Nevagivup

The Tusker Game Fishing Classic was held on the 8^th & 9^th of November from Port Vila Vanuatu and twelve teams entered for some fantastic fishing on Blue Marlin and the usual pelagic species. The weather gods turned it on with no more than 10 knots on Saturday and no wind on Sunday and it was hot out on the water. There were quite a few Blues hooked on Saturday and only two were tagged and the action hotted up on Sunday morning with the first Marlin being hooked at 6.15am. The bite lasted for about an hour and boats were hooking up one after the other!There were some notable catches of Mahi Mahi one being 10Kg caught on 4Kg and a new Vanuatu Ladies record on 24Kg for a 21.8Kg Barracuda. There were also some nice Dog Tooth Tuna bought to the scales as well.The team aboard Nevagivup consisted of Rodney & Gayle McPhee and Michelle Temminck skippered by Charles Wheeler and Deck Hand Richard. Rodney and Gayle were out to defend their winning title from last year. The first day we saw 4 Blue Marlin and 1 Sail fish and we managed to pull the hooks on two fish! Gayle landed a nice Mahi Mahi on 15Kg line as well. The team aboard Horizon, all Aussie anglers and skippered by Sean Winslett and Deck Hand James managed to raise 3 Blues as well for the day. Sunday saw Nevagivup turn into Reel Capture due to engine troubles and we hooked our first Blue at 6.35am only to have him charge the boat and throw the lure. Ten minutes later Michelle hooked a Blue around 130Kg on 15Kg and we had the tag in the fish after 15 minutes. The competition was hotting up with other teams tagging fish on heavier line classes and we knew that we had to tag another one on 15Kg to secure the lead. Rodney hooked a nice Blue on 15Kg at around 11.20am and after 25 minutes the tag was in! Horizon raised three Blues but the hooks were pulled as well. Between our two boats we raised 13 Blue Marlin and 1 Sailfish and landed a couple of nice Mahi Mahi.The final run down for our winning team on Nevagivup/Reel Capture was;Best Angler Tag & Release             Michelle TemminckBest Boat                                           Nevagivup/Reel CaptureBest Lady Angler                              Michelle TemminckBest Skipper                                     Charles WheelerAll in all this is a great tournament and the fishing and competition was enjoyed by all.

 Mark and Carol Goodger are no strangers to fishing Vanuatu. On their trip here in July, Carol was keen to catch her first Sailfish. With seas that were not too kind, Richard ventured to Hat Island and after a couple of hours, Carol was on her first Sailfish. The previous record for Women 24Kg was 30.4Kg which was back in 2005, Carol’s Sailfish tipped the scales at 38.4Kg and she won her  battle with this fish after a 15 minute fight. Congratulations Carol on your first Sailfish and we were very proud to be able to deliver!  

The Vanuatu Marlin Classic was held from the 8th - 14th June 2008 and Crusoe Fishing Adventures had five teams entered fishing from all three of our vessels. There was a total of seventeen teams entered this year and the weather was a little ordinary. Nevagivup Team B, skippered by Charles Wheeler, managed to hook four marlin for the three days fishing with Chris on a nice Blue around the 350lb mark on 30pd for 21/2 hours only to have the hooks pull at the back of the boat.

Reel Capture Team A who consisted of Tim, Leanne and Travis and skippered by Fred Temminck, managed to tag and release a small Blue Marlin on 50lb line to take out third place. The fish was caught by Travis Auton and this was his first marlin. There was only one fish caught for 1st and 2nd place but they were on 30lb line. Plenty of fish were lost and seen and once again it was a fantastic tournament.

If you would like to fish the tournament next year, you better get in quick as we have bookings already!

 This April saw Nevagivup, Shogun and V-Factor head up to Epi with groups from the New Zealand Fishing News Magazine. Initially a 5 day trip, the trip was delayed by one day due to poor weather conditions. With crews staying at Taso’s Bungalows at Epi, the guys were keen to get into the fish. With a mini comp in progress; Nevagivup blitzed the field with nineteen different species which ranged from Marlin, Dog Tooth Tuna to Coral Trout and GT’s! A great time was had by all and the week ended with a Presentation dinner on the Friday night. The next trip is September which is fully booked.  

 As it was the 1st day of April being April Fools day the weather was perfect and we had friends over from Australia, why not give this fly fishing a go for Marlin. Fred and Charles had been talking about it for the last few months and the plan was to head out and find some fish! This we did indeed! I was a little skeptical trolling lures around with no hooks but after seeing what I saw on this day, this has now changed. The call came from the boys “on the right, on the left” and after Richard had teased a nice 120pd Blue Marlin to the back of the boat, Fred cast his fly and the Marlin took it. When Fred went to set the hook, the Marlin was smart enough to flick his head and freedom was his once again. After the initial excitement, we all said that was awesome, let’s go find another one. A few hours passed by and by mid afternoon we had another fish up in the pattern. After Charles nearly fell off the flybridge with excitement he was yelling, “it’s a big fish ” it was decided not to tease him up but he wouldn’t let go of the lure! This fish was estimated at around 700lb! Not easy to catch when you are only using 10Kg tippet! I’m now hooked but it sure isn’t the easiest way to catch a Marlin! If you are up to the challenge this style of game fishing will certainly test you out! 

This Newsletter we get up close and personal with Charles Wheeler our partner and Skipper of Nevagivup. Charles is the king of Fly Fishing in Vanuatu and has 5 World Records to his credit. He has lived in Port Vila for the last seven years and his passion for fishing originated from Hunting in England. In his spare time he loved to go game fishing around the world. His passion then turned into a new career after visiting Vanuatu and realizing the potential that Vanuatu had for big Blue Marlin and targeting them year round.  Next month we feature Fred Fly Fishing for Marlin on Nevagivup! 

If you are interested in fishing the VMC in June, you better get in quick to secure either a spot or a boat. Nevagivup and Reel Capture are fully booked and Horizon is still available.  So drop us an email to secure your spot.  For more information on the tournament go to www.vanuatumarlinclassic.com

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 is a 34ft Blackwatch powered by 2 x 330Hp Cummins diesel shaft drive engines. She specializes in all tackle records and has many to her name. Nevagivup is skippered by the legendary Charles Wheeler who has been game fishing out of Vanuatu for the past six years. She is well suited for Port Vila conditions and is always ready to chase the next record.