The Guides
Bone fishing is a big business on Aitutaki. Depending on the season there are more or less a lot of anglers on the atoll. In terms of guiding you have two options at Aitutaki. Firstly you do have Itu Davey and his guides that offer all kind of fishing. Literally everything you want to do in terms of fishing can be provided by them. No matter of bone fishing, GT fishing, Reef fishing or even offshore fishing with their new 10 meter offshore boat. The second option is Butch Leone who is already guiding on Aitutaki since a lot of years whom you can book fishing inside the lagoon for bonefish and also other species. Since I haven’t fished with him I can’t tell you much about him, just that he is a friendly and competent guide. So my below review is only in respect to Itu and Rua Davey.

The Daveys, original Aitutakians, born there, grown up there, fishermen since they can run and swim. They were also commercial fisherman on the island before they turned to become guides. They know more about the fish in the lagoon than anybody else. Of course this was their business for centuries if not even generations. Since 2009 netting for bonefish is forbidden on Aitutaki and also since then they are guides. In their early stage they had struggles with bonefish guiding. You can see all their troubles and the learning process by watching the movie “Itus Bones”. With more and more guiding the became first class guides. The basis for this is also that they are ultra friendly and encouraged guys that ambition to make the clients happy.

Fishing with them was a joy. Everything worked and followed a 100% professional guiding. That starts with casting instructions if needed. instructions how to move the fly, set the hook, fight the fish, up to movement of the boat. You find guides that bring you to the fish and spot them, and there are guides that do the same and know what fly fishermen needs for comfortable fishing. Our boat was always positioned properly for a good cast. Sometimes of course it is not possible because you would risk to spook the fish, but in many cases they guides did and succeeded.

The boats were equipped with all essential stuff you need for a fishing day. Some boats where more usable for bone fishing than others. Rua smallest boat is maybe not the best choice for older anglers because it had no real casting platform but I was happy with it, just standing on the tip of the boat. Easy and fast to move for Rua and it was also easier to move through the corals. All other boats have pretty good casting platforms with the same equipment. Just tell them if you prefer a special boat. It wouldn’t be a problem to choose.

The biggest advantage for me with Itu and Rua was that I have the flexibility to switch dates if the weather is bad. I was there for 27 days and we really used all good to perfect fishing days. If I would have been forced to stick to the pre agreed days I would have had from 7 booked fishing days maybe 1 or 2 usable days. For Itu and Rua it was not a problem to shift the days. As long as you insist to fish with a special guide you have the advantage of switching. I wasn’t sad to fish with Rua instead of Itu. Both guides are excellent and play on a similar level and very encouraged to get fish for their clients.

I also received in advance to the trip a list of things I need to bring along. This was a tackle recommendation list and also a fly list that works on Aitutaki. OK now with my chapters I hope you also found a source for your preparation. One thing I really appreciated was that Itu came in advance to the first guided day by and helped me preparing my gear.

Next Chapter: Day 5