What got you started?? Why pop??

[Angus Hulme]

Hey fellas, some some very interesting stories there, I always find it quite fascinating hearing about peoples fishing backgrounds.

For me, my earliest forays into the realm of popping started with light estuary spin sticks and little poppers for baby GTs in the Southport Broadwater, but when I began to see and encounter bigger GTs while on annual family reef fishing trips up around the Whitsunday area of QLD, I knew I had to get some of that action. When I realized at the time I didn't have the financial resources to get heavily into that specific form of fishing, I began to investigate how I could actually produce my own lures for the purpose, and save some money.

As it turns out, I doubt very much whether I've saved any bucks at all by taking this route, what with all the equipment required to make lures, and of course paint and finish them.    Sure is fun for a "tinkerer" like me though. But in reality, the lures are only one link in the chain of necessity, and the rest of the gear needed, as everyone here is undoubtedly aware, is pretty bloody pricey and now is the time I should admit that I have been completely sucked into this GT vortex. It's all ridiculously addictive, from the lure making, the tackle purchases, the fishing, the GT's themselves, I am becoming a little obsessed, even to the point of drawing and painting these fish!   

I reckon a large part of all this is due to some early Nomad DVDs and of course this very website. So thanks to Luke, Brandon, and Co for that 

Cheers
Angus

[Warwick Joyce]

I can't remember exactly but sometime around buying my first boat I came across this site, from there I stumbled onto Nomads videos and saw some footage of them casting for GT's at Island Head Creek.  I couldnt believe how far they were casting lures and that that area was essentially "just up the road". 

From there I bought a Stella FA10000 and a GT Special without ever having set eyes on either before and with my previous most extravagant purchase being a Stradic 4000 I thought would be good for Flathead...  First morning popping out at a reef 50km off Cardwell, not having a clue where to start I was demolished on about my fifth cast by a fish that broke both Jobus, we soon sussed out to cast to Fusies and the rest is history.

As I was on this trip with Travis its where it really got me hooked. But where the seed was planted I recon was a holiday weekend on Pumkin island. Both Travis and I were exploring along a high rock ledge close to sunset when a "bus" smashed the surface right below us! We both saw it clear as day.
It was the Cardwell trip that convinced me the tackle I had was unsuitable. The 6-10kg ugly-stick and the 7000 abu overhead wasn't going to cut it. I really don't know how I didn't break that rod on those 3 days!
Cue the spending spree......

[Travis Heaps]

I can't remember exactly but sometime around buying my first boat I came across this site, from there I stumbled onto Nomads videos and saw some footage of them casting for GT's at Island Head Creek.  I couldnt believe how far they were casting lures and that that area was essentially "just up the road". 

From there I bought a Stella FA10000 and a GT Special without ever having set eyes on either before and with my previous most extravagant purchase being a Stradic 4000 I thought would be good for Flathead...  First morning popping out at a reef 50km off Cardwell, not having a clue where to start I was demolished on about my fifth cast by a fish that broke both Jobus, we soon sussed out to cast to Fusies and the rest is history.

Oh yeah, man that thing was a bus...so random and both just like WTF? Was awesome.

As I was on this trip with Travis its where it really got me hooked. But where the seed was planted I recon was a holiday weekend on Pumkin island. Both Travis and I were exploring along a high rock ledge close to sunset when a "bus" smashed the surface right below us! We both saw it clear as day.
It was the Cardwell trip that convinced me the tackle I had was unsuitable. The 6-10kg ugly-stick and the 7000 abu overhead wasn't going to cut it. I really don't know how I didn't break that rod on those 3 days!
Cue the spending spree......

[Santosh Shanmuga]

I ran across this site... 

[Graham Scott]

Bit like a crime really....
Motive and opportunity,
Always looking for a new challenge, plus I live in Central Queensland.
Nomad videos played a part too
And a bit like the others...success within a few casts got me hokked...I wonder what would have happened if I didn't see a scale after 50 casts???

[Warwick Joyce]

I wonder what would have happened if I didn't see a scale after 50 casts???

Hahaha That didn't stop Isaac (a mate of Travis's)!! And I think we all have had those days of a thousand casts

[Graham Scott]

Warwick,
I never have days of 1000 casts! Not that I catch that many fish, just not capable of making a 1000 casts. Better off letting some fit bugger keep on chucking then throw in a sneaky one when someone else has raised a bit of interest.

Hmmmm what is the etiquette there? Your mate gets a good follow from an aggressive fish, do you let him have another shot or get your lure right in the there!!!! Generally its every man for himself on our boat, until you land one then leave it to the fishless (hopeless) ones. More fun criticising the fishless than actually catching a fish. "You sure you put hooks on that lure?" "I don't know why you bothered to buy all that flash gear" " Keep trying, your technique will improve with a lot of practice"

[Warwick Joyce]

Hahahaa, I can be accused of "poaching" a cast into a good spot I like your style of letting the others raise the interest then you get the rewards
Recently I had 2 days in a row of flogging the water, raised plenty of attention but just couldnt get one in the bloody boat! As you said the more practice the more the technique will improve...... Right???

[Doug Lindsay]

This is an excellent topic, allowing us all a bit of time to reflect on our motivations and inspirations.
Im with you Aaron, regarding Mal Florences (never bettered, or even equalled) movies. I actually interviewed him when I was in high school, making a (never completed!) movie about the gamefishing charterboats of Moreton Bay. To this day, I watch at least one of his movies per week. When he passed, there was an auction of some of his fishing gear. I picked up a Ron Poole custom barra rod, complete with gold plated guides, fish wrap and hand written label "Specially built for Mal Florence by Ron Poole May '84". PRICELESS!
My actually phsycal introduction came via a Nomad trip to Bugatti in 2008. We worked hard on that trip for not a great result and to be honest, I couldnt really see the big deal. It was in 2009 on another Nomad trip ( 3 days on the 51 Riv ) that we really got into the GTs on poppers that hooked me well and truly! To se bundles of GTs shouldering each other out of the way to get at the lure, made all those fruitless casts worthwhile! Since that special time has elapsed, a few more GTs have found my hooks and whilst I am partial to all forms of offshore action, GTs are KING.
Theres no doubt that GT fisherman are also raging tackle sluts, and this target opens MANY doors to explore ( and shop ). In terms of cost per kg of fish landed ( and released of course ) Gts would have to rate at the top of the tree. Any one care to put an estimate on it? $100 per kg?
Cheers

[Andre van Wyk]

I was a flyfishing junkie first....

On a trip to the outer atolls of the Seychelles in 2005, I was fortunate enough to land in GT nirvana, and spent 8 days wading and  sight casting to fish up to 50 kilos on the flats in water sometimes nowehere near deep enough to cover their backs...

Watching a pack of five 30 kilo GT's smashing bonefish in a foot and a half of water while you are stalking bonefish is a pretty insane spectacle...

ANyway, sight casting to these GT's, seeing these incredible fish come right out the water, eyes out, pec fins out, mouth agape to inhale a 6/0 flshy profile fly less than 20ft off the rod tip changed my life.... and got me to thinking about poppers and topwaters... I was always an artificial junkie as well.. 5 years in the Caribbean chasing Tarpon on topwaters and everything else, GT popping just seemed like a natural progression... there is no fish on the planet that can stir an angler ( well me anyway, and I'm sure the rest of the members here ) like the sight of a GT behind your lure... its the Pitbull of the Ocean, the "F*ck You, shoot first ask questions later" bad boy of the ocean, and nothing shows this more than popping....

I will also admit to having something of an obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to tackle... and what better facet of angling to get addicted to than jigging and popping if you are a tackle tart/junkie.... 

[Aaron Concord]

Doug,
You were a fortunate man to get to that auction.  I wasn't too young but I certainly was too cash poor to end up at an event like that.  I knew the amount of gear that was to be auctioned though I had no dough to be a part of it. 
To come away with a Ron Poole custom stick made for Mal is a priceless artifact......to Aussie sportfishing afictionardos anyway.  Take care of it! I am envious!
The passing of Mal Florence showed me how I needed to quench my "tackle slut/tart/junkie/fiend" obsession.  Mal's collection for the 1980's was HUGE.  I had an aim in life and so did many of my friends......improve on the size of the collection!  Sadly, I am an amateur compared to many mates who have taken the junkie moniker to dizzy heights!
Actually, it was this obsession that allowed me to fish and film with the small operation (at that time) called Nomad Sportfishing........those who had plenty of poppers and jigs got to test them against brutally large animals and our learning curve was almost vertical if plotted on a graph.  It was an immense time.
We broke a LOT of stuff during the learning.  We also got to land some special fish too.

If I had not seen some of these films from Mal or even a movie done by Dave Donald showing Queenfish and GT's smashing poppers I would never have believed such animals were alive and more so, could be targeted this way!
The shot of a hooter sized GT coming in slow motion during Mal's Bathurst Bay movie got me by the short n curlies..........I was hooked on the larger top water stuff from that film onwards!
I have never had much cash since that film...........I wonder why!

Andre,
The vision I have seen of the Seychelles is jab-in-the-arm full on heart pounding stuff.
I should stipulate that......the VISION.....if these things ate flesh baits in 400m of drink, we would be bored!
Instead, they race around in stuff-all water, beat up anything they can and destroy tackle willingly.
Who's heart doesn't get to a sprint-pounding rate when you see a pod of black backs charging the imitation offering you have presented??
The sight of it.
The sound of it.
Holding onto these marvelous animals if and when conquered is ultra cool.
I have filmed this shallow water craziness out in the Coral Sea though I have got to somehow get to those Islands to do it on fly.........it would be hard to top I reckon.
Big GT's on the flats........hell yeah!

As for the $per kg question............I don't want the missus to find out! 

Aaron.

[Andre van Wyk]

Aaron - Mate I look back at the places I fished and the fish I saw, everyday, and wish I had popping gear with me when I was there.... without a doubt, I would have hooked and more than likely landed at least 15 fish of 40 kilos, and at least 5 of 50, possibly even a few topping 60... I know this is an incredibly bold statement, but I know the fish I saw, and how ridiculously aggressive they were... a 6/0 flashy profile fly lands within 10 metres of these fish and they literally explode on it.... before you can even get half a strip in, your fly has been smashed...

My biggest fish on that trip, a 110cm fellow, ate the fly 15ft off the rod tip, ran 25 metres with the fly, with me hammering the hook home HARD with a 12 weight and locked SHilton SL7, only to have the hook pull.... no worries, the bloody GT turned round and ate the fly again, with even more aggression!!!

I saw fish just out of range of a fly rod, and in breezy conditions that absolutely dwarfed anything we landed...

Jurassic Park for sure....


STRETCHED!!!

[Geoff Volter]

dre, are they surgeon's or parrot fish tailing in the background?

Fishing the seychelles  (or other remote atolls) would be a dream for me. It looks amazing.

[Santosh Shanmuga]

dre, are they surgeon's or parrot fish tailing in the background?

Fishing the seychelles  (or other remote atolls) would be a dream for me. It looks amazing.

I think those are triggers.

One day I will fish the Seychelles...hopefully within 3 years

[Earl Hamilton]

Like a few others on here, for me too it was Mal Florence who first sowed the seed. Watching his films filled me with dreams and the desire to experience the hunt for these creatures first hand. Being stuck in the drizzly grey parts of south wales in the UK, with nothing near that could even be considered a fish that could pull on a drag I was left to day dreams and anxious frustration. I built the tackle and played with the toys, but alas had nowhere to use them. And then, my fishing best buddy decided to take off with his wife to go fish Australia, again. We built the rods, put the gear together, and sent him on his way. He spent the next 9 months in Cooktown QLD, either fishing on the  Pier or in Peter Fookes tackle shop, He became well known on the local scene, and the guy with the orange hair left his mark there. He returned to the UK an expert (to me anyway) with plugs, and hours of tales of monster fish, photos and video and a slew of names that go back into the lore of Australian sport fishing.  I was left only with desire and dreams, some sea trout fishing and European sea bass on the fly. These ambitions lay dormant,  bubbling in a  troubled soup of wanton desires just to the time where my work took me to the Philippines...seven thousand islands of paradise, coral reefs everywhere with beautiful tropical lagoons laden with monster fish of all varieties-WRONG, Lots of beautiful coral reefs, lagoons and all, but little fishing and scarcely a fish anywhere except the markets, and to go fishing takes a nightmare of effort and logistics. Ten years on, and with the help of this board, the desires have been met, but it took a good deal of effort and a while to get there. Now I have a few of these monster GT's, Doggies and such under my belt, and have lived the dream on board with the Nomad crew along with some great people and have met some of the legends I've heard of or read about. Its been a wonderful, and a privilege to have fished some of these places and fished in the company I have. Long may it last, the desire still rages !