Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) > Tackle & Techniques

How you fight GT in the shallow.

(1/4) > >>

Adrian Wong:
Hi guys! I'm new here from Singapore.

Went Lombok(Indonesia) few weeks back to target GTs, but luck not on our side for first 2 days. It's only the third day that the fishes bites  >:(. As that was my first GT trip, there were plenty of snapped lines due to wind knots and also lost fight to 'them'. By going through many threads, now I know how could avoid those annoying wind knots!  :o

But, how you guys 'manage' to stop these GTs in the shallow and rocky area? I think I lost about 10 of them due to cut offs, whether at main or leader line. Drag were set at about 12kg (Stella 10k) as I'm a beginner, I lost the first GT. Second strike I tried to apply 'palming' and that GT just keep spooling me till the leader was cut by rocks again... >:(. So, are there any other way you guys fight GT in these scenario?

Really appreciate gurus here to give me some advise...Hope I have another chance to go at them again soon!

Tight lines!

Jon Li:
Hi Adrian ,

Sound you just had a " GT baptism of fire " , in such situation we just have no other way but use the " no line out " technique , initial drag set starting at 15 kg and just hold the rod high n hope it will stop the big GT on it's track .

Langwan , a member of this forum , works in Lombok n if you drop him a pm , I am sure he can help you as he is an accomplished GT fisherman . Nothing better than going fishing with an experienced angler then just reading about how n what to do , in GT fishing .

I guess what you experienced is what makes GT fishing such an exciting way to fight a fish , the outriggers on my boat have been dismantled and my trolling outfits are gathering dust , since 2001 .

Jon .   

Brandon Khoo:
Hi Adrian

Jon has summed it up pretty well!

If you are fishng in shallow rock areas, you need to be able to load up to the fish as quickly as possible and try to take the initiative from the fish. By that, what I mean is that if you can get the rod into the gimbal, load up and get as many winds as you can onto the reel and get the rod high as Jon suggested, it makes it a lot harder for a fish to turn and/or dive. If a GT gets its head down in such an area, you're a goner.

When popping in such shallow areas, I will often pop with the rod in the gimbal and just use short sharp lifts of the rod to pop the popper. That way, as soon as it is hooked, I am in a position to put as much pressure on the fish as I can. The sooner you can do this, the better the chance you have of extracting the fish.

You also need a much higher drag setting. In such areas, I tend to wind the drag right up and just grit my teeth and hope!

Can I say, it doesn't matter what you do or how good a fisherman you are - in such areas, you are going to get done by your share of fish irrespective. Also, big fish in such areas are unstoppable.Trying to extract a 50kg fish from a shallow rocky area is all luck. In fact, in such an area, you might actually be better off free-spooling on a huge fish and hoping it swims out. You certainly won't be able to pull it out.

Travis Heaps:
A good skipper helps if there is deeper water nearby.  On hook-up if you are running a tight drag and get the initiative over the fish straight away, as Brandon said, the skipper should be able to use the boat to get the fish out into deeper water by driving away from the structure.

Luke Wyrsta:
Agree with above posts  ;D

I think you've now jumped the first hurdle - you've successfully been taught numerous lessons by GT and now know that you need all the luck you can get, need to fish smart and hope that GT makes a mistake you can capitalise on  ;)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page