Ono Island - So who's been and what can I expect ?

[Gavin Swab]

Just booked a trip to Ono Islands in June / July.

 Hoping you guys can help with stories and any tips.

Thanks

Regards Gavin

[Graham Stevenson]

Went there in Nov 2009.
Was very windy in the time I was there  which meant that the southern side of the reef (which looked the best) was out of reach).
Some good territory but was very different to other places I had fished like New Cal and GBR - didn't see any bait fish , etc and a lot of blind casting.
Boats good and guides okay.
On shore accomodation , food , etc excellent. fijian time applies so just go with the flow!
My most memorable experience was going to the real mcoy Kava ceremony at the next village - so different to the tourist version.
Would definitely take a lighter popping outfit and some smaller (say 80 gram) poppers .
Boat ride from kadavu airport to Ono can be a bit wet !

[Gavin Swab]

   Thanks Graham. Some great advice

How does it rate compared to New Caledonia ?

[Sachin Chaudhry]

Never been to New Cal but on my boat we have taken GTs to 45 kg and many in the 30 to 40kg bracket.
Staggering variety of fish jigging with Doggies (big ones) a real possibility as well as wrasse, cods, trout etc.
Lot's of pelagics too especially in the cooler months when the action on wahoo picks up. Go the day after the new moon till a week after.
Should be good.

[Gavin Swab]

This is my third go at a reply.  I will try again. Not sure if its me or not, but it seems I cant post.
Anyway!
 I booked my Nomad trip last year the same way I booked this one. I pretty much said one afternoon Im going fishing !     and the next day booked a trip. The Nomad trip was awesome. I hope I can expect the same this year.

[Graham Stevenson]

Gavin
Difficult to compare locations as my gut feeling was that the conditions at Ono were against us and the best areas were not accessible.Smaller lures seemed to work better for us in the places we were able to get at.
The area around Solo looked really good but was too rough to fish .We couldn't get at the reef directly in front of Ono and down towards Cape Washington.
You will need to be a bit more self sufficient that you have to be on a Nomad Trip.
Flight from Nadi to Kadavu is spectacular

[Peter Childs]

Gavin

We went there in January 2010 - Hot, but nice and calm.  We managed quite a few GT's up to 40kg, a lot around the 20 - 25 kg mark.  There seemed to be a general preference for smaller poppers rather than the big bloopers.  Standout were actually Heru Tuna 80 and 100 and skipjack 90's.  We worked a lot of the bigger poppers too 150 - 180 but found just as much action on the smaller lures - you also got a lot more interesting by-catch, Bluefin trevally and Red Bass.  And its easier on the arms.  We saw very little action on stick baits.

As others have said, make sure you take some lighter gear and smaller poppers, if the wind pipes in you may be fishing the lagoon rather than the reef edge.

The locals over there like their fish, if you want to see your catch released, slip it back over the side quickly and quietly!

[Gavin Swab]

Thanks Guys.  Graham what time of year did you go ?  Did either of you go with Ocean Blue ?  Someone told me the other day that I will need to learn a few new tricks for the trip.  Ie.  Casting " Small Poppers" and  Jigs.      So today I went out and practiced    
 I Had a missed strike earlier in the day and then I hooked a nice 18 - 20kg model.   We were mainly casting for table fish during the day and done a bit of trolling, but when I seen the Fusilers I couldn't resist !      


 

[John Westcott]

Hi I went with 3 mates in April 09 and we had an awesome Time Boated about 15 GT's a day, caught Yellow Fin Tuna & Dog Tooth Tuna on Poppers, you will have an awesome Time. Piero and his team will look after you like kings! Enjoy! We used a range of Poppers from expensive to Budsget and surprisingly the Green River2sea Dumbells where the clear favourite, between the 4 of us we had 5 of them they are all now stuck on reefs around Ono.

There is a great variety of Fish and swarms of Red Bass to keep you entertained between the GT's. Tip have a rod ready for the trip from the airport as we where into the yellowfin before the boat ride from the airport was over, and on the return home trip.

[Peter Childs]

Ditto to John's comments - you'll have a great time.

Not just a fishing holiday, but a real experience!

[Gavin Swab]

I'm counting down the days !  3 months is going to seem like forever.         Thanks for the lure tips, I find that green lures have worked well in most spots around home here, and  as for the Nomad trip. It didn't matter what you threw at them, something would eat it.     I guess that will give me time to research things and make the best of it.

[Graham Stevenson]

gavin
I went with ocean Blue in Nov 2009.
Everything went smoothly and piero and the crew looked after us well.Only hiccup was the aircraft on the flight to Kadavu broke down and we ended up on a Sopwith Camel or equivalent. Big Fijian guy behind me was praying as we came into land !
Unfortunately we were a bit unlucky with the weather which restricted us largely to the lagoon.

[Sam Colvin]

Have just returned from Ono two weeks ago.

What a place...as said before it's not just a fishing trip, it's luxury!

Fishing was good, a big diversity of species i why we went there. We caught 30 different species in 4days fishing.

Nothing was XOS but good fish nonetheless. G's up to 25kg, YFT up to 20kg, Bass in plague proportions, trout, cuda, jobbies, maori sea perch, long nose emperor etc etc were just some of the species landed.

As for lures, i felt a lot more comfortable fishing with stickbaits over chuggers. Lure standouts were Realbait 130's, Souls Habiki, GT Harriers, Gunz Tailwalk 180, Skipjack 100, Bobara 100. A few fish were caught on chuggers, but i wouldn't take anything over a D-Cup.

Piero has definately got a good spot and you'll have a ball. Sim and Joe are good guides and know there stuff, top blokes and smile all day long.

If i went again i would love to take a PE5/6 spin out fit and throw 80-100g lures for big bass and flowery cod. PE8 is just a little overkill. They've got a wicked little row of bombies on the inside of the reef that is loaded with big bass.

[David Noble]

If i went again i would love to take a PE5/6 spin out fit and throw 80-100g lures for big bass and flowery cod. PE8 is just a little overkill. They've got a wicked little row of bombies on the inside of the reef that is loaded with big bass.

Good call Sam, It's a place that can dish up anything and the terrain is pretty forgiving, most groups don't tend to lose too many lures.  As we know from Sachin and others who've fished Kadavu / Ono, GT's to 50kg are encountered on heavy gear from time to time with mixed results. 
If you're sore at the end of the day, get a massage back at the resort/lodge!

I've fished pretty much exclusively outside the reef, medium heavy casting gear will do most applications for GT's, big red bass and trout, pelagics like spaniards etc.  It's a matter of room, but I'd also take a good PE3 set up and Halco 105 Roosta's, and soft plastics for some lagoon sessions also.  Then there's the jigging...

Cheers Dave

[Sachin Chaudhry]

Magic destination simply for th fact that you don't know what's next especially jigging.
Last time out we got a damn near 60 kg (56kg to be exact) sailfish on a jig.