Articles by Adrian Watt on ArticleSnatch.com

Doing it the Hard Way

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500

The water was unfortunately quite churned up due to spring tides and rough weather but the fish were there. I know this from seeing several fish of about 20lbs leap vertically out of the water around us whilst hitting surface baitfish. On one such occasion a fish leapt 20 feet into the air right beside the boat as we trolled along. Such was the height of the jump; I had time to point it out to the guests as the fish inverted its leap with a sideways roll and pitched back head first towards the sea. IÃ¢â¬'d swear the dammed fish smiled and winked at me. We returned home defeated but with Carl diving the next morning, we agreed to have another go the following afternoon. I felt it necessary to rescue my reputation and stamp our authority on those smiling mackerel. We began by trolling a similar spread of lures and lure/bait combos on Shimano 30lb trolling outfits. This gear is capable of handling any and all predators that we target inside the reef including sailfish but is light enough to be user friendly for the occasional novice angler.** End Summary**

About the Author:
Adrian was born on the island of Cyprus and having fished around the world from the Arabian Gulf to the North sea and English Channel, he finally settled for the tropical waters of the South Pacific around the island of Kadavu, Fiji Islands. Director of Matava Resort Gamefishing, he skippers 'Bite Me', the resort's 31ft DeepVee Gamefishing vessel and thoroughly enjoys exploring the light and heavy tackle fishing around the island. www.matava.com/ gamefishingfiji.blogspot.com/

Sailfish - Treat'em Right And They Will Live To Fight Another Day

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500

TBF have noticed an increasing tendency nowadays for some anglers to lift a billfish (particularly sailfish) out of the water to photograph the angler with his catch. If you choose to Tag & Release, there are four very good reasons not to lift your billfish out of the water: 1. To state the obvious Fish canÃ¢â¬'t breathe out of the water and a billfish brought to the transom will almost certainly be, at the very least, Ã¢â¬Ëout of breathÃ¢â¬'. If you lift the fish out of the water, you are starving the fish of oxygen just when it needs it most. Imagine running up a flight of stairs and then trying to hold your breath when you get to the top. 2. Fish have a protective coat of slime on their bodies that helps them fight infection and parasites. In hauling out a large fish and handling (even with gloves), you will inevitably damage or remove some of this coating. 3. The billfishÃ¢â¬'s skeleton is designed to support the fish in water not in air.** End Summary**

YahooWahoo Lure Test at Matava, Fiji

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500

This of course gave my deckie Joeli and I the perfect excuse to jump in the inshore fishing boat on a quiet day with a fist full of new lures to have some funÃ¢â¬Â¦.Sort of busmanÃ¢â¬'s holiday you might say. Over several months, we tried out everything from GT poppers to blue water skirted lures and a few of the lures impressed us sufficiently that they are now firmly part of our Gamefishing vessels available onboard lure rolls. This blue water skirted lure was first run at the onset of our winter wahoo season when large packs of wahoo gather along the Great Astrolabe barrier reef. The lure is a sliced face heavy resin head with pearl inserts and a fairly large leader hole. It came to us from the factory with what looked like a rather mediocre quality 7 inch skirt but these are now being upgraded buy the manufacturer. Actually, itÃ¢â¬'s a marketing / cosmetic thing. Its common knowledge that half of all lures in tackle shops are designed to catch anglers not fish!** End Summary**

Belly Flap Teaser: how to tease them up!

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Suddenly a bill pokes out of the sea, right behind the left hand daisy chain and a sailfish has a couple of half hearted swipes at the teaser tail. Deckie Joe swings into action and starts to work the teaser back to the boat as the first angler pitches a bait and skips it back to the billfishÃ¢â¬Â¦Ã¢â¬Â¦.But something is wrongÃ¢â¬Â¦Ã¢â¬Â¦.The sail doesnÃ¢â¬'t light up and charge after the teaser. It takes one last swipe with its bill and slides away, disappearing off to the left. ItÃ¢â¬'s the New Moon and the sails are doing what they always do here around the New MoonÃ¢â¬Â¦..Being finicky ! Here is a simple trick that we sometimes use to get them fired up and in the mood to eat: Teaser Tail Belly Flap * Bring in the teasers and set a spread of small bullets, feathers and bibbed minnows. Head for the nearest skipjack or Yellowfin tuna. * Once you have one, cut a couple of belly flaps in a stretched diamond or Ã¢â¬ËkiteÃ¢â¬' shape. * Take a bait needle and some waxed thread or cotton and stitch the flap in a criss-cross pattern from one end to the other.** End Summary**

Lure Test - BFG

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500

When we fish heavy tackle and troll lures for marlin, this is our automatic Ã¢â¬Ëgo toÃ¢â¬' selection for the short corner position. ItÃ¢â¬'s a pusher style concave face lure which really punches its way through the water and repeatedly dives well under the prop wash. Its serious weight and length makes it stable in all weather conditions and therefore easy to run. No fiddling about trying to find the working tow height and drop back length just put it where you want it and it will smoke a big and I do mean BIG bubble trail up and down through the wash. Not only is it a screaming grander lure, its also a great big teaser for those days when there are just little blues about. There is some debate as to what BFG stands for. I believe it stands for Ã¢â¬ËBig Friendly GiantÃ¢â¬' though most of my guests, upon seeing it, substitute a rather more colourful word in place of Ã¢â¬ËfriendlyÃ¢â¬'. * Position: Short Corner * Rigging: 2 x 12/0 hooks on 500lb wire * Leader: 550lb Marlin Hard Moimoi, length depends on wind-on leader if used * Best colour: Match the hatch what baitfish are around ?** End Summary**

Tips On - Wahoo - Lures That Work Here In Fiji

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0400

From May to October, packs of wahoo congregate along the Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef. The average size of wahoo is about 50lbs with a good fish weighing in at 75lbs. Each wahoo pack usually has a fish of close to 100lbs. We almost always use lures when targeting wahoo however we often get jumped by fish when bait & switch fishing for sailfish. If your teaser is rigged with monoÂ¦wave bye bye to the end of your daisy chainÂ¦. The biggest problem we encounter is a mass attack, wahoo porpoising in at break-neck speed, every rod in the spread going off and then multiple bite-offs as other wahoo attack lines or swivels cutting through the water. We combat this by trolling a full spread until we find a pack and then switch to towing just two lures. Often, just a garfish (ballyhoo) on a two hook rig with a small pink skirt on the nose. Trolling speed is usually around 6-7kts. Most wahoo skippers around the world troll faster. Here, higher speeds do not increase strike rates.** End Summary**

Pacific Blue Marlin - Lures That Work Here In Fiji

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0400

When trolling lures for Blue marlin aboard ËBite Me', we run a standard spread of four lures off bent butt chair rods and use Penn International 80STWs. We run a long and short corner from the transom rod holders and a long and short rigger from the chair. Sometimes we run a teaser such as a spreader bar or a Pakula Witchdoctor. We never run a shotgun. We always aim to tag & release all billfish and use Billfish Foundation tags. We generally use lures that imitate or approximate to the baitfish in the area such as skipjack & Yellowfin tuna, mahi mahi or flying fish. Although We use wire rigs a lot because of wahoo, we don't double the wire inside the skirt to make a stiff rig. We just use a single wire to the hook allowing some flexibility and swing. Lures are tooth-picked or hooks set with the point or points upwards. Two hook rigs have the hooks offset at about 45 degrees. Our recommendations are for normal general fishing on a reasonably calm day in bright or slightly overcast weather when targeting fish of any size. This is what works for us.** End Summary**