Hi Michael,
Just got back from fishing around La Foa and Bourail ( got back Saturday after a weeks fishing, story to follow in next day or so) We only popped over there, so popping advice is what I have to offer.
I took over a 130lb and 170lb outfit and lost fish on both. As a minimum PE10 ( 130lb) in my veiw, you fish some tight shallow country here. 200lb and 300lb leaders are a must. I went to 300lb after seeing 200lb break mid fight on a pretty heavy drag setting. I fished the 130lb on a Fisherman GT Game RSH and Stella 20000, and the 170lb on a Patriot Design Black Mafia 77 on a Stella 10,000 with 20,000 spool. The PD rod I picked up from Fishhead. The 130lb line was PE Jigger, the 170lb was Varivas.
Yes, I did loose fish on 170lb in tight country, but it was great fun. The PD 170lb rod allowed me to throw Icup and 220gram plus poppers out of sight, the rod loads up beautifully on casting. I fished the 170lb rod 50% of the time and just paced my self. Best fished tagged, weighed and released was 41kg. Fish in the 20-25kg class pulled no line on 170lb, problem was that they were pretty green when arriving at the boat. No problem for me, just the deckie
. I also only fished short leaders and doubles, with the leader staying outside the guides when casting, the way David from LPB showed me. The fish I lost, even 20 meters of wind on would not have helped, these were big fish that zig zagged around the bommies and busted the braid well into the fight.
Do yourself a favour, get onto Fishhead and order a bunch of Fishhead Jai Big Heads in 130 and 170 grams, these worked great over there, caught big fish all day, raised fish all day and only cost $40 so don't hurt when you loose them. I lost 3 Hammerhead I cups in a row, 2 on 130lb and one on 170lb that hurt big time....
As a minimum for popping around La Foa, 130lb, your rod and reel will handle it well.
Best poppers over there were the Hammerhead I cup, Jai Bigheads, Cono Cono, Big foot stickbaits and Craftbait GT3s
Send me a PM and I will send over some more details.
Cheers
Stan
