Fiji report

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Broomstick
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Fiji report

Post by Broomstick » Sun Jan 13, 2019 10:13 am

I’m currently sitting at the airport with my family, 6hrs early for our flight, so I thought I’d put together a little report from our time in Fiji. We stayed at a lovely little air bnb for a bit over a week – this was the view from our backyard:

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The first thing my dad and I did after we unpacked (and after acquainting ourselves with the local stray cat):

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Was look for a spot to have a flick. There was an old train line out the back of our house, that ran parallel to the beach:

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So we followed it until we found a fishy looking spot:

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In Fiji, if you can find a lagoon with a deep entrance, you’ll catch fish. The reefies get fished out pretty quick, but if you have a deep entrance, the pelagics will move in and out with the tides. And sure enough, first cast:

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And second cast:

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We spent the arvo catching lots of trevally, mostly tea-leaf, big eye and blue-fin:

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With a few reefies mixed in:

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The trevs ranged from about 15cm to the mid 50s, with the latter pulling a lot of string on bream gear:

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Not a bad spot to have a flick:

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On our second day I went out to photograph birds - a relatively new hobby, and one reason why I haven't posted many fishing reports lately. There were plenty of shore birds including this reef heron and sharp-tailed sandpiper:

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These vanikoro fly-catchers were everywhere (female first, male second):

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But disaster struck, and my 400mm telephoto lens became a 200mm lens ha. Dang. RIP telephoto. So no more bird snaps, which is a shame because fiji has some wild birds (google golden fruit dove, orange fruit dove, and collared lory if you’re interested). But that meant I had plenty of time to fish! And fish we did, every afternoon. Tea-leaf trevs were the most common fish:

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Followed by these delicious redthroat emperor:

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We caught a few of these beautiful little coral trout:

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And lots of little cod:

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We ate fresh fish for dins every night (my ma is a killer cook):

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I still had a macro lens, so I hunted for cool critters to photograph. Unfortunately, the most common critters are invasive pests, like this cane toad and common house gecko:

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But there are some cool invertebrates too. This is the second largest beetle in the world, the Fijian long-horned beetle. This thing was about the size of my palm, but they get much bigger:

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This rhinocerous beetle wasn’t much smaller:

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These little copper-headed skinks were everywhere:

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But the kings of the Fijian forest are crabs:

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Shells are in short supply, so this poor hermit crab had to make do:

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On our second last day, we had some massive tides, and the water was absolutely ripping through our little lagoon. The fishing was hot:

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I just love blue-fin trevally:

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This big goatfish was a highlight:

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Little big-eyes were everywhere:

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More little cod, redthroat and trout (check the reflection in this cod's pupil):

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Even my little bro got in on the action:

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The big tea-leafs go really hard:

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This grassy emperor was a new species:

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We got bitten off by as many long-tom as we landed:

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I got smoked by a couple of bigguns, and I was regretting not bringing down my heavier outfit. I fished heavy the next day, but the tides had calmed down, and there were only small fry about again:

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Our final sunset was an absolute cracker:

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Seriously, it looked like a postcard:

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And then it was time to come home.

Cheers!

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Last edited by Broomstick on Sun Jan 13, 2019 7:01 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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meppstas
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Re: Fiji report

Post by meppstas » Sun Jan 13, 2019 10:40 am

Brilliant report & great photos to go with it too.. I've been to Fiji twice and like you fished as often as possible.. Gave plenty of fish to the locals who lived in a small village next to the resort where we stayed...
Certainly a lovely place to go for a holiday & the Fijians are beautiful friendly people as well..

cheers
Adrian
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smile0784
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Re: Fiji report

Post by smile0784 » Sun Jan 13, 2019 10:56 am

Awesome report mate
Looks like a trip to remember


Some of the pics arent loading on my phone and laptop.
Mite just me me tho.

Lightningx
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Re: Fiji report

Post by Lightningx » Sun Jan 13, 2019 11:24 am

Awesome report and pics!
Enjoyed the read.
Cheers :thumbsup:

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Broomstick
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Re: Fiji report

Post by Broomstick » Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:19 pm

Thanks fellas.
smile0784 wrote:Awesome report mate
Looks like a trip to remember


Some of the pics arent loading on my phone and laptop.
Mite just me me tho.
You have to view it in google chrome to see all the pics.

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Brett
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Re: Fiji report

Post by Brett » Sun Jan 13, 2019 2:05 pm

Broomstick wrote:
You have to view it in google chrome to see all the pics.
Nope, I'm using chrome and still missing some pics :thumbsup:

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Re: Fiji report

Post by Brownie » Sun Jan 13, 2019 2:30 pm

:a_goodjob: Great stuff, now I want to go to Fiji :-D
Yeah, some pics were blanks for me too. Still, great report and pictures. :thumbsup:

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Broomstick
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Re: Fiji report

Post by Broomstick » Sun Jan 13, 2019 2:57 pm

Sorry fellas, all working now??

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Brett
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Re: Fiji report

Post by Brett » Sun Jan 13, 2019 3:05 pm

Broomstick wrote:Sorry fellas, all working now??

Yep all good now.

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Re: Fiji report

Post by Irishfisherman » Sun Jan 13, 2019 4:14 pm

Wow trip of a lifetime. Hopefully I will go there one day. Those little big eyes looked like jumbo red mullet, I’d say their fairly tasty, saying that most of the fish there are anyway.

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