Anyone fished the Cook Islands?
 

Was thinking of taking my 8 (bonefish) and 12 (GT) wts but hear that the Cooks have massive bones...Should I take a 10 wt instead of the 8?

Ya I spent 2 weeks there 3 years ago. Just had my 8wt fishing for blue trevally. Where are you gonna be. Atutaki is where the gts and bones are. I was on Rarotonga. Tones of reef fish and lots of blue trevally up to 20 lbs. my favourite tropical island I’ve been to. Have you been before?

It’s not the season right now so I don’t come on here much. Send me a pm so I remember to reply. When are you going? If Rarotonga I will tell you everything I can. If atutaki sorry I can’t help much but both are fun and easily doable diy. There are no fishing zones that I think most have signs but you can google it and find a map that shows all the areas you can’t fish. also not sure if atutaki is the same but Rarotonga you can’t eat anything due to Ciguatera that is very common there.

I’ll be at both but Aitutaki is where I’ll be doing most of the fishing. I was there 10 years ago but never fished it.

Well at least you’ve been there so locations are familiar. Where are you staying on Rarotonga. I was walking distance to the Rarotongan. Which you can’t fish in front of but I fished everyday just north west of it. Seemed to catch fish any time of day but the trevally were definitely most aggressive at low tide. That’s when they would be zipping around chasing prey and the most fun to catch. I didn’t do a lot of exploring with the fishing as I was with my family so I just stayed close to where we stayed but never needed to either as I could go every day for an hour or 2 and catch fish. I fished in front of the aroa’s beachside in and the bigger beach just north of it that the little creek drains through. Didn’t have to go far from the beach either. Sometimes cast right off the shore. Trevally come right in to the bank and you can spot them and pick where you wanna go with polarized glasses when they are active. Sometimes I would go snorkeling to find fish and then run back to grab my gear when I found something I wanted to catch

Staying at the Little Polynesian (again)...I love catching bluefin trevally, one of the most fun fish to catch.

And prettiest

You just found a reason to buy a nine wt. lol

Just returned from 12 day on Aitutaki. 3rd trip in 3 years for bones and GTs. Too much wind and rain but scored my PB bonefish at 6.2 kg...weighed. I use 10wt for bones and 12wt for GTs. 8wt is pretty light but 9 wt would be my second choice. Last year my partner landed a GT in excess of 60 kg but 20 kg are more commmon. Happy to answer any questions

Sounds like a blast...6kg bone!!!? Nice. Did you have a guide every day or just wing it?

There is a limited flats area in the NE where you can go wading on your own. The vast majority of the flats and the deep water are in the area to the south and SE where a local guide is mandatory. There aren't any boats to rent and you could not get to the south or SE without a boat anyway so a guide is almost a necessity.