New Caledonia with Le Poisson Banane - January 2011

[David Noble]

Great report Brandon and well done to all.  Would have been a nervous lead up on cyclone watch..

Cheers David

[Rob Lawson]

Great report.
Well done to all involved.
Malcolm. Thats a truely fantastic capture mate, well deserved indeed.

Cheers
Bob

[Brandon Khoo]

oi, give me a break. That's two trips in a row with ok weather for me!!

[Jon Li]

Great report , fantastic results n heartiest congratulation to Malcolm , Brandon n Dom for getting new best personal records . 

Jon .

[Angus Hulme]

Superb pics and report of what was clearly a very memorable trip Brandon! Yours, Malcolm's, and Dominique's individual achievements must be heartily congratulated.

Any further info or pics on Crusty's stickbait? Can you perhaps give a brief description of it's attributes based on your considerable testing experiences?

Anyway, thanks again for sharing.

Cheers
Angus

[Brandon Khoo]

Angus, thanks for your kind words. On the stickbaits, I am very happy with two of the models. We've finally been able to get the action which I have been wanting from the lures but the decision to release the lure can only be made by Crusty. I still need to get together with him to discuss the way ahead but I can't see any reason why he would not be willing to put these into production. It has been a long hard road. Developing a great surface stickbait has been incredibly hard and frustrating work and I've really come to appreciate just how brilliant a lure design the Carpenter Gamma really is.

[Malcolm Crane]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Dominique, Brandon and I were really very lucky on this trip. In GT fishing it's not often that all the different elements line up in your favour and give you a solid chance. Sandwiched between a couple of cyclones we were very fortunate that it came together.
LPB were outstanding! David and his deckie Stan worked their butts off and gave us every chance they could. It was a truly memorable trip.

I was just telling Kasey though that I'm a little miffed that Brandon didn't mention my true achievement on this trip in his report. I believe I am the first angler with LPB to have fallen overboard whilst fishing, causing David to have to back the Antarres up to do a sea rescue whilst I was  trying to swim back to the boat dragging my rod & reel with me and trying to keep my crocs on and maintain some dignity. I think the guys were laughing too much to think about a camera which is the only reason you're looking at fish pictures and not dogpaddling angler shots! 

Malcolm

[Aaron Concord]

Brandon,

Damn you and your report........I am still hyperventilating mate!

Congrats on what was obviously an amazing trip.

To have anglers break through their PB GT's while being on board must have burnt that hard into the memory bank for you.

Thanks for sharing.  It's made my night!

Onya Mal!  Keep it up mate!

Aaron.

[Ewan Macleod]

Wowzers what a trip! Amazing captures Brandon, congrat's to you, Dom and Malcom. Great Stuff.

What sorts of rods have you been using, specially for the larger stickbaits?

[Angus Hulme]

We've finally been able to get the action which I have been wanting from the lures but the decision to release the lure can only be made by Crusty.

yep, absolutely Brandon. If your positive comments and good results with these lures are anything to go by, then the lure junkies won't be waiting long for a top shelf final product.

It has been a long hard road. Developing a great surface stickbait has been incredibly hard and frustrating work

Understandably so! Developing anything from the ground up takes serious dedication, and even though I only produce lures for my own usage, I do appreciate that lots of work goes into producing a completely innovative design. Most of my lures are just Frankensteins, mixtures of different lures, and I cannot even make 2 the same, so my lack of ability helps to reinforce to me the skills of top lure makers like Crusty, Konishi San, etc etc.

On the Gammas, I am actually looking forward to receiving a couple of examples in the near future, so I'll be definitely be keen to see what all the fuss is about.

Malcolm, that's gold. You did well to not lose any gear/shoes etc!

[Ken Tsai]

just read whole article..
what a good and amazing trip.
Congratulations!

[Gary Prerost]

Thanks for the great post Brandon and congrats to all who were there sure to be etched in memory for all time. Just what the doctor ordered for the rest of us onlookers

[Mark Harris]

Bloody hell!

Absolutely fantastic Brandon. Congratulations to all involved.  A stunning trip.

[Travis Heaps]

Congrats on the captures Malcom, Brandon and Dominique, obviously an awesome trip.  Goes to show if you roll the dice enough times you'll get the perfect trip sooner or later!

[Geoff Volter]

What an incredible trip- great work Brandon and Malcolm.  Absolutely stunning big fish. Great work and thanks for the report.