Kelcey Chandler-Yates and Jim Yates present...

UnderSeaPhotoVideo.com

February 8, 2004

Hunga, Vava'u Tonga

Chris Catching his Yellow Fin Tuna

The Catch of the Day

World class sports fishing is what we found when we joined fellow cruiser "jack of hearts" Corky on a fishing trip out to "the FADS". We knew the fishing was good, but HOW good was experienced by all when 10 minutes out of port we hooked a 500 lb marlin followed by another smaller one 1 hour later. Next in came a sail fish who hooked on a small lure and after one jump was free and then another VERY large marlin came up to give us a "look" and swam off!! Next, the tuna. Huge schools of them boiling in the water. Within an hour we had 7 in all and by 2:00 after hooking a beautiful mahi mahi, we had to head back to port, as even though our freezers were empty when we began, they would not hold one more fish. Excellent day. Excellent. The best day fishing in a long time-- but to see 4 bill fish off the boat in one day much less two hours made it spectacular! Especially knowing that no harm came to these beauties. Here in Tonga most of the fishermen tag and release to preserve their resource.