Ouvea

Back from Ouvea, New Caledonia to a windy Brisbane. Had a great week long holiday, with 3 days in Noumea and 5 in Ouvea. Managed to get some fishing in as well which is a bonus. I mainly fished the northern flats which friends had recommended. It is a good 40 minute walk from the end of the road, down the beach, across the first creek, down the next beach and over to the main channel. We had rented a scooter which had great wide tyres that made driving down the beach with 2 on board a breeze, and saved a good 25 minutes of walking. Conditions weren't the best with 15kt winds and clouds and showers as well which made it tougher. The tides weren't quite right either, but it wasn't planned as a fishing holiday... Spent a long time walking the inner and outer flats and didn't see much at all, apart from small lemon sharks. In total I saw 4 bones on the flats, three of which were moving quickly back out to sea, and another that just wasn’t interested, Caught heaps of small GTs, barracuda, and a host of other fish on the flats, including some feisty spangled emperors, but no bones. I did fish the deeper water at the edge of the flats and that’s where I had more success. On the first day I caught a nice (3kg) golden Trevally and shortly afterwards was blown away by a good sized bonefish – drag was still too tight… On the second outing to the Northern Flats I fished the deeper channel further north and finally caught my first bonefish, not huge at around 2lbs, but still a bone nonetheless. I also hooked an absolute snodger, and had him almost to the beach when 2 sharks appeared and even though I jumped in to scare them off it didn’t work, and one of them ate the bone. Bloody Noahs, they hassled me even there... I was hooked up to the shark for about 5 minutes until he wore though the leader… To top it all off about 15 minutes later I cast at a school of fish and hooked a silvery white steam train that took off full speed, jumped and was gone, pretty sure it was a milkfish… So not much luck for me… On the way back to the scooter I had another cast in my golden trevally spot and caught a beauty of about 5kgs, my best to date… To sum it up, even though I did catch a few fish including my first bonefish I am not sure that I would recommend Ouvea as a bonefish destination. Too much hard work and a lot of walking on the flats without seeing anything… While I was there I hooked up with the local dentist who is the only fly fisher on the island. He is currently fixing up a 4m boat that he will be able to pole around with and explore the area a bit better, and will keep me updated with the progress. I also met up with Claude Lombardo in Noumea at Marine Corail, he had tried setting up a small bonefishing operation in Ouvea but gave up in frustration, for many reasons, the main one he told me about was the constant hassles with the local tribe, and their changing moods. He was very helpful with information, and I definitely recommend looking him up if one has some spare time in Noumea. The shop is in the town centre and easy to find. I had no problems with the people I met, but I was only there for 3 times and it doesn’t take many negative experiences to sour things… Anyway, I hope the dentist manages to start catching bones consistently, he also had wonderful stories about the fish one can catch around the bommies – big GTs, dog tooth tuna, green jobfish, and then tuna, Wahoo, sails and mahi mahi a bit further out… Now for some pictures:

My bonefish

Close up

My best Golden to date - lovely fish and great fighters...

Beach driving - New cal style

One of the many cudas...

A bit of scenery

The northern flats, when it wasn't raining or cloudy

A new species for me - Trumpetfish

The northern channel, locally known as shark pass, so I discovered

And the best way to end the day, enjoying a "Number One" beer while watching the sun go down into the sea, something us East Coasters don't normally see...