Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) > Tackle & Techniques

Gear for Jewel Reef

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luke galea:
Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I am a mad keen fisho fishing estuaries, rocks, reefs, beaches etc but have never ever been GT popping. I am going on a 5 day trip to Jewel Reef (near Lizard Is) aboard Obssession Charters in October and am after advice on what I need to take.

What would you take out there??

Gear is supplied. Stellas , Saltigas and they like but what lures etc will I need. We will be doing a lot of bottom fishing with plastics and jigs too so I would be purchasing bulk amounts of 7 inch jerk shads and jigheads, 2oz blades, williamson knifie jigs, Lucanus jigs etc plus some R2S poppers or williamson poppers, stickbaits etc.

What would you take lure wise? Also leader wise, how heavy should i go for reef fishing out there and then for popping. Need gloves etc.

Lay it out there fellas I am ready to spend up

luke galea:
No advice?

Andrew Susani:
Luke,

You would probably be better off asking the charter operator directly as to what he recommends in terms of lures and leaders.  Here we use 150lb Jinkai leaders but if you can't hold the fish up from that dash to the reef, good luck stopping them with any grade of leader.  As far as other essential things I would take on a trip...

Lures we mainly have success with are R2S big dumbbell poppers - they pop very well, we have never broken one and the fish seem to love them.  I have heaps of other much more expensive brands on board but the dumbbells are very reliable and don't cost much if you donate one or two to a fish.  We always upgrade the rings on them but the hooks seem fine.  Note that we are using 65lb and 80lb braid with 7-8kg of drag so it is not the same lockup and drag them out pressure that some people fish on say PE10 gear with 100+lb braid.  I find that using more drag or heavier rods is just too hard on us, and we can always clamp a hand on the spool or turn up the drag if you need to apply more pressure during a fight in rough country.

I am by no means an expert but we do fish a lot for them here and have caught plenty!

I bought some Fox motorbike gloves and they work really well.  They are half the price of the cheapest fishing gloves.  I try not to cut costs on rods, reels and terminals but there are plenty of other ways to save money in this sport!  8)  Don't buy cheap heavy split ring pliers, spend the extra $ and get something that lasts longer and works properly when you need it. 

Make sure you know how to tie a good casting knot while you are out of the comfort of your home (I tied 4 FG knots yesterday in the boat after my colleague had 2 casting bustoffs and 2 fish bustoffs).  In a rocking boat, you want to be able to tie them quickly and most importantly, with the same strength as a knot tied in 'comfort'.  Carry a small kit with windproof lighter, awl for unpicking knots and whatever else you might need to help you out either with tying knots or undoing wind knots.  I also have a cool rubber sleeve thing that fits around a rod section which lets you put leverage on the blank to either push it together tightly or pull it apart, without putting pressure on your guides.

Another thing which might be handy is a spare tip guide for your rod.  That is a game breaker if you bust off a tip or damage the inside ceramic ring.  Carry some hot melt glue too and you will be able to do a quick running repair and keep fishing.

luke galea:
Andrew,
Excellent advice. Thank you very much for that
Great Stuff
Luke

Ken Best:
Luke,

Welcome to the GT fishing addiction....

Andrews' words are spot on.
You must learn a good knot and be able to tie it competently, there isn't a worse feeling than losing a good fish due to knot failure.
Black Magic makes good readily available leader. I use 200LB supple and crimp a swivel to the business end, other guys tie Uni knots. Whatever you decide to use, do it well...
Also find out how many people on your trip are interested in this style of fishing. There is no need taking 20 GT lures if no-one else is interested.
As for poppers and stickbaits, you can spend a small furtune if you want. I would start with some of the better, less expensive, offerings available from our forum sponsors, but purchase the expensive ones if you wish to. Be careful...its a drug....

Heru Cubera, Ulua, Wahoo and Bobara, Jai Bighead, and Adhek Venus, PeniPen and Goby are all good lures that won't break the bank. Also read Brandons very good Recomendation for Poppers. It contains a lot of excellent info.

Make sure you purchase quality terminal tackle as most GT lures come without hooks and splitrings. Owner, Decoy and Shout are all good brands.
A good gimball belt, waterproof tackle bag, casting gloves and sun protection are all must haves.

Above all, perservere, learn and have fun!!

Ken

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