Vanuatu Trip 2008
Just got back from another awesome adventure to fish Vanuatu, with Pete on Shogun.
We struck some awesome weather, the usual trade winds weren't blowing which bode well for smooth seas, but after a cool winter in New Zealand it was straight into the water and a few beers to avoid deyhdration....
The first morning it was up at first light and it didn't take long before the first mahimahi jumped into the spread , we nabbed some nice 20kg Yellowfin on Bonze's new prototype lure. A bit further on we got on to a nice patch of birds and there were fins slicing through the water everywhere, birds sqwuaking and bait being busted up, the perfect yellowfin work up. The first reel went off......Pete kept the boat going.....the second reel went off.....Pete kept the boat going.....the third reel went off......still going.....and we had the fourth on!!!!
Four nice yellowfin over 20kg joined the rest of the fish in the bin and we were assured a very warm welcome at the village that night!! To round a pretty special first day off, a billfish decided to jump into the spread, knocking down the rigger. Pete gunned Shogun and turned hard to port and this got the response we wanted as the 50W Tiagra howled. Euan was in the chair and got stuck into the fish. What we thought was going to be a small marlin, turned out to be a very respectable sail over 50kg
We arrived at Epi, settled into our bunkhouse and the catch of the day was divided up amongst the village before the ladies put on an awesome spread for us. You don't go hungry on these trips, plenty of fresh fish and local fruit and veges!
The second day Bill Collector got into a nice tasty jobbie, which was cooked in a coconut currry that night. A Bushie nailed a nice GT on a pink spear Over the reefs livies turned up the best fish, and Busie nailed a primo 25kg GT on a live rainbow runner
The rest of the trip saw plenty of mahi's and yellowin pouncing on the lures. And we hit another big yellowfun workup that had Euan sweating on this BIG fin, a typical November yellowfin for Vanuatu, weighing in at 62kg
And if we already hadn't eaten like kings, the last night on the island the village put on a pig for us and we got to see the whole process from it being cleaned up, marinated, wrapped in coals and leaves and put on the fire....
The billfish didn't really play ball but thats fishing, we had one up in the lures on the last day but he didn't seem hungry. We still saw some pretty awesome action, had some superb weather and saw some amazing sights. Big thanks to Pete and Leanne for once again being great hosts.
There was also a fair bit of banter on this trip as you can probably imagine....what goes on tour stays on tour, although .....the quote of the trip has to be "It is really hard to get pissed on this beer" quote from Bill Collector about to keel over after his tenth MARGARITA on our last night.....
