I want to come too!!
That's just teasing us.

Did I just see a Nemo lure? (Clown Fish)

 *This report will take awhile to complete, one pic and a few words at a time*

To get to Bougainville we had to drive from Carnarvon to Perth, fly to Cairns, fly to Port Moresby PNG, fly to Bukka Island (North Bougainville). It was a long drawn out journey and relief to finally get there.

The view from "Reasons Guest House" on Bukka, across the chanel is mainland Bougainville.

 The first day we had a walk around town and met a few of the friendly locals. The people are very shy at first but once you get the talking they wanted to know everything about us. They couldn't believe that "white folks" would want to visit their island just to have a holiday and go fishing.

I spent the afternoon sampling the local brew from the upstairs bar. Kind of like Emu Export only stronger.

 We had arranged a local fisherman to pick us up in the morning and take us fishing in his 23ft long boat with a Yamaha Enduro 40. These boats are everywhere and are made in PNG for Yamaha and distributed around the region but the Ela Motors group. They are stable and seaworthy and scoot along with any outboard from 15 to 60 hp. Most of them have 40's on the back and will plain with 14 people aboard (or 12 people, 15 chooks and a pig).

Heading out the Bukka passage under heavy skys. The days start off hot, by lunchtime its about95% humidity and then normally rains in the arvo. This was the hottest day while we were there, high 30's at 9am in the middle of winter.

 Along the coast there is 100's of small islands and coral atolls rising up from about 50m deep. This forms a series of channels and even on neap tides the current rips though. We saw flying fish and bait schools everwhere with the odd school of Mack tuna busting them up. We trolled laser pros and soft grassy lures around the place looking for something bigger but after a few hours and only one hit from a Kingfish (spanish mack) I decided that we need to do something different.

I had to instruct the boat drivers on what to do as most of them had never seen rods/reels/lures before. I tied on a 150 gram popper and cast towards the shallow reefs while we cruised along. The locals laughed at this and thought that I was long long(crazy) untill a large GT followed the lure all the way to the boat. We saw heaps of big GT's but they just wouldn't hit the poppers. I changed to a stickbait and hooked up a decent sized fish but lost it in the reef, it took a while for the skipper to understand that when I hooked up he had to drive the boat away from the structure and don't stop even if it looks like I'm struggling.

 By mid afternoon Roz was feeling a bit crook from the intense heat and my arms were about to fall off from casting for hours, we had caught about 5 small trevally and decided to head back for a couple of cold SP's. It was a slow start to the fishing but I wasn't dissapointed, I've fished some exotic locations around the world and understand that even the best places still have slow days.

Roz with one of the trevors.

Awesome mate. What a beautiful location. Keep em coming.

 The plan for the next day was to head south east through the jungle to the town of Arawa where Roz lived as a child.

Jonothan our driver picked us up in his troopy and took us on a half day journey on an extremely rough road that twisted and turned through the mountains, jungle and across rivers. A brand new troopy with the old 1hz motor, roo bar, roof rack and upgraded rims and tyres cost about AU$60,000, not bad considering most of them make an income from transporting people, goods, animals around the island.

Jonothan lived on a diet that consisted entirely of beetle nut, at the start of the drive he was doing about 70-80k/hr down the road. Then he would chew on some beetle nut and speed up to 110 - 120k/hr, the effects would wear of after 30 minutes or so and the speed would drop off. Then the beetle nut would come out again.

It was a wild ride but good fun at the same time.

Bougainville's version of MacDonalds, a road side market that sold fruit and vegies.

Most of the Bougainvillians are the friendlest people I have ever met,stop for a five minute conversation and you'll loose an hour easy.

From the left, the checkout chick, Roz and Con the Fruiterer.

 Me having a coconut break,all the fruit was awesome. So much sweeter than the crap in Coles or Woolies.

 We crossed heaps of rivers, the locals told me Black fish (black bass) can be caught in the river mouths. The fishermen don't target them because of large Pok Poks (crocodiles). Next time I go back I'll try and find a brave fisherman thats not scared of Pok Pok to take me Bass fishing, that would be a dream come true.

 We made to Arawa safely, checked into the guest house, met our tour guide and headed down to Kieta harbour to meet our fisherman Robin who would take us out for the next few days. All of this was organized by Bosco from Bougainville Experiance Tours, great bloke who did a great job for us.

During Wold War II, Bougainville was occupied by the Japanese. After the battle of the Coral Sea they had to retreat, fast. There is heaps of old war stuff and wrecks on and around the Island.

Jap Zero and guns at Kieta.

 The next day we hit the water with Robin and our guide Steven, we trolled through the channels and out to the islands without a strike. After a couple of hours we stopped for a swim and fresh fruit.

Robins delux 23ft sportfisher with two rod holders and shade.

 It was time to put the trolling lures away, clip a popper on and teach Robin what to do with the boat. On the first cast he was laughing thinking that I was long long too.

 On the third cast Robins eyes almost popped out of his head, half a dozen small GT's smashed the lure and I landed one.

He has fished this area all his life but had never seen anything like this. They use light handlines and small hooks with a feather or a bit of a tin can or something attatched to it and catch small reef fish and the odd pelagic. A fish like this one would fetch 80 - 100 Kina in the local markets which is out of range for a family to purchase.

 I switched to a bigger lure and the fish got bigger too. We had a great session on the GT's, one every 10 casts or so. Most fish were around 10 kgs and we saw and got smashed by much larger fish.

I learnt a few things that day, the GT's were more active later in the day, hooks can't be too heavy and River 2 Sea Dumbells great lures that are easy to use at the end of a long day(hooks need to be upgraded if your chasing 20kg + fish tho)

Great story Tony. I hope there is more? I have fished with locals in Vanuatu, Tonga, Fiji, Palau and Cook Islands so I can certainly relate to things mentioned. Keep it coming.

 The next day Robin took us to a different place where the islands were closer together, he had a plan. Less traveling = more casting.

I had a plan too, although there was plenty of GT's around the calmer reefs and islands I had to work realy hard to get them to take a lure. Today I would only cast where there was plenty of wave action. It was good plan.

 It was another slow start to the day, GT's would follow the popper and sometimes give it a bit of a nudge but not smash it. I would swap to a stick bait every now and then to give my arms and shoulders a rest. Then at about mid day they came on the chew.

 The red and white dumbell was getting smashed almost every cast for a while untill a black tip reef shark decided to take the lot.

Lesson learnt, sharks love poppers too.

 The next lure to go on was a Weezel 150 gram popper in blue, it lasted 3 maybe 4 cast before getting slammed by a 50kg or thereabouts GT. Robin was doing a good job of driving the boat away from the reef and  I was pulling as hard as I could with a nearly locked drag but three guides pulled out of the bindings on my rod, I released a bit of pressure and it ended up being another monumental bust off. Lesson learnt - get a better rod.(I brought a Ripple Fisher GT78 for poppers and a Temple Reef 711 for stickbaits in perth on the way home, that should do it)

Gnarly GT country, we had to keep our distance from the waves so I had to put everything into each cast to get the distance with a 7 ft rod. Hard work allright.

 The next lure was a red weezel that caught a few more GT's in the afternoon session. I also lost another big fish due to a bent trebble hook.

About 80% of Gt's were hooked on the rear, the front trebble only did damage to the underside of the fish. Big fish that were hooked on the front trebble would bend them (even Owner 5x).

From now on I'm rigging most of my lures with a GT Recorder barbless trebble on the rear and an SJ51 single on the front.

 Smile for the camera

ASWB stickbaits also claimed a few fish too, they would have to be the strongest wooden lure going around and the paint finnish is pure art.

You just cant wait for the next installment.

Keep bringing it on.

Great report - seems like a great place to be and a bonus to catch good fish

 It was getting late in the day so we started heading back, we were about to pass the most eastern island and I said to Robin "how about a few more casts".

I put on a brand new ASWB SS130 Scad in black /silver and it got nailed straight away. The fish pulled 30m of line under 10 -12 kgs of drag before Robin could turn the boat. It pulled another 50m as we tryed to motor away from the reef, Robin was trying to drive at an angle of 90 deg and the fish was pulling us back to 45. I started gaining half a metre of line bit by bit while almost being pulled over the gunnels. We got the boat into deep water and i had just started to turn its head when Robin flicked the motor out of gear. That was all it needed, it took a dive straight down into 70 odd metres of water and busted me off.

I was pretty much devistated, that was a dream fish, a Dogtooth, a big one.

That ends our fishing journey in Arawa, the next day was trip to the jungle and then up to Sohano Island, for more fishing.

Drowning my sorrows with warm cans of SP after loosing the big one.

 Thats it for now, I need a break from the computor. More stuff to come tho and i'll finish it off later.

Hows this for a tropical island paradise?

 Fantastic reading and it brings back happy memories. I was in Honiara back in the 70's in the NZ Navy for a few days visit. I wasn't too intersted in fishing in those days but loved my diving. A mate had brought with him a diving mag describing a dive site 15 miles up the coast with the only directions to get there was turn right off the jetty and follow the coast road 15 miles. Climb over the fence and walk 15 yds thru the coconut trees, 3 yds over the beach and swim out 10yds to the top of a wreck which was 10ft down. We hired a taxi and did just that and the directions were spot on. Talked the friendly taxi driver to come back at 4pm to pick us up and spent the day diving from 10ft to around 180ft in crystal clear water on an old Japanese troop carrier that had been rammed up on the beach and used by the Japs, and the Yanks for landing during the war. Taxi driver was back on time, he took us into town and to a resteraunt. He left us there while we had a feed, then came back still with the dive gear in the boot to take us back to the ship. The taxi for the day cost us $20 and that was with a tip. A fantastic day with viz to 100ft +, fish galore and all sorts of other sea life.

Mouthwatering.

Add to bucket list- Bougainville!

Sweet report Tony, kept on hoping you would add more haha top read thanks for sharing.

 Isolation and unfished ground. Awesome.

Living the life there, awesome pics awesome location.

 Doesn't get much beter than that.

 We did a tour of the old Panguna copper mine and another drive through the jungle back to the north of the island. Roz's old school friend Ralph has built a guest house on Sohano island and we would stay there for the next couple of days.

Ralph's House (by far the best place to stay on Bougainville)

 Ralph had organized a local fisherman to take us out the next day.

Desmond is "the" fisherman off the area, he has the only longboat powered by a fourstroke outboard and hunts yellow fish (yellowfin tuna) with heavy handlines and live bait. He took us to some coral atolls a fair way offshore looking for big game but we only caught small Baracuda and Kingfish, I had a shot at a Sailfish with a stickbait but the hooks weren't set properly and it jumped off.

Later in the day we headed back to the small islands closer in to show Desmond some GT popping. He said that the lure was too "big pella" (large) but after a few casts I think he changed his mind.

 Hungry?

 Desmonds Boat

 The last fish the ASWB landed, a few casts later it got smashed by an unstopable.

 The bigest GT of the trip, 20 - 25 Kgs.

This one fed about 20 people, fillets removed and turned into Thai green curry for dinner and the head and frame went straight on the barbie plate for an afternoon snack.

great report, could handle a tropical island destination right bout now.

Looks like an amazing place for a bit of R&R..

 Baracuda took a liking to my favorite tuna lure, Lumo green Richter soft grassy.

 Ralph was keen to have a look at my unusual fishing technique of casting lures (instead of trolling them), so the next day we headed out in his 23 ft center console. Unfortunately the steering cable was broken so one person operated the throttle and gears on the console and the other steered the motor via the tiller.

 We cruised along a section of reef as I belted out a big weezel popper, this was the last day fishing an I realy wanted to land a big GT. I caught a 10 kg fish early on and then things went quiet for an hour or so.

We moved to another reef and got a hit straight away, but it wasn't a GT. It hit the lure like a ton of bricks and then came in easy, some sort of trigger fish I suppose.

Ugliest fish of the trip award goes to.....

The Bo Bo fish.

 A few cast later and the water exploded when this Red Fish (Red Bass) hit the lure. This was the best capture of the trip and I was pretty happy about it.

 Its funny how all the GT's disappeared that day and the reef fish were on the bite.

Nice Gold Fish (Maori Sea Pearch)

Blue Fin Trevally

 Not the biggest one I've caught but the colours are amazing.

 Last fish of the trip, a bloody reef shark.

 That about it for this report. We are planning to go back next year and visit some different places as there is so much more that is left unexplored. We'll start and finnish our trip at Sohano Island and I would like to fish the area to the north east, thats big tuna and marlin country. Maybe an overnight stay on an island on the south east coast, half way to the Solomans is on the cards. I'll take more poppers and less trolling lures, better casting rods and more pictures.

Untill then I'll keep dreaming about the island paradise that is Bougainville.

great report Tony-has me itching to get back to our island paradise!

Awesome report mate,

I was in Vanuatu a month ago and tried a fishing trip with some locals on the island of Wala. Trolling a handline with a spoon jig was the go. The place had heaps of real fishy looking spots and i remember thinking to myself 'what I wouldn't give for a decent rod, reel and lure'. Plenty of places with untapped potential!!

 Christ! What an epic report! Stuff dreams are made of. Great work and pics Tony 

Well done mate, fantastic times!!

What a report, had me on the edge of my seat. Definately one for the bucket list..

Many many thanks !  I now regret turning down a job (years ago) to work for CRA on Bougainville but cannot complain as the job I took instead took me all over the world fishing remote and exotic places but hell that area looks the "ducks"   

 Thanks for all the replys, it takes awhile to put all the pics and words together so its good to see that it is worth the effort.

awesome report and some good fish caught!!

 Hey Tony.......

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get stuffed ...... 

I still owe you an islands trip mate..... Next break if the weathers good!!!!

that red bassssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss thumbs up