The Cassar boys from Melbourne got more than they bargained for on their Nambas Live Aboard. They had the unique opportunity to fish North of Efate, with their trip starting in Espiritu Santo. They really did get to catch a bit of everything from acrobatic Sailfish to the unstoppable power of the dreaded and sought after Dogtooth Tuna! Often fishing in the shadow of glowing active volcanoes the guys were treated to a full Vanuatu fishing experience. The trip started with some amazing top water action with the guys learning the hard way that the monster fish we chase will find any weakness in your tackle. We had 30KG Doggies and GTs crashing the poppers and stickbaits. We were close to seeing grown men cry when chances were lost due to knots letting go and various other tackle failures.....its what we always say, "make sure your knots are good and your tackle strong". Russ on several occasions had to back into very shallow water to rescue beloved $200 lures!!!
Spirits were lifted when Mark or "The Old Bull" as he is now known showed the younger generation how its done. After too many monster Doggies destroying the guys on their PE8 Jigging Rods and 20,000 Stellas Mark declared "Enough of these toy rods" and in went the live bait that the crew had been catching on the jig. Mark stood patiently in his Black Magic Harness attached to our stand up Talica set up. It wasn't long before Mark got to demonstrate his excellent angling skills. Freespooling to perfection and going to sunset on the drag resulted in the usual Dogtooth shuffle into the covering boards, as the full power of the fish loaded up on the gear.
With Russ manoeuvring Nambas to get the fish away from the edge, Mark was soon winning the battle and a big flash of silver could be seen at the back of the boat. The Gaffs were deployed and the fish safely landed. it was a good fish of around 48KG...a Doggie to be proud of any day of the week.
The fun continued with Sailfish, Mahi Mahi, Wahoo, and lots of doggies on the jigs and live baits. We saw some monsters that would come and look at the baits but really didn't want to play.
We had a few absolute carnage sessions on the Jigs where the crew and the anglers couldn't keep up with retying all the gear as monster Doggies made a mockery of the tackle. So many Doggies were caught that we soon lost count, with a lot of smaller fish being released.
The whole trip was a huge success and already everyone has put their names down for next year, and we can't wait to see the guys again.
