Papua New Guinea Nov 2012
This is a true adventure, a trip to one of the special locations in the world. We traveled to the Gulf Province a place that land has forgot. These fertile mangroves and the steep river system hold some of the biggest Barramundi and Niugini Bass in the world. This special place is the only location that I know that is sport fished only 7 weeks a year, Camp capacity is only 8 anglers. Sportsman Jason Yip doesn’t want to spoil his fishing in his backyard. What is really impressive is all the work Jason has put into making this operation all the way from two new lead men Angus and Moly, a new upper camp structure, safety minded, good guides, good boats, good meals, hot showers. This is a special sustainable fishery with Jason working with the people of the local communities; the local’s just love Jason they want to make him governor of their province. This location is a real gem, get here before everyone else does.
Our fishing conditions were poor to say the least, water clarity was less than 12” and the river was very cold, the river was blown out from all the rain. We depended on clear black river creeks feeding the Main River and lures with sound. We had rain almost everyday as the rainy season has come early this year. This is the second time with these similar conditions, but I came better prepared, so I thought. We have been field testing the Lexa 300 in Brazil for peacocks with success and now in PNG to see if she will hold up. 3 years ago I took a Daiwa SL20 but not enough drag for these fish, the new Daiwa Lexa 300 boasts 22lb of drag and has more than enough line capacity and fits in your hand and has cranking power. We landed big Niugini bass to 44lb and barramundi to 45lb with no problems. This is a small reel that does a great job and great price it retails for $199.00. Another fishing hardware we tested was the Tactical Angler’s clip 125# and 175# model with 100% success no failure and everyone on the trip was impressed it made changing lures a breeze, small simple and strong. The rod that I like to use was the Pete Mania 6’6’ 2 pc muskie rod from BPS @$129.00 it is near perfect light and strong, it first caught my eye on a trip to Egypt when veteran Angler Dr. Leonard Kouba hooked and landed a 230 pound nile perch on this rod since then I have used it twice in PNG and it is my rod of choice. Veteran angler John Finley has weeks of experience in the Amazon so he decided to join me, he was on fire on this trip landing a 44lb Niugini bass 2 pounds shy of the world record and a 30lb Niugini bass and several in the 20lb class. The 30 pounder came alive as John almost went on his knees when the reel popped off the reel seat. This was the meanest fish of the bunch that John had caught, the water temperature was very cold and the fish were not as active as normal. John also did very well on the barramundi with 42, 36, 32 and a few in the others in the 20lb class. George and Brad Malavolta caught a big grouper and had good success with the barramundi’s, one of the days Brad got smoked by a big Niugini bass. Gary Raphael doubled his personal best on his barramundi at 38lb. Gary also got smoked by a big Niugini bass in fish creek, as he was just handcuffed and pinned it broke off. Stefan Hansen of Australia broke his rod while fighting his Niugini bass and when he finally landed the big fish it weighted in at 35lbs we could hear him screaming in joy. The group caught numerous species like threadfin, mangrove jacks, finger mark snapper, catfish, cod, barracuda; small GT’s and baby tarpon. The barramundi ranged from 6 to 42lb and the Niugini bass 5 to 44 lb. we all came back with stories of the one that got away.
My story well I had him where I wanted him I was fishing a custom jig with a marlin hook on a swim bait with about10ft of line out, I hooked up my rod maxed out and reel lock down it was standoff for about a full 30 or 40 seconds then I almost fell backward having so much pressure then nothing, I started laughing when I had a glance at my hook as it was straighten, I showed Jason and his mouth dropped, it was a big big fish. I had my chance on this trip, this is my story. On the flight home I have a new design for a new custom jighead I think will be the answer. We had good fishing despite horrible conditions. Stay tuned for round 3. We are planning to return next year in Aug or Sept. hope you can join us we have a few spots open. Call for more information.
A wise old PNG Chinese man once said “Keep one foot forward and pay attention when fishing for Niugini bass unless you want to go swimming mate.”