Having arrived back in New Caledonia for our third trip in 2010, I still recall the words of our guides Manu and Etienne a few months earlier when we were packing up to leave after another great trip in May. In a classical French drawl filled with skepticism they asked “Are you sure you want to give up staying at the resort like accommodation of Nekweta, with its resident cook and hostess Stephanie for a few days fishing and living in a tin shack on a beach up north???” Yes, Mitch and I answered. “OK” they said, but they were not convinced we were sane.

You see the shack is owned by Manu’s family and is on the beach and a stones throw from some great light tackle fishing we wanted to do, with a few heavy tackle GT’s thrown into the mix. Plus it is in the middle of nowhere and we were happy to wash ourselves with a saucepan and bucket of water, flush the bush dunny with a bucket of saltwater and sleep on some formwork ply that made up the bed. Did I mention we had to catch and cook our own food. Yep, we were in!

4 days at Nekweta Resort, 4 days at the camp, then back to the Resort for 2 more days, I wonder what boys back in Australia were doing…

The bed, the cook, the dinner table and the kitchen…

Did I mention that it was absolute waterfront and this was the view from the front door…

No word of a lie, 20kg GT’s patrol the shallows along the beach chasing the resident mullet and mud crabs walk up and down the beach… what more could a fisher want???

Now before I get carried away, this trip was focusing on light tackle stickbaits, poppers and plastics with some heavy tackle GTs thrown into the mix. With this in mind Mitch and I had left 4 tackle bags of poppers in New Cal in May so we could bring more tackle with us this trip. With 23kg each allowed as luggage on the way over with Air Calin, my bag alone hit 29.5kg, my rod tube another 6 kg and the excess luggage bill was nearing $252.00. This was negotiated down to $126.00 so it was not that bad. On the way home we had 75kg between us, but being a Qantas flight and Mitch and I enjoying a few Qantas Club privileges, they did not blink and eye and they asked us to join them in the lounge for a few glasses of French Champagne…

Now back to the chase. Upon arrival in New Cal,  Etienne, one of the guides picks us up and says Manu is out diving for lobsters for our dinner ( 26 of them) , has trapped a few muddies (9 of them) , killed a deer and stocked the fridge with firewater- Desperados (beer with a shot of Tequila) I love it!

The trip had began and armed with 30lb and 50lb spin sticks ( as well as the 80, 100, 130 and 170lb outfits) we spent the days chasing fish on small stickbaits, small poppers and plastics. Most days we would look at each other and say its only 10am and we are stuffed from catching fish. Considering we started at 5.30 am and finished at 7pm, it was bloody hard work.

oh yeah, we did catch some GTS, with our best day being 9 fish to 27kg in about 1.5 hours!

This one was in 2 meters of water way back in the lagoon near the mangroves and took a 4 inch paddle tail plastic. Manu was the culprit here, blind casting as the rest of us tangled with smaller trevs that had surrounded the boat. (Weighed in at 22kg)

We got smoked by these bigger fish on 35lb tackle, with lures being smashed, trebles straightened and drags burned.  My 6000 Stella makes funny noises now!

Red Bass, Mangrove Jacks, GT, Bluefin Trevs, Brassy Trevs, Golden Trevs and a host of other species made it interesting.

Look closely at the next picture; Mitch hooked up to a GT – OUTSIDE the reef in a 2 m lazy swell…the sea sick kid had done it – he was like Travolta outside his bubble..( think here guys)

It was that calm we had to go. It was like casting off the top of a block of flats, with your popper 10 ft below you in the impact zone as the swell lifted as it approached the reef. You were on top looking down at you popper in the shallows, great fun.

Sunset, time to go home…until next time when we head further north to the top of New Cal  looking for Bonefish and then extreme south at the bottom of New Cal looking for Doggies.

2011 is looking good!