Aitutaki - popping in paradise

[Brandon Khoo]

In summary:

The charter operator - Black Pearl ? - ?I really can't say enough about Mike and his wife Mere. I've fished more charters than I can remember but I can honestly say that I have never fished with an operator with a higher care factor for their customers. ??Mike is able to cater for just about any form of fishing you want to do on Aitutaki except for bonefish and Mere is going to keep you very well fed! It was the little touches that we really appreciated.?They are both totally committed to ensuring that you enjoy your charter with Black Pearl. ??

The GT fishingOther Fishing?? - The light casting to the reef edge an be excellent at certain times of the tide. We used PE3 and got absolutely hammered by the GTs and big bluefin trevally so next time, I think we are going to go with PE5.??Dropping plastics and vibes can also be a lot of fun. The reefies are willing and there are a lot of them. One thing we saw that was fascinating one morning was the weigh-in from an overnight fishing competition. There were a load of escolar being weighed in. Based on the numbers we saw, these fish are plentiful in deep water.??Finally, Aitutaki is famous for bonefish. Black Pearl doesn't cater for this but there are specialist bonefish guides on the island.

The location - Aitutaki is absolutely gorgeous. It truly is a stunning location. We stayed at Samade on the Beach which is reasonably priced and comfortable but if you like, there are very luxurious resorts there. Samade is in a beautiful location and there is a decent restaurant five minutes walk away. Just remember the Aeroguard!

Overall, a great trip. Thanks to Alan Syme for recommending the location and Dan Smith for his willingness to share information from his trip.

[Sam Morrison]

Thanks for sharing Brandon,

Nice Bluefin too! 

[colin tecofsky]

Great read guys,Pleased to see Malcolm is over the Curse of the*( Yellow Croc,s)  well done.

[Wayne Brown]

Great post as always Brandon. Yet another location to put on the list.

[Sami Ghandour]

Nice trip Brandon!
I was very close to fish Aitutaki but i gave it up due to the logistic and the long flight from the USA, glad to see you wetting a line in that region.

[Sam Colvin]

Nice guys. Magic looking location

[Alan Syme]

glad you enjoyed it Brandon!! good work.

[Mark Harris]

Excellent report Brandon and a most interesting location for sure.

Especially interested to read about the successful use of sub-surface lures. Have had similar success casting into messy white water here with ASWB SS185 in particular. The theory makes lots of sense to me - the subsurface lure will be more visible to the fish than a chugger or pencil which get lost in all the surface mess.

I notice in the photos at least one fish caught on a Bfp Swimbait - great to see!  I have a bunch of these on the way and was wondering how you rated it for that type of sub-surface application?

[Doug Terry]

Hi Brandon I would second everything you said regarding Mike and Mere, her bacon butty is something else.
I was out there with my fishing buddy last Sept but the fishing was a lot different to what you experienced, but I think this was down to either the weather or the fish not being as active or my our inabilty which as it was our first time fishing for GT's was probable the case.
however a great report and thanks for sharing.
We only took poppers with us so would be interested in knowing what smallish sub-surface stickbaits you used, hope to return to Aitutaki next year although it is a long way to go from the UK.
Did you try the stickbaits from the shore outside of Samsade. We stayed just round the corner at ranginui's and eat at the Boatshed.

[Malcolm Crane]

Mark,

With the smaller sub-surface stick baits I was using Mark Vaughan's BFP Swimbaits, specifically the 220mm (100gm) Mafia One's and also Siren Sorry Charlie's in the 170 size ( 80gm). They both performed exceptionally well. It was really quite a revelation. The smaller lures were just hammered in the white water. We also had success with the little FCL Labo CSP150S with really upgraded trebles. That little lure took ST76 3/0's in its stride and performed way above its station.

I am sure you will be well pleased with the BFP Swimbaits you have on the way. I was.

Colin - I hope you keep those Yellow Crocs in the receptacle I put them in!! It seems to be working at the moment.

[Byron Ford]

great report, i must have missed you guys by 1 day hopefully more guys get to check it out,

[Mark Harris]

Mark,

With the smaller sub-surface stick baits I was using Mark Vaughan's BFP Swimbaits, specifically the 220mm (100gm) Mafia One's and also Siren Sorry Charlie's in the 170 size ( 80gm). They both performed exceptionally well. It was really quite a revelation. The smaller lures were just hammered in the white water. We also had success with the little FCL Labo CSP150S with really upgraded trebles. That little lure took ST76 3/0's in its stride and performed way above its station.

I am sure you will be well pleased with the BFP Swimbaits you have on the way. I was.

Many thanks Malcolm. I really am looking forward to using the BFPs. Have some coming in the 100 gram and 140 gram Mafias. The lures look totally brilliant and it's great to see see a garage lure maker like Mark getting some recognition.

[Doug Terry]

anyone have a link to bfp swimbait, does he have a website as I don't use facebook and can't find a link

[Brandon Khoo]

I think he's only on Facebook.

in response to your earlier question, we didn't fish from shore any of the days after returning from the charter - too buggered in the evenings!

[Doug Terry]

or too many beers at the boatshed