What's your favourite popping style for big GTs?

[Sachin Chaudhry]

In Fiji the most sucessful lure for the trip was the 210mm River to sea dumbell in all colors, especially the mackeral green and Blue. We also used the haymakers and also took quality fish but they take there toll on your arms after a few hours.

No.1 action was big bloops closely followed by blooping at high speed working the rod nice and high.

Joe, interesting to note that the dumbells worked so well for you in Fiji. I use mainly pencil poppers here in Fiji (actually almost always use pencils).
The ones I tend to use are Zest Pencil Poppers which are around 8 inches long (110 grams) and the Surecatch GT which tip the scales at 120 grams with standard rigging . I replace the standard trebles with Mustad doubles and find the hook up rates to be around 80% out of all strikes. The Mustads never seem to straighten and also helps me to eliminate the split rings from the equation. Also have a selection of homemade pencil poppers which also work quite well. That being said I have seen some nice fish taken on Halco Haymakers and River 2 Sea Dumbells. Personally I feel it is much easier to get more action out of pencils and by being narrow at the front you can work them in more ways that a large cupped blooper. Horses for courses I suppose.

[Peter Lowe]

Gotta love the old River to Sea jobs.....

They do get chewed up/split after a few big one's but ya gotta love that.....  [img]

[Johan de Vlieger]

Before I fished the first time on Gt's my targets were tarpons, jack crevalle, leerfish, barra's, ...
The type of popping action I used in the Atlantic was mostly the same : for all the mentioned fish (except for tarpon) a relatively rapid retrieve with big splashes and that almost everytime did the job.
First time I targetted GT's was in Mauritius where the local captain of a charter introduced me to this more extreme way of fishing poppers.
The way of fishing was more demanding : throwing harder, retrieving faster, a lot faster...
That's the way I adapted it and it was also the way I tought you had to fish GT's.
Now I know better : sometimes this very fast retrieving of the popper does still work but the slower way with a lot of splashing and pauzes also works, or the "walking the dog" just beneath the surface.
Conclusion : you have to adjust your way of fishing regarding the time, place and situation your in.
Always fishing the same motion with the same lures is missing a great deal of fish.
At least : that's my opinion ! 

[Dayne J-W]

have the 18cm size and some of the smaller ones too. And also have some of their slider lures too. Just noticed Nomad has an online tackle section too now....

speaking of nomads tackle does anyone know how it performs outside of there "secret" reefs that seem to be overflowing with big GT's

[Graham Scott]

Good old river to sea dumbell has been working well along the CQ coast up towards Shoalwater Bay. Although half the price seems a better action in rough water than the Captiva.
Last trip I was the dumbell...mucking around with all the 10 kg queenfish only to get cleaned up by a big GT while dreaming away....next dumbell please.....bugger

[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]

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

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!

[Wan Izhan]

Any link to vimeo or youtube point to how to play stickbaits eg, Gamma, Siren Lure, Realbait, Penipen, Aswb...etc.....
Showing the correct techniques, equipments, and lure actions?
+ links to Carpenter Lure Video by Konishi-san

Many thanks
Izhan

[Neville Haglund]

My original Fiji pencil was the Yo-Zuri Surface Bull rigged with a single ST 66 on the tail.The reason for the one hook only was because the vast majority of fish caught resulted from a"chase" where by they always attacked from behind so hooked up on the rear hook.Also found it a lot safer when the fish was on board only having one hook to worry about.
The reason for using Surface Bulls was that there wasn't alot of others available at the time that could handle a decent GT.In saying that I have had the rear loop on one snap on me .These days with all the online tackle shops around the choice is endless so now when in Fiji regardless if I'm at the "sausage" the "supermarket"or the "big W" I use  Heru's ,Carpenters,HammerHeads, and yes I always have a Bull in the tackle box somewhere!!!

[Chris Rowbottom]

Any link to vimeo or youtube point to how to play stickbaits eg, Gamma, Siren Lure, Realbait, Penipen, Aswb...etc.....
Showing the correct techniques, equipments, and lure actions?
+ links to Carpenter Lure Video by Konishi-san

Many thanks
Izhan

Great idea!
Does anyone know any instructional type videos on proper or common retrieves of sticks, poppers, etc?
Thank you!
C