Anyone ever been here

[youngy]

Hi Guys, i am trying to find out some info on this place "Papatura Island Retreat" the web site looks the goods but some hands on knowledge of the place good or bad would be better, web site is www.papatura.com , cheers wayne

[snapperdan]

Hi mate haven't been to Papatura but have been to the Sols fishing.

The place is great, so uncrowded. If you are looking for parties night life i would not recommend it. Most places we stayed we had the resorts to ourselves.

Papatura looks good.

I can recomend zipolo habu resort (lola island) its a fishing lodge thats a bit rundown (every thing is in the solomons) but the food and setting are superb. They specialise in GT fishing, deep dropping for big ruby snapper, they have a few creeks nearby where you can cast lures and if the weather allows it you can head out to the fads not far off shore. We scored some pretty nasty weather when we stayed there and crappy tides so fishing was pretty poor.

Also recommend Sanbis Resort at Gizo. Killer location, quite new. Insane food and good fleet of boats to go fishing on, they carry sat phones etc and have 1 boat with twin yammy 4 strokes. I didn't stay there but dropped in for lunch one day and was very impressed.

If you are adventurous check out Tetepare Island. Really really good fishing, insane lagoon which is a marine park however popper casting with debarbed hooks is ok catch and release. Good sailfish /small to mid blacks grounds about 1 k offshore and really good mackerel fishing to. Very special place. You must bring all your own fuel when you go. They will bring empties when they pick you up. You just buy as much as you want for your fishing.

Met some folks who stayed at wilderness resort. Small and highly recommended. Easy access to the Kavachi sea mount.

tavanipupu.com also looks insane. Maybe next time. Spoke to a person whos wife came from that area marau sound and the dog tooth are supposed to be unbelievable.

Stay away from a place caled Maravagi resort.

The best bit about the sols i reckon was the food. Ruby snapper or trout or spanish every day for lunch and mud crab or cray fish for dinner day in day out.

Honiara is a pile of xxxx. Stay away though not dangerous its a dump. Though 10 bux for chilli mud crab/cray/trout in china town cant be beat.

[snapperdan]

Though if i were in the market to go fishing o/s again prob go to Matava resort Kadavu Fiji. 3000 approx aud per person (2 pax share) 7 nights all food 5 full days gamefishing/ jigging/popper casting 31 foot deep v. doesn't include flights to fiji and then on to kadavu but they can be got pretty cheap. Heaps cheaper 4 pax share.

[the gecko]

Thats a long time to keep your worms fresh youngy, lol.

cheers
Andrew

[youngy]

Hi Andrew, no mate i'm not going, just trying to find out some info for a mate who is going.

I have too much fun on the Goldy i don't need to go anywhere else to catch fish, cheers wayne.

[JRBK]

Hi Wayne,

Haven't been to Papatura, but we did goto Mavo Eco Fishing Lodge. Photos and reports looked fantastic, promised everything- catch huge fish in abundance due to the time & moon we were going, go scuba diving, come home with eskies full of fish blah blah blah. Thats where it ended.
The flight from Honiara to the Island was an experience in itself, with sparks flying off the wheels as we were landing.
When we got the island, there was no diving available (they wouldn't even let us snorkel), and the locals looked at us with all our gear and why we had come at the wrong time of the month.
When we did go fishing, there was no esky, no cooling down of the fish. They just threw the fish in the bottom of the boat. One of the tinneis even had a whole in the fuel line. They had a go at us when we wanted his spare hessian bag so we could wet it and put over the fish whilst they were under the seat in the shade.
The only time we were catching decent fish was at the 300m mark with deck winches on a tinny.
Quite often we'd be trolling for hours with little or no hits.
The prices of muddies & crayfish went up and up and up everytime the locals came around selling them.
Nothing gets thrown back, not even barracuda. Everything is skinned due to DPI requirements, so you have no idea what you're bringing back into Australia. The fish we brought back ended up in the crab pots due to its taste.
They have no sense of time, urgency or the like. When you're in their world, you have to fit in to the way they work.
It was an experience to say the least. The locals we met were fantastic and i feel sorry for the workers there. They were not allowed to take money from us to help there family. They took us for a walk around their town, houses and it is a real eye opener.
I'd never go back again.

Mark