Return To Ono Fiji - 100lb plus GTs!!!!

My job as a freelance writer takes me to some premier angling destinations. I know, it’s a tough job, but of course somebody has to do it, and it may as well be me! One destination that firmly took hold in my piscatorial dreaming was the Oneta Resort, located on Ono Island in Fiji. I first travelled to Oneta a couple of years ago, shortly after the resort commenced operations.

What I found was a boutique tropical paradise nestled in lush gardens, fresh tasty food, great coffee and most importantly – immediate access to the fourth longest continuous reef in the world, the Great Astrolabe Reef. The fishing we experienced on the trip was nothing short of sensational, with big numbers of GT’s snaffling poppers and some quality jigging for dogtooth and other denizens of the deep. The lodge’s owner, Piero Piva invited me back to suss out how Oneta is travelling a couple of years after opening – and I’ve just stepped off the plane after indulging in two weeks of Oneta bliss. So what did I find on my return trip to paradise? To summarise … 100lb plus GTs!!!!

What we encountered was the GT popping I’d always dreamed of finding. It was the week leading in to the full moon in June and hordes of ridiculously proportioned GTs were camped along the hardline of the reef – gorging on fusiliers… It was, simply stated, the best GT popping I have experienced. We caught huge numbers of XOS GT’s, with the biggest I landed being one of my dream fish, an estimated 100lb plus of car-bonnet-esque GT! The average size of the fish was quite astounding. We only caught around ten fish that were under 20kg. The bulk of the fish were in the 25 – 35 kg bracket, with multiple encounters each day with ‘dream’ quality GT’s… Yes, there was an aggregation of big fish on the reef.

However, part of the reason for our success was Piero’s increased awareness of big GT lore. In the time since my last visit, Piero and his team have mastered the art of boat positioning and driving to maximise hookups to, and the landing of, big GT’s. His knowledge of the reef has grown exponentially and he knows where the consistently bigger fish reside – and it showed in the average size of the GT’s we encountered. I loved Ono already… but now I’m tragically addicted! Stay tuned for full details and pictures of my trip in an upcoming issue of Modern Fishing!

Ciao,
Brent Delaney