Tournaments

 The organisers of the Vanuatu Marlin Classic are proud to annonce that the Grand Hotel and Casino has become the naming sponsor and major sponsor of this yearly event. This relationship has been years in the making and is an obvious fit for both the Grand Hotel and the Vanuatu Marlin Classic Tournament. The Grand Hotel boasts high quality facilities including various well appointed and award winning dining venues, a world class Casino, a host of luxury accomodation and access to a wide variety of activities; all supported by their professional and well trained staff. We believe that this arrangement will provide an even better experience for our competitors and their family members that travel to support them and to enjoy quality time in the heart of Port Vila, Vanuatu. The Grand Hotel is offering special accommodation packages for competitors starting at $175 AUD/night. From the morning shotgun start (7am) in front of the Grand Hotel and the day’s activities to the evening weigh-in, fine dining and nightlife the Grand Hotel is where you will want to be.

The 2010 Marlin Classic will see a few changes in the overall format of the tournament. The first 6annual VMC competitions have all been based upon the best score over three days of fishing. Feedback from participants and local fishing enthusiasts has led us to modify our approach. Starting in 2010 there will be 4 major prizes rather than the three (1st, 2nd and 3rd places) we have always featured in the past. The 4th major prize will be awarded based on the most points scored on a single day of fishing. This will allow for single-day and two-day entries as well as the full three-day entry. Entrance fees are 150,000 vatu for a full 3-day entry, 100,000 vatu for a 2-day entry and 50,000 vatu for a single-day entry. The tournament is held over a 7 day period which allows team entered to choose their fishing days. The Marlin Classic is a tag and release tournament. Points are awarded based on line class of the tackle employed including: 130 lb, 80 lb, 50 lb, and 30 lb. Lighter line class captures receive significantly more points. There will also be prizes for the best Mahi Mahi, Wahoo and Yellowfin Tuna caught during the tournament. Visit the Grand Hotel and Casino Vanuatu Marlin Clasic website for further information; www.vanuatumarlinclassic.com The Vanuatu Marlin Classic is also a qualifying event for the IFGA Offshore World Championship held from Cabo San Lucas in Mexico each year.

The Vanuatu Marlin Classic is held from the 23^rd - 29^th May 2010.

For availability on our vessels, just drop us an email and we can let you know what we have available!

 The Port Vila Game Fishing Club held its annual 3 Species tournament on the 20th of July. Only a few vessels entered this tournament but we had a great day out on the water. Reel Capture ventured up to Monument Rock and Mataso after a 4am start! Fishing was aimed at targeting three species with line classes from 1kg—24Kg. This may sound easy but try catching one that qualifies! We managed to hook quite allot of fish on light line either to be broken off or they just fell off! After the end of the day, nobody won the tournament as no fish qualified at the way in but a great time was had by all.  

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!

 May saw our team head off to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico to fish the Rolex IGFA World Championships. This year 63 teams were entered. Our team was Grant, Chris, Michelle, Fred and John. We were all excited as Fred and I had fished this tournament before and with all of our tackle well prepared, we only needed the fish to co-operate. Fishing the four days in this tournament is a great experience as we saw 50-60 Striped Marlin a day and they proved hard to catch. With plenty of baits pitched to tailor’s, they just weren’t interested, which makes for very frustrating fishing. We managed to release 3 Striped Marlin for points and lost a couple at the back of the boat. Chris and John ended up with their first Striped Marlin release which was a great effort. With the Vanuatu Marlin Classic just around the corner, all of our teams are fighting for the title once again to head over to Cabo San Lucas next year! 

Don’t think its too late to fish the VMC as we still have one team still open on Horizon. There is also one spot left on Team A on Horizon. So want to fish for some great prizes, meet some great people who like to have fun, then don’t hesitate to send us an email to secure your team or spot.  

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!

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

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!

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!

Reel Capture was skippered by Charles Wheeler and the deck hands were Richard and Charlie. The anglers, Michelle Temminck, Grant Hall and Chris are seen here happily displaying their awards.