New Caledonia Jan 2010 - Brief report for now
Just got back to Ktown after several flights from NC and I'm glad to be over with lugging 32kg of tackle all over the place... to say I'm exhausted is a complete understatement. I'll keep it breif for now, at least until Brad gets back and he's decided what pics he wants to keep for articles etc... Unfortunately we suffered bad weather almost the entire trip, strong winds and overcast weather made it extremely difficult to fish most of the time and we ventured very little to the outside of the reef. We had one afternoon of glorious weather, sunny skies and 0kt wind. Alas, this is also bad weather for GT fishing but being able to see the bottom in 30m of water on the outside of the reef was noticeably eeerie and add to that not being able to distinguish the water from the sky made for some pretty incredible conditions.
Brad managed to land the biggest GT for the trip, and on the last day too. At 35kg it wasn't big by NC standards but a new PB for him and given how tough the fishing was the entire time we were all absolutely stoked! I managed to land a 40kg Wahoo on popper which was a new LPB record and a first for our guide Rudy - awesome!. Glenn managed to boat the most GTs for the week at about 8 fish, but between the three of us we only managed about 12 GTs for the entire week - very hard work!
Apart from that there were a few good reefies landed, Brad got the biggest trout and red bass at 10kg and 9kg respectively. There were also Blue Cod, Spaniards, Green Jobfish etc at certain times. I managed to get busted up in pretty spectacular fashion by a decent Dogtooth Tuna on the outside, apart from the jigging was also hard work with spaniards and barracuda making a nuisance of themselves.
... to be continued
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18069
Date Joined: 11/03/08
sounds like it was a trying
sounds like it was a trying trip. You can make all the plans right down to the finest detail but you cant pic the weather.Even still you made the most of what you had.those dead calm days can be a pain in the butt.looking forward to seeing the pics and reading the stories that go with them.always worth the read
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Lucky Tim
Posts: 2536
Date Joined: 28/11/07
looking forward to it anyway
looking forward to it anyway mate. Made plans to return or too soon?
jay_burgess
Posts: 4648
Date Joined: 18/08/05
Not yet Tim, will fish with
Not yet Tim, will fish with Nomad again later this year hopefully and then I'll go from there.
Bones76
Posts: 476
Date Joined: 03/11/08
40kg wahoo on popper...
40kg wahoo on popper... would love to have been on the trip just to see that fish take the lure
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Waiting
Waiting to see the pics.Even though you only had limited good weather it sounds like the fish you got were awesome by Ktown standards.
Kasey L.
Posts: 1390
Date Joined: 02/03/06
It's a shame about the
It's a shame about the weather Jay, and how it can affect the fishing - from 8 GTs in an hour to 8 GTs in a week. Unfortunately it sounds like you guys got the 2 worst extremes for popping - super dead calm or so windy its unsafe.
However, I hope you'll agree with me about the potential of the place. All you need is a bit of luck with the weather and the 50 keggers will be out roaming.
I'll speak to you more about it in person.
Kasey L.
Posts: 1390
Date Joined: 02/03/06
Ouch! I don't suppose you've
Ouch!
I don't suppose you've had a look at what Fukui-san is doing in NC right now Jay...
jay_burgess
Posts: 4648
Date Joined: 18/08/05
Yeah bit of a kick in the
Yeah bit of a kick in the guts Kasey, their trip started the day before ours ended!
STEVE231
Posts: 1443
Date Joined: 05/01/10
New Cal
Bad luck Jay,
It would have been a lot of effort getting there from Karratha, not to mention the cost (oh to live on the east coast !!) My trip there last year was very similar with no fishing outside the lagoon due to huge swells, but the fishing was still fairly reasonable inside. Still a LPB record 40kg Wahoo popping would have been a highlight!!
DazSamFishing
Posts: 1518
Date Joined: 19/08/09
Sounds tough, but that's
Sounds tough, but that's fishing. I've been in the same situation... very fishy waters on a 7 day trip only to have 2 days of comfortable weather. That Hoo on a popper would have made a great trip anyway. Can't wait for the pics.
Did you hook the dog on the surface?
charracing23
Posts: 12
Date Joined: 11/06/09
Where abouts in new
Where abouts in new caledonia were u mate?? i just got bak from there less than a week ago at noumea and lifou. our fishin charter cancelled on us so was a bit devo but the snorkelling was amazing!!
Help Me Mogely