Fishing in Vanuatu

Vanuatu is a place I have wanted to fish for quite a while. Many of our clients had been there over the years chasing various reef and blue water species, with dogtooth usually right at the top of the wish list. As someone who has been bitten by the dogtooth bug, I was super excited to go last December. The underwater topography in Vanuatu is pretty much tailor made for doggies with volcanic undersea mountains peppering the area what you see above the water is just a small smattering of the jagged underwater mountains below the surface. These fish love to hug the massive drop offs, hunting in packs anywhere from the surface to a couple of hundred metres down. They range in size from small 4-10kg models through to monsters well over 100kg! Jigging and popping for these fish is an amazing adrenalin rush. One moment you are ripping a jig through the water column, the next you are pinned to the gunnel as the angry dogtooth charges for the bottom. More often than not, the fish, or sharks win the battle but sometimes you get lucky and land a stunning dogtooth!

Drop Cast sportfishing charter owner Andrea Traverso have been fishing these waters for his entire life. It shows through his vast knowledge of the region and ability to put you on fish constantly. The 46 foot Amalu is a fantastic fishing platform as well as providing comfort, great food and friendly crew!

After an overnight steam to the north we fished a series of pinnacles and ledges around a small rocky island. The fishing was consistent on the jigs with regular hookups on the dogs as well as bonus extra yellowfin and a sailfish trolling between spots. As tends to be the way, a lot more fish were lost than landed, but a steady stream of smaller doggies and reef fish were landed.

I landed my best fish for the trip at this time with a 25-30kg dogtooth. It was a comfortable fight with the new Zenaq Ikari DBLFS53-J15. The rest of the guys were having a ball hooking many fish, landing a fair few of them and generally getting their arms stretched constantly by dogtooth. I had the full range of new Zenaq Ikari DBL rods out to test; they went brilliantly! The only issue was that I lent them to the guys on the trip and they were not keen on giving them back! The action on the solid core Ikari DBL is flexible and springy enough to work a good range of jig weights as well as allow comfortable high pitch/mechanical style jigging for long sessions.

When hooked up the rod folds over well, loading close to the angler for comfort, but not so much as to sacrifice the lifting power at the butt. All of our jigs worked well at times, but when the going got tough, the Uroco 250g, Nature Boys Swim Rider Short 295g and classic Patriot Designs DDT 220g all came through with the goods. I took plenty of 150-180g jigs on this trip, but next time Illtake more 250-300g jigs to make it easier when hitting 150m+ depths.

Around the middle of the trip, the fishing became more challenging, with big shows of fish visible on the sounder but extremely reluctant to bite. Changing jigs around and mixing up the jig action definitely helped to spark a bite or two, but the anglers and skipper had to work a lot harder to generate some action. We also noticed other odd signs like a lack of bird life as well as an eerie stillness. We continued to fish but the numbers of fish hooked or landed slowed to a trickle compared with previous days. We awoke the following day to news that a large earthquake had occurred in the south of the country, devastating the capital of Port Vila. Vila is the homeport for the Drop Cast team and unfortunately a relative of one of the crew had passed away in a building collapse. The decision was made to cut the trip short and steam back to Luganville (where we departed from) so the crew could press on quickly to Port Vila.

So not quite the dream trip we were hoping for, but we were fortunate to be well away from the earthquake centre and able to return home with minimal disruption, so we can count ourselves very lucky. It was quite extraordinary to see how the wildlife pre-empted the quake, with the bite progressively slowing down in the day before it hit.

If you are thinking of going to Vanuatu, do it! The country is stunning, and the locals are extremely welcoming. Many areas of the country are unaffected by the quake, and those that have been affected will be looking to get their businesses up and running to greet tourists as soon as possible. If you have thought of a trip with Drop Cast dont delay as they are already taking dates for 2026, with 2025 fully booked. Ill be going back again for sure!