Charles Wheeler

The Port Vila Game Fishing Club, Tusker Game Fish Classic was held on the 28th & 29th of November 2009 and was run out of the Anchor Inn with a total of 19 boats and 54 anglers. It was also great to see many international anglers coming from Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia to experience some great Blue Marlin fishing. Start fishing on Saturday was at 7am after a spectacular shot gun start in Port Vila Harbour. The seas were great for the weekend with 10-15 knots and seas to 1-1.5 metres.

Nevagivups team this year consisted of Rodney & Gayle McPhee, Michelle and our Skipper Captain Charles Wheeler. Unfortunately this year saw Rodney spending the whole weekend in bed with a mysterious illness so this left the girls to do battle with the rest of the field. Saturday saw Nevagivup tagging and releasing two Blue Marlin on 15Kg line class after raising four Blues for the day. Michelle encountered a nice 140Kg Blue Marlin and after an hour the fish was released. In between the next Blue, Gayle landed a nice Mahi Mahi, then we were pulling our hair out with a small Blue that just wouldn’t hook up, he took the lure 5 times before he gave up. Then half an hour later, Michelle was onto another Blue, after a 10 minute fight a small Blue around the 60Kg mark was tagged and released. After being on the troll again, Gayle hooked up to a nice Blue around the 100kg mark, after an hour into the battle with the fish just out of tagging range, the line gave way, bugger! What a great days fishing though, this put Nevagivup into the lead with V-Factor in second place. There was a total of 4 Blue Marlin tagged and released for Saturday. There was also a great range of other species bought to the weigh station as well.

Sunday morning saw the fleet head out early as start fishing was at 6am, the seas were calm and we were excited to get amoungst the fish again. As it always goes, we couldn’t even raise a fish for love or money! V-Factor was on fire on Sunday and tagged 2 Blue Marlin on 15Kg. It was neck and neck with two hours left of fishing so Charles decided that we need another species to get us over the line as there was only 1Kg separating 1st and 2nd. Gayle landed a nice 10Kg Wahoo that would have done the job but V- Factor could do no wrong and ended up with their second fish for the day. There was a total of 8 Blues tagged and released on Sunday.

Sunday evening saw the presentation held at the Anchor Inn with the last man standing draw and the presentations. The end results were great for the girls; Michelle took out Champion Angler overall (2nd year running), Champion Female Angler (2nd year running), Gayle with best Wahoo for the tournament and Charles took home Champion Skipper (3rd year running), not a bad effort from the girls and many thanks must go to our Deck Hand Andrew who did a wonderful job.

If you are after a great weekend of fishing and social fun, then you better get in early for next year as I’m sure that it will be bigger and better than this year!

Sunday the 22nd of February 2009 saw five vessels take the ladies out  to fish the waters of Port Vila. The weather gods had looked down on us once again and the ladies had a great day out on the water with the odd glass of champagne being consumed.

Nevagivup skippered by Captain Charles Wheeler, with anglers Michelle Temminck and Samantha Vale and deck hands Russ Housby and Richard Moruk, took out the tournament with two Mahi Mahi to Sam and adding another 10Kg record to Nevagivup’s tally. We also lost two Blue Marlin, with the hard luck story of the tournament going to Michelle after a 1 1/2 hour fight with a 500pd Blue Marlin on 30pd line. Due to some minor problems on the boat, we had to cut the fish off.

All in all, it was a wonderful day out on the water and some of the ladies got amoungst the action.

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!

 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! 

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.

Have you ever seen a harder looking crew? This marvelous shot was taken from low down on the fishing deck while the anglers and crew watched a Marlin toy with Nevagivup’s array of lures.

This Newsletter we get up close and personal with our Captain Richard Moruk “What Now” . Richard has been fishing out of Port Vila for the last eight years and has deckied on Nevagivup for the last four years. Charles and Richard have over 30 local records under their belts and they love nothing more than to chase the next record. Richard also comes from the island of Paama and now lives in Port Vila. He is also skippering Nevagivup these days and loves chasing the next record!