High on our list of priorities was a visit to remote Sabine Shoal, rising out of 2000m to a depth of 2.3m. Sabine is a 70nm run from Luganville across open ocean and consequently is largely unexplored territory for the local game fishing boats. Conditions on the day of our trip were 20-25kts south east, but Shaka’s range and sea going ability meant that we could do the trip in comfort and safety. We ran out at a shade under 30kts with a plan to fish all day and, given the conditions, go on towards Wusi Reef off the west coast of Santo for the night.

It was obvious from some distance off that this was going to be the long awaited “fish city” we had hoped for. Birds were everywhere and tuna chopped up the bait schools all around. We were rigged for big blue marlin, but it was not long before we were into the Wahoo. We estimated about 30 strikes for the day and had we elected to troll hard bodied swimming lures we could have filled the boat. As it was, we boated seven up to about 25kg plus yellowfin and GT and elected to drive away from the voracious Wahoo to conserve our lure skirts.



Towards late afternoon we had some fun chasing them on switch bait. They literally launched themselves out of the water at the lures and we picked up two on 10kg spinning gear. Great sport!

From the blue marlin point of view our trip was unproductive, however we sure know where the Wahoo live. Maybe we will see the marlin next time.