Hey guys,
I don't often get a chance to post on this forum, but I just wanted to make another comment on the crazy number of fish we released last week. We actually fished the exact same area on a drive out trip in March 2010 and caught very little due most likely to the weather. 2 months later and we dropped by to check it out and the fish were in plauges. This tells me that they move around to at least some degree over many months, and this is consistent with what we have seen in other areas. The area we just fished and caught 520 GTs at in a week will not get fished again until maybe later this year for 1 trip. There are a huge number of reefs we fish and we rotate the areas we fish to ensure that there is a significant time between each visit. In fact we often wonder if there is actually something wrong with the ecosystem that there are so many GTs in some areas - they must have eaten everything else!!
Seeing what I have of the reef structure out there over the past 5 years there is an unimaginable number of GTs swimming around these reefs, and given that we are blessed with one of the largest reef systems on earth to fish, I can't see us putting any great amount of pressure on these areas any time soon. There is still a few areas of the Bugatti System we have not visited, and a significant area of the elusive reef area we have not visited. While I would not be bold enough to predict this type of crazy action again, I expect that we will see it again at some stage in the future around Bugatti or Elusive. I should also put in perspective that our previous best week of GT fishing was around 340 GTs released in a week, so that puts some perspective on just how extraordinary this last trip was.
Also, just out of interest, the best lures the last 2 weeks for the GTs have been the Adhek long Goby and the custom muskie stickbait. Why these lures? easy answer, they require a straight wind retrieve to work best and this means a better hookup rate. Poppers worked just fine and the fish loved them, but the stop/start retrieve means slack line and this means dropped fish, and that meant many anglers chose not to use them. The surface strikes on the long goby are usually of epic proportions so the visual aspect is still there in a big way. Go the Goby!! was the catchcry last week, but be warned these lures work best in calm conditions, and I really avoid them in the rough stuff.
Look forward to seeing a few of you out there in a few weeks.
Good fishing to all. Damon.
