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4 Days in Vanuatu

tikki169

By tikki169
in Saltwater

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tikki169 Newbie

tikki169

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Well just got back on Saturday evening from a 6 day trip of which 4 days were fishing/spearing.

I was the only one fishing and 5 mates were spearfishing so had the boat to myself pretty much all day.

The first day was the best for me starting out with a PB coral trout at 4.5kg's on a 150g jig. We were working a drop off from 35m-70m so I decided to pull out the popping gear in hope of a doggie or marauding GT. Well on my second cast the water explodes and my popper is heading to the depths at a rate of knots. The skipper and deckie call doggie so the excitement builds, I had the drag near full on my Saltiga 5000H and it was peeling line at will. The guys in the water are all cheering cause they can see me virtually laying on the floor putting pressure on the fish. After 4-5 massive runs one of my mates surfaces and delivers the bad news, SHARK, my heart dropped and from then it was just a case of trying to save my popper. Took about 20 min and I landed a 45-50 kilo silver tip shark. I was disappointed but the crew were ecstatic, saying they'd never seen a shark take a popper before.

over the next hour or two, trout after trout came up and a really nice blue spot trevally around 5 kilo came aboard and then the call was mad to hit a point opposite Haat island.

We pulled up and the spearo's were deployed and instantly "doggie" rang out as the guys saw packs of them lurking on the bottom (like cows was the one description).

I took the light jigging gear out, cause it was only 40m, and dropped a 150 knife jig down and within the 6 jigs I came up solid, then a pause of about 3 seconds before the doggie realised it was hooked and then hell broke out when it turned for the reef. The line started to peel off and I counted 15m of line before I managed to stop the run and get its head turned. This went on for about 10 minutes before the doggie was boated.

By this time I was pretty shattered and my arms were still aching from the shark before when the skipper calls for another doggie, reluctantly I dropped the jig over again, half expecting nothing to happen, well once the jig hit the bottom I had about 4 seconds before all hell broke loose again and my drag was screaming, arms burning and legs shaking. The first run must have lasted about 50m all along the bottom, how I never got bust off on the coral still amazes me but I survived the first run so I was in with a good chance. This fight lasted 20-25 minutes. I was so shattered I had to pull up with my right hand, then swap hands so I could wind down with my right hand to. by the end my fingers were cramping upand the sweat was pooring off my face and down my legs. It ran me into the deeper water around 70m and then into the shallows at 20m, how I never got sharked also puzzles me. Eventually colour was seen an a decent size doggie could be seen. My heart almost stopped when the first gaff shot was missed and the fish took another run, thankfully only a short one, the second shot hit the mark and the doggie was boated, 19.2 kilo or 42lbs on PE3, Daiwa Catalina 4000 and a Xzoga 6013 taka rod with 100lbs leader.

I was done and dusted for the day and could hardly pick my arms up.

Over the next 3 days I pretty much dedicated to popping for a doggie and GT but came up with nothing, being bust off twice on the coral when putting poppers in over the shallows on a run out tide, one being a GT around 15 kilo. Loads of trout, some Barracuda around 1m.

All up it was a great trip with an excellent bunch of guys. Next time we'll head to the outter islands on a live aborad rather than staying in Port Villa.

The speearo's managed to land only 2 doggies at 8 and 14 kilo but lost heaps to sharks. One of the guys was dragged from 25m to about 35m when his hand got caught in the 400lbs mono on this spear, thankfully the line snapped and ripped his glove off or things could have ended badly for him. The doggie was lost to the sharks to.

This is the last 5 min of the fight
/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdb8FNkQyU4

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smaller doggie

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42lbs of angry tuna

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post-5559-144598952798_thumb.jpg

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tikki169 Newbie

tikki169

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Thanks guys. Not gonna lie, it was some nervous times when the fish was boatside and I saw the size of it. Started thinking about knots and terminal tackle failing or getting caught in the prop. Thankfully it went perfectly. My mates on the trip can't believe a fish that size can be landed on a rod that thin.

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Bi_polar Newbie

Bi_polar

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Tikki169 wrote - "Eventually colour was seen an a decent size doggie could be seen. My heart almost stopped when the first gaff shot was missed and the fish took another run, thankfully only a short one, the second shot hit the mark and the doggie was boated, 19.2 kilo or 42lbs on PE3, Daiwa Catalina 4000 and a Xzoga 6013 taka rod with 100lbs leader."

That has made my mind up about a Catalina 4000 to go on my new Samurai 501.... I was going to buy a Saltiga 4000 but after seeing you getting stuck into it with that Doggie i think a Catalina will be fine.

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tikki169 Newbie

tikki169

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Bi_Polar

I can't sing the praise of the Catalina enough. I've had some decent fish on it but the Doggie was by far the hardest, dirtiest fight yet and it didn't miss a beat, no overheating issues, drag stayed perfectly smooth and after that fight it still is perfect. I use the Catalina over my Hyper Custom 4000 and as much as I love my Saltiga I tend to choose the 4000 over it unless I need to drog 300g jigs or cast poppers.

You won't be disappointed

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Shane69 Newbie

Shane69

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Thats sick man.

Looks like awesome trip.

Those dogtooth go hard lol.

Hey where did you buy your rod from.

I wanna get one for 4000 cadilina too.

Stu get your reel from overseas gyou can get 4 k delievered for under $500 atm.

I paid $460 for 3500. Ima match it with hotdog though.

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tikki169 Newbie

tikki169

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http://digitaka.com/item.php?icid=11&id=904

I got mine from here (second reel I've bought from them), took about 4 days to deliver it and when I got mine the Yen was still high so cost me $550

Shane I got my Xzoga off of eBay, the Australian supplier had a couple he couldn't move so was selling them for next to nothing. I'm not sure where you can get one now but they are available. If I had known how good it was I would have bought the 6012 for lighter jigging.

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