Mentawai Islands,Sumatra?

[Celso Mendonca]

Hi guys.
Mentawais,Sumatra someone already caught it?I need information about GT fishing spots on the islands.
Cheers

[Alex Goh]

It is off the main precinct of Padang.
Earthquake prone area, fishing results can be on both ends, either very good or extremely poor. Boats are ill equipped and infrastructure minimal.
Not many boats understand the language of popping and jigging.
Due to the infrequent minor quakes, fish are often off the bite... which is a pity as the area has very good underwater topography. GTs average 8 to 25 kg. Dogtooths are huge to 70 kgs...
A lot depends on your luck and the conditions upon arrival... best chance is still late March n April.
Beware, its a gamble fishing there...

[Jon Li]

Mentawai is one of the best surfing area in Indonesia and Indies Trader surf charter is operating there , as for GT popping , due to lack of infra structure on fishing boat , not many has found productive spots around the west coast of Sumatra stretching some 1000 km of islands .

However obviously the crews of Indies Trader charter boat have found some good spots but as they are not into fishing , they just dont bother to advertise the potentials , check this thread : http://www.gtpopping.com/forum/index.php?topic=5155.0

Surf Charter boats are expensive to operate and most are beyond the affordability of sportfishermen hence the areas have not been much explored , GT fishing wise .

Jon .

[Mark Harris]

My understanding is pretty much the same as Jon's. All logic says the Mentawais and other myriad islands off western Sumatra should be very good for GT fishing.  It is certainly a poorly known and little fished region.

[Mike Osborn]

The price of surf charter boats is not all that different to some of the specialty GT popping charters all over the world. I have friends who have been visiting the Mentawai's both by land ( www.wavepark.com) and sea for a long time and they have experienced some sensational fishing often during poor surf periods(rare). A lot of the more established operators will have a good idea where bait fish and the apex predator's can be found.

[Celso Mendonca]

Hi guys,thanks for all infos.
I've been there a few times(surftrips) but at that time did not knew popper/jigging style.My last trip was 5 years ago,we basically captured small tunas and wahoos using trolling.All boats have trolling equipments but I believe most crews  don't know the best GT's spots.
I will check but don't know if Indies Trader is operating now,some boats were banned by the indonesian government.
Other information about boats,staff or spots?

[Celso Mendonca]

It is off the main precinct of Padang.
Earthquake prone area, fishing results can be on both ends, either very good or extremely poor. Boats are ill equipped and infrastructure minimal.
Not many boats understand the language of popping and jigging.
Due to the infrequent minor quakes, fish are often off the bite... which is a pity as the area has very good underwater topography. GTs average 8 to 25 kg. Dogtooths are huge to 70 kgs...
A lot depends on your luck and the conditions upon arrival... best chance is still late March n April.
Beware, its a gamble fishing there...

Hi Alex.
Have you been there?Tell me about your experience and huge dogtooths.....

[Jon Li]

Hi guys,thanks for all infos.
I've been there a few times(surftrips) but at that time did not knew popper/jigging style.My last trip was 5 years ago,we basically captured small tunas and wahoos using trolling.All boats have trolling equipments but I believe most crews  don't know the best GT's spots.
I will check but don't know if Indies Trader is operating now,some boats were banned by the indonesian government.
Other information about boats,staff or spots?

Hi Celso ,

Indies Trader is operating there right now , there are other foreign flagged boats that were banned by the government due to operating license infringements . One Jorge Sulzer contacted me from Indies Trader aonly last week , I believe this is the guy who is holding the tail of the GT in the thread " Somewhere in Indo " .

Jon .

[Andre van Wyk]

Hi Celso ,

Indies Trader is operating there right now , there are other foreign flagged boats that were banned by the government due to operating license infringements . One Jorge Sulzer contacted me from Indies Trader aonly last week , I believe this is the guy who is holding the tail of the GT in the thread " Somewhere in Indo " .

Jon .

Hi Jon,

Yip thats my buddy Groj ( Jorg ) in the pics in that " Somewhere in Indo" thread.... spoke to him yesterday, he managed to barrel Roll their tinny/tender in the surf as he got caught inside picking a client up, and was surrounded by the rest of the surfers, so couldn't run out of the danger zone.... 
All safe and sound in the end, the kind of mad adventures Jorg is always getting into, and out of...

They've had some pretty epic fishing over recent weeks, and Jorg is on the Indies 4 I believe, the skipper Joel is a mad keen popping fisho....

[Dustin Foo]

It's an interesting area.  I'd be interested in joining a trip there if it could be put together.