Fishing Swains

[warren clark]

Hi Everyone,
                Myself and a few guys are heading to Swains early july. Is there any advise out there on what to take popper wise so we can  have a crack at few  GT's. I have 2 Halco roosta poppers 1x red white and 1x gold.
I have just ordered 2 timber wolf saury but the guy at the tackle shop suggested the stick baits wouldn't work as it was probably going to be to rough. Any thoughts on what I should buy to take. If anyone has any tips on what to look for when starting out. I have a Stella 20000 and a 15kg blue water T/Curve. Thanks Warren

[Brandon Khoo]

Hi Warren

to a very large degree, it comes down to what size GTs you want to fish for. If you want to prepare for GTs of say 20kg upwards, your reel is right but you will need to consider a stronger rod. the T-Curve 24 kg is regarded as a bit of a noodle stick as far as heavy GT rods go and is really not very suitable for big cup mouthed chuggers as it struggles to get them through the water. A 15kg will be ever softer.

There are suitable rods on the market at a decent price one of which is the new Shimano GT rod. I really do not recommend you go below 80lb braid and I think 100lb is a better compromise. You really only need some 200m of line for GTs so unless you're happy to use more braid than you need to, you can use some backing underneath the braid.

You'll also need to think about your braid to leader connection. Most here use twisted leaders and you will find ample guidance on the site for getting yourself ready for the trip.

Personally, I'd still take a couple of stickbaits along. I've seen stickbaits catch fish in pretty extreme conditions so they should be aprt of any GT tackle box.

[lonhro]

Hi Warren,

I did the swains Last year in May.
 Stick Baits are a must to take along because especially with your combo because theres less resistance by the lure unlike large face poppers. Some of the problems i faced last year were on the practicle side of being able to pop from the boat (Mother Boat) because the Gts would wrap themselfs around any thing they could find. And as for the dories you feel like your about to fall out and the sharks are always near by.

I took a Stella 10000 and a T-Curve 24kg and struggled to cast lures becuase it felt like the rod was going to break.
Things that i am changing for my fishing trip this year include taking stick baits because if the bait fishing is not that good the lures always seem to produce the Coral trout and other reefies. 100lb braid and a better rod.

One other tip i can offer is upgrade your terminals .

What boat are you going out on

Randalz

[Ken Best]

Hi Warren,

I do a Swains trip every 18 months or so with a group of guys from work, the next will be my 6th.
I got my first GT there on a Nomad 80 gram stickbait. There are plenty to catch, you just have to get away from the bait fishermen and chase them.
Around the edges of the reefs are the best places I found last trip, where the reef falls away into 10m or so. Look for eddies on the down current edge and any points exposed to the current, and bait schools.
As Randy stated its not much fun fishing high drags out of an unstable dory. The boat I go on has 4.2m Quintrex dories which are good for casting.

Last trip I used 100lb braid for all my lure work. The gear you mention should be OK as it will cover most styles from small poppers for trout to medium GT's, but a 24KG Tcurve may be more suited. Because the Swains is fished so heavily by rec and pro fisherman the size of the trout are down. A 5 KG trout would be an exception. Most we catch are 2 to 3.5 kgs. They will still smash a well placed and worked lure though.

The lures I normally take are,
150 mm River 2 Sea Bubble Pops for trout. Any color as long as its green/gold!!
Halco 135mm Rooster and Haymaker Poppers
80/100 gm Nomad/Blackjack stickbaits
Halco Laser Pro 150 and 190 mm gold, green and blue for trolling, 1m for on top of the reef and 2.5m for bluewater trolling.
Halco Crazy Deeps for deep water trolling, 125mm, 150mm and 190 mm.
Next trip though I am taking Barra gear and lures/plastics for trout and some heavy Popping gear for GT's and target them specifically.
And upgrade your terminals to decent hooks on Owner/Decoy rings.

Don't worry about the weather, you can't change that, its just luck. On my last trip we had 3 days of 30 knots and still caught fish, 42 Knots for 18hrs on the trip home left a bit to be desired though.

The best bit of advice I can offer though is to constantly try different things if the fish aren't biting. Jig metal for Mackeral, pop for trout, troll for trout over the top of the reef, troll deep lures on edges, cast lures/plastics at bommies, fish deeper water, in current, out of current etc, etc.
Its a long way to go to not make the best of the trip. It is too easy to come home and say the weather was bad or the fish were off the chew. Something will work, if you perservere you WILL catch good fish.

Hope this helps,

Ken

[warren clark]

Thanks Guys,
                  Looks like I'd better go shopping for a new rod,no point fishing with a soft noodle.Do you know the cost of the Shimano Gt rod. The boat we are heading out on has just been finished being built in Tasmaina as we speak. It's called the Eastern Voyager and is owned by the same people that have the Tura out of Gladstone. It will have 6 x 4.2 m plate dories to cast from.
                 Ive been to swains once before but only really had the chance to bottom bash. I did do some snorkelling, so swimming with the sharks is something I've done before. Once the deckhand was filleting the daily catch and throwing the carcase's overboard as we jumped in  there where about a dozen sharks and a cranky looking barracuda all having a feed. Just off to the side of the circling sharks was a thumping big GT.
Looking at the size of the hooks on the Rooster poppers its hard to imagine that you would run into trouble with them.
              I have 80 lb finns on the Stella . I'm tying the 70 turn bimini twist  and  have followed the instructions on this site to make some twisted leaders.
              Is there a must take popper to go with the rooster's and timber wolf or are these 2 styles a good starting point. Do you think the nomad /blackjack stickbaits the most coommon type used? Thanks Warren

[Brandon Khoo]

Warren, I'm not precisely sure of the price but the best thing to do is check around. You could give Neil at Jones tackle a call to see what he can do on one.

The most suitable lures will be dictated to a large degree by the rod which you have. There is no point having big cup-faced poppers if you are using a rod which is too soft for them. The big Roostas are a proven fish catcher. I don't use them myself but I have seen many people who do and they have used them successfully. The hooks on the Roostas are VMCs. You can get away with them on smaller fish but if a larger fish (say 20kg +) gets the hook at a bad angle, it will bend it like a pretzel. They do this to Owner ST-66s which are a stronger hook than the VMC.

The Nomad/Blackjack stickbaits like the Wahoo and Ulua are proven fish catchers. There are numerous good stickbaits for GTs but many are either not readily available in Australia or are priced at a frightening level.

I would personally recommend 100lb but if you already have 80lb on the reel, you should be able to get away with it. Master tying the bimimi as you may need to be able to tie it in a rocking dory unless you have a spare spool or two.

[warren clark]

Thanks again Brandon,
                              I also have shimano t curve deep jig spinning 400/ 37 kg and 1.7 m long is this rod too short for popping.
I will replace the terminals as suggested by Randy  but can anyone tell exactly what with. Also I want to buy a couple of  stick baits ,will I just ask for the 100g Nomad/blackjack (any colour preference).

[Brandon Khoo]

Warren, I have seen people popping with jigging rods regularly. It is obviously not ideal but you can do it. It really comes down to how much popping you want to do on this trip. If you intend to do a lot of it, then you will really appreciate a good popping rod. On the other hand, if you only intend to do a few hours of it, that will make a popping rod an expensive acquisition.

[Jim G]

Hi Warren
I'm a newcomer to this forum, but was most interested to read your message and replies as I'm going up there the first week of June with a bunch of guys, on the same boat as you.

You might be interested to know that the boat is still in Devonport being fitted out. One of our guys is in Tassie on holiday and went to have a look at it last week. He says that there is still a fair bit of work to be done, but it looks pretty good.

Anyway, looks like an expensive trip to the tackle shop coming up next week, and I'll be printing off all these messages to take with me!

[warren clark]

Hi Jim,
       Thanks for the update on the boat. The boys and I cant wait. You guys go before us so you might be able to post a report on the trip when you get back so we can see how you went and if there is anything else you suggest we take along.
     I took Brandon's advice and gave Neil @ Jones Tackle a call and he was very helpful Ph 07 38575857.
                                                                     Thanks Warren
                                                               

[Jim G]

Warren

Like you, our guys are all pretty excited about the trip, and we have to have a planning meeting every Friday night at our local (The Red Cow Hotel, Junee) to talk about it!

I'll make sure that I post a report for you as soon as we get back - never let a chance to brag go by!!

Since I posted my previous message, I've been in to a couple of the local tackle shops in Albury and Wagga and it was really a waste of time. They don't carry the kind of gear we need. The other guys have found the same problem, so we've decided to get up to Gladstone early on the Friday so as to give us time to pick up some lures locally, but I'll still take your advice and give Jones Tackle a ring.

The other thing that might interest you, is that we are taking up our own bait for when the popping and jigging action isn't happening. Some of our guys have been there a few times and did this the last couple of years and reckon that it doubled their catch. A couple of us are going to pick up 450kg of slimies from Bermagui in a few weeks, and while we're there we might as well have a fish around Montegue Island...Oh well, I suppose somebody has to do it!

Jim

[warren clark]

     This Saturday we head off for or trip to the Swain's.Thankyou to the guys who have spent the time to reply to the post.It was very much apperciated.
     I have a rod and reel combo to do the job and have upgraded all the rings and hooks. I also had a crack at a few homemade poppers/stickbaits.So I will see how they go and get back to with some results from the trip. Hopefully my first GT.
                             Thanks Again Warren
   

[Brandon Khoo]

good luck - hope you have good weather!

[Ken Best]

Good luck Warren,
The weather up here looks pretty good for the rest of the week, hope you have a ball.

Ken

[Greg Burt]

Have fun mate, 'WHO ME, jealous'