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Brandon Khoo

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 11:45:03 AM
there is one lure I know which works better than any other on big reefies and it is the Tailwalk Gunz 180 sinking model. Don't ask me why this lure works so well - it just does. I actually whack on a couple of ST-66 3/0s which are probably just a touch too big for the lure but they do make it sink even faster and this combination works great. It was after one session at Marion Reef where I had called it before I even cast the lure in that Nomad decided to start carrying these lures.

We were working a reef edge without much luck when I said to Damon I was going to throw in my coral trout killer. he looked at me and said "yeah right....." so I threw it in and bang - coral trout first cast. Two casts later, another trout comes in the boat and when another came in about five casts later, he said "let me have a look at the bloody thing!"

i would point out the 180 is for big trout. The do come in sizes down to a 120 which is more akin to something you'd cast for jacks and barra.


Nice! Love those pics! Which lures would you suggest for trout Brandon?
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Shane Hartstone

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 02:03:02 PM
Great report Brandon.  I grabbed  a Tailwalk Gunz 180 sinking on my last order from Nomad, I'm very keen to see how they go when chucked at blue water work ups over here in NZ.

Brandon Khoo

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 02:31:31 PM
I'm sure it will work well there too, Shane.I think the reason they work so well is that as they're sinking, the way they sit in the water is very similar to how baitfish sit when they stop. The only thing is I wouldn't be looking to target big yellowtail kings with them. I had one broken in half by a big GT a few years back
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Shane Hartstone

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 02:34:47 PM
I was thinking things with a beak...

Brandon Khoo

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 03:14:22 PM
mmm, I have no expertise to call on there but it won't be a pretty sight if the beakies start slashing at it


I was thinking things with a beak...
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Paul Chan

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 03:41:55 PM
Hello Brandon,

Your trip report makes my day! Wonderful photos with interesting captures. Can't wait to fish at NC one day!

Cheers,
Paul
Paul CHAN

Jeen Raj

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 04:06:47 PM
Great insight Brandon . Thanks .




Jeen

Stan Konstantaras

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 05:00:42 PM
Hi Brandon,
Great story and photos, even though the weather was lousy at least the company was great.
As for the Full Scale, thumbs up.
Cheers
stan

Jay Burgess

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 07:22:53 PM

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.


This used to happen to us quite regularly when we used to tow fish out rather quickly under very heavy drag settings. We've since started driving out just above idle and we've noticed a significant decrease in the incidence of pulled hooks.

Recently at Bugatti we pulled the hooks on so many fish it wasn't funny, and we were using singles - sheesh  :( I can't attribute this to anything besides bad luck.

NathanMcNiece

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 07, 2009, 07:43:04 PM
Hey brandon
great photos and well done
is the red line on your 18000sw varivas? as I know they did make a red edition line.
thanks

Jeen Raj

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 08, 2009, 02:16:19 AM
will have to try what Jay says pull out gently with the boat. Will get to test  mid Nov on some big GTs


Jeen

Craig Lupton

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 17, 2009, 09:35:54 PM
Hey Brandon,

I'm glad you went to the effort to take photos; they compliment a great trip report.  ;D It must have been an awesome experience being amongst the two world renowned GT guiding companies and their key people?  :o

When I was in New Cal in April 2009 with LPB, I was unprepared for their preference to use trebles and not necessarily barbless either - Rudy reminded us that he lost his best GT to a GT Recorder (barbless of course) and strongly encouraged my crew (GT newbies) to use barbed hooks and looked bemused when most of my lures were rigged with singles!  ???

Given Damon and the Nomad operation has a strict policy on singles as opposed to trebles, I'd be interested in your commentary on how this difference in rigging preferences played out during the trip.  ???  I dare say the conversation and sharing of intellectual property about GT techniques amongst the all four of you would have been impressive.  ;)

I'm also interested to get your opinion on LPBs preference for a short strand of mono (200 lb) attached to a double with grommets that sits outside the rod tip as opposed to twisted leaders. Again my crew began with twisted leaders much to the amusement of Rudy   ;D, but after a couple of bite offs courtesy of the razor gang, we changed to the LPB method and did not get busted off by any GTs throughout the 6 day trip   ;).  I assume its got to do with the deep water and the use of the LPB method wouldn't be as successful in the Coral Sea or at Shoalwater due to take lack of shock absorption, rougher terrain and shallow water?  ::)

Cheers

Craig Lupton 

Kasey Leong

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 17, 2009, 11:19:42 PM
Hi Craig,
I'll let the original person you posed the question to answer in detail, particularly about singles/trebles but I think you've just answered most of your questions yourself. I would say the terrain (very deep vs. very shallow) and probability of getting busted off (high probability vs. very little) greatly influences the two different styles of rigging here.

I prefer trebles alot more myself. However, you never know - Glenn who was on my trip had a rare popper rigged up with singles and what do you know - he lands a Sailfish that would have been close to impossible with trebles on the lure.

Go figure  :P
Watashi wa kawaii scon class hetadesu bakadesu JooNya Poop Poop

Brandon Khoo

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
August 18, 2009, 08:55:08 AM
Craig, there is no doubt whatsoever you will lose less fish with barbs. I have lost a number of big fish over the years ten or fifteen minutes into the fight when the hook comes out. I am pretty sure at least some of them would have stayed on with barbed hooks.

Nomad insist on the use of single barbless hooks for a few reason, all of which I fully understand. The first is safety - if you get a huge treble whacked into you with barbs on them, you literally need surgery to remove it. Barbless, it comes straight out. The second is for the fish - if you lose a fish and the poor bugger has a lure with barbs on it in its throat, you have killed the fish. Even with barbless, there will be occasions when the fish cannot shake the hooks out but it has a much better chance of shaking the lure off with barbless hooks. Third - Nomad belives the single hook does less damage to the fish and holds better than trebles. I'm not so sure I agree with this myself based on my experience but they are strongly of that view.

There is no doubt that the incidence of lost fish with LPB is much lower than Nomad experiences but not all the areas LPB fish are deep and their customers lose their share of fish as well.

Damon was quite intrigued by the rig the boys use but his immediate reaction was that the short leader just wouldn't be the go for places which Nomad tends to fish. I have to say that I agree. I would have no hesitation fishing with the rig which LPB use in NC but I would not want to be using it in Shoalwater or Jewell Reef! Btw, the boys at LPB don't use 200lb - they use 300-400lb mono leaders. if you didn't experience any bite offs from the razor gang after changing your rig, it simply means you got lucky. Wahoo, mackeral and barrcuda will cut 500lb mono without any effort at all. For comparative puprposes, I didn't have one cut off on my last trip whereas Damon spent the whole cursing and re-rigging from encounters with mackeral - and we both use long mono leaders. It just means I got lucky.

Shock absorption is not as much of an issue for the rig that LPB uses because the boys are using Tufline Guides Choice - it's like rope!

I must admit that it really was a privilege being around the discussions. Watching and listening to the subtleties of how they target various areas was really interesting as well as their experiences over the years. I would love to do that again some time but that is just being greedy!  :D

for me, I will continue using the long leader but would have no issue whatsoever with using the short leader in NC. In terms of barbs, I use barbless hooks and will continue to do so.


Hey Brandon,

I'm glad you went to the effort to take photos; they compliment a great trip report.  ;D It must have been an awesome experience being amongst the two world renowned GT guiding companies and their key people?  :o

When I was in New Cal in April 2009 with LPB, I was unprepared for their preference to use trebles and not necessarily barbless either - Rudy reminded us that he lost his best GT to a GT Recorder (barbless of course) and strongly encouraged my crew (GT newbies) to use barbed hooks and looked bemused when most of my lures were rigged with singles!  ???

Given Damon and the Nomad operation has a strict policy on singles as opposed to trebles, I'd be interested in your commentary on how this difference in rigging preferences played out during the trip.  ???  I dare say the conversation and sharing of intellectual property about GT techniques amongst the all four of you would have been impressive.  ;)

I'm also interested to get your opinion on LPBs preference for a short strand of mono (200 lb) attached to a double with grommets that sits outside the rod tip as opposed to twisted leaders. Again my crew began with twisted leaders much to the amusement of Rudy   ;D, but after a couple of bite offs courtesy of the razor gang, we changed to the LPB method and did not get busted off by any GTs throughout the 6 day trip   ;).  I assume its got to do with the deep water and the use of the LPB method wouldn't be as successful in the Coral Sea or at Shoalwater due to take lack of shock absorption, rougher terrain and shallow water?  ::)

Cheers

Craig Lupton 
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Travis Heaps

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Re: New Caledonia with LPB - July 2009
September 15, 2009, 08:39:46 AM
Nice work Brandon, thought I had read this report before but turns out I hadn't!  Great photos too.  I agree with you the the Gunz is a good lure for the big reefies, not so much for the big Gt's though!  They like them but they just aren't tough enough.  I had one split and rip the wire an inch and a half or so out of the lure and it had caught just the one fish (GT of 30kg or so).