Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) > Tackle & Techniques
Halco Roosta retired
David Noble:
Haymakers definitely catch fish, big fish too. I use the small roostas 80's, 110's, 135's and love the ripping sound they make in the water. For some reason I select more expensive, designer offerings in the 100g + category, maybe should reconsider. Congrats on retiring a true performer, most wooden lures would have been rendered no good after fewer fish. Here is a GT a mate caught on a haymaker.
Cheers David
Max Grimbacher:
--- Quote from: David Noble on February 17, 2012, 02:50:00 PM ---Here is a GT a mate caught on a haymaker.
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That is a good fish! good to hear they can hold up
Thien Dao:
Someone should write into Halco and try to convince them to make a bigger version.
Max Grimbacher:
--- Quote from: Graham Scott on February 17, 2012, 09:15:31 AM ---
Just a thought on your GT cohort, have you looked in a different environment for a different class of fish? In CQ we seem to have different size classes between coastal headland and Islands, Offshore Islands, and then reef. (with the inshore fish the biggest). Are you driving past big fish to get to smaller fish??? Not sure where you're fishing so may not apply, but GT's definitely have a very wide range of habitats. We have a bloke from South Africa over here who started live baiting straight out the front on one of the swimming beaches on the coast. Before we could all stop laughing at him he has landed 2 GT's over 25kg!!!!
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Good point thanks Graham- You are probably right. We usually go to the reef and catch the same smaller fish each time. Find fuseliers and find the GT's - but then it only seems to be small GT's. I'm not sure where to try for bigger GTs since i have covered on numerous occasions the closer reefs and those further out near the drop off. There are other reasons to go to the reef since there are plenty of other gamefish to target when the GT's go quiet.
Maybe the close in islands here do have bigger fish, but we have tried in the past without success. I have seen photos of 20kg models from the coastal headlands, but nothing bigger. The wrecks that lie between the coast and the reef apparently hold the bigger 30kg GT's - i have seen some photos and have been done up very quickly by somethings when jigging.
Some of the islands that are green zones off cairns have some big GT's - we have gone swimming with them. Hilarious fun throwing pilchards at friends in the water snorkeling, and having the big GT's follow the bait through the air and race each other at full speed to eat the bait as soon as it lands near someones face. So big ones do exist, but i am not sure how to catch them on poppers outside green zones.
Have you had much success on the bigger inshore fish on poppers? Are there any different methods you have found are more successful like dawn or dusk? maybe not using the cheapest poppers?? ;D
Andrew Susani:
We have caught some very big GTs in close but I don't really know what the secret is. Very early morning helps, but we have also caught them mid morning if the boat traffic is not too high, and there is bait and current around. Some of the places I have heard of people catching them are really 'un-fishy' spots most of the time. I guess they have coincided large amounts of bait in close to the rocky headlands, with lobbing big poppers around.
Some days we get them first cast, if it is accurate. Other days it will take a lot of casts into the same area. I think you have to be throwing big lures to tempt these fish. We don't use fancy poppers either but I have noticed that a quality stickbait will tempt a fish if poppers are drawing a blank. Interesting that you love the haymakers so much, none of the people I fish with will use the roostas in any size. They are durable and tough as hell but I have found they tend to slide too easily rather than keel themselves with stability in the water. Plus they are way more prone to tumbling than anything else I have used. Anyway, each to their own!
It would be worth speaking to divers and spearfishermen about what local spots hold big schools of GTs. Recently we have found hot action in locations of no current and only small bait schools, when nearby the current was pumping and there were far more baitfish. We always move around an area if we don't get any interest from the obvious spots.
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