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General => General Topwater & Jigging Discussion => Topic started by: Sachin Chaudhry on October 03, 2008, 07:00:20 PM
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Hi All.
Want to start a discussion on this topic. Everyone has a favourite spot for their popping but would some of the more travelled members on this forum care to share their favourite locations. I for one would love to hear from anyone that has fished Midway.
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Hi Sachin - that's really hard. I like all the locations I have caught fish before!
I think if I had to pick one, I'd have to say Shoalwater. It's just such a pure and tough location. Maybe after I've gotten a bit more experience there, it might be the outer edge of the southern lagoon in New Caledonia.
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Some pups from Midway.
I've been lucky enough to have session popping in Hawaii with a true great - Pat Victorino. So close but still so far - thanks US government!!! Working on that though ;)
Kiribati holds a lot of potential - although the last trip wasn't the best in terms of fish, the region could hold untold possibilities of good GT populations. We hope to go to Kanton next year where tales of 100ber's+ swimming with the cargo ships as they pull in sound too good to be true?!?! ???
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The area of Shoalwater Bay and surrounding islands is, as Brandon said,TOUGH!!!!!!!! No such thing as letting a fish run around on a long leash there...was awesome to film it!
Break Sea Spit is my favourite in terms of 'frontier feeling' when out there (you really do feel like you could fall off the planet!) and for the sheer size of the GTs that live there...the terrain does you no favours either. It's a challenging fishery.
Close to home, I'm spoiled by a good fishery of large G's within an hour of Brisbane...not many shots at fish compared to some Great Barrier Reef hot spots, though the average size is large!
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Bassas da india a sunken volcano between madagascar and mozambique. huge gts lots of toothy critters and some of the biggest brindle bass -grouper around, resident fish over 150kg make short work of 18kg gt's.big dog tooth on the east side drop off. one day do coral sea though!!!!!
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Hi Luke. Looks like Spinfishers and Van Staals on duty there. Guys use them much for GT work there?
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David from le Poisson Banane and Damon Olsen from Nomad Sportfishing talk of the Chesterfield Islands in awe. This is a tiny island group that is in the Coral Sea between the edge of Australian territory and New Caledonia. Apparently, the islands themselves are tiny but the coral lagoon is the size of New Caledonia. David said he has had some friends who have been out there on commercial vessels and it is everything you expect of some place so remote with no fishing pressure. Damon has obviously done his research too. The Odyssey could hypothetically get there as well if refuelling could be worked out.......... ;)
David can't get there in the Antares - its just too far.
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Find the Chesterfield group and any other remote reef system here on this link...
Hours of fun and frustration I'll tell ya.. ;)
http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/
Sachin I'd be well keen to head over to the Lau group for some awesome fish. That for me would be a great destination. I spoke to your friend Stephen a few times about going there, first it could be done and now it looks like it's not possible.
Can you twist his arm for me please??
Cheers Dave
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Hi David. The Lau Group in Fiji does look very promising but due to the level of transport infrastructure around the more remote islands it becomes difficult and expensive to fish there.
Another place in Fiji I want to visit is Udu (pronounced Oondoo) on the island of Vanua Levu which is somewhat more accessible. I hear some serious GTs call that place home. Stephen is doing a lot of construction work these days and as such does not get much time to do fishing these days.
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I can get to the Lau group but the problem is re-fueling. I can send out a few 44 gal drums of diesel on a ferry but by the time I get there....they won't be ! There is a coral attol called Navatu reef 30 miles to the East of Moala island that must be untouched. Moala is about 75 miles East of me so its do-able with an overnight at Moala and some good summer weather. One day I will take a week off and just go.... ;D
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Hi Luke. Looks like Spinfishers and Van Staals on duty there. Guys use them much for GT work there?
Hi Sachin,
Mostly Yanks used to visit Midway due it being a US territory, so yes mostly those kind of reels. However, I believe there was more fishing for Marlin and other bluewater species done there.
The likes of Fumio Suzuki have been there many moons ago - but alas, we can only hope and lobby for it's reopening to recreational fisherman ::)
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I can get to the Lau group but the problem is re-fueling. I can send out a few 44 gal drums of diesel on a ferry but by the time I get there....they won't be ! There is a coral attol called Navatu reef 30 miles to the East of Moala island that must be untouched. Moala is about 75 miles East of me so its do-able with an overnight at Moala and some good summer weather. One day I will take a week off and just go.... ;D
Make sure you let us know Adrian ;D
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David from le Poisson Banane and Damon Olsen from Nomad Sportfishing talk of the Chesterfield Islands in awe. This is a tiny island group that is in the Coral Sea between the edge of Australian territory and New Caledonia. Apparently, the islands themselves are tiny but the coral lagoon is the size of New Caledonia. David said he has had some friends who have been out there on commercial vessels and it is everything you expect of some place so remote with no fishing pressure. Damon has obviously done his research too. The Odyssey could hypothetically get there as well if refuelling could be worked out.......... ;)
David can't get there in the Antares - its just too far.
I have been looking at that portion of Google Earth for the last 3 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am hoping to make contact with "Pecheries de Nord" one day to convince them to bring me along ;D
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Adrian,I am guessing that some of the areas around your way won't be too sloppy. I have done a fair bit of popper casting around Solo (favourite) and Dravuni but am sure that further down towards Cape Washington there are probably some monsters to be had. Now it becomes a matter of costs and schedules. Let us know and perhaps we can make it happen. 25kg plus YFT are welcome to make an appearence as well and I am guessing you would have a few around Kadavu.
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Hi Sachin, Yes, we get big GTs here but I have yet to properly explore all of the Great Astrolabe Barrier reef. The whole section from the bottom end on down to Cape Washington is totally unexplored. Our divers did some explore dives on the Great Sea Reef and came back talking about huge GTs hanging under the dive boat on the surface intervals. Every time I head out to the seamount to fish heavy tackle I go past miles and miles of awsome looking reef. Starting to get annoying. This Jan-Apr I am hoping to do some exploring down there. Interesting you like Solo, there are much better places ;) but its a good option if the weather is bad. 25kg YFT ? we use them as bait ;D
David from oceanblue is hoping to make it over some time, perhaps we can co-ordinate and do some serious exploring. Drop him a line, I'm up for it.
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Hi Adrian. Your side of things sound a lot more interesting. Solo has a few sections where I have seen and hooked very big fish. Seems to fish very well for big GTs a couple of days before the full moon. Has also been very good for jigging.
I gather the reefs around Gau Island host a fair number of monsters too but a 70 mile run is not within the capability of my boat.
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Yes, the 'wild side' of Kadavu is the best fishing but winter weather can make it tough. Like you say, jigging is excellent at Solo, especially if you can fish the wild side or the Durville Channel. Wahoo packs there in winter, best place this season was the NE corner.
Gau definately looks promising. If you can't make Gau, can you make the Golden Mile on the SE side of Beqa lagoon or Cakau Lekaleka ? Some great fishing there. The Coral Coast game boats usually work the bluewater but get in close for some good GTs and dogtooth on the zero droppers.
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Adrian that sounds awesome. If you can get permission to fish those waters and do an exploratory trip I'd be on it in a flash...
1 week doesn't sound nearly long enough does it!!!
Google earth and Oceandots tend to miss a few of those good looking areas east of Kadavu, much better to see it from sea level anyway..
Cheers David
Hi Sachin, Yes, we get big GTs here but I have yet to properly explore all of the Great Astrolabe Barrier reef. The whole section from the bottom end on down to Cape Washington is totally unexplored. Our divers did some explore dives on the Great Sea Reef and came back talking about huge GTs hanging under the dive boat on the surface intervals. Every time I head out to the seamount to fish heavy tackle I go past miles and miles of awsome looking reef. Starting to get annoying. This Jan-Apr I am hoping to do some exploring down there. Interesting you like Solo, there are much better places ;) but its a good option if the weather is bad. 25kg YFT ? we use them as bait ;D
David from oceanblue is hoping to make it over some time, perhaps we can co-ordinate and do some serious exploring. Drop him a line, I'm up for it.
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Hi Adrian. I do a bi of jigging at East Beqa but do most of my popper fishing closer to Suva where some places still hold good numbers of big GTs. Nasilai Reef is also good but the big swells there don't entice me to popper fish there any more. The jigging there is goods though especially in the winter months.
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ps, Sachin and Adrian.. $108 Fiji buys $100 Aussie dollars right now. Any bets on dollar for dollar within a month? ::) ::)
gulp....
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Holy Cow ! That's outrageous !
1.08 ??? I am sure it was about 1.5 just last month. Makes a Fiji GT a bit pricey for an Aussie. How can a bunch of FX traders believe that the mighty industrial and resource rich nation of Fiji is almost as wealthy as Australia. The world has gone mad. I'm going fishing.
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Holy Cow ! That's outrageous !
1.08 ??? I am sure it was about 1.5 just last month. Makes a Fiji GT a bit pricey for an Aussie. How can a bunch of FX traders believe that the mighty industrial and resource rich nation of Fiji is almost as wealthy as Australia. The world has gone mad. I'm going fishing.
Not really, with Virgin doing flights @ $550 return including taxes, Fiji is still one of the most affordable places in the Pacific to visit and fish. With the quality of fishing you have I can't see it stopping too many people booking holidays. Lets face it, a shared fishing trip to Kadavu is cheaper than the cost of a quality popper combo's most people own ;D ;D
ps, lucky bastard...
Cheers Dave
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;D
Say, that's pretty good flights.
Get on a plane mate. I have a number of 50kg GTs here just waiting to trash your Stellas.
Or are you too busy with all those New Cal monsters..... :o
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David from le Poisson Banane and Damon Olsen from Nomad Sportfishing talk of the Chesterfield Islands in awe. This is a tiny island group that is in the Coral Sea between the edge of Australian territory and New Caledonia. Apparently, the islands themselves are tiny but the coral lagoon is the size of New Caledonia. David said he has had some friends who have been out there on commercial vessels and it is everything you expect of some place so remote with no fishing pressure. Damon has obviously done his research too. The Odyssey could hypothetically get there as well if refuelling could be worked out.......... ;)
David can't get there in the Antares - its just too far.
I was there four years ago but whitout popping gear :(lots of fish but also lots of agressive sharks, they where even biting trolling lures. Fished mainly for billfish and they where plenty too. Seems like places that never been fished and therefore holds enormous amounts of fish the sharks become a big problem.