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

triggering fish to strike.

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Sam Conacher:
hi there guys.


I am very interested to know and i would like to know if it is ok,


who does what when they are fishing with poppers and stickbaits and they see a fish following or shadowing their popper or stickbait to convert the following or shadowing fish of their lure to strike and to get a nice and good hook up?



your feedback is truly tremendously appreciated.

Jon Li:
In such situation , I would twitch the rod tip rigorously but still retrieve at the same pace and if the fish surges , will stop the retrieve but still twitch the rod tip . This is done more often when targetting sailfish which will follow the retrieved lure all the way to the boat , at least when fishing in Rompin , Malaysia .

In most , I wud vary the retrieve speed n twitch / jerk in order to create a frantic movement of a targetted baitfish n hopefully the predator will strike the lures .

Jon .

Travis Heaps:
Something different.  You've obviously got their interest but what ever you're doing is making them think "this is interesting but kind of suss"...you need to make them think "bloody oath i'll eat that sucker" (more fun if you change the accent you're using in your head...i like ocker australian  :D)

Before switching lures I switch up the retrieve, if i'm running out of space i'll start the short sharp twitch bloops which still make a splash but don't need much distance.  From what i've read you're not supposed to stop the lure and i've seen it turn them off for sure but I think there's times it will trigger a strike.  As with all things fishing there's no one black or white answer, it will depend on the day - try different things until you find what is working on that particular day.

The next option (which worked for me the other day first cast) is if you're getting a lot of follows on the poppers but no strikes go to the stickbait.  It's a good tactic to use anyway if the water isn't so clear or you're popping deeper water.  Use the popper first up to create the disturbance and pique the fishes interest, bringing them into the area and then the more natural looking stickbait to attract the strike.  I saw this work (the first step anyway) for a second time that same trip on some queenies. Mick and I both had stickbaits on and peppered an area with 5 or so casts each for no follows, whipped the popper back on and first cast the Queenies came up from down deep and followed.  Couldn't convert though as lures too big and by the time i'd made the third switch to Sp's we'd freaked them out  ::) :D

Scott Maybury:
It is an interesting question, my instinct has always been to twitch or work lures more aggressively (in nearly all styles of fishing) when a following fish is lurking but not striking...however, when I did this in New Cal when a 35kg odd GT cruised up behind my popper Rudy started yelling at me to let the popper sit still for a few seconds, all too late really

He said more often than not if you stop it dead they will hit it

Given that in my limited experience many of the strikes I have had have been during the pause between bloops I guess this makes sense, though it is certainly very hard to do when you see a fish loom up

Note - whilst i was typing that Travis' post went up and I must say what he says mirrors my experience with many other types of lure fishing

Andy Rowe:
During the times where feeding mode is not fully initiated, (I agree)give the fish (GT in this case) a chance and stop the lure, sometimes they will just come up and suck it in, not your anticipated massive surface strike but they run just as hard for cover when the hook sets. Occasionally here it is a big fish that takes this more timid suction approach. If it does not work try the panicking fish method, it's all about trial, error and some luck.

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