Vava’u Sport Fishing Club
Tonga Fish Tales Newsletter – May 2010 Tonga Fish Tales © Copyright
May weather was reasonably settled with enough good days to venture just about anywhere to fish. The water temperature is still dropping and by month’s end it hit 26 degrees. The predominate SE trades have kicked in and the current is running South West which all meant another good run of Blues and some respectable Mahimahi catches.
Billfish Action ......... May can be a bit slow but this season it’s still firing with a lot of good sized Blues from 200kg plus down to 80kg. The middle ground and Western Sea Mount held good concentrations of Blues feeding on massive schools of Skipjack and Kawakawa. The visiting sport fisher ‘Dream’in On’ - 85ft from Alabama, USA had a ball and on their best day they raised seven Blues. They fished Vava’u for around 3 weeks and they averaged a marlin plus a day together with a few good Yellow Fin, Mahimahi & Wahoo. Live-baiting was very productive and the best for the month was a 211kg Blue, solo fisherman effort. Sails were hard to find and only two were reported for the month.
Yellow Fin Action ...... One 50kg and a couple reported in at 20kg -25kg range but mostly school size all around 8kg. Some very big work ups out west and Reel Addiction managed to pull two Big Eye Tuna out of a work out. There are very few instances in Tongan waters where Big Eye are caught by recreational tackle as they are usually in deep, cold water thermacylines.
Wahoo Action ............ Find the bait and right on the edge you find the teeth brigade. Nothing huge but quite a few fish around in the 20kg range. Consistent catches reported from around the FAD area and on top of the western sea mount.
Mahimahi Action ........ A big improvement in abundance and some very impressive catches. A lot of the fish reported were all around the 16kg -18kg size with a few whoppers in the 21 - 23kg range. The bigger fish were also taking slow trolled live skipjack which became a bit of a problem for one boat trying to target Blues. The Bull Mahimahi continually harassed the baits, mauled them and beat the marlin to the bait.
GT Action .......... A few fish good fish reported in the 15kg -20kg plus size one whopper all taken on Poppers.
Reef Fishing ........ Coral Trout seemed to be the flavour of the month with one fish reported at 10kg. Emperor species were also in good numbers jigging and baits producing consistent catches.
New Records for the Month ....
Mahimahi 22.5kg on 15kg - Angler Norie Blanks - Target One. A great effort producing a New Woman’s National & Club line class and an “All Tackle Record” for the club..
Mahimahi 21kg on 60kg – Angler Craig Carlson – Reel Addiction Club & National Record
Big Eye Tuna 7.1kg – Angler Steve Campbell – Reel Addiction Club & National Record
Big Eye Tuna 7.8kg on 37kg Angler Glenn Huber - Reel Addiction Club & National Record
Skipjack 4.10kg on 1kg – Angler Steve Campbell – Reel Addiction Club & National Record
Giant Trevally 37.5kg on 60kg – Angler Kurt Carlson – Lupo Club & National Record
Mangrove Jack 6.8kg on 37kg – Angler James Taylor – Dora Malia Club & National Record
Emperor Longface 6kg on 37kg – Angler James Taylor – Dora Malia Club & National Record
Whale sightings ..... one Humpback has been verified in Vava’u waters and Henk Gros on “Target One” had a spectacular experience with a pod of Sperm Whales playing around his boat. The pod included young calves showing no fear of the vessel. Sperm Whales do not tend to spend too much time in Vava’u waters – moving on same day. Spinner Dolphins also about in small pods .... seen playing and bow riding boats in Hunga Lagoon. These pods also had very young calves.
Visiting Yachts ..... the last week of May saw the arrival of quite a few international sailing vessels and over the next few months Vava’u is likely to host up to 150 plus vessels.
The Return of Boris .... Capt. Boris & the Team on Levenuella won the 2009 TIBT and the coveted invitational prize to fish the IGFA Offshore World Championship held in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The fishing was slow by Cabo standards but they had a ball, met a lot of good people from all round the globe and even managed to catch a few fish. The Team by all accounts made a good impression and were great ambassadors for Tonga Tourism and our fishery.


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

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