Vanuatu Liveaboard – An Adventure To Remember

DropCast Fishing Charters & Liveaboards in Vanuatu
April 2024
Photography by Erik Axner (Instagram @eraxner)

I started my journey all the way from Sweden after an invitation from Jake and Dan at Taco Tackle, Bangers Teasers and West Coast Poppers. I assume you are curious who I am? Well, a topwater junkie from Sweden that loves to travel and photograph my way around the globe named Erik Axner. 

After an almost 24-hour long journey, I sat foot in Melbourne for the first time and was well approached by the boys. Before the big adventure to Vanuatu, we had a day to spend at their store and warehouse with the final preparations and it was already on when I got there. Metres and metres of lures on a large table caught my attention and we quickly started to discuss what we should bring and of course our predictions of which lures would produce trophy fish. After doing the selection of lures, adding a few extras and removing some smaller baits we were confident with our choice and the trophy lure was predicted. A Gangsta in Coral Trout pattern!

The rodtube was packed and we spent the rest of the afternoon making Bangers Teasers and Daisy chains as the final preparations for the trip.

Off we went the day after, even if we were delayed and ended up arriving to Port Vila, Vanuatu in the middle of the night where skipper Andrea Traverso and his crew consisting of Tom, Roy and the chef John greeted us on board Amalu, out home for the next coming days. 

We managed to get a few ours of sleep before it was time for breakfast and then we were off to the first spot which was a FAD, trolling our way over there in hope for some action. The ocean was dead calm, flat as a mirror as we cruised ahead. Amazing scenery but the fishing was slow until we got a bite for Garry, the old man who got himself a nice wahoo. 

At the FAD, our hopes and expectations were yellowfin tunas but the non-existing wind made them impossible to trick into a bite, even on the jig as we marked them on the sonar. Not much to do so we headed further north, trolling again and this time with one of our freshly made Daisy Chains which instantly gave us another wahoo, much bigger than the first and Dan got the honor to fight this fish. Jake also got a dogtooth tuna on the same Daisy Chain before we arrived to the next area where it was jigging time. The boys had brought some Little Jack Metal Addicts and Trophy Hunter Jigs that quickly was picked up down there and we landed a couple of Amberjacks and was taxed a few times too, something that was going to be quite a common scenario the following days too. 

We also hooked into a few bigger fish that ripped line from our reels like nothing, leaving us begging for mercy until whatever it was found the reef down there, probably big dogtooths or perhaps a giant bar cod. Who knows? 

Evening came, anchor was dropped in a calm bay and we woke up to the smell of bacon, just as the skipper promised us. I have travelled around the world to many charters, liveaboards and lodges but the food that John and Andrea provided during the week was extraordinary. Large portions, lots of nutritions, side dishes and ice cream! Plenty of ice cream which was very refreshing after a long day in the open sun. 

The plan of the trip was to fish our way up to Santo, a 5 day expedition where we were constantly on the move meaning that we fished new water and areas all the time with various techniques and styles of fishing depending of the area. Topwater was the big thing for us, our passion and we put a lot of effort into that in the pursuit of big GT:s, Doggies, Snappers, Coral Trout and other reef species. The wind picked up during the night and the dead calm surface was nothing but a memory during the rest of the trip which we were glad for. The wind made the fishing a lot easier, perhaps not in terms of casting, sweeping stickbaits and timing the waves with our pops but in terms of the willing to eat for the hungry predators below. As the wind pushed hard, leaving white-caps all over the place, we focused on two types of lures to fish as efficient as possible. Large cup poppers such as Gangsta or Glomar and Diving lures as the Dana. 

Both lure types can handle waves, rough seas and casts very well in the wind too and the action came regulary as we moved north. First out was me who got a few hits on a 150 g Glomar in Black Jack and boated our first G of the trip. What I really like with the Westcoast poppers is the fact that they can hold large terminals with ease and with large, I'm talking about twin 7/0 BKK GT-REX on a 145-150 g lure. Not many brands on the market can do that but these lures do it. 

We fought hard for the bites, they didn't come easily and unfortunately the biggest fish of the day didn't get hooked when it came up on the same popper all the way out in a cast during the afternoon. The back of the fish revealed a Giant Trevally that was big but how big it was, we will never know. 

It was first on the third day that we were highly rewarded for our casting when we entered a bit more sheltered bay with lots of current passing through. Once again a really big GT gave my Glomar 150 g a taste but didn't stick this time either and just seconds after there was screams of excitement in the back of the boat, drown out from the screaming Saltiga on Dan's rod. At the end of the line was a Gangsta 105 g in Coral Trout, the "Trophy color" which we spoke about before the trip and now he was hooked into a real trophy. After a tough battle, we could land a marvelous GT smashing his previous PB into pieces and when scaling the fish, we got it to 36 kg. 

The next upcoming drifts kept us busy and both me and Jack got a nice GT each and Garry boated a fantastic Red Bass before the bite was over. 

On the fourth day, we manage to find an area where the doggies were active on jigging, without the sharks claiming their part of the action. Drift after drift were done were we had multiple double-triple and quadruple hookups with furious doggies, no monsters but great fish and so much fun. The doggies (and some other fish) that was caught was kept as food, which John cooked delicious meals for us with, but most fish was given to the locals in wooden canoes. These handmade canoes was a true craftmanship and it was such joy and happiness when they received a large fish to bring home to their family. 

Later on that afternoon, we switched up to topwater again and was once again highly rewarded in an area that was basically boiling with baitfish. GT:s were waiting for the right moment to strike it's next meal and for a big GT that meal was Jake's Dana in Dorado costume. Another PB was broken and meanwhile we photographed that fish, Tom helped the old man out with a bit of casting and hooked up to a nice topwater dogtooth on a Gangsta 125 g in Goldband Fusi. 

During the last day, we were already close to Santo and fished the surrounding areas sheltered from the wind as it had picked up even more. A small island, with an incredible dropoff was apparently a great spot to handout for doggies and during a few drifts there, we had multiple bigger doggies hitting our poppers but those who stuck to the hooks threw them out eventually during the fight. Roy who was at the back of the boat snuck out a dead baitfish behind the boat and stood shortly afterwards with a heavily bent rod and a screaming Talica 50 in his hand. He passed the rod over to me and I was in for a fight to say the least. As hard as that fish pulled, my mind was set for an even bigger fish but a 30 kg dogtooth was landed after a few minutes of battle. Great fish and so fun to boat a bigger size dogtooth. 

The last night on board was spent close to the harbour and Andrea was kind enough to offer us a few hours of fishing in the morning before our dropoff which we took advantage off. The wind was still pushing hard and we had some chances on topwater that didn't result in some bending. However, before the trip, at the airport, me and Jake had been scrolling through the Dropcast Instagram and we had noticed a beautiful yellow fish, a Maori Seaperch. Not very common but such a cool fish with a marvelous pattern on the gill plates. There and then, I said to Jake: - That's a fish I really want. 
And on the last day, on the last hours of casting, I managed to get a bite for just that fish, which luckily stuck to the hooks and joined me for a photo session onboard Amalu. This trophy fish, which is really is for me, was also caught on the Coral Trout pattern in the Gangsta series so our predictions of the trophy colors were really spot on. 

The last really exciting thing that happened before our time on Amalu was over was the furious run that Dan got while jigging, bending the poor rod deep into the handle and ripping like from the Saragosa like nothing. As before, the (probably) big dogtooth found the reef once again and left Dan with nothing but a frayed leader. 

To sum it up, we had a fantastic time together and it was such a pleasure joining this trip together with Jake, Dan, Jack and Garry onboard the Amalu. 
Top class straight through. I will be back one day. 

Fishy greetings from Sweden @ Sea Fishing Tackle
Erik Axner

Links:

• West Coast Poppers Homepage/Store
• West Coast Poppers Stockists
• Jake's GT Capture on Instagram
• Dan's GT Capture on Instagram
• DropCast Fishing Charters
• Sea Fishing Tackle Sweden