Records

 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!  

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! 

REEL CAPTURE TAKES OUT EASTER TOURNAMENT 2008

Five boats fished the Tusker Easter Tournament which was held from Havanna Harbour and was fished on Saturday and Sunday. This tournament is 6Kg and under and anglers are put to the test to fish light tackle. The other aim of the tournament is to fish grounds that we don’t often get to. Nevagivup and Reel Capture headed up on Friday afternoon to make our run shorter on the Saturday morning.

The plan for Saturday morning was to head to Nguna with reports of plenty of bait and action up there in the lead up to the tournament. After cease fishing on Saturday, Reel Capture who had Fred and Michelle, Gary and Ingrid on board, had landed a couple of nice Dog Tooth Tuna on 4kg, a Wahoo on 6kg to Michelle which was a new Vanuatu record and some Skip Jack Tuna. The fishing was quite hot on the Saturday with tailing Sailfish in the area as well. Reel Capture raised three Sails to no avail. Results after Saturday had Reel Capture in the lead, followed by Half Cut, V-Factor and Nevagivup. Paul fishing aboard Nevagivup landed a nice 2.4Kg Skip Jack on 2Kg line class which was also a new Vanuatu record.

Sunday sore the weather a little calmer as well and also the fishing was allot slower as it was the day after the full moon. Sunday was also a shorter fishing day with cease fishing at 12pm. Reel Capture landed another nice 17.6Kg Wahoo on 6kg line to Michelle (who broke her record from the day before) and a nice Yellowfin Tuna on 4kg to Gary. After hearing the scheds during the day, we knew that we had the comp in the bag. With 1 1/2hours left until cease fishing, Fred decided to head out wide to try and catch a Marlin on 6kg line. We stumbled across quite a few birds working and as soon as we started working the area we hooked a nice Blue Marlin on 6kg, only to have him fall off! The gear went back into the water and 5 minutes later we hooked another small Blue only to have him also fall off. Cease fishing was called and we didn’t want to leave the fish but had to head back to Havanna Harbour to weigh our fish in.

The final results of the tournament were;

Best Angler                              Michelle Temminck

Best Boat                                  Reel Capture

Most Meritorious Capture           Fred Temminck

Best Capture                            Fred Temminck

Second Place                             Half Cut

Third Place                                Nevagivup

All in all it was a fantastic weekend away with plenty of laughs and of course too many beers! This is the second year running that Reel Capture has won this tournament and we are looking forward to next Easter already!

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.

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.

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!

Captain Richard has added a new 15 Kg Men’s Skipjack Tuna to the record books for angler Richard Fogarty on the 4th of September. This rather large skipjack tuna tipped the scales at 10 Kg. Congratulations to Richard as this was his first fishing trip and first record!

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!

Alana Underwood from the Sunshine Coast now holds the new 37Kg Women’s Blue Marlin record with her fish weighing in at 160.6Kg. Alana and her husband Ben went out on Reel Capture on the 15th of June and after hooking 4 Blue Marlin for the day, one being tagged by Ben and unfortunately Alana’s fish ended up tail wrapped after a one hour fight. This fish was Alana’s first Marlin and ended up being a record. Well done Alana!

REEL CAPTURE TAKES OUT THE VANUATU TUSKER EASTER CHALLENGE

During the Easter break, 12 boats ventured out for a weekend of fun and light tackle fishing. Light tackle fishing is not common in Port Vila so the Port Vila Game Fishing Club hosts this annual event to promote this style of fishing. The target species for the weekend are all pelagic species.

Fred Temminck along with his wife Michelle with friends Paul and Shane headed off early Saturday morning and headed to Tuk Tuk fad and the Marlin Highway, crazy we know with fishing with 4kg and 6kg line class. The possibility of being blown away by a big Blue Marlin was always in the back of our minds. The morning was quite to what we are use to but Fred managed to land a new Vanuatu record on 4kg with a nice 6.6Kg Mahi Mahi.

After cease fishing was called, the fleet headed back into Havanna Harbour to join up for a swim, good feed and of course a few coldies. That night we encountered 2 Metres of rain! So to say that we were wet was an understatement.

Sunday morning we ventured further north to an Island called Nguna. The fish were not on the chew the day before but the Wahoo sure did make up for it. Sunday was only a half day of fishing and Reel Capture managed 7 Wahoo strikes, landed 5 and Fred did it again with another Vanuatu Record! This time it was a nice 10.2Kg Wahoo on 4Kg line class.

After cease fishing was called, there were a couple of boats very close to us in the point scores, so we had to wait for the weigh in. At the end of it all, Reel Capture took out Champion Boat, Champion Angler and also Best Capture.

I must say that this was indeed a fun tournament held out of a beautiful place, I cannot wait to fish it next year!