# Fiji, Ono Island part 2



## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

*Day four on Ono*

OK, you guys asked for part 2 .....

This story continues from "Fiji, Ono Island, best kayak fishing in the world?" (viewtopic.php?f=17&t=35066).

Today Piero took us out on the boat to show me "how it's done" :? . The wind was about 15 knots which was the lightest wind I had on the trip. We started off not too far from the resort and started spinning. I quickly hooked up to a blue fin and lost it in about the same amount of time it took you to read this sentence. That happened 3 times in a row  , nobody else was getting anything. I think Piero was getting worried I was would land something before him so we quickly moved on to a different reef that I hadn't worked on the kayak and was out of my element for a moment. In a flash Piero was fishing a soft plastic and as I hooked a Long Tom he hooked a nice Long Nose Emperor. While I lost mine  , he landed his. With a "that's how its done  " we moved once again, the justification being that it was VERY SLOW. We moved on and I was to hook another 4 fish but not land anything, Piero's son, Milo, didn't get a nibble. Through all this Voli, Piero's girlfriend was quietly sitting and making small comments that amounted to "pathetic". Piero had warned me she was lucky at cards and fishing, she had destroyed both Piero and I the night before in cards and now she was about to do the same with the fishing. She picked up a rod with a 30 cm popper, heaved it out wide and brought it in. It left a wake like my kayak and I'm wondering, if something takes that, it could also take the kayak. First cast was a practice she claimed. Second cast over a bommie and I thought a small submarine had decided to chase her popper&#8230;. No it was an estimated 5-6 kg job fish and she was on. Pulling so hard she was almost overboard when Piero grabbed her (not sure if he was after the rod or the girl?!?! ;-) ) and he started combat. Unfortunately, Voli's luck finished and the fish got away. That was it! Trip over, too slow, only 1 emperor to show for 3 hours fishing. We headed back to the resort with Piero saying that only he had the talent to land a fish. I'm thinking I'll change that this afternoon in the Hobie "classic popper" :twisted: .

In the afternoon the wind was 20 knots and I head out in my giant peddle powered popper.. actually I'm going to stop calling that considering what happened on day six.

Trolling in heavy seas I pick up this little Trout








Spinning I pick up this little Emperor 









*Day five on Ono*

I'm starting to get some strategies together and I've decided to pull out some bigger lures for today  . I've decided to get serious!
My trip is planned for site C (see previous post), I planned for a 6 km trip (without detours). It means a downwind run in 15 knot winds, crossing a reef edge in mid tide. This is a maneuver in which you wait off the reef for enough sunlight so see the bottom clearly, its only 0.5 to 1m deep with waves exposing coral heads, without doubt a little dangerous, you want to time your entry so you will pass between bommies and coral heads in a small passage, usually 2-10 meters wide with enough water under the keel not to hit. Therefore, the mirage drive is in the up position and you paddle through. All lures a stowed so that if you go over they don't become embedded in you or the coral. Its only a 20 to 50 meter paddle but depending on wind and waves, a tense moment.

OK I'm over the reef edge and in the lagoon section, first thing I see are large fish darting between the coral, a good sign. I start by spinning, second cast and I'm on. A large Long Tom, over 2 meters, as I get it close to the kayak I'm wondering what the hell do you do with 2 meters of angry squirming toothy fish, no way to keep it in the boat at which point it unhooked itself and I was a little relieved. Next cast, a 65 cm blue fin, I'm not going to show the evidence this time because the next 15 mins will occupy a part of my memory forever. Let me set the scene, Wind 15 knots from the East, Water depth, 1 to 3 meters depending on the coral, visibility in the water, 20 to 30 meters. I cast the lure, a 3 cm, 15gr splice (not exactly my largest lure). Plop into the water and start a leisurely retrieve, pretty happy with the day so far. Then in the distance a dark shape changes direction and heads towards my lure, its about 20 meters out and sneaks up on my lure, clearly planning a stealth attack rather than just ripping in and taking the lure, then it takes the lure and starts on its happy way to clean up other fish oblivious to the fact that it has a hook in its mouth, in fact I wasn't sure myself, I had deliberately left the line slack so I can position the kayak a bit better, turn the nose to the fish and set the hook and all hell breaks loose. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz off goes the drag..... wwwishhh and off goes the kayak  . The fish takes off to the South-West and is pulling like a train. I don't know what my speed was I don't have GPS in Fiji but it was flying towards open water away from the resort. Maybe a minute of this and its no longer spooling my 12 kg braid, just towing me. I've seen the fish a little and all I can say at this time it is mackerel shaped and VERY big. I know this can't last in 1-3 meters of water, lots of coral and a fish that is clearly close to my line class with a tiny 3 cm lure, never the less, play on. Not much to do while I'm being towed, I can't even put on a bit of rudder to change the direction in an effort to put some hurt on the fish, a recipe for disaster as I would definitely being cutting over coral if I didn't follow the fish exactly. Then an unexpected change, the fish turns and comes back straight under the yak at light speed. I'm too busy recovering line and trying to turn the kayak to have a good look at the fish, only to confirm, mackerel in shape and bigger than I first imagined. Originally I put it at 7 to 10 kg, now I'm thinking 10 to 12 kg. Turn the kayak and let off some drag so when the fish takes up the line I don't bust off, the strategy pays off and the fish is taking line from the spool and we are now heading North, back over the coral that I had just so carefully navigated. Then another unexpected event, then massive fish disappears under a bommie and doesn't reappear. My first thought, "game over"  I can feel the coral through the braid, scratch scratch. 12 kg can't resist that for long. Second thought, that it is NOT a mackerel, they don't stop under bommies. Think quick, I put some angle on the fish and try to get my line away from the coral, the strategy pays off and the fish is off and running again, North-West now towards deep blue water, I like that decision, oh no, another stop at a bommie, same strategy and I can't believe it, he, actually a she, is out and running as hard as the first time. It took me a while to get her out from under the bommie so she was pretty much recovered. Now heading East, if she keeps this up she will cross the reef edge more or less where I crossed earlier in the day, I can't allow that to happen, too many snags but what can I do&#8230;. Nothing. We zoom towards the reef edge and in a flash I see her cross shallow water over the reef edge and into the relatively open waters. I madly handle the rudder and try my best to follow, success and I'm in deeper water and feeling a bit more at home. She heads down to what I guess was about 10 meters and starts to pull hard and steady, directly towards the resort. That's against 15 knot winds so I'm happy and she seems happy too. This goes on for what seemed a few minutes when one of the workers boats pulls up near by. Someone yells out, 'you right? Caught the bottom?' I answer, 'I'm fine, no I have a fish' then they see the steady break of the nose of the kayak as it cuts against the wind and take a surprised second look and they continue on in the opposite direction. I'm not sure how much time has passed now but the steady pull suddenly changes to panicky tugs and for the first time since the fish changed direction I'm recovering line. Then a flash in the darker waters, she's close. Then another run, zzzzz off we go but the run doesn't last and we're back to desperate tugs, I'm recovering line and a flash of colour and then a FLASH of colour, I'm being warned, it's a barracuda and she's flashing warning colours at me. Off again, not long now, I've been here with other big fish, she's about to give in, and she does, she comes to the surface and starts circling the yak. I prepare my gaff and take a swing, ha! bounced right off and upset the fish&#8230; off again. Not long and she's back to the yak, this time I'm weary, what if I had planted the gaff the first time, it had a sling around my wrist and was leashed to the yak, I would either have to relinquish the gaff or be pulled over board, with not much thought, I take the sling and leash off the gaff and try again, this time I make good my strike and the barracuda yields. It's next to the yak and I'm clearly not going to get it into the yak, its half the size of the yak and I don't have space onboard with two fish already in the well (I didn't mention the emperor in the hold), even if they weren't there I couldn't haul it over the edge&#8230; to where? I put my hand in the gills, re-attached the gaff leash and started my paddle home, there was no way I could continue fishing. I'm thinking 14 kg as I struggle, rather tired from the battle, back to the resort. When I get there I beach the kayak and drag it up on the sand with the fish. Now that it's out of the water I'm thinking 16 kg. I was tired and couldn't lift it, then the Fijian workers saw the fish and were suitable impressed. One offers to help me with it and is shocked at the weight and is asking if I really caught it from the yak. He's saying 18 kg so its time to get the lie detector out. It takes two people to hang it on a tree and with some weight supported by the tree itself the fish comes in at conservative 20 kg, probably a 22 kg fish, 1.4 meters long. Here's the evidence&#8230;


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

From previous post....

















*Day Six on Ono, the things nightmares are made of.*

Due to bad weather I hadn't taken my camera on the kayak but today despite 15 to 20 knots I decided today was a catch, photo and release day. With the success yesterday fresh in my mind I decided to do the same trip. So let's start a slide show









I peddled Westward, and over the inner reef edge and onto comfortable fishing grounds, like yesterday, a little protected from the winds.


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

I must admit, I caught hundreds of these "red perch"? anyway the fishing today was brilliant, almost every cast was producing some sort of take, this went on for 30 min then the nightmare struck, right here just after I took this picture.








I'd just taken that picture, although I can't really say for certain as the next 15 secs shocked me and blurred my memory. My camera was secure in its water proof bag, and I picked up the rod ready to cast, more or less in the direction of the photo. A VERY large shape appeared like lightning from nowhere, no guessing this time, a very large bronze whaler. It flew past me at about 1 meter depth passing half a paddle length from the yak, it was just a bit shorter than the yak itself making it 2.5 to 3 meters long, I remember the head, flat nose and very wide, "more like a tiger shark" somehow raced through my mind, not that it makes any difference, I knew this shark intended to have me, it was racing with malice intent. It turned and came at the rudder with incredible speed, covering 30 meters in milliseconds. There was nothing I could do, paddle strapped away, not that I would have had time to lift it. I had my cheap "barra pro" 2 piece rod in my hand. Stuff this as a fighting tool but I have no options, I lowered the tip to the water, the shark charged and centimeters from the rod tip swung away and was gone. Piero was to inform me later that tiger sharks in Fiji are bronze in colour and the stripes are difficult to see, I still suspect it was a bronze whaler but will never know. He also said that the local sharks will not risk anything in their eyes so the strategy with the rod may have been my salvation. Anyone who read my previous posts will also know local legend, that an ancient fight between the octopus and shark gods ended in a victory to the octopus god and a promise from the shark god that he wouldn't eat anymore locals. I queried Piero about this too and he said "anymore of the locals"&#8230;. Maybe I need to improve my tan but I doubt I will pass as a local.

I looked for the nearest shallow water and in my estimation I was probably in it, nowhere to run, the closest land was about 500 meters away in the direction the shark came from, with the thoughts, "never run from a predator" I slowly peddled to the island with an eye over my shoulder, I headed for a sand bank and had a drink of water and realized I now had a 5 km peddle back to the resort covering the area in which I last saw the shark heading. Then I looked down in the turquoise water around me, thinking how lucky I was when, with a leisurely wag in its body, a 2 meter black tip shark cruised under the yak in about 5 meters of water. For some very obscure reason this one seemed friend not foe, I took my rod out and started spinning trying to distract myself from the previous event. After a battle with a barracuda and a trevally I got the courage to leave my little bay of tranquility and plot an extended run home. Back over the reef flat and flick flick, large splash and I'm onto a largish fish, I didn't identify it on the strike and now it was in amongst the coral. Scratch scratch, oh no, use yesterdays tactics and boated this long nose emperor








She came in at just under 70 cm and although today was catch and release I had a need to show Piero "how its done" we also had guests coming the next day and I thought this might just do the trick as a meal, which it did admirably.

Cast again and instant satisfaction with a much bigger strike, in retrospect a stupid lapse of concentration to cast over a bommie, 0.5 seconds later it was gone, cut off on coral and so was my lure which had severed me well that day. With the spinning rod out of action and my nerves calmed I thought I would attach a 15 cm popper. Cast, splash, tug, splash, reel in, nothing. Cast splash, tug, splash&#8230;. SPLASH, that small submarine was back, now it had my lure conveniently tucked away inside the torpedo tube, all that was left to do was cut the line on some coral&#8230; done, story over. Note to "Grinner" if you are reading this, I know you were going poppering in Moreton bay roughly at the same time I went to Fiji and I apologise for declining your offer, I suspect my decision to go to Fiji may have given me more joy but not right at this moment! So much for poppers today! I didn't have anymore poppers on board, indeed I didn't have any left except for a ~30 cm one that "Red" (Leigh) gave me a few days prior to departing on the trip. I wasn't going to waste that in the kayak, you would have to be very lucky to stop something that takes that sort of lure.


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

OK, lets see if trolling works just on the outside edge drop off of the inner reef&#8230;&#8230;








On a lively lures 'mad mullet'

Followed by Mr unidentified&#8230; maybe some form of Mackerel?








Actually this is a bit of a tragic catch, I was trolling for about 15 min and thought it was strange I didn't have a strike, so I reeled in, and the lure was clearly fowled, but when I got it next the yak the mackerel(?) was attached and dead, I had been trolling it around and didn't know it, apparently no other fish were interested either!

Troll again&#8230;. Sashimi for Voli


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

*Day seven on Ono*

The next day Piero convinced me it was tooooo windy for a kayak trip and invited me to climb the hills behind his resort&#8230;
















That afternoon, with the wind climbing up to 25 knots I went out anyway to get Voli's sashimi

Here's Sieni with tomorrow's sashmi








And some more just to satisfy the guests








Derek with sashimi.


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

*Day eight on Ono.*

By far the worst day so far for wind, gusts up to 30 knots but this was my last chance to go kayak fishing. I couldn't resist&#8230;&#8230;








Cara the cook with tomorrow's sashimi

And yes this is a Queenfish


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

*Farewell to Ono &#8230;. For now.*

In 25-30 knot conditions I went back to Kandavu airport. On the way the boat man "detoured" to some reefs. I hooked 4 yellow fin tuna, only to loose all 4 to coral. On 12 kg braid I just couldn't stop them, I think the fact that the boat was pitching in a 2 meter swell didn't help me&#8230;. At least my luggage would be lighter by 4 lures. The only thing I boated was a Banana striped cod or groper and several red perch.

Kandavu airport is in a bay that is very protected from the wind, here is the taxi rank at the end of the runway
















Yes the fish were jumping in the bay as I waited under a coconut tree in the "departure lounge" (the beach) and my rods were safely checked in waiting for this..








It wound out running off the strip that day, opps. Not a good sign for the return flight to Nadi.

Can't resist one more picture..









That's the end of my story, hope you enjoyed the reading. I'm hoping to plan a kayak fishing group trip there one day and will post again if it becomes a reality.


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## azzaroo (Aug 17, 2007)

loving this report decay,your takin me places i wanna be  thx for the effort  

ps serious fangs on the cuda... are they edible??


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## Buff (Dec 31, 2005)

Fantastic a great report well told, felt like I was there


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

Hi Azzaroo,

Nah, the fangs aren't edible :lol:

Sorry couldn resist. The barracuda was taken by the locals and I am told they ate it. After the cyclone food was a bit scarce so I think it went down well but I'll have to ask Piero for it's final fate.

Glad you liked the story.

Cheers,
Derek


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## Rstanek (Nov 5, 2007)

Hi Derek, great report!

Mr unidentified looks like a baby dogtooth tuna. Don't think too many doggies would've come aboard a yak before, well done!


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## bigyakka (Mar 18, 2009)

How will you ever go back to fishing boring australian waters for flathead and trevally


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Great report, Derek. Now I know where to go if I ever get the urge to visit Fiji.

You might be able to enter that 'cuda in the AKFF bluewater summer comp -- it certainly deserves a special mention.

Thanks for such detailed info.


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## Trogdor (Apr 20, 2009)

Amazing stuff!!! And an awesome report, thank you!

Im so green with envy


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWT/3WqkAABnXgAAQQOcAghQAP+/foCAAhBqp+TRqeimTJ5Q2jEgRU/yRM1TPVNoTEGNT1FBDi3lJmOL4xTWDCr7WScVwf5VtkT9JiD/bkOK0eUz5Y76y2iTuhkoPSFEqyISdQUbSdIxerJ97xDm+YI4uSrr+2aFtWzpNJRpdrfQIFxUPAqSWcgG1U4rhoGSVmWDn5OFhWXbHgxbyERcpm9B7UxH8XckU4UJA/91qpA==


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## Bruyaka (Nov 12, 2009)

Well done . Brilliant report .   Just kayaking such clear water must be great , but what a trophy to have caught that cuda . 
What time of year was it and did you take your own Yak ? Cheers


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## squidlips (Nov 24, 2008)

Mate I gotta admit - I'm jealous! Some really good fish there - well done!


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## ELM (Jul 14, 2008)

Decay, I have to say that is one brilliant report and a smashing trip (in more ways than one). As others have said, it felt like I was there, Great stuff!!!
Do you have any pics of the resort/accommodation etc?


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## seawind (Mar 29, 2007)

Enjoyed the report Decay, Quite an adventure and heaps of variety, awesome Cuda, congratulations.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Great trip report there with some extreme highs and lows - the shark Fark !!! And that Barracuda - scary !!! Brings back my memories earlier this year of the GT and many blue spots I caught off the reef in Fiji. I might be keen for a trip - would have to get clearence from her in doors first though - but consider me


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

Thanks everybody for your support and comments, high praise indeed coming from this forum.

Rstanek, I think you are right, two people have said that to me, I wanted to check my "Grants" but I'm still recovering from renovations and can't find the book.

Bigyakka, I just went down south and caught 40+ Bonito, (story to come soon) so a nice welcome back to Australia

High sunshiner, I've been trying to catch up with you for some hints on those spotties you've been catching. How do I enter a fish in the bluewater summer comp?

Newyaka, I went from 13 Dec to 29th Dec 2009. I cheated with the yak ... I have one there all set up ready from me to use 

Elm, I'll post some pictures of the accommodation soon.

Wopfish, I will keep you in mind for Fiji trip #3

Cheers,
Derek


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## yaktopia (Nov 30, 2008)

Decay,

That's the best read in a long time and I bet you go to sleep each night reliving that cuda battle. Brilliant trip!


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

Hi Elm,

As promised some of the accommodation shots follow.
Thought I would start with the restaurant since a lot of time is spent there relaxing, listening to music, maybe drinking???


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

Now for some of the bures where you can stay. First the outside's of the bures


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

And now for the insides where you can sleep.

First the dorm bure which is for groups of people (like a group of kayak fishermen?)

















Now inside a typical accommodation for couples









All the bures have a shower and toilet. The shower is outside in an extension outside the back of the cabin. They are private to an extent but you look out over the top of a wooden wall around the shower and up to blue sky. I really enjoyed showers out in the open after a day's paddling.

There are no cooking facilities in the bures. What would you cook??? there are no shops on the island... just ask Cara the cook if you need something.

Hope this helps anybody trying to make up their mind to go there.

Cheers,
Derek


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## ELM (Jul 14, 2008)

Very nice Derek thanks for the extra images and thanks for letting me know about the diving possibilities as well. For anyone interested in a possible kayak fishing trip, in the image;
Here's Sieni with tomorrow's sashmi








Do any of the kayaks in the back ground have rod holder facilities, if not and we were prepared to bring/install some, would that be possible, or is that something they are looking at?


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

ELM said:


> Do any of the kayaks in the back ground have rod holder facilities, if not and we were prepared to bring/install some, would that be possible, or is that something they are looking at?


Hi Elm,
The picture below shows most of the Kayak fleet.








The problem is there are two tandem RTM kayaks (far left kayak and far background) and one solo "Disco" RTM kayak (first yellow kayak to the left of the modified "Dagger". None of the RTM kayaks have hatches and therefore no access internally to work on holders etc. I ran out of blind rivets and sealing screws so I didn't modify the RTMs. I used my last resources that I had with me to put a rod holder in this "Dagger"









I don't think Piero (the owner of the resort) would mind additional attachments being put on the kayaks provided he was asked in advance. If somebody wanted to modify the RTMs they would need to bring decent blind/sealing screws or something. The fish are violent there and would rip out any holder that wasn't properly secured.

Only the RTM "disco", the Hobie "classic" and the two sit in kayaks have seats.

There are plenty of pre-moulded nuts already in the RTMs but they don't really lend themselves to attaching rod holders.

As an after thought, I did take the "Dagger" out and it was stable and seamed like a reasonable kayak to fish from. I was just worried about capsizing the sit in kayak, there's no skirt for them and you would have to contend with a swamped kayak on your trip home.

Hope this helps anybody thinking of going out there.


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## Decay (Feb 25, 2008)

Oppss a better picture of the RTM ocean Duo


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