Bora Bora enjoys good year-round deep-sea fishing with blue marlin, tuna, yellowfin tuna, Mahi Mahi, trevally, wahoo, skipjack, and jacks, among others all readily available.
It’s a magical place to fish as the off-shore views back to the islands are stunning. This is some of the world’s best ocean scenery. Add to this the expertise that is readily on hand since fishing has been a way of life for most islanders for generations.
It all adds up to a great day out!
Bora Bora Fishing Charters
Anglers will be happy to know that there are a few fishing charters you can book. The expert guides take you to the best places in Bora Bora for fishing as well as take care of bringing any equipment you may need.
The fishing charters range anywhere from 2 to 8 hours, depending on what you’re looking for. You can expect a deep fishing adventure catching some fairly large French Polynesian fish.
This tour can take you and another person on a course around some quality fishing spots. Whether you’re a novice or an expert, you can learn about the waters of Bora Bora and catch some medium to large fish. You can expect some good sightseeing of the landscapes and other marine life.
Heiva Fishing Competition
There is even a fishing competition run each year during the Heiva. The Heiva is a festival for all the community in keeping with this spirit of community participation, an event is run in which all can participate.
Here’s the quay at Vaitape with the ‘barracks’ (restaurants hand-built from local materials for the month-long festivities) in the foreground. It’s here the catch for the day will be weighed.
Whereas fishing with rod and reel favors the bigger, more powerful craft, a competition has been devised that allows even those with the smallest boats to compete on level footing.
It’s an outing enjoyed by a great many of the island’s locals.
The basis of the competition is that all competitors head out of the lagoon following an 8 am start. Once reaching the area where the sea shelf drops down away from the coral reef, the fishermen put down lines attached to buoys.
There’s no limit to the number of lines so placed. It’s an interesting configuration as the lines are attached to the top of the buoy and a sardine bait is put on the hook then the bait is tied to a stone with further sardines included in the parcel.
The baited lines are then sunk to varying depths but usually between 110 & 160 meters. The depth at which the Tahitians have found the style of fishing to be most effective. The stones weigh around a kilo & most boats take some 50-60 stones to sea.
A series of literally cloth pegs are used to temporarily secure the lines in their desired temporary formats. When the baited line arrives at its pre-determined depth.
The buoy leans at a 45% angle, the sign for the fisherman to tug on the line, thereby releasing the parcel of tied bait assisted by having the boat circle the buoy to counteract the way the stone is tied.
Then, the stone sinks to the ocean floor and the sardines are released with the stonework as burley and the baited hook awaits its visitors. Once a fish takes the bait, the buoy turns upside down & the fishermen move in for the catch.
Anyone can win in any type of vessel. The biggest catch of the yearly competition was a 73.5kg (gutted) yellowfin tuna.
Fish of this size are too big to hang from ‘top to tail’ & so are tied length-wise before being weighed.
The fish are sold to eager spectators who line the dock at Vaitape for the weigh-in.