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Brandon Khoo

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New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 06, 2009, 08:23:15 PM
I went for a trip to NC for six days with Damon Olsen from Nomad Sportfishing with le Poisson Banane in July. The objective of the trip (apart from the obvious) was for Damon to meet the boys from LPB and for an exchange of ideas and approaches in targeting GTs. This can ultimately only be good news for those of us who fish with either or both of these outfits. Both David and Rudy will then be fishing with Nomad at a trip of their choosing in 2010.

Unfortunately, the weather gods conspired against us. The first day was a complete write-off and we couldn't even leave the harbour and looking at the conditions, none of us would have wanted to. As far as conditions were concerned, we ended up with two reasonable days, one good day, one poor day and one unbelievably bad day!  :D

Still, we enjoyed some terrific fishing at times and with an ounce of luck, we could have had an unbelievable few days. I got to say, Damon has got to be the most unlucky angler I've fished with! He raised something like 8-9 huge fish in the two reasonable and one good day and he didn't get a single hook-up! The fish would either slash and miss or a smaller fish would get in front of the big fish or the fish would veer away at the last moment but he just had no luck. I think Rudy and I would say the same. I had one absolutely monstrous fish strip over 100m in its first run before it threw the hook moments later and Rudy had another monster grab his pencil popper right in the middle of the body and not hook up.

In terms of the fishing, we still caught a bucket load of fish but an ounce of luck would have made for a truly memorable trip. I was amazed by the variety of fish for winter. It's really hard trying to convince Damon, David or Rudy to take photos - I think they see too many fish on a day to day basis. I almost had to make them take photos for it to happen. In terms of meeting the objectives of the trip, it was a huge success, I think. Damon got along like a house on fire with David and Rudy. Damon said he found it very informative in terms of how the boys targeted certain areas and no doubt, David and Rudy will find the same when they fish with Nomad next year.



Highlights for me:

Isle of Pines - we anchored one evening in the lagoon at the Isle of Pines and it would have to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It was worth the trip just to see the place. We fished the lagoon throwing small minnows and plastics and I lost every minnow I had.

Damon striking at the fish - On the first day we were out, Damon hooked a shark which jumped about three feet out of the water. On the last afternoon, he then hooks a cod which jumps out of the water as well. It wasn't until I realised what had happened that I found it so funny. he was striking at the poor fish so hard he was literally pulling it out of the water!

Smallest fish on a plastic - I think I might have outdone myself at least - check out the last photo!

Almaco Jack on a popper - Damon managed to catch an almaco jack on a popper in atrocious conditions!

Blue cod - truly the most impressive fighting fish in New Caledonia.  ::)  The strike is ferocious and then ............. nothing! The fish just floats in mid-water with its mouth wide open and doesn't do a damn thing.

Bottom fishing - the bottom fishing in NC really is quite spectacular. the only time we did it was at night or when the weather was so bad, we had to anchor up  and wait but the fishing on he bottom were unreal. For some reason, the inchiku jigs work better than soft plastics.


In terms of what we used and what worked best, We fished primarily PE10 although I was using PE8 on my stickbait outfit. Damon went heavy the whole way with his lightest rod being a SP78EXH! He was also using a Wild Violence and a Ripple Fisher GT78XH. I was using a TBL711 for my stickbait rod and a SP78UHL and Fisherman GT Game T-RSH with PE10 for poppers. This really was a trip for poppers, and big ones at that. I had most of my success on a Fullscale Big 200 whilst Damon caught most of his on a big Cubera or huge Patriot Masterd Bomb.

























































If it swims; I want to catch it!

Chris Tan

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 06, 2009, 09:02:56 PM
Some nice fish Brandon. The trip description is exactly how you told me when we met! Almost word for word! ;D

I like that last pic - thats the size we catch back home :D

Brandon Khoo

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 06, 2009, 09:24:22 PM
no, I reckon mine is much more impressive than the moses perch which they caught in the Shimano video which Gu is in!
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Jay Burgess

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 06, 2009, 09:29:47 PM
Nice pic Brandon that one has to go in the avatar  ;D

Great pics as usual and good report, at least you got a few good days  :)


Peter Morris

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 06, 2009, 09:35:22 PM
Top stuff Brandon,

That a flutefish..?...Interesting capture

Pete

Jay Burgess

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 06, 2009, 09:50:05 PM
Top stuff Brandon,

That a flutefish..?...Interesting capture

Pete

Yeah Pete that's a flutemouth, quite a few of these turn up around Ningaloo reef here on the west coast.

Brandon Khoo

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 06, 2009, 10:09:32 PM
I love those things - they're so cool. I've wanted to catch one for years and I finally got one at Jewell last year and then got this one in NC on a soft plastic.   They're covered in slime though!  ;D
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Nathan Cefai

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 06, 2009, 10:23:19 PM
Mate well done and great report from u also,good to see heaps of big fished raised but annoying that they didnt connect with your poppers,ill be there next month to have a crack,hopefully that 50kg will come to me agian!!!!  ;)

The night fishing is always fun!!!

Sam Conacher

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 06, 2009, 11:01:19 PM
as allway's Brandon a good read and some good fish,   it's a shame the hit's from the monstrous fish did not hook up.


the fish which stripped over 100m in it's first run,   I am just wondering........any idea what it was?



going and judging by the condition's of the sea in the background of the photo's,  with out being rude and certainly no dis-respect,  it look's to me like you had some nice good days.   One thing i can assure you is that when me and Stan were there in New Cal, the weather and condition's we had (in my honest opinion and most probably in Stans opinion to) were much worse then that (judging by the photos).   I think in fact i am sure we were all hoping for the weather and condition's to be like it is and was in what is seen on the photos.
Last Edit: August 06, 2009, 11:07:44 PM by Sam Conacher

Brandon Khoo

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 12:01:52 AM
We had sunshine for about 1.5 days out of six, Sam and on the last two days, the camera hardly came out due to the rain. I hope you didn't have worse than 30 to 40 knots and pouring rain. :D
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Damien Phillip

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 12:24:05 AM
Nice! Love those pics! Which lures would you suggest for trout Brandon?

Jeen Raj

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 03:52:41 AM
Great report Brandon. We had similar experience of big fish pulling the hooks in June when me and my son where there. I think when you hook a really big fish and the boys up the speed of the boat to pull you off the shallows you practically tear the hook out with the fish going one way and the boat the other. David opened a SW 18000 with faulty drag and we found the drag washers compleatly disinegrated ..black powder!!. I persume thats cause the guys lock the drag compleatly if they suspect a real big one at the other end. Any thoughts?

Jeen

David Noble

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 07:45:36 AM
Hi Brandon, 

Looks like you made the most of it despite the weather conditions. Some great shots in there and a good description of having to make your companions take some photo's at times.  The fullscale poppers look the biz...
I experienced similar variety a few weeks before you, no flutefish though!

Cheers Dave

Mick Cunningham

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 11:08:58 AM
nice report thank,s for sharing .. ;) :)

tell damon hi for me ya .
when you go back with nomad
hey brandon when is your next trip  :-X.

i can,t wait to fish there one day . a
As it ,s on my list  ::)

Brandon Khoo

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 11:32:48 AM

we weren't even pulling the hooks on them, Jeenraj - we just weren't hooking up. In terms of tearing the hooks out, I have to say that I haven't experienced this before. I think over the years I've been fishing, I've had a couple of occasions where the hooks have pulled when we're towing the fish but I think this is more then fish turning and the hook coming out from a poor hook-
set rather than tearing out. GTs have pretty strong jaws. The approach used by LPB is the same as any other guide when you hook up in the shallows. On most occasions, the GT will allow itself to be towed out but on a few rare occasions, I've had the fish decide it is not coming out.

In terms of the drag desintegrating, I'd suggest that reel had a faulty washer or two than simply fell apart under pressure. Shimano drags are excellent out of the box and the new Daiwa drags which they started using this year are excellent as well. Personally, I believe all pre 2009 Dogfights needed a change of drag washers to carbontex but that appears to be no longer necessary.

It's not the first time I have heard of this happening but thankfully, never to me. The reels are designed to operate under maximum drag and if you wound the drag to absolute maximum with a Stella or Saltiga, I'm not sure you could hold onto it for very long if a big fish decided to make a run for it. My drag setting is only about 12kg as I much prefer to exert additional pressure by winding it up after the fish is hooked or by simply applying more pressure using my palm. Over the years, I've just seen too many snap-offs on strike from excessive drag pressure so now I prefer to start off with a lower drag setting. This of course varies from location to location. If I was fishing somewhere like Shoalwater, the initial setting would still be about fifteen kg.

I actually spoke with David about the drag washers falling apart and he said that it was just a standard drag setting so it can only be a faulty washer or two. The other thing that could cause this to happen would be if the steel washer(s) were not perfectly flat. With the amount of pressure being applied, a warped steel washer would cause havoc and it would concentrate the pressure onto a small part of the carbon washer. This would almost certainly result in the carbon washer desintegrating.

Great report Brandon. We had similar experience of big fish pulling the hooks in June when me and my son where there. I think when you hook a really big fish and the boys up the speed of the boat to pull you off the shallows you practically tear the hook out with the fish going one way and the boat the other. David opened a SW 18000 with faulty drag and we found the drag washers compleatly disinegrated ..black powder!!. I persume thats cause the guys lock the drag compleatly if they suspect a real big one at the other end. Any thoughts?

Jeen
If it swims; I want to catch it!