An unusual place
We anchored the sailboat close to a pearl farm that appeared to be abandoned. The idea came to us to explore this atypical spot. Obviously always accompanied by a rod, as the spot's configuration means we can fish interesting areas from the shore.
A kind of jetty made of old piles and wooden planks juts out into the lagoon a few dozen meters, allowing you to cast into the deeper zone. A Hoa, a sort of shallow inlet connecting the lagoon to the sea, is also attached to the farm. Two different types of spot where there are bound to be fish.
A few minutes after arriving at the farm, we meet a local, Michel, who is actually the janitor of the place. He tells us that the place closed a few years ago during the Covid period. The farm employed over thirty people at the time. Michel offers us a tour of what remains to be seen on the site.
A shark-infested area
Once the tour is over, I ask Michel if the pontoon is still accessible or if the weather has made it impassable. Apparently it's all right, he explains the way to follow on these creaky old planks threatening to give way under my feet. I arrive at the end of the pontoon and mount a popper on my 80-lb. I imagine there are jobfish in this deeper zone, as I caught one on the sailboat that very morning near the farm.
I keep a close eye on my popper as the area is infested with sharks. If you're careful, you can avoid the blacktips, as their attacks aren't always the most dazzling. Despite my attention, a shark arrives too quickly on my popper for me to dodge it, and it seizes it. The first rush reminds me of a big blacktip. I take him back to the edge of the pontoon and start backing up to try to beach him. Of course, he tried to pass between the piers, but with a little brake, I managed to stop him. After a few acrobatics to get off the pontoon, the shark was beached!
In fact, it's a small grey shark. This species is much more aggressive and swift than blacktips. They are so fast that it's hard to avoid their attacks.
Powerful fighting
So I decide to change spot and head for the shallower but potentially equally fishy Hoa. I quickly spot a few blue trevally roaming this shallow area. I start fishing with a ten-centimetre floating stickbait but don't get a bite, or even a follow-through. The behavior of these trevally is really haphazard and it's often difficult to pinpoint their period of activity and the prey they're interested in. So I decided to switch to a more aggressive lure, a shiny popper about ten centimetres long.
On the first cast, something happens behind my lure. The jacks follow without biting. Once the lure had reached the shore, as I was pulling it out of the water, I saw a leopard grouper come up and stand in front of me, wondering where the prey that had been making noise a few seconds earlier had gone. I throw the popper back almost to my feet and don't have time to animate before the grouper pounces on the lure! Powerful fight and rush, luckily I've got my 80lb to stop this ball of nerves going back into the coral-covered rocks!
What a pleasure to finally touch this fish that I had already stalked from the sailboat for many hours before only coming up with the head because the atoll is so infested with sharks.
I see blue jacks passing in front of me again and decide to change lures again to target them specifically. I set up a small 60g casting jig which I cast as far as possible and then brought back very quickly while twitching very regularly. Obviously no trevally attack the jig, but I hit three more groupers with this method!
The attacks are really impressive, as the jig is brought back very quickly, so the groupers pounce on it to avoid letting the prey pass, and the attacks are worthy of the famous peacock bass. It's a hard-fought battle, and the bridle is de rigueur as groupers are notorious for returning to the rocks as quickly as possible, and what's more, the sharks are nearby and have sensed that something is up.
