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

What's your favourite popping style for big GTs?

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Aaron Concord:
It's all about timing...Chucking surface lures is a VERY specialised form of fishing.
Whether it's a blooper, chugger, fizzer, stickbait or pencil, it's all about looking at the water during the retrieve and how the lure is performing in each trough or crest of a wave.
Anyone can keep a pencil in the drink in flat water, or make a blooper work without tumbling in calm stuff, though I have seen too many anglers who aren't aware of what the water is doing to the action of the lure....this is AFTER they have chosen a lure that SHOULD work in chop or swell or over current washed flats. They've made a great decision, though watching their retrieve and their timing goes out the window!
Rythmn takes over and then the lure flies off a crest or sinks in a trough, wasting the retrieve and a possible GT strike.
I make sure I can alter my retrieve to suit the convoluted water that GT's love. And have an intimate knowledge of the type of lure that best fits the water being fished.
My general rules are: popper for dirty water and water up to moderate rough conditions. Sinking stick baits for rough stuff and clear shallows, floating sticks for calm, clear water to moderate rough water, pencils for distance casting over flats and parallel to reefs with slight chop.
Lure colours and flash are another essay altogether!

roderick walmsley:
Aaron that was well put, the retrieve is just as important as the lure selection and the "wrong" lure can still catch fish with the right retrieve that suits the conditions. If you are fortunate to be fishing in an area where you are getting numerous bites then paying close attention to how the fish are hitting the lure can steer you towards wether or not you are doing the right thing with your lure and retrieve. On one charter out to Bugatti we had good numbers of fish coming up to the poppers but quite often pulling out of the bite at the last moment. Although it looked like they were simply missing the lures a change to stickbaits resulted in immediate hook ups. This situation turn around again later in the day when the fish switched back to preferring the "louder" poppers without any change in the oceans conditions. We simply put it down to a change in the fish's mood or target prey.
It is a lot easier to see this when you are guiding from a game boats tower as the fish is visible for a few more seconds before the angler sees the fish from the water level. Similarly speeding up the retrieve or throwing in a pause can also spur a fish to bite that is only chasing the lure. As has already been mentioned it is very much a case of horses for courses. If someone is throwing a popper a good idea is to have someone else throwing a stickbait and if they are being worked correctly then you will quickly find out what the fish are keying in on.

Cheers Roderick

Karl Nelson:

--- Quote from: roderick walmsley on February 03, 2011, 06:21:47 PM --- If someone is throwing a popper a good idea is to have someone else throwing a stickbait and if they are being worked correctly then you will quickly find out what the fish are keying in on.

Cheers Roderick

--- End quote ---

I reckon you should work as a team.
If one person is trying to swim a stickbait and someone else is banging away with a popper and the fish are shy, nobody will catch fish.
Concentrate on one or the other i say.

Troy Marien:
Definitely got some good info out if this. Will hopefully put me into in to contact with my first surface GT.

Stuart Kelly:
Great info guys!

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