked in it... amazing pictures and amazing fishing... So all up could you take a punt at what it would cost all up for say 10 days... Pretty sure it was you who was talking about a Kilwell texalium GT cast rod 15-24... would like to know what you thought about it and also the Penn Conquer reels how do they handle the fish and any concerns with them....
------------- http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow">  http://www.tas-tackle.co.nz |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 02 Jul 2012 at 9:14am
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Hi Fisher... I am waiting to hear from Joe just how much he reckons accoms/meals and fishing charters would cost, as I have no idea really. However, if there are several guys going up, then the costs reduce enormously, as obviously with say 3 guys, all sharing the one bungalow and same boat, you wind up paying, (and this is the tricky part of the maths) 1/3rd of what a single guy would pay. :-) Stop me if I am getting too technical. I think (and therefore I am) that if you allowed for $1500 a week then you should be fairly close to the mark for 3 guys. That would include pretty full on charters as well, I am sure. Hopefully there will be others coming along as well, hey, a Fishnet Solomons Fishing Comp! Now there is a good Idea. I'll even put up a prize, a nice shiny brand new reel or something. The Penn Conquers. They are very nice, they get hammered in the sollies, and haven't misseda beat, although one notable exception did kind of burst the bubble a little, in that last trip my oldest reel, a 5000, had the tiny little pin that goes thru the hinge on the handle popped out, plink, splat in the water..... meant my spare set wasn't any more. :-) But... drag wise, flawless, and gears, solidity and ability to handle good fish without flexing or anything, superb, I am very taken with them. Also being able to open the gear housing so very easily (swiveling down the whole back of the gear housing to expose the gears for lubrication etc just needs one screw to be loosened) is great for keeping an eye on all that stuff. I have 2000, 5000 and 7000 size conquers, and very much like them. The texalium, nice rod, although mine broke just above where the texalium ended, which is why I went for one of their newer nano non texalium blanks for me latest rods from there. So, gunna come ? |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 02 Jul 2012 at 9:54am
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Anyone else like myself seriously thinking of joining in such an appealing offer.
if
My decision will largely depend on the final overall costs are within the funds
I have readily available at this point & am at present trying to formulate what
the total costs are likely to be.
As Stu points out they would largely depend on the number going & to this end
would like to hear from anyone else seriously considering the prospect.
Will most likely be meeting with Stu here in Auckland in the next couple of days
to discuss what is involved.
Obviously with only slightly over a month to go before the proposed departure
& in fairness to Stu decisions or commitment will need to be made fairly soon.
Cheers
------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: tas-tackle
Date Posted: 02 Jul 2012 at 11:59pm
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Bazza, yes that is my initial concern, the time being so close and when mentioned to the better half today... just got a blank stare... hahahahahaa... plus being limited in gear for that type of fishing AT PRESENT of course... Stu , the reason I asked was because I own one of the Tex rods and a Penn conquer 7000 on it.. so it's good to get feedback from someone using them in extreme, trying conditions and knowing they stand up.. Can you say why the tex broke...??? (pm be fine) Stu, not this time... but would possibly consider it at a later time if I know FULL costs and could prepare better.. it's a great idea and I like the idea of a mini comp alto you would have home advantage :} Great new location to visit and fish ... ------------- http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"> http://www.tas-tackle.co.nz |
Posted By: Tonto2
Date Posted: 03 Jul 2012 at 12:12pm
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Interested x 2, need to see what the costs would be though ------------- slowly going where everyone else has already been |
Posted By: -mAdfis HO-
Date Posted: 03 Jul 2012 at 1:46pm
 ------------- FiShInG rOcKs! ChEeRs -mAdfis HO- |
Tonto2 wrote:Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 03 Jul 2012 at 4:06pm
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OK, this was for me, thru my travel agent.... Airfares return on Virgin Blue with two bags and extra leg room is pricing NZ$1560.04 Air Sol to Munda $529.40 return. No connection on the 7th so means overnight in Honiara. I pay extra ($50 I think each way) to get the extra legroom seats, not necessary if you don't have an arse the size of mine) and $55 each way for the extra bag, as you no longer get a rod tube on for free as sporting goods, they charge PER ITEM now, and it is way cheaper to pre-pay. Gets you a spare 23kgs, so could tape a couple of rod tubes together and put them thru as one. Costs.... Well, you will need to share a room at a hotel in honiara over nite on the way up, 2 per room, $100AUD each, then the accoms, meals and fishing charters comes to...say $300 a day per person, but this reduces if you are sharing a bungalow among several people, those costs are roughly if 2 people are in a bungalow, however, the bungalows can easily hold 4 people, 2 in each bedroom. I would recommend the extra delux bungalow, the new one beside my bungalow, as it has a couple of huge bedrooms with 3 beds in each, en suite shower etc, a good big kitchen and great deck etc, very nice. Divide that cost twixt several of you and it comes very cheap. Same with the charters. It depends on what you want ot do and where you want to go, for how long etc etc. If you are doing long, all day trips every day, you are going to rack up the big bucks... petrol alone is NZ$3.50 a litre, so it ain't cheap to run them boats. If however you want to spend time kayaking, fishing the flats in small boats without any guides or anything, hell that is all free, again, dropping the costs. Dives can be arranged thru Dive Munda if you are into bubble blowing, no idea what that costs, but snorkelling around the reef at say bikiki island, just 5 mins from the resort, is like $10NZ or somethnig, that is just running you over there and picking you up when you have had enough. Most long fishing trips you see advertised, if you look closely at the blurbs, tend to be for say 4 x 4hr trips over a period of a week. They can do that, but it seems pointless to me to limit yourself so much... my costings are for going out and doing 6 hrs a day with maybe one or two days off... a PROPER fishing trip! The resort is very laid back... you wander down to the bar in the morning, let them know what you want to do, and then they arrange it. If you are organised, hell, you can tee everything up the night before, no worries. It is not a "Ze boat leaves at 7 a.m., if you are not zere, you vill be left behind!" sort of place AT ALL. I think if you were to say that the two week trip would set you back around 6 grand, all up, airfares, fishing charters, meals, accoms, the lot. The mate that came with me on the last trip, Cliffie, did $6,500 for his 3 week trip (well, 23days) all up, including his bar tab (a variable I have not figured into the mix) including airfares etc, you will be doing a week less, so........ you do the math. Cliffie had free accoms though, as he had the spare room in my bungalow. It's not a cheapo trip by any means. Airfares are a large chunk of it, but as I say, this is a FISHING trip, which includes WAY more fishing than any packaged deal you may see advertised. If you only want to do a ten day trip or a week (but you'd be mad to, as you will just be starting to properly unwind after the 1st week, trust me on this) that is coolio too. Like I said, i will be there as an unofficial advisor, not as Group Leader, Camp mother. It will be your trip, you do whatever you want. If you want to cut back on the fishing trips, hey no worries. That too will make it way cheaper. But then.... that is the point of the trip, n'est-pas? And if you haven't got a GT yet,.... well, this is a very GT rich target area! :-) If we get enough members along, I may just throw in a Fishingnet solomons prize to the winner with the biggest NON SHARK fish.... :-) |
Posted By: Tonto2
Date Posted: 03 Jul 2012 at 7:27pm
SHHHH haven't discussed with herindoors yet DaddyHo  ------------- slowly going where everyone else has already been |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 8:40pm
|
WOOPEE !! Looks like myself & mate Adrian will be joining the
good captain up in Zipolo Habu for 7 nights as from
10th.Aug.
After much searching came across a great package
deal, have received itinerary & schedule so only
remains now to finalise payment & arrange suitable
return flights Ak to Brisbane.
WOW
------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 8:51pm
| It'll be good to have you up there Bazza. I bags the biggest fish though, OK? |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 9:08pm
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Bazza mate.... You and Adrian will have yourself an awesum trip up there with Stu just going by his last report....  Will be one heck of an experience im sure and Stu will make a great guide (camp mother )Am looking forward to the reports we get from you guys when you go and i am already starting to dribble just thinking about going along as well,if i can win lotto in next couple of months i will join you but wont hold my breathe.... |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 9:12pm
Bags all you like Stu but reckon that honour may well befall me if Murhys' Law holds
true when it dictates that the "Poorest fisherman invariably catches the biggest fish!" ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 9:15pm
- i can see a freindly little comp starting here for a bottle of rum for the biggest fish.... |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 9:22pm
That's a bit insensitive to mention that Daryll with over 3 weeks of "Dry July" to
go & my tongue is hanging out for a drink after only six days.
Was hoping the excitement of going to Zipolo would take my mind off such things
then you go & remind me ...........
------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 9:31pm
Oh crap--sorry Bazza mate... I didnt even think of that... My apologies dude...  Send me the link to your charity link for it and ill make a donation towards your people mate... ------------- http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=717361 |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 10:02pm
Was only joking of course mate but if you could donate a couple of bucks
to the cause it would be much appreciated.
https://nz.dryjuly.com/profile/barryschultz - https://nz.dryjuly.com/profile/barryschultz
Cheers ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 10:09pm
Yeah i know you were...  But still a good cause,,donated to Felixx as well so all good to help yours too dude.... ------------- http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=717361 |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 12:03am
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Many thanks Darryl ( aka Smelli ) ... donation received. ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 2:03am
great worthy cause Bazza.. ------------- http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=717361 |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 9:31am
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So Smelli.... coming up? I think Bazza scored his trip plus accoms and meals for a week for about 2g.... tempted? Anyone else? :-) |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 9:33am
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Just to get the thread back on track... this is where we are talking about.... Where, Zipolo Habu Resort in the Solomon Islands. To get there, the cheapest route was via Brisbane to Honiara on Pacific Blue(Virgin), it required an overnight stay in Honiara (We stayed at the King Solomon Hotel, but others like the Royal Mendana are just as good ) to catch the next mornings internal flight to Munda in the Western Province, on New Georgia Island. Internal and international return tickets , with insurance, cost around $1,900. NZ aid dollars are at work here, rebuilding the Munda airport to international jet standard, the hope is that in a year or two you may be able to fly direct from Aus straight to Munda, cutting out the expensive and time-wasting stay in Honiara, which frankly is one of the arm-pits of the world. It would certainly save a day of your trip. Once at the resort (after being picked up at the airport and escorted to the near-by jetty and zapping out to the resort by boat), I stayed at my own bungalow (built for me about 5 years ago), which is the smaller of the 2 deluxe bungalows if you want to check out the Zipolo Habu Website (www.zipolohabu.com.sb I think). This has 2 double beds, and a single, the main master Bdrm has the huge kingsize bed and a spare single bed (if you need to have kids handy I guess), the smaller room also has a double bed. Both doubles have mozzie nets over a frame, with ceiling fans blowing straight down onto the bed, a HUGE relief in the muggy Solomons nights! The view from the balcony truly is a Million Dollar View.... looking out over the Vonavona lagoon toward Mt Kolombangara.Dawn to dusk, the view is always spectacular, with fish constantly working and moving thru the shallows in front of you, dug-out canoes of the locals paddling or sailing past at dawn and dusk.... just a total bliss out sort of scene... sunset from my balcony(damn it is so nice loading these pics at broadband speeds!) The resort has a restaurant and bar, you can buy meal packages if you want, or just order your meals as you go, which is what I do as once you acclimatise, you find your need for food drops markedly in the heat. Trust me on this, eating is one of my speciality subjects! The meals are heavily fish based, being an island resort, not surprising really, with crayfish, mudcrab and fish meals the mainstay of the menus, although there is always a meat option for carnivores like myself who do not fancy fish. The maindrink is SolBrew, I am told this is a good beer, and it is reasonably priced too. They have a over-strength beer as well, SB, with a higher alch for thems as wants a faster buzz I guess. Perhaps someone else can rate the beer? For lunches, you gotta have the Soltai Tuna toasted sandwiches. Yum. Fishing options. This is why i come here, there is just so much you can do fishing wise. There is always somewhere to go, somethnig to do. If it happens to be a bit blowy, you have the option of heading into the mangroves or up the rivers for mangrove jack fishing etc, which for Kiwis is an exotic lark... The Bairoko river. The dead trees are a result of the big earthquake up here 6 years ago, when the land dropped a metre or so, and the trees got flooded out. Makes for perfect habitat for the Mangrove jacks though, numbers are high, and Jacks are NOT shy about having a slash at your lures! ...
however, there are more fish up here than just the jacks, there are all
sorts of jungle perch and other inter-tidal and fresh water fish, up to
the spot-tail bass in the upper waters of the larger rivers, these get
BIG, like over 10kg, and are well worth targeting. A lot of the fish are
smaller though, so a 6-10lb spin set is all you really need. Be
prepared to lose lures though :-)seki-seki,
or archer fish, will attack en masse anything that touches the water.
Their mini-frenzies as they attack lures often brings good jacks up to
see what is a-foot (sorry, a-fin).
Small lures are mugged by brassy and small GTs in the rivers as well,
and also other species like these two speciesus anonymouses...On light gear, it is a bit of fun, and you never know when a decent fish is going to come charging in.... On the nice days, if you do not want to spend all your time in the boats, you can kayak or wade the sand flats around the resort.... ... the sand flats just a couple of hundred metres from the resort. Miles and miles of them.One of the main (hell, the main reson I guess) reasons I head back to Lola Island (Zipolo's island, from now on, I will refer to the resort as "lola" as it is faster than Zipolo Habu resort) is the popper and lure fishing. All around the vonavona lagoon, one of the worlds largest, you have a huge range of reefs. From the open-ocean coastline of Parara Island (Hilton Heads area) .
to the sheltered reef lines along the Blackett Straits, there is just a
huge range of popper and lure fishing opportunities, and always,
always, somewhere calm to chuck your lures.Hotspot on the Blacketts.... The main target is of course the Giant Trevally. The standard size for these fish up here isnot huge, most will be in the 10-15lb range, many being nice 20lb fish, but I have got fish up to 60lb here... serious fish at that size. A nice, standard sized GT. I have found that hese are easily targetted using good 30lb fireline sets, 50lb if you are really paranoid about losing gear, but 30lb gives you pretty much all the horsepower you will really need. This last trip I was using pretty much all the time my 20lb set, a rod made for me by the guys at Kilwell on one of their PE3 nano-blanks (just PM Nagged for the details), and man, what a sweet rod/set that was, teamed with a Penn Conquer 5000. My heavier set, which I used in places like the munda bar, hotspot or double Island usually, as these are tiger-country areas when fish can get much larger, is a Van Staal popper rod with a Quantum Boca 80 reel. Good reliable set-up, solid as, and not a budget-breaker either. Aside from the poppering, I really enjoy the bottom fishing up here, as you truly never know what the blazes is coming up next. In NZ, fishing in 200m (as you do here), you are going to get, well, Puka, maybe gemfish, a bluenose or a golden snapper, that is about it on a regular basis. Up in the solomons, multiply that list by ten... you never know what the heck is down there. Small things pop up among decent fish.... ... like these litlle colourful fellas, up to the very prized snappers and larger jobfish... longtail snapper, rusty or smalltooth jobfish, and hopefully the very common gold-lined jobfish.... which is a damn fine eating fish, and that is saying somethnig coming from someone who doesn't like fish that much!I guess most folks heading up there for the first time will be much more intent of "Big Game" type stuff though, yellowfin, marlin, sailfish, that sort of bluewater stuff. Well, they have that too, with several FADs within an hour or so of the resort, this trip we certainly had marlin in our lures at the fads, and we saw sailfish everywhere as well (read my earlier post about the sailfish being herded and eaten by the False Killer Whales) ... oh, and yes, that IS normal sea-state up there.On our best day,we got a pile of small mahimahi, skippies and small yfin, and as we were using light spin-sets, it was a huge ball, flicking little lures around or towing small 3in skirts around the fad, constantly hooking, losing and landing all sorts of fish.... .... rainbow runners and mahimahi.... ...as you can see, it was just plain fun. So, there you go, as you can see, you have a huge range of options up here. Everywhere you look at sea you will find schools of tunas, mostly skippies, and the reefs and lagoons are just glorious in their clarity and their profusion of fishlife. These days i like to take a few different lures or toys up with me to try out. I go for 3 week spans, so have plenty of time to give stuff a pretty good crack. This trip I had with me as my "projects" my new Kilwell PE3 rod set, I had several River to Sea (R2C) lures that I wanted to use on the new rod, which I had built specifically to use such lures), and a range of Sebile and Berkley lures from Purefishing. Firstly, I had a bunch of little wee lures from Berkley, sub-dogs and... others, I have forgotten their names. Both little stickbaits, bibless lures and small bibbed minnows. I had these matched to a 6lb berkley nanofil line/1000 Abu Soron reel set, and man, they were a pile of fun. The first one I used was... I think... called a scum dog or something (I left all the packaging at home to save weight, so am a little shakey on the names now), a little floating surface/twitch bait lure. On the flats, this lure was just deadly, working on the top or at most an inch or so below the surface, it managed to stay out of the sea-grass, but was close enough to nail a succession of small fish like the os'sanga (sweetlips n roviana language) and trevallies... .. this is a sub-dog, not the surface scum-dog, lure, with an os'sanga. Sorry it is in B/W. Flamin' camera, grrrr...... but I also had a ball, in the slightly deeper, less grassy, areas with the sub-dogs, as these slightly heavier lure cast about 10m further than the scumdogs. I also had a small popper from the range, which was a hit with trevallies on the shallows.... ...and the small bibbed minnows were also deadly flicking around mangrove and reefy areas... ...
only trouble is that the 2 or 3 examples I had did not last long enough
for more pictures :-) It is a hard and short life for light tackle
lures in the tropics!... headin' fer the coral!I also was very keen to try the sebile lures I had with me, this time in sufficient numbers to be able to use them properly. By far the most effective Sebile I used this trip (as a surface/casting lure) was the small Stick Shadd. These just recently arrived in NZ, I had 2 with me, and after re-rigging them with decent salt water, solid hooks, (size 1 or 2 owner 4x strongs), they proved to be deadly as a faster retrieve lure for all sorts of fish.... ... again, all on my sweet 20lb Kilwell set-up.I got fish on the otehr sebiles, the splasher(popper) and bongo-jerks etc... ...but the small stick shadd was for me the stand-out in this range, and one I think will be a superb general lure here in NZ too, for kings, kahawai and probably snapper as well. The next range of lures I had were the R2C lures. Without a doubt, for me the small R2C Wideglide was the go-to lure of the trip when working the reefs. This is because I was using the light set so much, when I used the heavy gear, my favourite was the R2C Doggie.... ....... but on the light set? The small Wideglide. I have so many pics of fish on this lure, where do I start? ........they are an excellent lure, given they have a very slow action, really just a twitch-retrieve style that leaves the lure jerking about over the target areas for much longer than other lures that need a faster retrieve, such as various poppers etc. Awesome little lure, just wish they had some sexier colours is all. Other R2C lures were also deadly of course, the bubble-pop poppers (not the biggest version but there 4inch one) was lethal (no, not you Eric) on all sorts of fish, mainly the trevallies.... ... and until I lost it right at the start of the trip, the small R2C Dumbell popper was just a machine....All up, we had a ball with these smaller lures. They didn't just get small fish either, oh no. Phyllis was using my light set on the last day, with that bubble-pop popper, and scored one of the better GTs of the trip on it. The rod, a Kilwell PE3, made with an extra 6inches added into the butt to give me extra length for twitching the stick-baits, was really put to the turps.... , and the fish itself shows why....... bloody nice fish there Phyllie!What else. Oh yes. For the bottom fishing, this time i took up with me a few 300gm Intruder jigs from Jarvis Walker. First I was using them as plain lures (cheated by adding a small bait onto the hooks though I must admit), and for dropping 200m, they worked fine... ... but as time went by, I took the hooks off the lures (after losing a couple in the bottom), and found that just as plain sinkers they were very effective, even more so as they are lumo-painted. Maybe not as effective as a cyalume, but certainly much more rugged and long-lasting, I definitely caught far more fish on my rigs than cliff, my mate, who was using normal sinkers, right beside me. I would say by a factor of at least 3 to 1. So, that was a discovery right there, take some good lumo bottom fishing gear, the Intruders do it for me, for sure. Well, that is about it I guess. If I think of anything else, I can add it later i suppose, but that was basically my trip. The weather is at it's most stable and calm in June and October as these are the times when the trades (only moderate really up here anyhow, not like further south among the pacific islands) are slowing and shifting from their SE to SW trends. However, the daily temps are a pretty standard low-30s, night temps ten degrees less I guess, dropping to a cool 18deg at around 4 am. The water temps are around the 30-32deg mark, going for a swim is just awesome, no groinal cringe as you wade into the water, the snorkeling is just mind-blowing around the reefs, there are plenty of old WW2 wrecks to dive on or look at as well, all in all it is a great holiday spot, at least, I think so. But really? It is not the catching of the fish that is so intoxicating about the place, it is simply the being of the there. Try it sometime. |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 9:38am
2g including all of that is pretty good deal. I would love to CA but sadly finances for me arnt co-operating at the moment  One day mate i will do the mission up there with you cos everything you have shown does make it so tempting,like you say below,not jsut catching fish but being there... It looks a primo place just to be and can see why you love going there. It is not the catching of the fish that is so intoxicating about the place, it is simply the being of the there. ------------- http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=717361 |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 4:45pm
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OK Bazza.... for lures, I think we have everything you will need up there already, I have about a million assorted lures for you to chose from, most just require new hooks really... I would suggest you get a couple of packs of 5/0, 4/0, 2/0 4x strong owner trebles, and a few packets of decent split rings to suit those size hooks. get a couple pkts of solid rings, not surecatch ones though, they are crap, get owner or JM ones I think, or Decoy. A good pair of split ring pliers. some trace....80lb flurocarbon, 200lb mono, and some 15-20lb spools of vanish flurocarbon for small stuff. Some size 5 and size 6 ball bearing swivel and clips. Otherwise, I can't think of too much else really. Like I said on the phone, I have a ton of stuff there already.... |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 6:00pm
| Actually, just thinking about it, I think Gourocks may still be open (they are moving from Patiki street), if so, maybe shoot in there on mon or tues. The Decoy stuff they have there, trebles, singles, split rings and solids are all pretty good. I am heading to Akld Tues to go see Billy Ho, I could perhaps meet you there? |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 9:29pm
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Update :-
After searching the net came up with a travel package with
a Queensland based company offering 7 days in Zipolo ex
Brisbane for AU$1584 full meal package included which seemed
too good to be true.
True to the old saying "If it seems too good to be true then it
probably is" & reckon when it comes to travel deals thru the
internet the saying is particularly pertinent. As we tried to move
forward towards booking it was not as clearcut as intially thought
with all sorts of things that were not included plus the terms &
conditions were something of a minefield so just as well to read
them but how many of us take the trouble to do so ... I seldom do.
Booking through them may or may not have saved quite a few dollars
but decided the uncertainties involved combined with the difficulty
dealing with a company outside of NZ such as having things clarified
plus needing to book the Ak / Brisbane links separately we decided
it was not worth the extra hassle.
So we have done the full circle doing what we should have in the first
place i.e. follow the good Captains' advice & he has kindly offered to
arrange for his agent to duplicate his travel arrangements for us for a
two week stay instead of the 7 days.
Now that has been taken care of am looking forward to a good nights'
sleep instead of tossing turning trying to work out every little unknown
detail as I have been doing recently. Was still awake at 2 30 am tossing
things over in my mind a couple of days back that I got up & scoffed a
whole packet of crumpets some barely toasted which only resulted in
a "lead belly" feeling that kept me awake until near day break.
So can now concentrate on getting suitable gear ready to go, have the
"bug" shots & malaria tablets, have passport renewed, arrange travel
insurance etc. then should be all on ... whoopee ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 9:48pm
| Cool Bananas mate. Want to catch up on tues when I head up there, maybe go over some of the tackle requirements? |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 9:56pm
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Yeah 7 days wouldve gone too fast Bazza for sure.... You will probably just be starting to warm up on day 4-5 ? You gunna have a great time mate Yummy--crumpets,,i like mine with vegemite or peanut butter.. ------------- http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=717361 |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 10:05pm
Kinda gone off them myself, after over indulging the other night/morning
but agree a bit of crumpet now & then does not go amiss.
Regards warming up ........ reckon at 30 odd degrees that will happen the
moment we step off the plane. ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 10:10pm
Aye aye captain, sounds good also will lok forward to viewing the dvd's.
Heard back from Lillian ... that girl is amazing has everything sorted
already only waiting to hear re what arrangments required in Honiara.
PS had any decision from Cliffe as yet? ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 10:14pm
Haha--so true mate on both things. ------------- http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=717361 |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 10:22pm
| Stepping off the jet in honiara, often it is like walking face first into a warm, wet, sack. You start leaking immediately pretty much. Then there is the controlled nonchalant 50m dash to be the first to get in to the queues for clearing immigration, then waiting waitingwaiting for your bags (pleasebeherepleasebeherepleasebehere), then past the last obstacle, the baggage check (concentrate on looking innocent, open, friendly and not at all surreptitious), then out and getting mugged by 500 taxi drivers vying for your business. By the time you have done all this, your clothes are dripping (from the sweat people, shheeesshh, really), and getting into a car even with an asthmatically wheezing air con unit is sheer bliss! |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 10:38pm
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Sounds like a primo way to start the trip Stu,cos after going thru all of that then you have got all the blissfull fishing and scenery too look forward to....
------------- http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=717361 |
Posted By: whiti-fisho
Date Posted: 09 Jul 2012 at 7:40am
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Stu is right about getting slammed with the heat .We waited on tarmac at Auckland while plane was deiced so were dressed appropriately ,getting off at Honiara was like hitting a brick wall of heat .The wife and I made a promise that next time we would have a pair of shorts and a singlet in our hand luggage next time and get changed on the plane before touching down .Running round Honiara in jeans ,and warm shirt ,shoes and socks is not fun ------------- I step out my door to paradise on earth |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 09 Jul 2012 at 8:51am
| I still reckon you should come Steve... :-) |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2012 at 5:54pm
| You get that DVD yet Bazza? |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2012 at 6:06pm
No did not arrive today Stu ... maybe tomorrow.
Hey been meaning to tell you that there is a 50% chance my brother
may want to come along with us & will decide on the weekend.
In the interim Lillian is preparing a quote re flights as he lives in Cairns.
Hope you managed to get things sorted ok with immigration. ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2012 at 7:23pm
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More the merrier mate, no worries. Immigration, don't talk to me about &%^$(#&%$^%$(# immigration... but yes, I think we have it sorted out. The main thing was the attitude of the Uni, if they had refused admission without full visa then we'd have been screwed, but they accept students with pending visas, whch is what Phyllie will have after submitting the medical tomorrow. Boy, it'd be so good though if only the plonkers would tell you these things....(immigration I mean, not the uni, who were helpfullness and support personified) Anyhow... be very cool if your Bro can come too... here's hoping. cheers, Stu. |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 13 Jul 2012 at 1:38pm
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DVD arrived in todays' post thanks Stu ... am looking forward
to the zillion things needing to be done ( have not even cleaned
the boat from Wed trip out yet ) to relax & enjoy watching it. ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 13 Jul 2012 at 5:20pm
| At least you will get a basic idea of what the place is like now.... too lateto change ya mind now, nyarh-har-har! |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 13 Jul 2012 at 7:18pm
Wow some amazing footage Capt. but can't help but wonder what
it is that you have against us Jaffas! First off you tell us we can SW
flyfish by wading out a bit in front of the resort, then you send a dvd
showing yourself filleting fish on the beach then tossing a bit of the
waste bits into the tide & shortly after a couple of sizeable sharks are
fighting over them in only about 400mm of water!
Wow can't wait to try a feed of those mantis shrimps they are reputed
to taste better than prawns or cray. Why did she put back the big ones
.... were they her pets?
Yep thanks gave a greater insight into what to expect & having seen it
can hardly wait ........... roll on the 7th !!
Is it OK if I burn a copy to give to Adrian & maybe another for my bro.
Did you come thru to Aucks earlier in the week to visit the fishing gear
warehouse? If not we are keen to meet up with you there so as to be
pointed in the right direction as to what gear to buy.
Cheers Barry ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 13 Jul 2012 at 7:59pm
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Had major issues sorting out a student visa at the last moment, so this whole week was custard, but I am heading up there again next tuesday, could meet you.... ummmm... say Manukau FCO? Or somewhere else I guess, and I would be only too happy to give you some pointers. Gourocks are shifting everything out to Cookes in East Tamaki, so all their stuff is now packed in boxes awaiting unpacking and installation in the new show-room there, when they get the chance, which may be a few months! The sand flats are actually just around the corner, not right at the feeding station for the little blacktips :-) .... as I am sure you will find out for yourself when you get there :-) The big mantis shrimp were females in berry, so I made her put them back, much to Jennos disgust. :-) I will contact you on monday to tee-up when I am gunna be up there eh? cheers mate, Stu. |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 13 Jul 2012 at 8:45pm
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Tues or Wed orThus would be fine but Mon would be out as have
an appointment in the morning & getting my jabs in the arvo. ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2012 at 10:23pm
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Not long now and you guys will be jetting off to nice warm weather.... Hope you have an awesum time which after looking at the last report you surely will.. Look forward to your report Bazza |
Posted By: Capt Asparagus
Date Posted: 27 Jul 2012 at 11:02pm
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Indeed, just over a week to go. Getting the gears all together, shiny new rods'n'reels for the team, a bunch of lures , all sorted. Four of us going now, which is very cool, should be enough to run two boats.... a little inter-team rivalry going on perhaps even! Sitting here in matamata shivering away, man, the sollies are looking good! :-) |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 28 Jul 2012 at 2:27am
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Sweet--sounds good mate... A teams comp type of thing sounds like is going to make for a bit o fun Bit far to send Sollies oysters in frozen sea water via the mail huh Bazza.. Have an awesum trip all  |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 28 Jul 2012 at 7:47am
Thanks Daryl No I would not hold your breath waitng for any oysters in the mail mate ........ or from the usual domestic source for that matter as last time out on the Kaipara they had all but been wiped out by that virus that is decimating the commercial farming. Hmnn .... a team contest would be a bit of a worry unless I manage better than yesterday ie only two legal snaps & about 7 or 8 babies. Mind you should have known better than go out in a SE but unfortunately has been a Hobsons' choice situation of late in that regard & for a bit longer yet according to forecasts. ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 28 Jul 2012 at 7:54am
Thats no good with your oyster supply Bazza,hopefully it recovers soon for you mate. Im sure the weather will be 100% better over there and you might not want to come home. Or else you and the crew will just go straight from the Sollies to Grant Dixon's Samoa trip.. |