News & Updates

Samoa's First Grander Hits the Docks!!!

After catching our 511lb fish on our next day out fishing our deckhand placed a note reading "please send one grander to chris donato on the Southern Destiny" into an empty bottle of rum put the cap on and threw it over board. 2 weeks later while out fun fishing with buddy Sal Martelli of Rumson NJ USA we had a massive short bait bite on our very productive Black Bart lure which we have nicknamed monster bait. The fish came up jumping right away and we all saw her girth and estimated her at 800lbs. The boat was in full speed backing down with some serious water in the cockpit just to keep the fish from getting too far into our backing on the 130.

After the initial run the battle was very intense lasting 2 and 1/2 hrs and at time with the drag over 60lbs, she was hooked in the bill which may account for her heated runs and heavy drag resistance. Pele our Samoan deckhand did a great job on the wire and when we pulled her alongside the boat to try and revive her we realized she looked close to that special number, the plan was to release the fish but after looking at the girth and length and doing the math we decided to pull her in. We had no flying gaffs ready as our plan was to tag her so Sal jumped in while we held her bill and tail roped her. Several hours later after trying to get her in the tuna door we finally gave up tied her to the back of the boat and started dragging her back in.

On the IGFA official scales she went 1025 lbs our first Grander and double the samoan all tackle record we broke only 2 weeks prior. This fish marks a huge achievement for us on the Southern Destiny and also shows the size and potential of the fish we have in Samoa. Since I moved down here a few years ago with our Cabo 43 we have seen a few big fish in and around the g status but this is the first one caught. There are very few Grander's caught in the south pacific islands mostly because of tackle and experiance limitations. This fish is the first for Samoa, we are all really excited and looking forward to larger fish in the future.

  • Captain- Chris Donato
  • Mate- Pelenato
  • Angler- Sal Martelli
  • Boat- Southern Destiny
  • Location- Independent Samoa

Biggest Fish on Rod & Reel Record!!!

This fish although not that big by international standards is, however, the new Samoan all tackle record for biggest fish caught on rod and reel!! The fish weighed 511.5 lbs and ate a Black Bart lure on our short corner that always seems to get the short bites. It did some amazing jumps and right from the start we knew she had some girth to her. She fought hard but made the mistake of coming up again 1/2 way in the fight and with some very aggressive boat handling and heavy drag at times we had it alongside the boat in around 20 minutes. She was exhausted so rather then risk giving her to the sharks we pulled her in also very aware she would be close to the exsiting Samoan record.

Back at the docks it was weighed by Ted Watts, who was kind enough to let us use his fork lift just to lift the fish out of the boat!! We then weighed the fish at the fish packing company on a certified scale where it was announced by Seuli (President of the Samoan International Game Fish association) that it was the new Samoan record for Blue Marlin. This is the biggest fish weighed in Samoan waters to date but with the size of the fish I have been seeing of late it may not be long before we see another, although we wont put the gaffs in her unless she seems to be in the grand mark.

All the memebers of SIGFA as well as Ted Watts, Seuli and Courtney Stevenson were all very helpful with weighing this fish when we returned to the dock, and we are thankful for there help.

The boats name is Southern Destiny and Capt Chris Donato was running the boat with Mate Alek Loudakis on the wire and 2nd mate Pelenato on the gaff. Our charter was a group from Australia and the angler did an amazing job catching the fish.

Great to be back in Samoa!

It's great to be back in SAMOA, the fishing has been a real pleasure since i have been back, a billfish on every trip-- can't complain.

Got to do a fun trip With my wife Shannon today, headed out a bit late at 12:30pm. Was a bit quite on the surface, no birds, or flyers so when i marked some promising bait and big predators on 1000 fathom curve, i decided to stick too it for the day and see what the tide change would bring us. It payed off and just on the high tide change we got bit-- Released a Shortbilled Spearfish then 5 minutes later got our first Yellowfin, about 60 lbs. No birds on the surface but the bait was still balled up on my sounder, so stuck around a bit longer and got a nice Ahi that went 105 lbs---- Shannon's first Shortbill and first big ahi over 100.

9/13 Blue Marlin on the Full Moon!

Chris Donato here from the Southern Destiny up here now in Santo, Vanuatu. Fishing was red hot coming up to and on the full moon. our first week here based out of the beautiful Ratua resort we managed to take advantage of one of the best blue marlin bites i have ever seen, going 9/13 in 2 full days and 2 1/2 days at the FAD. Although we had one or two rats the majority of the fish were in the 200-300lb range with one beautiful fish around 500lb. All fish were taken on lures with 7 of the fish on Black Barts Blue Breakfast which has been a very very hot lure for us run in the short corner behind a barts Lunch Teaser, i would say without a doubt it takes 80% of our fish of all sizes from 80lb rats to big female blues, we have run it with a bit smaller single hook way back in the skirt and it has produced an amazing hookup rate for us.

The fish in santo were very aggressive feeders, it showed to me that there was little to no fishing pressure on them and they were hungry fish feeding on the thousands and thousands of jellybean yellowfin stacked up down current of the FAD, which by the way is only just a few miles from Ratuas doorstep, nestled in between two islands that sheltered it and made for calmer seas. We did do a bit of live bating that produced one 200lb blue that actually never got hooked but speared the yellowfin and had it stuck on his bill, he put on a great show for our bluewater magazine photographer Greg. We also got to witness some just amazing bites and violent teaser attacks on Black Barts Lunch and Brazilliano, it was for me as a captain and blue marlin fanatic some of my favorite marlin fishing ever with most fish staying on the surface allowing us to back up fast and have them angry and on fire boatside for the cameras and crew. I look forward to my next chance to get up to the Santo/Ratua FAD on a full moon to again hit the blues hard and hopes high of encountering a grumpy 1000 lb grandma blue. I have still yet to figure out what role the blues and the FAD play, with all that bait there day in and day out and plenty of healthy male blue marlin, it could be a massive area of spawning or just a popular drive thru fast food hot spot for thousands of fish a year. I did notice the small fish hung close to the bait and the FAD while the bigger fish were outside and way down current. I will continue to use billfish foundation tags on healthy blues at the FAD in hopes that we have a recapture to tell us what is going on here.

As week two rolled around for our second set of clients, a newly engaged couple from Australia, the bite had changed a bit with the full moon being past and heading into the darkside of the moon which indicates poor fishing. Our first day we did see 2 blues and tagged a small one but began to see larger yellowfin. As the days progressed the fishing changed and the blues became very timid and very much the opposite to the aggressive red hot feeding the week before. Although the marlin bite had faded out a bit we got one 100 lb yellowfin and countless other smaller fins as well as a nonstop attack of mahi mahi in the 30lb range. the fishing Was still an amazing time for all but you could tell the blues had come off the feed for the week after the full moon.

We are now in preparation now for our third week which is a group targeting big dogtooth tuna,yellowfin tuna,GT's and other species on jig and poppers.

Stay tuned for pictures to come soon, and keep a look out for our Bluewater Magazine article that will feature the hot blue marlin action.

All the best

We're now in Vanuatu!

Well the Boat has arrived here in Vanuatu and we are starting to settle in. I took the boat out on a shake down cruise yesterday. Brought out my father in law and his friend as anglers and got them on 2 very nice fish. First Blue Marlin in Vanuatu and we had her on within an hour of fishing. Its a nice change of pace to see that the avg fish in Vanuatu are bigger then our bigger fish in samoa. We got 2 fish and both were large healthy females, we called the first one 300 and the second fish we all agreed was 550 or a bit more.

Here are some of my more favorite photos from the trip. if you would like some higher res photos let me know.

Enjoy and get your ass in gear and come fish with us over here in Vanuatu, it's just starting to heat up.

All the best

Pago Pago American Samoan 10 Annual Tournament

Just came back from fishing the Pago Pago American Samoan 10 annual tournament. Was a great event with several western Samoan boats and local american samoan boats as well as 10 international boats coming over from NZ.

The weather was down right snotty for the short weekend tournament but all boats braved the weather and had a great time. After day one We had enough tag points to keep us in the game and we were tied up to the end of day two, we needed one more tagged blue and with only one 1/2 day fishing left, fingers were crossed. Our luck came in the last few hours of the last day, most boats had turned back from the bank and were trolling home, we decided to stay out a bit longer and as luck would have it, with only hours to spare we marked a red blob on our sounder, did a few passes on it and shortly after had a fired up little blue crawling all over our right long 'Black Bart Super Pro Jet'. We put the tag in him and torched it back home to secure (1st place Tag and Release) (2nd place overall points) ( 1st place Champion angler) and 2 daily's.

I was very happy with the hard work the crew and our angler Shannon did and look forward to next years tournament in Pago.

Here are a few photos of the fish and the tourney stuff...


New Zealand Fishing News

Check out the article about us in New Zealand Fishing News.


click picture to open pdf

Front Page News

Well we made the front page of the paper yesterday with this fish that came 2 kilos away from the all tackle Samoan record. We had just finished a 4 day live aboard and despite the hot water temps we got a few bill fish and killed one on the last day off of Savaii. By the time we got back to Apia and could weigh her she had been in the sun for 6 hours not sure how much it would have changed things but we missed the samoan all tackle record by 2 kilos, feel bad we killed her.

Reel Adventures

We just fished with reel adventures and caught five nice blue marlin on the last 2 days. Check out the pictures and check out the show.

January 2009 Fishing Update

Here is a quick update on our jan fishing , since our new years break marlin fishing has been good but we have seen a drop in yellowfin and mahi action but the blues are still around in numbers. Out of 15 trips we have tagged our 21st blue for the new boat.

Stay tuned for the USA tv show Reel Adventures who will be here for the remainder of the month looking for that 800+ female we know is not too far away.

Pictures here are from a 1/2 day charter with Dave Moore of Australia. we estimated this tagged fish of about 400 to 500lbs but anyway you put it Dave was stoked and back at the dock before noon with a big smile on his face.

Regards
Chris Donato

December 2008 Fishing Update #2

Another quick update on dec fishing, again Dec shows to be one of our best months with the blue marlin coming in and large yellowfin working the ledges.

Last weekend we went 5 for 7 on blues most over 300lbs. One day saw a terrific lure % going 3 for 3 all on the short corner lure, while the baits do pick up most the mahi and tuna bites the lures are still accounting for most of our marlin, if they dont get hooked on the lures they at least stay excited enough to feed a bait to them.

Still looking for our bigger fish of the season, on our 1/2 day charter yesterday we had a estimated 650 blue come in and take a few lazy swipes at our short corner got the biil wrap but just did not get the hook in um. So much bait in the water or backside of the moon may account for the rather lazy attitude of the blues yesterday. We did manage to get a trip saver at the end with a nice yellowfin. clients switched out 4 people to land this fish, i think it had something to do with them being Australian, or the beers they drank all arvo ha ha. here is a pic of a typical Dec yellowfin.

All the best and happy holidays
Dec Fish

December 2008 Fishing Update

Hello, its been a Long time off the water for us, we were back in the states doing the hard yards and trying to find a new ride for samoa. Thanks to Dean of Dean Anthony Yachts in Florida USA, who went way out of his way to put us on one hell of a boat and help us with everything from start to finish. After lots of hard work from yacht Path in palm beach the boat was on a container ship on her way down to samoa. Now after months and months of snags and hold ups we now have a wonderful Cabo 43 sitting in Samoa ready to crush the fish this season.

On another note we have sold the Black Pearl, bit sad to let her go after all those memory's but onward and upwards.

So we are off to a good start having fished the Southern Destiny now 4 days we have come up with a great mixed spread of Black Bart lures and rigged Ballyhoos and Macks. It's looking good and producing some great results. last 2 days we fished we went 3 for 8 on blues ( one triple hook up got us a loss of numbers when 2 burned off,OUCH!) Anyway our %'s are getting better now.

Yesterday we had the tags on one nice blue and one small black and a double header that ended with the 2 nice yellowfin you see pictured here.

We have some charters this weekend so will keep you all posted on how dec ends up.

Happy holidays all and tight lines.

Kind regards,
Chris Donato

A Great Day

Hi Chris @Westy
Dave Moore here mate just a quick not and pics to say thanks for the best day fishing I have ever had for my first time game fishing and you guys putting me on and helping land a 400lb Marlin for the first time was awsome I still have a big smile on my face and everyone is getting sick of hearing about it ha ha ha.. Once again thanks heaps guys I HIGHLY RECOMEND IT.
Cheers:Dave

To see some photos from the day Click Here

Black Pearl has a great showing at the tournament

430lb Marlin caught on a large swimming Ballyhoo and to top it off we caught it during the 12th annual samoan international game fish tournament.

Here are a few photos of our winning fish in this years 12th annual Samoan Intenational game fish tourney. It was the biggest yet with 10 boats being shipped over from NZ and a few coming from American Samoa as well, not huge turn out but around 30 boats in all. We did well winning Top Skipper, Top Local boat, Top Male Angler, Biggest Marlin, First tagged sailfish, Tagged sailfish, 2nd overal points and mannaged to break the Samoan all tackle record for Blue Marlin. it was a good showing by eveyone and a great week.

Our Blue ate a Baitmasters Horse Ballyhoo we rigged to swim behind a blue and pink mold craft chugger, run in the shotgun position. Its funny to say but we are the first boat to have ever run swimming or skipping dead baits.

kind regards and tight lines

USA TV show Reel Outdoors

USA TV show Reel Outdoors was in Samoa filming several episodes with us, the show will be on Comcast sometime in spring- to check listings go to reeloutdoors.com.

Nearly Record Breaking Marlin

The Black Pearl made headlines in Samoa when their big Blue Marlin came only kilos away from beating a long lasting Samoan record, Capt Chris Donato, deckhand Mike Parsons and angler Scott F caught the fish on a flat calm Feb afternoon aboard the Black Pearl. The Pacific Blue Marlin missed the existing Samoan all tackle record by only 12kilos.

January 2008 Fishing Update

Well the tropics are warming up and the Marlin have made there return along with good size yellowfins and huge dolphin. Our last charter out we got our biggest bull of the season that went around 45-50 lbs snagged on Black Barts Pelagic Breakfast, which has been a very hot sailfish and dolphin lure run from the rigger or shotgun position. We also hooked 4 blues that day and one short double hook up on Black Bart's Zulu and the 1656, so i guess we can say the blues are back in town. Our dynamite Black Bart spread has been raising a few fish over here and the Black Bart Kona tube has been on fire, run from the short rigger position around the 4th wave.

Last few days we had the TV shoe Reel Outdoors here and we were able to get 3 marlin,1 sailfish, a few yellowfin and a bunch of dolphin and wahoo, so go check the show out in HD on the sportsman channel and comcast as well as on demand. For schedule check out the web site reeloutdoors.com

Picture here is with TV host Chris Bailey and our toad yellowfin nailed on Black Barts canyon prowler only moment after a 300lb blue swam away with a tag in her back. was a fun day on the water. (click the image for larger view)

Well like i said its heating up here so book your flight and come on down.

 



December 2007 Fishing Update

Hay guys just an update on the dec bite in samoa, Marlin are here but still slow to show in any large numbers also most fish have been small in 200lb range. so the bite is on and off and still waiting for a strong marlin bite to pick up.

Tuna are always around and the photos you see here was a few days ago and we got to show our charter the tuna action and some other stuff. That day we had the bull hit early morning then slow till around noon when a big blue came up and ate my big Black Bart ZULU teaser on first wave(from now on we are putting hooks in it) was a big fish. Then a few hours later i spotted some small skippys boiling up and looked to be running from something. It only took me a few minutes to see the trade mark yellow fin splashes and had time to get Mike to switch up the spread a bit. within a few minutes we were in a quadruple hook up to some nice yellow fins.

Click a photo to enlarge and view the slideshow

We ended the day with six yellow fin and no more ice so called it a day with big yellwos busting the surface as we headed home and of course no boat in sight.

Samoa Sport Fishing is on a bit of a break for the holidays but will be back out there again mid jan and will be filming real outdoors fishing program for the outdoor life network.

Happy holidays all and tight lines