Vava’u Sport Fishing Club

Tonga Fish Tales © Copyright

March ...... Following the big blow in February, March improved and the weather was not too bad despite the presence of “Thomas” which ravaged Fiji.
Tonga had big swells & strong currents mid month and this washed in some amazing big yellow fin action with acres of bait and meatballs together with blues and the razor gang - wahoo.

Billfish Action ..... Not too many boats were out early in the month but as the seas conditions improved, the fleet ventured out to find some great action around the middle ground. Acres of bait being crashed by billfish, yellow fin and wahoo.
The blues were hard to hook ..... just so much bait around and even live-baiting was a bit slow. When they came on the bite it was fast and furious with a lot of the fish in the 70kg-80kg range. No big fish reported for the month

Yellow Fin ...... Imagine acres of yellow fin crashing meatballs and where the sky was dark from literally thousands of seas birds joining in on the feast. It was hard to stay clear of the feeding fish ..... it covered such a big area and it was near impossible to run anymore than two to three lines as the risk of multiple 60kg-70kg Yellow Fin hook ups was so high.
One solo fisherman ..... lost 4 lures in the space of 30 minutes due to multiple hook ups and bust offs ... away went the 15kg tackle and out came the 37kg gear ..... biggest landed 70.50kg. It was great fishing and for first time angler’s .... winding in 60kg plus of yellow fin was an experience never to be forgotten.

Wahoo ..... A lot of wahoo amongst the huge volume of bait and most likely it was the “hoo” responsible for a lot of reported cut offs. A few good fish around the 18kg-20kg reported

Mahimahi..... Still very slow despite the bait around the middle ground and what was reported were mostly small fish in the 7kg-8kg range. Heaviest weighed for the month, a pip under 19kg – a big bull out of nowhere.

FAD Status ..... Vava’u lost the new deep water, Northern FAD following Rene ... it had only been down some 6 months and is a major setback for the Club. The cost of replacement is around US$7,500. With the Southern Fad also gone we only have the Middle FAD left and that also was damaged during the blow – subsequently repaired. The club will be brainstorming on ideas to raise much needed funds to replace the two FADs.

New Incoming 2010 VSFC Committee ....
President - Lole Lui, Vice President - Scott Percy, Treasurer – Janine Le Strange, Secretary/Record Keeper – Steve Campbell, Keith McKee & Matt Mulligan




VSFC Web Page ...... Not too far away ....... 30th April Deadline
The web page will provide information for both local and international anglers including national and club records, membership forms, weigh sheets, major tournaments and travel tips to Tonga/Vava’u. www.vavausportfishingclub.com - write it down .......


Tournament Dates for 2010 – Pencil them In NOW .........

19th Tonga International Billfish Tournament – September 17th – 22nd

New Zealand Fishing News Tournament – October 21st – 28th

Tonga National Tournament – 27th November, 3rd & 4th December


Steve Campbell
ikalahi@tongafishing.com

Tonga Fish Tales © Copyright