# New Caledonia- GT fishing with Etienne Picquel



## imnotoriginal (Jan 13, 2008)

My first international report! I recently arrived back from a two week trip to New Caledonia where I spent a few days fishing for GTs with fishing guide Etienne Picquel. The trip was arranged by Ocean Blue and was 4 days fishing out of La Foa and Bourail. I was meant to be fishing with two fellas from NSW, Shane and Joe, but Shane had passport dramas and had to cancel at the last minute. I'd been planning this trip for some time and opted to use the rods and reels provided by Etienne but took a selection of lures and the like to use as well.









After visiting Isle of Pines and Noumea earlier in my trip I was quite enthused to start the fishing. Once we'd met up with Joe we were transferred to Ouana Surf Lodge at La Foa where we were to fish the first two days. A great little lodge run by some nice people, we met up with Etienne later that night and spent quite a bit of time discussing how we fished back home, how the fishing was in New Cal and Etienne's thoughts on what we were likely to encounter and the prevailing weather and tides.

My room at Ouano Surf Lodge








The sun sets over the lagoon









Our first day out on the water the weather conditions were perfect...too perfect for Etienne's liking but just bliss to be out on the water. We started at 9am to fit in with the prevailing tide and Etienne decided our better chance in the conditions was outside the reef in the slightly deeper water. I started out with the dark river2sea stickbait I'd brought as Etienne had the greatest success the day before on black. I cast out fiddling a little with the rod and reel trying to get used to the outfit when my lure was smacked by a GT that rose to it. Etienne was yelling "strike strike!" but it was too late and he'd already dived back down into the water as the hooks hadn't held. I sure hadn't expected that and was cursing myself for missing a golden opportunity at a good GT. We learned a lot in those first few hours and ended up both scoring one red bass and one GT each for the day, with Joe's trevally going over 20kg.


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## imnotoriginal (Jan 13, 2008)

The second day the conditions had deteriorated quite a bit with the wind picking up and some early rain. Etienne was keen to get us onto the fish and we worked again with darker coloured lures in search of a fish. Joe again managed another good size trevally in the 20kg range after Etienne helped work the fish into deeper water and away from the bommies. I hooked onto a good size fish but unfortunately wasn't able to win the fight and donated a lure to Davy Jones. It was a steep learning curve and I was wishing I'd spent more time in the gym before I came as the strength required to keep these fish out of the rocks and coral was high.

Etienne: More drag more drag!
Joe: No more drag! I can't do it.
Etienne: No Joe, you need more drag
Joel: Any more drag and he'll be skiing


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## imnotoriginal (Jan 13, 2008)

After our second day we moved to Bourail and the Nekweta Surf Camp for our base. The camp is run by Manu and Stefanie Hernu and Manu would be our skipper for the next two days of our trip as we would use his boat. Etienne continued as our guide and early on the first day we started out close to the mangroves. There were some lovely shallow bommies as well as some schools of bait and we switched to the lighter gear to have fun with some smaller trevally. The area was great, as we were catching big eye, yellowfin and giant trevally as well as barracuda in huge numbers.


















After having our fun we moved back into deeper water in search of some bigger fish. The water out deep was gin clear and the fishing was not fast at first. Joe was first to strike with another GT in the 20-25kg mark. Etienne pulled a nice looking fish (a type of coral trout I think) out of the reef and we continued searching for the GTs. Shortly after I hooked a big fish, likely the biggest of the trip, as I was reefing a popper back to the boat. The water exploded around the lure and I locked up the rod and reel while Manu reversed the boat back trying to keep the pressure on the fish. The reel was screaming but then the fish looped back towards me and snuck his head around a bommie. Everyone on the boat was devastated as it was clearly a big fish, Etienne calling it in the 40-45kg mark and I had yet to pull one over 15kg for the trip.


























The pressure was on and fatigue was setting in. The heavy lures and setup had left my body battered. Joe and I were taking regular breaks and Manu and Etienne were helping out with casting. I was hoping for a change of luck and got lucky when Etienne cast a stick bait between two sections of reef. As he passed the rod back I gave it a few quick cranks and a black shadow darted out from the left reef and inhaled the lure. I struck as hard as I could and backed away from the bow of the boat to force the fish away from the reef. As Manu put the boat in reverse the fish continued to scramble toward any structure it could find but Manu's boatwork had put us into safer territory and after a torrid fight I landed a nice size...bluefin trevally! Not the GT we were expecting but it fought like a demon and lit up like a neon sign as we landed it.


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## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

Another cracker trip report from some heavenly location!

Nice one mate, I have a feeling I will be heading that way next year...


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## imnotoriginal (Jan 13, 2008)

The last day of fishing Etienne said conventional wisdom wasn't producing the right results so far so it was time to try something different. We decided to hit the same area near the mangroves but this time to get there just after the sun had risen to time with the feeding of the smaller trevally. Hopefully, the bigger fish would be feeding too and we could have some fun early and then move onto the bigger fish. We motored up to the area and as we arrived I chose one of my smaller Halcos to use as we were on the medium tackle. Straight from the get go the yellowtail trevally, giant trevally, big eyes and barracuda were all feeding aggressively and after a few small fish both Joe and I were hammered by bigger fish swimming around the bommies right in close. I lost one of my halcos and Joe lost one of Etienne's Japanese stickbaits to bigger fish we just couldn't wrangle on the medium spinning gear but we were having a heap of fun. Joe also managed 2 "local tarpon" which I think were ox eye herring. they went absolutely psycho when hooked and provided a lot of entertainment.


































As the sun rose higher we found the fish were schooling and when we came across the school the fish were absolutely rampant. Twice we had triple hookups, despite the fact only two people were fishing! Each time I cast my popper and as one fish struck the lure we could see the other fish in the school chasing the hooked fish and trying to take the lure from his mouth! We also started to encounter more GTs and less of the yellowtail trevally. We slwoly worked our way deeper then had an amazing discovery. The lure I had lost to the big fish earlier in the day was floating among the driftwood and weed with the middle treble bent out of shape and the leader still attached. Just goes to show how crushing the barbs helps the fish get rid of the lure.


























I also lost another lure to a Mangrove Jack that crunched my lure. A massive splash and a red tail were all I saw before he was back down in the rocks. Manu grabbed the line and managed to extract him once from the rocks before he dove back in again and rubbed us off on coral. We continued to fish with the lighter gear for the rest of the day and searching for the schooling fish. I had one much larger fish twice try to inhale my smaller popper as I stood on the casting platform. Etienne was saying 
"Don't strike til you feel the rod load up"
"I wasn't striking"
"Why did the lure jump toward the boat then?"
"I was bracing for impact" :lol:

It was a crazy day out on the water and we lost count of how many fish were actually caught. The size wasn't huge for the most part but we really enjoyed ourselves and the fish were ultra aggressive which made the whole day more interesting.


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## imnotoriginal (Jan 13, 2008)

That was meant to be our last day of fishing but the next day once Joe was on his flight I had another few hours to kill before I could hop on my plane back. Etienne was kind enough to lend me a rod and I fished around La Foa while he took care of some errands he had to finish. I took a popper, some plastics and his light weight rod and fished next to the boat ramp in search of anything aggressive. It was great fun as the little Illex rod he'd loaned me was perfect for lure fishing with a very stiff action. I ended up walking the dog with the popper which resulted in a variety of emperor, a wolf herring and one very unlucky long tom who despite his mouth full of crocodile teeth couldn't break the leader. He put up a great fight with tail walks, jumps and blistering runs before I finally got him in and retrieved the lure. The treble had to be snapped to retrieve it so I switched to plastics and managed a stripey fish before stopping for a break










































After lunch Etienne then drove me back towards the airport and we stopped at a small creek where there were jungle perch hunting along the shore line. He gave me a small stickbait and we after a few twitches a little jungle perch launched itself at the lure. They were ponly tiny fish but they had every bit fo the aggression Etienne had promised and they happily nailed the lure when it was moved quickly through their territory.










That was the end of my fishing in New Caledonia. It was a great trip and I can't speak highly enough of Etienne as a guide. The passion he has for fishing is remarkable and I really enjoyed the opportunity to learn more from him. He also went beyond what I would have expected in taking the time out of his day after our fishing trip had ended to make my last few hours in New Caledonia a really enjoyable experience.

The trip organised by Ocean Blue was great and Ouano and Nekweta were lovely places to stay. Nekweta has a lovely family feel and we ate most meals with Etienne and the owners Manu and Stefanie who were genuinely lovely people. If you have a chance to visit this part of the world it's worth dropping in, I'm sure you'll enjoy your time there and be made to feel most welcome.
Joel


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## Desal (Feb 26, 2009)

Thanks for the great report Joel, looks like a fantastic spot. Do you think you could fish the area you covered in a kayak? What are the issues you might encounter?
regards,
Neil


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## imnotoriginal (Jan 13, 2008)

The areas I fished on the last day were covered land based so no issues fishing there in a yak. The areas around Bourail we launched from the river to fish and the inshore areas could easily be covered by a kayak. There are plenty of bommies and reefs around the shallow water which a kayaker could quite easily reach. I fear it would be an expensive day though, as it took some deft boat work from our skipper to help us keep the fish out of the prolific rock and coral in that area and between myself and Joe I think we donated about 7 lures to Davy Jones (one later recovered) just on the last day in Bourail. In a light craft like a kayak I think you'd end up losing significantly more lures if you fished right over the bommies as we were. The fish are very powerful and would end up dragging the kayak towards the bommies unless you could fight them with the kayak as well as the rod and reel (I believe some people put their mirage drive in backwards for this purpose?). We still encountered good numbers of fish early in the day right in the shallows near the mangroves though where the bottom was mostly sand and weed. I'd love to see how someone went out of a kayak, but in this situation the boat and particularly the height over the water (best results were had from the angler on the casting platform) were a definite advantage.

La Foa could also be covered by kayak I believe but not all areas, as we sometimes motored for over 20 minutes between locations once outside the reef. Again, the same problem exists with fighting such powerful fish and given the smaller bailout areas to try and drag a fish into, winning the fight against sizeable fish would take a hell of a lot of skill and a good measure of luck. I think the inshore area around Bourail would be far more favourable for the kayaker.
Joel


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## Rstanek (Nov 5, 2007)

Great report Joel, that's a solid bluefin trev! The light tackle options in New Cal are an awesome alternative when the bigger fish aren't playing ball, plenty of variety.

Pity about Shane - we tried everything at the last minute but there was nothing he could do, absolutely shattered...

Rowan


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## wombatx8 (Feb 26, 2009)

Joel

Glad to see you back and having had a great time away. Will have to catch up soon for another fish together. Bring photos to the next drinks session.


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## imnotoriginal (Jan 13, 2008)

Hey Doug,
Looking forward to the next meet up, will be the first time I've had anything to report for a while! Should be on early shift at work by my reckoning so happy to give you a lift there again if you'd like.

Rowan,
A really great tour you guys have running there. Etienne was fantastic. The fish weren't playing the game early in the trip but that last day was something unforgettable. The aggression of the fish was fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Isle of Pines venture works out, it was a lovely place to visit and from the photos Etienne showed me it looks like an awesome area for fish too.

I feel for Shane. I'd been looking forward to that trip for months, I can't imagine how devastating that would have been for him to miss out at the last minute.
Joel


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## lovefishing (Mar 1, 2010)

that was an awesome report.


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## paulthetaffy (Jan 27, 2010)

Great report, sounds like an amazing trip. Though you have manged to make my monday morning even more depressing now 

Paul


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