Vanuatu Fishing Reports

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!

 This Newsletter we get up close and personal with James Koam. James is our deck hand on Horizon and lends a hand on Nevagivup when they are record chasing! He has been with Crusoe Fishing for the last four years and his favourite charters are our live aboard charters up to the Northern Islands. Along with our Skipper Charlie, the boys take you to their islands of Paama and Ambrym to experience cultural life. James now lives in Port Vila with his wife Nancy and seven children!  

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!