Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) > Tackle & Techniques
first time oman popping trip
Brandon Khoo:
Stanley, one of the first principles of GT fishing is to fish with what you can handle. Approach with caution broad and sweeping statements of advice like you must fish with locked drags. The English language meaning of the word is "to fix in place so movement is impossible". No GT reel is the market is capable of a locked drag per se. If people are telling you they fish for GTs with reels that have locked drags and that they stop monster fish dead in their tracks with the fish not even pulling an inch of line, that is the stuff of fantasies.
If however people are telling you that you need to fish with heavy drags due to the terrain, then this makes sense. Can I say, there is nothing unique or new about Oman in this regard. Since the sport of heavy popping started, anglers have fished brutally tough locations which are shallow and covered in reef. Extracting fish from such locations takes far more than strong drags. It needs a large measure of luck.
There are few things worse (or more dangerous) in this sport than for an angler to fish a level of drag they cannot handle. The result of this against a very big fish will be either the loss of gear or an injury and a potentially nasty one.
I have no idea how much GT fishing you have done but please be careful about going out and buying a PE10 outfit and screwing the drag to sunset because someone suggested you fish locked drags. That is going to end in tears unless you have the capabilities to fish PE10 to its breaking point.
There is no doubt that it is advantageous to be able to handle heavy drag when fishing such locations but there is a world of difference between a heavy drag and a locked drag.
Stanley Yow:
Hi, Brandon thank you for the tips,I have read almost all your post in gtpopping and i do learn and understands alot and of cource i still have alot more to learn and ones again thank you very much.
Me, love fishing, so i wanted to fish further and try something new(popping/stick bait), after doing some reseach and reading from you and others,I then start to purchase gears and started my first popping trip at Aceh indonesia.
Oman is my second popping trip, my friend just came back from Oman recently, he told me need to fish with minimum PE 10 and very heavy or may be locked drags due to the terrain and he lost afew big GT due to line snapping cause he was using PE8 at that time.
May be i should use pe8 with slighly heavy drag to try out first before i injured myself but i will bring along the pe10 setup just incase and a yes to me CATCH AND RELEASE.
Thanks Brandon
Wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Stanley
Brandon Khoo:
No worries. The point I am trying to make is simply for people to be cautious about drags set at sunset when fishing heavy braid for GTs. Experienced GT anglers know what you have to do to brace yourself for the impact of such drag settings. If not, the impact can be pretty brutal and you can get an injury quite easily. It doesn't hurt to have a PE10 outfit but just make sure your drag level is manageable.
There are subtleties involved in every form of fishing. As I learnt last week, fishing successfully for snakeheads requires quick reactions, pinpoint casting and great lure presentation. A a novice, I couldn't do any of it properly! :'(
Stanley Yow:
Thanks Brandon, i will be extra careful. As for snakeheads i and my friends like to used YO-ZURI surface cruiser and Rubber Mouse and do have very good result, hope this will help a little.
Happy Fishing
stanley
Jay Burgess:
--- Quote from: Brandon Khoo on December 08, 2012, 10:34:43 PM ---No GT reel is the market is capable of a locked drag per se. If people are telling you they fish for GTs with reels that have locked drags and that they stop monster fish dead in their tracks with the fish not even pulling an inch of line, that is the stuff of fantasies.
--- End quote ---
I think in most cases the term 'locked drag' is used as a figure of speach meaning that the drag knob is wound down as far as it can physically go. On an SW18000 this still allows line to be pulled from the reel, albeit under very heavy pressure. For an experienced angler it is quite acceptable to fish this way in certain circumstances but I can say that a BIG GT will still pull line ridiculously easy at times with this drag setting. I have seen cases where Dogfights have had the drag knob similarly wound down and upon strike of a fish the start up inertia (any one who has fished with me will know my disgust of Saltiga drags ;D ) caused the spool to physically 'lock' and cause the line to explode on the spool ??? ;D
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