johnwalkley

Well....Just got back from FIJI, what an awesome fishing holiday! Oh I mean honeymoon We were staying on the denarau island resorts, which is nice and very social but not your typical white sand blue water area, but a nice place to stay and on previous trips, also a good place to fish in between pool trips and general touring.Last time I was there I got busted up hard by rampaging GTs so I went prepared with 10kg worth of fishing tackle, and took a 7# and a 9# fly rod and also my 10-20kg xrap rapala popper rod teamed with a diawa heartland 4000 with 50lb braid on it, heavy enough to handle any gt...... Yeah right! Under gunned again.The first few days saw me fishing locally in the early morning and late arvo/ evening. The days were balmy 30deg+ and the late arvo it rained most days, but it was nice rain and very welcome to wash off the sweat from hard fishing lol. The very first arvo I was flicking some fly’s around with not much luck so did the dirty and picked up the lure rod, 3rd cast of a metal and BANG ZZZZZZZ and more ZZZZZZZ and slack. Lost a monster gt. But that’s ok, 80 cast later I hooked another which turned out to be a smaller model of about 3kg, but as it was bleeding a bit and I didn’t want to dirty my lovely clean boardies I released in the water. Had a few more follows and missed takes and then tried another spot with allot of current. Tried everything in the box and also tried the fly again and managed to christen the new GT painted Abel reel with a minniGT. Just as the light was fading I was day dreaming and retrieving a lure and BOOOF right at my feet a nice 3kg GT took the lure, scared the S@&t out of me lol.Over the next few days I caught another few fish on fly and had a few misses and follows by gts. Got plenty of mangrove jacks too, man they fight dirty! They were a dime a dozen.... I got 6 of them lol.then one night I was casting away doing my daily work out and a local boat came past and we did the customary “BULA” and a wave and right then got monstered by a cuda which put on a very Ariel display for the locals. After trying to get a nice self photo which didn’t work too well another small local boat came past, I waved them over and they were kind enough to take a few pics for me. And were even more ecstatic to be given a cuda for dinner.I tried to organise a charter to go trolling but a 590FJD for just me, I wasn’t too keen. So I put my name down for a share charter which didn’t eventuate.In my frustration I was chatting to a very nice local guy who was the gardener at the resort who then arranged a local guy to take me out for the evening in a 6m glass dinghy with a 40hp yamma on the back. It was fishing FIJI styles and only cost me 100$ FJD for 2-3 hours. There were GTs busting up everywhere that night and also tuna too, missed a few GTs and managed to hook and then pull hooks on a small tuna est. 4-5kg. So fishless for that night,I had arranged to go out with them again the next morning but after having an extremely good night at the bar I decided the porcelain lady in the bathroom was a much better option for the morning.The next morning I arranged to go back out again on the boat for 3-4 hours found some nice reef systems with steep edges and bait balls everywhere, and I was in for an exciting but tackle hungry few hours!Crystal clear waters I could see Spaniards chancing my poppers and meter plus long toms fly from nowhere and smash the lures. I had XOX GTs bust me up and also follow lures right to the boat.I lost all my poppers and managed to lose 5-6 gt’s two of which made my rod feel like a twig before popping my leader-braid knot. I dropped dozens and dozens of big long toms that managed to free the trebles. I had 2 Spaniards on that bit through. I had an 8kg plus coral trout straighten my hooks and bend out the clips I was using, which I stopped using after that. It was insane!I managed to boat 2 good long toms, 3 reasonable Gts; one might have been a gold spot trev.And when I told the guy that the fish were all his, he said I had to come and have lunch on their family’s private island. We had a fire cooked GT with lemons and mango and some spices and a good 3 hours of chatting with the villagers and enjoying a traditional Fijian lunch and swimming the crystal beaches. It was the best finale. Will go back for sure.Oh if anyone is going back and wants some pointers contacts ect. Send me a PM.Enjoy the pics.John.

Well....Just got back from FIJI, what an awesome fishing holiday! Oh I mean honeymoon We were staying on the denarau island resorts, which is nice and very social but not your typical white sand blue water area, but a nice place to stay and on previous trips, also a good place to fish in between pool trips and general touring.Last time I was there I got busted up hard by rampaging GTs so I went prepared with 10kg worth of fishing tackle, and took a 7# and a 9# fly rod and also my 10-20kg xrap rapala popper rod teamed with a diawa heartland 4000 with 50lb braid on it, heavy enough to handle any gt...... Yeah right! Under gunned again.The first few days saw me fishing locally in the early morning and late arvo/ evening. The days were balmy 30deg+ and the late arvo it rained most days, but it was nice rain and very welcome to wash off the sweat from hard fishing lol. The very first arvo I was flicking some fly’s around with not much luck so did the dirty and picked up the lure rod, 3rd cast of a metal and BANG ZZZZZZZ and more ZZZZZZZ and slack. Lost a monster gt. But that’s ok, 80 cast later I hooked another which turned out to be a smaller model of about 3kg, but as it was bleeding a bit and I didn’t want to dirty my lovely clean boardies I released in the water. Had a few more follows and missed takes and then tried another spot with allot of current. Tried everything in the box and also tried the fly again and managed to christen the new GT painted Abel reel with a minniGT. Just as the light was fading I was day dreaming and retrieving a lure and BOOOF right at my feet a nice 3kg GT took the lure, scared the S@&t out of me lol.Over the next few days I caught another few fish on fly and had a few misses and follows by gts. Got plenty of mangrove jacks too, man they fight dirty! They were a dime a dozen.... I got 6 of them lol.then one night I was casting away doing my daily work out and a local boat came past and we did the customary “BULA” and a wave and right then got monstered by a cuda which put on a very Ariel display for the locals. After trying to get a nice self photo which didn’t work too well another small local boat came past, I waved them over and they were kind enough to take a few pics for me. And were even more ecstatic to be given a cuda for dinner.I tried to organise a charter to go trolling but a 590FJD for just me, I wasn’t too keen. So I put my name down for a share charter which didn’t eventuate.In my frustration I was chatting to a very nice local guy who was the gardener at the resort who then arranged a local guy to take me out for the evening in a 6m glass dinghy with a 40hp yamma on the back. It was fishing FIJI styles and only cost me 100$ FJD for 2-3 hours. There were GTs busting up everywhere that night and also tuna too, missed a few GTs and managed to hook and then pull hooks on a small tuna est. 4-5kg. So fishless for that night,I had arranged to go out with them again the next morning but after having an extremely good night at the bar I decided the porcelain lady in the bathroom was a much better option for the morning.The next morning I arranged to go back out again on the boat for 3-4 hours found some nice reef systems with steep edges and bait balls everywhere, and I was in for an exciting but tackle hungry few hours!Crystal clear waters I could see Spaniards chancing my poppers and meter plus long toms fly from nowhere and smash the lures. I had XOX GTs bust me up and also follow lures right to the boat.I lost all my poppers and managed to lose 5-6 gt’s two of which made my rod feel like a twig before popping my leader-braid knot. I dropped dozens and dozens of big long toms that managed to free the trebles. I had 2 Spaniards on that bit through. I had an 8kg plus coral trout straighten my hooks and bend out the clips I was using, which I stopped using after that. It was insane!I managed to boat 2 good long toms, 3 reasonable Gts; one might have been a gold spot trev.And when I told the guy that the fish were all his, he said I had to come and have lunch on their family’s private island. We had a fire cooked GT with lemons and mango and some spices and a good 3 hours of chatting with the villagers and enjoying a traditional Fijian lunch and swimming the crystal beaches. It was the best finale. Will go back for sure.Oh if anyone is going back and wants some pointers contacts ect. Send me a PM.Enjoy the pics.John.

Well....Just got back from FIJI, what an awesome fishing holiday! Oh I mean honeymoon We were staying on the denarau island resorts, which is nice and very social but not your typical white sand blue water area, but a nice place to stay and on previous trips, also a good place to fish in between pool trips and general touring.Last time I was there I got busted up hard by rampaging GTs so I went prepared with 10kg worth of fishing tackle, and took a 7# and a 9# fly rod and also my 10-20kg xrap rapala popper rod teamed with a diawa heartland 4000 with 50lb braid on it, heavy enough to handle any gt...... Yeah right! Under gunned again.The first few days saw me fishing locally in the early morning and late arvo/ evening. The days were balmy 30deg+ and the late arvo it rained most days, but it was nice rain and very welcome to wash off the sweat from hard fishing lol. The very first arvo I was flicking some fly’s around with not much luck so did the dirty and picked up the lure rod, 3rd cast of a metal and BANG ZZZZZZZ and more ZZZZZZZ and slack. Lost a monster gt. But that’s ok, 80 cast later I hooked another which turned out to be a smaller model of about 3kg, but as it was bleeding a bit and I didn’t want to dirty my lovely clean boardies I released in the water. Had a few more follows and missed takes and then tried another spot with allot of current. Tried everything in the box and also tried the fly again and managed to christen the new GT painted Abel reel with a minniGT. Just as the light was fading I was day dreaming and retrieving a lure and BOOOF right at my feet a nice 3kg GT took the lure, scared the S@&t out of me lol.Over the next few days I caught another few fish on fly and had a few misses and follows by gts. Got plenty of mangrove jacks too, man they fight dirty! They were a dime a dozen.... I got 6 of them lol.then one night I was casting away doing my daily work out and a local boat came past and we did the customary “BULA” and a wave and right then got monstered by a cuda which put on a very Ariel display for the locals. After trying to get a nice self photo which didn’t work too well another small local boat came past, I waved them over and they were kind enough to take a few pics for me. And were even more ecstatic to be given a cuda for dinner.I tried to organise a charter to go trolling but a 590FJD for just me, I wasn’t too keen. So I put my name down for a share charter which didn’t eventuate.In my frustration I was chatting to a very nice local guy who was the gardener at the resort who then arranged a local guy to take me out for the evening in a 6m glass dinghy with a 40hp yamma on the back. It was fishing FIJI styles and only cost me 100$ FJD for 2-3 hours. There were GTs busting up everywhere that night and also tuna too, missed a few GTs and managed to hook and then pull hooks on a small tuna est. 4-5kg. So fishless for that night,I had arranged to go out with them again the next morning but after having an extremely good night at the bar I decided the porcelain lady in the bathroom was a much better option for the morning.The next morning I arranged to go back out again on the boat for 3-4 hours found some nice reef systems with steep edges and bait balls everywhere, and I was in for an exciting but tackle hungry few hours!Crystal clear waters I could see Spaniards chancing my poppers and meter plus long toms fly from nowhere and smash the lures. I had XOX GTs bust me up and also follow lures right to the boat.I lost all my poppers and managed to lose 5-6 gt’s two of which made my rod feel like a twig before popping my leader-braid knot. I dropped dozens and dozens of big long toms that managed to free the trebles. I had 2 Spaniards on that bit through. I had an 8kg plus coral trout straighten my hooks and bend out the clips I was using, which I stopped using after that. It was insane!I managed to boat 2 good long toms, 3 reasonable Gts; one might have been a gold spot trev.And when I told the guy that the fish were all his, he said I had to come and have lunch on their family’s private island. We had a fire cooked GT with lemons and mango and some spices and a good 3 hours of chatting with the villagers and enjoying a traditional Fijian lunch and swimming the crystal beaches. It was the best finale. Will go back for sure.Oh if anyone is going back and wants some pointers contacts ect. Send me a PM.Enjoy the pics.John.

Well....Just got back from FIJI, what an awesome fishing holiday! Oh I mean honeymoon We were staying on the denarau island resorts, which is nice and very social but not your typical white sand blue water area, but a nice place to stay and on previous trips, also a good place to fish in between pool trips and general touring.Last time I was there I got busted up hard by rampaging GTs so I went prepared with 10kg worth of fishing tackle, and took a 7# and a 9# fly rod and also my 10-20kg xrap rapala popper rod teamed with a diawa heartland 4000 with 50lb braid on it, heavy enough to handle any gt...... Yeah right! Under gunned again.The first few days saw me fishing locally in the early morning and late arvo/ evening. The days were balmy 30deg+ and the late arvo it rained most days, but it was nice rain and very welcome to wash off the sweat from hard fishing lol. The very first arvo I was flicking some fly’s around with not much luck so did the dirty and picked up the lure rod, 3rd cast of a metal and BANG ZZZZZZZ and more ZZZZZZZ and slack. Lost a monster gt. But that’s ok, 80 cast later I hooked another which turned out to be a smaller model of about 3kg, but as it was bleeding a bit and I didn’t want to dirty my lovely clean boardies I released in the water. Had a few more follows and missed takes and then tried another spot with allot of current. Tried everything in the box and also tried the fly again and managed to christen the new GT painted Abel reel with a minniGT. Just as the light was fading I was day dreaming and retrieving a lure and BOOOF right at my feet a nice 3kg GT took the lure, scared the S@&t out of me lol.Over the next few days I caught another few fish on fly and had a few misses and follows by gts. Got plenty of mangrove jacks too, man they fight dirty! They were a dime a dozen.... I got 6 of them lol.then one night I was casting away doing my daily work out and a local boat came past and we did the customary “BULA” and a wave and right then got monstered by a cuda which put on a very Ariel display for the locals. After trying to get a nice self photo which didn’t work too well another small local boat came past, I waved them over and they were kind enough to take a few pics for me. And were even more ecstatic to be given a cuda for dinner.I tried to organise a charter to go trolling but a 590FJD for just me, I wasn’t too keen. So I put my name down for a share charter which didn’t eventuate.In my frustration I was chatting to a very nice local guy who was the gardener at the resort who then arranged a local guy to take me out for the evening in a 6m glass dinghy with a 40hp yamma on the back. It was fishing FIJI styles and only cost me 100$ FJD for 2-3 hours. There were GTs busting up everywhere that night and also tuna too, missed a few GTs and managed to hook and then pull hooks on a small tuna est. 4-5kg. So fishless for that night,I had arranged to go out with them again the next morning but after having an extremely good night at the bar I decided the porcelain lady in the bathroom was a much better option for the morning.The next morning I arranged to go back out again on the boat for 3-4 hours found some nice reef systems with steep edges and bait balls everywhere, and I was in for an exciting but tackle hungry few hours!Crystal clear waters I could see Spaniards chancing my poppers and meter plus long toms fly from nowhere and smash the lures. I had XOX GTs bust me up and also follow lures right to the boat.I lost all my poppers and managed to lose 5-6 gt’s two of which made my rod feel like a twig before popping my leader-braid knot. I dropped dozens and dozens of big long toms that managed to free the trebles. I had 2 Spaniards on that bit through. I had an 8kg plus coral trout straighten my hooks and bend out the clips I was using, which I stopped using after that. It was insane!I managed to boat 2 good long toms, 3 reasonable Gts; one might have been a gold spot trev.And when I told the guy that the fish were all his, he said I had to come and have lunch on their family’s private island. We had a fire cooked GT with lemons and mango and some spices and a good 3 hours of chatting with the villagers and enjoying a traditional Fijian lunch and swimming the crystal beaches. It was the best finale. Will go back for sure.Oh if anyone is going back and wants some pointers contacts ect. Send me a PM.Enjoy the pics.John.

Well....Just got back from FIJI, what an awesome fishing holiday! Oh I mean honeymoon We were staying on the denarau island resorts, which is nice and very social but not your typical white sand blue water area, but a nice place to stay and on previous trips, also a good place to fish in between pool trips and general touring.Last time I was there I got busted up hard by rampaging GTs so I went prepared with 10kg worth of fishing tackle, and took a 7# and a 9# fly rod and also my 10-20kg xrap rapala popper rod teamed with a diawa heartland 4000 with 50lb braid on it, heavy enough to handle any gt...... Yeah right! Under gunned again.The first few days saw me fishing locally in the early morning and late arvo/ evening. The days were balmy 30deg+ and the late arvo it rained most days, but it was nice rain and very welcome to wash off the sweat from hard fishing lol. The very first arvo I was flicking some fly’s around with not much luck so did the dirty and picked up the lure rod, 3rd cast of a metal and BANG ZZZZZZZ and more ZZZZZZZ and slack. Lost a monster gt. But that’s ok, 80 cast later I hooked another which turned out to be a smaller model of about 3kg, but as it was bleeding a bit and I didn’t want to dirty my lovely clean boardies I released in the water. Had a few more follows and missed takes and then tried another spot with allot of current. Tried everything in the box and also tried the fly again and managed to christen the new GT painted Abel reel with a minniGT. Just as the light was fading I was day dreaming and retrieving a lure and BOOOF right at my feet a nice 3kg GT took the lure, scared the S@&t out of me lol.Over the next few days I caught another few fish on fly and had a few misses and follows by gts. Got plenty of mangrove jacks too, man they fight dirty! They were a dime a dozen.... I got 6 of them lol.then one night I was casting away doing my daily work out and a local boat came past and we did the customary “BULA” and a wave and right then got monstered by a cuda which put on a very Ariel display for the locals. After trying to get a nice self photo which didn’t work too well another small local boat came past, I waved them over and they were kind enough to take a few pics for me. And were even more ecstatic to be given a cuda for dinner.I tried to organise a charter to go trolling but a 590FJD for just me, I wasn’t too keen. So I put my name down for a share charter which didn’t eventuate.In my frustration I was chatting to a very nice local guy who was the gardener at the resort who then arranged a local guy to take me out for the evening in a 6m glass dinghy with a 40hp yamma on the back. It was fishing FIJI styles and only cost me 100$ FJD for 2-3 hours. There were GTs busting up everywhere that night and also tuna too, missed a few GTs and managed to hook and then pull hooks on a small tuna est. 4-5kg. So fishless for that night,I had arranged to go out with them again the next morning but after having an extremely good night at the bar I decided the porcelain lady in the bathroom was a much better option for the morning.The next morning I arranged to go back out again on the boat for 3-4 hours found some nice reef systems with steep edges and bait balls everywhere, and I was in for an exciting but tackle hungry few hours!Crystal clear waters I could see Spaniards chancing my poppers and meter plus long toms fly from nowhere and smash the lures. I had XOX GTs bust me up and also follow lures right to the boat.I lost all my poppers and managed to lose 5-6 gt’s two of which made my rod feel like a twig before popping my leader-braid knot. I dropped dozens and dozens of big long toms that managed to free the trebles. I had 2 Spaniards on that bit through. I had an 8kg plus coral trout straighten my hooks and bend out the clips I was using, which I stopped using after that. It was insane!I managed to boat 2 good long toms, 3 reasonable Gts; one might have been a gold spot trev.And when I told the guy that the fish were all his, he said I had to come and have lunch on their family’s private island. We had a fire cooked GT with lemons and mango and some spices and a good 3 hours of chatting with the villagers and enjoying a traditional Fijian lunch and swimming the crystal beaches. It was the best finale. Will go back for sure.Oh if anyone is going back and wants some pointers contacts ect. Send me a PM.Enjoy the pics.John.

Well....Just got back from FIJI, what an awesome fishing holiday! Oh I mean honeymoon We were staying on the denarau island resorts, which is nice and very social but not your typical white sand blue water area, but a nice place to stay and on previous trips, also a good place to fish in between pool trips and general touring.Last time I was there I got busted up hard by rampaging GTs so I went prepared with 10kg worth of fishing tackle, and took a 7# and a 9# fly rod and also my 10-20kg xrap rapala popper rod teamed with a diawa heartland 4000 with 50lb braid on it, heavy enough to handle any gt...... Yeah right! Under gunned again.The first few days saw me fishing locally in the early morning and late arvo/ evening. The days were balmy 30deg+ and the late arvo it rained most days, but it was nice rain and very welcome to wash off the sweat from hard fishing lol. The very first arvo I was flicking some fly’s around with not much luck so did the dirty and picked up the lure rod, 3rd cast of a metal and BANG ZZZZZZZ and more ZZZZZZZ and slack. Lost a monster gt. But that’s ok, 80 cast later I hooked another which turned out to be a smaller model of about 3kg, but as it was bleeding a bit and I didn’t want to dirty my lovely clean boardies I released in the water. Had a few more follows and missed takes and then tried another spot with allot of current. Tried everything in the box and also tried the fly again and managed to christen the new GT painted Abel reel with a minniGT. Just as the light was fading I was day dreaming and retrieving a lure and BOOOF right at my feet a nice 3kg GT took the lure, scared the S@&t out of me lol.Over the next few days I caught another few fish on fly and had a few misses and follows by gts. Got plenty of mangrove jacks too, man they fight dirty! They were a dime a dozen.... I got 6 of them lol.then one night I was casting away doing my daily work out and a local boat came past and we did the customary “BULA” and a wave and right then got monstered by a cuda which put on a very Ariel display for the locals. After trying to get a nice self photo which didn’t work too well another small local boat came past, I waved them over and they were kind enough to take a few pics for me. And were even more ecstatic to be given a cuda for dinner.I tried to organise a charter to go trolling but a 590FJD for just me, I wasn’t too keen. So I put my name down for a share charter which didn’t eventuate.In my frustration I was chatting to a very nice local guy who was the gardener at the resort who then arranged a local guy to take me out for the evening in a 6m glass dinghy with a 40hp yamma on the back. It was fishing FIJI styles and only cost me 100$ FJD for 2-3 hours. There were GTs busting up everywhere that night and also tuna too, missed a few GTs and managed to hook and then pull hooks on a small tuna est. 4-5kg. So fishless for that night,I had arranged to go out with them again the next morning but after having an extremely good night at the bar I decided the porcelain lady in the bathroom was a much better option for the morning.The next morning I arranged to go back out again on the boat for 3-4 hours found some nice reef systems with steep edges and bait balls everywhere, and I was in for an exciting but tackle hungry few hours!Crystal clear waters I could see Spaniards chancing my poppers and meter plus long toms fly from nowhere and smash the lures. I had XOX GTs bust me up and also follow lures right to the boat.I lost all my poppers and managed to lose 5-6 gt’s two of which made my rod feel like a twig before popping my leader-braid knot. I dropped dozens and dozens of big long toms that managed to free the trebles. I had 2 Spaniards on that bit through. I had an 8kg plus coral trout straighten my hooks and bend out the clips I was using, which I stopped using after that. It was insane!I managed to boat 2 good long toms, 3 reasonable Gts; one might have been a gold spot trev.And when I told the guy that the fish were all his, he said I had to come and have lunch on their family’s private island. We had a fire cooked GT with lemons and mango and some spices and a good 3 hours of chatting with the villagers and enjoying a traditional Fijian lunch and swimming the crystal beaches. It was the best finale. Will go back for sure.Oh if anyone is going back and wants some pointers contacts ect. Send me a PM.Enjoy the pics.John.

Yf on fly,.... That's been on my list for a loooong time lol

Been a while since I was active on here but made a small vid a few months back
Flats fly fishing on the hobie for carp.
Enjoy.

Loving the rainbows dude. Wish there were some round my ways. Browns don't go as hard, unless their biiiiiig lol

Been a while since I was active on here but made a small vid a few months back
Flats fly fishing on the hobie for carp.
Enjoy.

Been a while since I was active on here but made a small vid a few months back
Flats fly fishing on the hobie for carp.
Enjoy.

I recognize those backwaters.
The highway in the distance also gives it away.
Caught some very big carp and a few nice silvers and catties in those waters.
Nice work mate.

Been a while since I was active on here but made a small vid a few months back
Flats fly fishing on the hobie for carp.
Enjoy.

Been a while since I was active on here but made a small vid a few months back
Flats fly fishing on the hobie for carp.
Enjoy.

Been a while since I was active on here but made a small vid a few months back
Flats fly fishing on the hobie for carp.
Enjoy.

That's awesome action! Such immediate takes after casting is impressive. I've never fished for carp out of my yak as I don't want them laying in the back kicking around. Do you just catch them and dispose of them on the nearest bank?

Nice work mate, some decent sized mud marlin on fly gear.

Been a while since I was active on here but made a small vid a few months back
Flats fly fishing on the hobie for carp.
Enjoy.

Been a while since I was active on here but made a small vid a few months back
Flats fly fishing on the hobie for carp.
Enjoy.

Been a while since I was active on here but made a small vid a few months back
Flats fly fishing on the hobie for carp.
Enjoy.

Been a while since I was active on here but made a small vid a few months back
Flats fly fishing on the hobie for carp.
Enjoy.

If you land the fly 15cm in front of a cruising carp and let it sink they rarely refuse

hey all thought id just share my latest video, this was from sunday trolling up some snook and tommies on fly.. oh and.. cough.. a spin rod :)filmed on the sony action cam and my gopro.enjoy