This is an account of Day 1 of our 2 day fishing bash with Ian our head guide, written by Chris.
I can’t say that Day 1 was the best organized days fishing, but after a long summer of painting, decorating, plumbing, electrical messing about, it takes a little while to get back into gear. However we managed to get away by 7am and roared off into the rising sun towards Ranguana, some 50 minutes run, which would be our starting off point. From there the plan was to cross over the reef and scout the deep blue water for tuna.
We had only been there about ten minutes before Ian spotted a few birds circling in the distance. When we got there, we found an area probably three hundred yards long, by about fifty yards wide boiling with what looked like small bonita flying out of the water in all directions. An amazing, if quite common sight out here. What was even more amazing is that there were only about half a dozen terns flying over the area feeding. Usually the birds gather in uncountable flocks, until the air is almost like a cloud. The water was full of fish scales, testament to the carnage going on below.
Carefully, Ian ran the boat around the outside of the school, so as not to spook anything. The idea is to turn sharply across in front of the school and skate your lures across in front of them. Naturally we had been feverishly tackling up with top water tuna lures in anticipation of a quick hook up. Well the Williamson Sea Witch I was using proved to be what they wanted, and I brought in a blackfin tuna about 4lbs shortly followed by a blue bonito (aka false albacore) about 6lbs . Two hits in quick succession and suddenly the shoal just went deep and disappeared.
We moved into a nearby channel just off the reef and soon started finding the ubiquitous barracuda. We picked up half a dozen all around the ten pound mark, which gave us good sport, plus a couple of yellowtail snappers in the shallow water around the reef.
By this time the sun was at its height and blazing down. The channel we were in seemed suddenly devoid of fish despite us trying very deep divers and all sorts of colours. Suddenly a cold beer on our verandah back home sounded an irresistible proposition. So we decided as we had a long day planned for tomorrow we would head back early. Our fish box was full, so tuna and barracuda for the freezer, plus plenty to take into the village where fresh fish is always appreciated.
I can’t say that Day 1 was the best organized days fishing, but after a long summer of painting, decorating, plumbing, electrical messing about, it takes a little while to get back into gear. However we managed to get away by 7am and roared off into the rising sun towards Ranguana, some 50 minutes run, which would be our starting off point. From there the plan was to cross over the reef and scout the deep blue water for tuna.
We had only been there about ten minutes before Ian spotted a few birds circling in the distance. When we got there, we found an area probably three hundred yards long, by about fifty yards wide boiling with what looked like small bonita flying out of the water in all directions. An amazing, if quite common sight out here. What was even more amazing is that there were only about half a dozen terns flying over the area feeding. Usually the birds gather in uncountable flocks, until the air is almost like a cloud. The water was full of fish scales, testament to the carnage going on below.
Carefully, Ian ran the boat around the outside of the school, so as not to spook anything. The idea is to turn sharply across in front of the school and skate your lures across in front of them. Naturally we had been feverishly tackling up with top water tuna lures in anticipation of a quick hook up. Well the Williamson Sea Witch I was using proved to be what they wanted, and I brought in a blackfin tuna about 4lbs shortly followed by a blue bonito (aka false albacore) about 6lbs . Two hits in quick succession and suddenly the shoal just went deep and disappeared.
We moved into a nearby channel just off the reef and soon started finding the ubiquitous barracuda. We picked up half a dozen all around the ten pound mark, which gave us good sport, plus a couple of yellowtail snappers in the shallow water around the reef.
By this time the sun was at its height and blazing down. The channel we were in seemed suddenly devoid of fish despite us trying very deep divers and all sorts of colours. Suddenly a cold beer on our verandah back home sounded an irresistible proposition. So we decided as we had a long day planned for tomorrow we would head back early. Our fish box was full, so tuna and barracuda for the freezer, plus plenty to take into the village where fresh fish is always appreciated.
posted by Sue Harris @ 5:04 pm
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