Shoalwater 2008 - Trip Report

[Mick Cunningham]

Thank,s brandon for posting up good photo,s and our story as well ..

i am glad that we finally met . 

it was great to fish with you 3 gt warrior,s and peter lowe

i have met the another 2 gt warrior,s (malcolm and chris ) in 2006 trip 

i can,t wait to get back out there .. in the 2009 

i would like to go to the Bugatti with you 3 gt warrior,s again would be nice  ..
but i not think that i can make it 

oh Yeah i was blown away on those very big fish   ;D

i guess that i will need another new gear for me ... it would be a carpenter sp 78 exh super popping rod .. with stella 10000 with 20000 spool  with 170lb braid . and head back again and try again for sure 


Mick Cunningham <"((><

[Jon Li]

Hi Brandon n other paticipants ,

Soon you will be as good as those Japanese GT anglers by the look of the sizes of those GTs in the photos !
Heartiest congratulation to you all !

Jon . 

[Brandon Khoo]

thanks Jon

The angler of the trip was almost certainly Malcolm who landed some three to four thumpers on the trip. A lot of credit has to go to his guide Jason Preece who got both Malcolm and Chris onto some great fish during the week but we have to also give Malcolm and Chris credit for being able to extract the fish from the areas in which they were hooked.

I'm certain that Damon caught the most fish as per usual. His phenomenal casting ability really makes the difference as he is not just a tremendously long caster but accurate as well. He only managed to rip one guide off this year! 

Mick got the prize not just for being smoked the most times and keeping Jai Poppers in business but also as the rod killer of the week! 

[Chris Young]

Great report Brandon , Looks like you guy's well & truly smashed it, love that photo of the mac & his spare dentures, thats just plain brutal .
 I'm interested in what sort & how many gear failures you all had & aprox how many lures donated to the pool room 

Cheers Chris

[Brandon Khoo]

Gear failures are normally attributable to the fisherman, Chris. I did in two bail arms on this trip - one on a Dogfight and one on a Stella but both were my fault and nothing to do with failure on the part of the reels per se.

The guys did a good job as per usual in ripping guides off. Mick was the expert in this regard although Damon did well too 

The interesting this this year were the number of snap-offs we had. I think we had enough of being burnt off by the GTs in bommies and a few of us resorted to locking up the spool (with the palm) resulting in a few explosive snap-offs.

I actually don't know how many lures were donated this year to the GT god. I got smoked six times and lost four lures.       I know Mick did a heap     and I know Malcolm did his share!

[Jon Li]

The guys did a good job as per usual in ripping guides off. Mick was the expert in this regard although Damon did well too 

Hi Brandon ,

Carpenter is offering triple wrapping of guides version of the factory rods starting from this month , hope this will address the guide ripping off problem you guys are encountering in Down Under , they come with a small premium over the regular factory rods . Prior to this , only custom made Carpenter rods are triple wrapped .

Jon .   

[Brandon Khoo]

John, I think this will help a little but realistically, what is happening is that the feet are staying bound in most cases and the guide is simply collapsing. Triple binding will simply do little in this regard. I think it is simply a hazard of GT fishing, especially when you use really big poppers!

[Chris Young]

Ok , I'm just guessing at this but are most of these wraps (on guides) only a few meters from the leader , If so it could be that leaders are too long, or on the other hand the wraps are caused by loose loops of line on spool during retrieve, then nothing can help except better teknique by not letting slack onto spool in the first place (or underfilling spool) We used to suffer from these probs years ago spinning metal from the rocks, of couse not as bad as braid though .
 I wonder if Fuji can come up with a new style of frame to make them more able to cope with our "miss-use".
Chris

[Jon Li]

John, I think this will help a little but realistically, what is happening is that the feet are staying bound in most cases and the guide is simply collapsing. Triple binding will simply do little in this regard. I think it is simply a hazard of GT fishing, especially when you use really big poppers!

Hi Brandon ,

Any photo of these guides collapsing ? May be what you are describing is for Fuji to ponder about ?

Jon .

[Brandon Khoo]

Chris - you hit the nail right on the head. That is the reason why some people have more wind knots than others. Also,IMHO, I firmly believe that a big bimimi loop leaves you more exposed than a really short one.

Fuji build their guides well but the force you have to consider is a 200g weight being cast as hard as a very strong person like Damon is casting. Something has to give and it is the guide. I see it as a hazard of the sport!

[Chris Young]

Brandon/Jon, do you think by reversing the stripper guide (I'm assuming they are the ones bending) is working against the principles they were designed for ?. Might need a new thread for this

Chris

[Jon Li]

Chris ,

All Carpenter rods have reversed stripper guide but still PE line get wrapped from time to time . Certainly something Fuji n rod builders must ponder to get around this problem , in my opinion .

Jon .

[Peter Morris]

Sensational report and amazing fish.
I am headed to Fiji this Thursday and am now worried about using my 80lb....

[Luke Wyrsta]

Yep, everyone has mentioned the causes and possible remedies. It's the damn double smashing the first stripper.

Only way I have rectified this for GOOD is to have the double/leader setup past the 1st/2nd stripper (i.e. not on the spool or before the 1st stripper). In one of my other posts you will notcie I am using shorter leaders. Of course this is not everyone's preference and not everyone likes to use shorter leader in certain situations - or it could just of been the f**kn phenomenal reel I was just testing

[Peter Lowe]

Quote : or it could just of been the f**kn phenomenal reel I was just testing 

Yes Luke those Dogfights rule ah...... And I thought you we a Shimano dude - silly me...