Fish Aitutaki Cook Islands |
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Fish in the Aitutaki Lagoon have been over netted for years however there are still many beautiful tropical fish amongst and protected from netting by extensive live coral. Even more beautiful tropical fish are on the outer slopes of Aitutaki's reef. I recommend you book Neil Mitchell's Aitutaki Scuba to dive with either SCUBA tanks or snorkel to see and underwater photograph fish near Aitutaki. Fish of the South Pacific ocean near Aitutaki are the staple protein food of the Cook Islands Photos of Aitutaki Fish
Fishing Aitutaki
Recreational sport
fishing
Aitutaki and game fishing Aitutaki is a favourite tourist activity. There
are quite a few fishing charter boat operators on Aitutaki. If you
haven't booked a fishing trip online before you arrive at Aitutaki you could
enquire at the Aitutaki Game Fishing Club to find the next available member
taking a fishing charter. All fishing charter trips are outside the Aitutaki
reef. Some troll close to outside the reef but wisely most target
pelagic fish such as tuna and big game fish such as marlin and swordfish.
Some fishing charters in calm weather will even go far from Aitutaki to
the small, uninhabited mid south Pacific islet of Manuai
which is relatively untouched. A storey about
fishing in Aitutaki would not be complete without homage to skillful Polynesian
fishermen. One day near the Aitutaki airport short runway I saw an Aitutakian
warrior allow for refraction of light, throw a hand spear through the air
to stick into a big parrot fish more than 20 metres away! Jaw dropping
fishing.
Matai Simiona, chief of the Aitutaki, was my fishing
partner when power boats in a fishing completion unsuccessfully buzzed boiling
water under diving birds half a kilometre west of mutu Maina. We sailed
in with 4 lines at the back of my Hobie 16 catamaran. After filling big
bags full of tuna, ourselves and lower part of sails covered in fish blood,
with the boat weighed down with fish we retired to the harbour at Arutunga.
After catching a couple of mahimahi (dolphin-fish,
double strike, on game fishing rods) kilomtres south east of Aitutaki, with
a Sydney tourist fisherman with one glass eye on board, in an Aitutaki Game
Fishing Club fishing contest, a storm blew up from the north west of Aitutaki.
After two failed attempts at surfing waves right at the almost dry reef
and the whole Hobie 16 leaping high over the lip of oncoming waves on both
retreats, on the third attempt, I let go the tiller, ran up the bow, jumped
off onto the reef in knee deep water, dragged the boat across the top of
the reef, sailed this short cut across the Aitutaki lagoon to beat some
of the storm battered fishing boats which rounded the longer way outside
of Maina islet to home.
One day my small 8 horsepowered boat got dragged
backwards by simultaneous hook up of five tuna fish. This meant some fishing
lines sagged and one wrapped the propeller. With prop out the water, shark fins
cruised under my elbow as I unwound fishing line from the jammed propeller.
Other fishing stories such as my small catamaran being dragged around the
Pacific Ocean by a shark will have to wait till when I get time to write
more about fish and fishing Aitutaki or better still after I find time
to proof read and fix mistakes.
It's not only photos of Aitutaki fish that you can
take but other Aitutaki marine life too including:
Unlike South Pacific Islands west of Aitutaki, sea
snakes are VERY rare. I only saw one in ten years on the Aitutaki lagoon
nearly every day and that was a dead one washed up on the beach.
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