Marlin

After much discussion and perusal of sea charts between Charles and Fred, it was decided to organize a weekend away on an exploration trip of the sea mounts approximately 70nm from Port Vila in the hunt for Broadbill. The weather was kind and seas to 1 metre, so we departed at 1am on Saturday morning with Horizon and Nevagivup and 6pax on each vessel with enough food and drink to last for a week! Once the sun had risen, we trolled our way to the sea mount and Horizon hooked two Blue Marlin only to have them fall off. We reached the sea mount at approximately 11am and found a rather large long linger working to the south of us. We then headed to the northern part and found some interesting ground. Nevagivup encountered some rather extra large Yellowfin tuna around the 70-80Kg range but were very finicky and raised a Marlin as well while Horizon worked the southern area.

As the sunset each vessel changed tactics and deployed the Broadbill gear, with baits and siloom sticks. Horizon had a solid hook up on the down rigger at 10.30pm only to have the line part At midnight we decided to head into Forari Bay in the hunt for some Dog Tooth Tuna. Nevagivup landed a nice 28Kg Doggie and Horizon ended up with two Barracuda. After a couple of hours we decided to head to Scotts Rock and circum navigate the Island as most of the crews had not been up that way. The water out wide was full of coral spawn and we feel that if the water was clearer we would have had much more success but apart from the fishing, everyone had a fantastic weekend enjoying the scenery and the company on board.

The crew headed out for a fun day out on the water and we decided to fish light tackle just for fun. With Charles Wheeler at the helm, Fred landed this 68 Kg Yellowfin Tuna on 24Kg line. Not a bad effort after 40 minutes and John tagged a Blue Marlin around the 130Kg mark on 15Kg line. A great effort after a one hour fight!

NEVAGIVUP AND REEL CAPTURE - 1ST AND 2ND PLACE!

The 2007 PVGFC Tusker Game Fish Classic was held out of Port Vila on the 10th & 11th November 2007. There were 13 boats in total and the weather conditions were not so pleasant on the Saturday morning but the seas abated for Sunday’s fishing.

There were around 20 Blue Marlin hooked during the tournament and the aim of the tournament was to promote the skill of light tackle for all pelagics. The line class category was from 4kg-60Kg with points awarded accordingly.

Nevagivup tagged and released a Blue Marlin on Saturday on 15Kg line for maximum points on Marlin to Gayle McPhee and another Blue Marlin was tagged by Russ Housby (deck hand and his first Marlin) after there double hook up. Both fish were on 15Kg line and this was a great effort and unfortunately, Gayle’s fish was the only one that was eligible for points. This had Nevagivup sitting on 1500 Points.

Reel Capture also tagged and released a Blue Marlin on Saturday on 24Kg line for 1,000 points for Greg Procter. Greg also landed a nice Mahi Mahi on 24Kg line as well.

The round up for the Saturday afternoon was Nevagivup and Reel Capture on top of the leader board. Sunday morning saw a very hot bite of marlin around Devils FAD and there were plenty of fish hooked and lost. Reel Capture lost a nice Marlin on 15Kg after a one hour fight after pulling the hooks at the side of the boat! Nevagivup also lost a Marlin on 15Kg as well! So the end result was there being no Marlin tagged on the Sunday.

So the wash up of the tournament was 1st place - Nevagivup skippered by Charles Wheeler 2nd place - Reel Capture skippered by Fred Temminck and 3rd place - Lucky Jack. Reel Capture secured 2nd place with their weighed Mahi Mahi!

Congratulations to Gayle McPhee for cleaning up the prize pool and also to Greg with his 1st place Mahi Mahi and runner- up angler prizes.

Just another notch in the Crusoe Fishing Camp! Well done guys!

A juvenile Marlin sets the scene as it comes in to check out the lures in Nevagivup’s wake. For me this picture emotes exciting memories of seeing similar events. That feeling of anticipation mixed with desperation and hope as you silently will the fish to take the lure! Stuff work, I am going fishing!

Gayle McPhee and her husband pose for a shot beside a 101Kg Pacific Blue Marlin landed aboard Horizon skippered by Charles Wheeler. The catch placed Gayle in the record books for Ladies 15Kg line class. Also in the photo is renown fisherman Fred Temminck.

A very happy customer is ecstatic as he is dwarfed by this lovely Pacific Blue Marlin he landed aboard Horizon.

Captain Charlie Tui has added another record to the collection whilst out on a live aboard charter in mid September with the Morris family from Tasmania.

Edward landed a 27 Kg Short Bill Spearfish on 37 Kg line class. Well done Edward, This was also the Vanuatu All Tackle Record!

With a whopping 30 charters in August and 36 charters in September, Crusoe Fishing Adventures has had it’s busiest months since we have been here!

Leanne and her partner Tim fished with us in August and managed to fish a day on each of our boats. Their end tally was 7 Blue Marlin raised, 4 hooked and 1 tagged. The fish were winning that week! They also ended up with a nice mixed bag of Yellowfin Tuna, Wahoo, Mahi Mahi and also raised a couple of Sailfish. The pictures are of Leanne with a small Vanuatu Yellowfin and Tim with a nice Bull Mahi Mahi.

This month I am going to list the newsletter stories individually on our blog as it is more suited for that format.

Reel Capture has been on a roll the last two months with winning 3 out of the 4 tournaments that have been held in Port Vila over the last two months. The first win was the Tusker Easter Tournament which was held from Havanna Harbour, the second win was the ITM Group which was fished over four days and the latest win was the Vanuatu Marlin Classic which concluded on the 1st of June.

Tusker Easter Tournament

The Tusker Easter Tournament was fished over the Easter weekend and was a 6Kg and under line class tournament. 12 Boats entered the tournament and stayed overnight at Havanna Harbour and enjoyed the hospitality of Gideon’s landing along with a few cold beers and lots of stories of the ones that got away on light tackle. Reel Capture was skippered by Fred Temminck and the crew was his wife Michelle, Paul and Shane. Fred also managed two new Vanuatu records on 4Kg with a Mahi Mahi weighing 6.6Kg and a Wahoo weighing 10.2Kg. The result was 7 Wahoo and 1 Mahi Mahi which saw Reel Capture take out Champion Boat, Best Capture and Best Angler went to Fred.

ITM Fishing Group

Over the last four years, the ITM fishing group (NZ) has been holding it’s own tournament out of Port Vila. 5 boats were used to accommodate the keen anglers and fishing was held over four days. Reel Capture was skippered by our new skipper Charlie Tui and had a different team fish on the boat each day. Reel Capture landed a nice 72Kg Yellowfin and tagged a 400pound Blue Marlin and also bought in a few nice Wahoo. This saw Reel Capture take out Champion boat, Champion skipper and crew for the tournament.

Vanuatu Marlin Classic

In it’s fourth year running the Vanuatu Marlin Classic was held from the 26th May - 1st June from the Waterfront Port Vila. There were 21 teams entered and each team was allowed to fish 3 days each. Team A onboard Reel Capture was skippered by Charles Wheeler and the crew consisted of Fred, Gabby, Shane and Steve flew in from Australia. Team A managed to tag a Sailfish and lost a nice 700 pound Blue Marlin on 30 pound line. Team B fished the last 3 days and was skippered by Charles Wheeler and the crew consisted of Michelle, Grant and Sparkey. On the team’s first day they raised a total of 5 Blue Marlin and only one fish decided to eat and Michelle tagged a nice 300 pound Blue Marlin on 30 pound! (which was the only Marlin tagged on 30 pound for the whole tournament). The second day was very quite with only one fish raised. Day three saw Grant tag a nice 150 pound Blue Marlin on 50 pound. This put Team B in the lead with 3,130 points and of course we cleaned up! Team B will also be heading to Cabo San Lucas next May to fish the Rolex tournament. Team B has already rebooked again for next year’s tournament!