Vanuatu Trip - Gear Help Please!!!

[Anthony Dimech]

G'day all, 

I'm off to Vanuatu next Friday for a week of GT/Doggy popping and jigging. So pumped!

I am taking the following gear which I hope will cover all the bases:

Medium Pop Tackle (50lb) - Shimano Biomaster 8000SW with Shimano Terez 7'8 Extra Heavy and 50lb TUFLine
Heavy Pop Tackle (80lb) - Shimano Stella 10000SW with Ripple Fisher GT78 Flex and 80lb TUFLine
Heavy Jig Tackle (80lb) - Jigging Master PE5 and 4ft Custom Jig Stick (this thing is ridiculous) with 80lb TUFLine DepthFinder

The charter has 20lb outfits on board for some light tackle fun.

Any advice on whether I'm missing anything key or any must haves? Advice and feedback is much appreciated!!!

I pretty much will take every pictured below from my New Cal trip. This includes a good range of poppers, stickbaits, jigs and some other bits and pieces.



Cheers,

Anth

[Jay Burgess]

Seems like you are pretty well covered. I haven't fished Vanuatu but if it were me going I'd probably consider a PE10 popping outfit as well as a lighter jigging outfit.

[Mark Harris]

How much Tufline 80lb can you get onto a 10000 size spool?  I would be worried about getting spooled I think.

[Jay Burgess]

How much Tufline 80lb can you get onto a 10000 size spool?  I would be worried about getting spooled I think.

Perhaps he has a SOM 16k spool?

If not, I would be concerned about the amount of PE8 you can fit onto a 10k spool.

[Anthony Dimech]

Would you go up to a 20000 Stella boys???

I had figured the 10000 is a better popping reel? Probably wrong, I'm a die hard game fisho, so this is all new to me! 

[Jay Burgess]

If you're talking about the old 10000 stella then yes, this is fine.

With the new SW Stellas you need to upgrade the spool on the 1000SW to comfortably fish PE8 or go up to the 18000SW. 20000 Stella is not ideal for popping due to the slow gear ratio.

[Anthony Dimech]

Lots to think about!

[Brandon Khoo]

For a Vanuatu trip, it looks to me like you're overdone on poppers and underdone on jigs. It does depend on where you are going but to me, it is more a jigging than popping location.

[Anthony Dimech]

For a Vanuatu trip, it looks to me like you're overdone on poppers and underdone on jigs. It does depend on where you are going but to me, it is more a jigging than popping location.

Sorry mate, that pic is from my New Cal trip where we didn't need many jigs. I have stocked up in the 200-300g range for this one!

Trip is to the Maskelyne Islands.

[Peter Childs]

Anthony, I'm taking a PE 8-10 jigging outfit - the heaviest I fish with, those doggies can grow pretty big! 

You mentioned only a JM PE5 rod!  Do you have anything heavier than that?

[Anthony Dimech]

Hi Pete,

It's a little custom rod, so it needs a narrow based reel to go along with it. Can put an absolute sh*tload of pressure on, so am keen to give it a go! Just to clarify, it's a PE5 reel, but the rod is suited for 80lb.

[Anthony Dimech]

I will probably bring a Powerspell 350 or equivalent with a PE7 reel as well...

[Peter Childs]

I will probably bring a Powerspell 350 or equivalent with a PE7 reel as well...

Thats sounds like a good set up, as a couple of others have mentioned the more line, the better!

[Brandon Khoo]

The Maskelyne Islands are a noted spot for doggies. Make sure you have some high speed jigs like Sevensea Hookers

[Peter Childs]

Brandon, thanks for the advice, what weights would you recommend in the Sevenseas?