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Karl Nelson

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GT popping history
February 11, 2011, 10:13:38 PM
Just wondering where i can find some history on GT popping, photo's, articles, etc of when and where it all started.

Brandon Khoo

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Re: GT popping history
February 11, 2011, 11:49:43 PM
Karl, I'm not even sure where'd you'd start. There were guys popping three decades ago using mono and poppers.
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Jay Burgess

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Re: GT popping history
February 11, 2011, 11:53:42 PM
Karl, I'm not even sure where'd you'd start. There were guys popping three decades ago using mono and poppers.

That's like the equivalent of ancient Egypt compared with modern history  :D

Brandon Khoo

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Re: GT popping history
February 12, 2011, 12:00:25 AM
it is and the equipment has improved out of sight since then. We've got braid now when they were using 20lb mono.
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Mark Harris

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Re: GT popping history
February 12, 2011, 12:30:53 AM
Not to mention the rods!

Brandon Khoo

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Re: GT popping history
February 12, 2011, 12:41:12 AM
...... and reels and everything else!
If it swims; I want to catch it!

Peter Morris

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Re: GT popping history
February 12, 2011, 10:43:34 AM
The Fijians would have some stories dating way back.

I know one fellow over there who started his popping career by handline popping.
100lb Mono and big homemade poppers....
Terminal tackle was a real problem.....Hooks especially.

He has very nice burn marks over his hands from early battles....He started at least 30yrs ago.

Pete

lou murray

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Re: GT popping history
February 12, 2011, 12:03:31 PM
hi karl, a good starting point for australia anyway would be the carnarvon area we moved over from sydney in the late 70s  and fished places like cuvier and exmouth as well as anywhere inbetween , we used to use hoe handles cut into 7 or 8 inch lengths glue in wire for hooks and a spade bit to open up the front so it would popp we rgularly accounted for for gts up to 40kg from the rocks using our 20 pound mono(considerd heavy at the time, remember this was also ansa sportfishing movement at its zenith) met some great fisherman and friends in those days some good names for info would be people like ray monk and terry fitzgerald from carnarvon hal harvey from perth should be able to help a bit younger than the others but a fine fisherman and there in the earlier days steep point was another area although  a bit harder with the poppers, shouldnt have looked at this post its got me remenicing about the early days some great memories there though, best of luck, lou murray.

Karl Nelson

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Re: GT popping history
February 12, 2011, 03:11:38 PM
That's the kind of stories i like to hear about Lou. Hope this post get others thinking of days gone by. Luke's report on Tokara got me thinking about this subject..

Ewan Macleod

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Re: GT popping history
February 12, 2011, 09:15:33 PM
The Fijians would have some stories dating way back.

I know one fellow over there who started his popping career by handline popping.
100lb Mono and big homemade poppers....
Terminal tackle was a real problem.....Hooks especially.

He has very nice burn marks over his hands from early battles....He started at least 30yrs ago.

Pete

Thats awesome Pete, I'd like to hear more about this..

Peter Morris

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Re: GT popping history
February 12, 2011, 09:52:50 PM
The Fijians would have some stories dating way back.

I know one fellow over there who started his popping career by handline popping.
100lb Mono and big homemade poppers....
Terminal tackle was a real problem.....Hooks especially.

He has very nice burn marks over his hands from early battles....He started at least 30yrs ago.

Pete

Thats awesome Pete, I'd like to hear more about this..

Ewan,

Georges biggest fish was a Goliath 72kg fish which was taken believe it or not inside a river...!!!
It was caught on exactly that gear 100lb Handline and homemade popper.
They used to do the big helicopter wind up with the popper and then let it fly.

Sachin Chaudry (from this site) is very good friends with George and he will know the stories.

Pete

Dan Wulf

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Re: GT popping history
February 12, 2011, 10:42:40 PM
In Tamil Nadu, India a couple of locals still fish GTs from shore with handline and poppers using the helicopter cast as previously described. I was invited to watch them fish when the tide was right, but did not have the time. Instead I shot this video on the same spot that the local fishermen use. The guy in pink shirt and long trousers who appears at 1:35 is one of the local GT fishermen. I don't know whether they use home-made poppers, but I assume that this is the case, since commercial tackle is difficult to find in India.

Prithvi lands a Giant trevally from Kovalam Beach (India)
 

Aaron Concord

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Re: GT popping history
February 14, 2011, 08:15:10 PM
Interesting thread!

I'll have a dig around for some stuff.

I know that Hawaii, Japan and the nations of the Pacific such as Fiji have seeded the ideas into our local anglers.  It pops up in magazines and other literature I have dating back to the 1970's.
I've got mates who started pegging poppers at GT's around 40 years ago as part of the ANSA sportfishing movement that Lou Murray mentioned earlier in this thread.........I never asked who showed them OUTSIDE of the clubs members.......there had to be someone on the outside who was doing it and then passed the knowledge onto others who saw it and put the ideas to our local GT population.........I never asked, strangely!

Aaron.

Luke Wyrsta

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Re: GT popping history
February 14, 2011, 09:03:11 PM
Plenty of Cairn's Skippers in the 70's if not earlier. There's quite a few of them but their names escape me!

Mal Florence would've done some pioneering stuff too.

Then there is all the history and folklore to decode from the likes of Amami and Tokara...plenty of handmade poppers on the walls from the early 80's. I will ask Fukui-San this year or even next month where his influences came from. I can't stop thinking about the 100lber portrait he has in his office with his head side-by-side...

Aaron Concord

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Re: GT popping history
February 14, 2011, 10:49:25 PM
Luke,

Barry Cross did a massive amount off the GBR very early on, along with his brother.
Once Barry's vessels became too big, he handed the popping clients over to Kim Andersen.
As you said, there were a few around doing it, though Barry was certainly at the very forefront off Cairns and he really specialised in popping to the point of making his own big bloopers.

Mal Florence, yep, he did a heap in mags, though it was his film work which was truly ahead of its time.

Anglers who I have met through the Brisbane Sportfishing club, such as Warren Steptoe and Darryl Steele did a heap and not only on GT's but longtail tuna, yellowtail kingies and spanish mackerel.........there were a heap in the club but as I said earlier, I never asked them who showed them the ropes.
A lot of the ANSA way was 'just help out your fellow angler' so who showed who and who saw the techniques from other parts of the world, I dunno!
I do know of the reach that the hand full of popping maniacs had back then was pretty spectacular in a day without internet..........RSL Halls were the monthly "forums" we now can partake in 24/7 over the Net.

I'd love to hear more about the Japanese influence........lets face it.......how much gear do you own now that isn't made in Japan for this sport!

Aaron.