GTPopping.com - Giant Trevally, GTPopping, Topwater & GT Fly-Fishing Resource
General => General Topwater & Jigging Discussion => Topic started by: Mark Harris on March 14, 2011, 03:03:48 PM
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There must be a wealth of these amongst the membership here :) .
So, please post details of the most unlikely fish you have caught when popping for GTs. Photos would be nice of course.
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well i will let you know when i get back from fiji about any strange captures mark
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Foul hooked a milkfish once, didn't boat it though.
Besides that, nothing out of the ordinary really comes to mind.
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A mate seriously struggled with getting a GT interested to start with and his first two fish using big GT poppers were Mac Tuna?
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I have heard a rumour somewhere about a garfish being caught.....?
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I had a thread along these lines once before about 'Popping By catch'....
Probably the Triggerfish I got in Fiji was my most 'out of the ordinary'...??
Pete
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I have heard a rumour somewhere about a garfish being caught.....?
Like this? We call them long toms, not really strange as we have got a few before.
(http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j84/mcjoyce/P7230235_2.jpg)
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I have heard a rumour somewhere about a garfish being caught.....?
Like this? We call them long toms, not really strange as we have got a few before.
(http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j84/mcjoyce/P7230235_2.jpg)
And a few of them have got you before ;D ;D ;)
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A mate seriously struggled with getting a GT interested to start with and his first two fish using big GT poppers were Mac Tuna?
Yep, I have had Mac Tuna on Poppers and stickbaits as long as themselves. Aggressive things.
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I had a thread along these lines once before about 'Popping By catch'....
Probably the Triggerfish I got in Fiji was my most 'out of the ordinary'...??
Pete
Sorry Pete, did not intend to duplicate an existing thread.
Triggerfish is an excellent one! They are of course notably aggressive (ask any diver) and I would not mind betting yours came and gave the popper a good bunt to get it out of the way. Do you know what species of Triggerfish it was?
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Sorry Mark....I didnt mean it to sound like I was complaining about the topic coming up again.
I like threads like this.....chance to discuss what we all love doing.
and see pics.... ;D... I will dig up the triggerfish pic shortly...
Pete
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Here are two offerings from me.
A Sleek Unicornfish "caught" by a friend on a Cubera 150 (!) as I stood and watched. This poor thing is of course a plankton feeder and I can only assume its curiosity got the better of it. The ST76 5/0 went straight through the side of its tiny mouth. That had to be an accident! I must say that watching how it pulled, these would be popular small game fish if they were targetable. Released and it happily swam away.
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/SleekUnicornfish8in.jpg)
The other one is a jigged fish (OK, I know as I said popping but this was such a gorgeous looking thing). A little Red and Green Wrasse which attacked a long 400 gram jig. Sadly this one did not survive piercing by a massive SJ41 13/0 - in my defence I was fishing for Dogtooth!.
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/RedandGreenWrasse8in.jpg)
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Mark,
No pic available cos the fish wasnt landed, but the best "almost bycatch" i saw on my last trip to the Maldives was a substantial sailfish (40kgs plus) - that hit a Yozuri bull GT the skipper had lobbed out, in about 10m of water. It was a classic shallow bommie laden fore reef in front of surf, not where i would normally expect sails to be lurking. Surprised the "carp" out of us when a long nosed GT launched itself skywards after smashing the popper.
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That's a true quality "bycatch" Al and very well done. And certainly unlikely in such shallow water. Would have been quite some shock I am sure.
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There must be a wealth of these amongst the membership here :) .
So, please post details of the most unlikely fish you have caught when popping for GTs. Photos would be nice of course.
Goodaye In the Early Nineties I was deckie on a popper fishing charter out of Cairns fishing and we were fishing the gap between the two sections of Opal Reef and were monstered by a Mauri Wrasse around 35kg. It was unreal behind the popper bow wave and everything
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Jean-Marc,
Are you related to Marcel Maujean of CCC??
On the unusal front, I had a bunch of Collared Sea Bream smack the heck out of 100gm sized poppers at Arlington Reef one day.......terrible hook-up rate on the things!
Here are a couple mammals taken by the lure of the lure out at Marion Reef 2006.
(http://s1.postimage.org/2cgr04jic/IMG_3932.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/2cgr04jic/)
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I was popping fishing for juveile g's that were busting up over a little sand drop off. Managed to land a 6lb flathead that come up from 4m to slam my little popper. Thought that was pretty unusual for a bottomr dwelling species
:D
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I recently had a big black spot tusk fish have a go at a cubera. It was around 8 - 10 kg and would have been awesome fight on the stella.
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I recently had a big black spot tusk fish have a go at a cubera. It was around 8 - 10 kg and would have been awesome fight on the stella.
That would have been a sweeeet catch ;D
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The tuskys are thick up my way and often live in the same spots as the smaller 10 -15kg GTs. You can't miss them as they are so electric blue. I get several on soft plastic but keen for one on popper or stick bait
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What's a tusky?
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What's a tusky?
Mark, we call them blue bone or bluey's they come in a fair few variety's and their main diet is crustations etc.
Oh and delish! ;D
They would be a spectacular catch on a popper, they are hard enough to get a hook into to start with!
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=tusk+fish&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=dlf&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=zbOaTeObEsr4ce-G6NkF&ved=0CEcQsAQ&biw=1020&bih=595 (http://www.google.com.au/search?q=tusk+fish&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=dlf&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=zbOaTeObEsr4ce-G6NkF&ved=0CEcQsAQ&biw=1020&bih=595)
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Ah Parrotfish of various species it seems! Thanks very much Warwick.
Catching one of those on a light popping set up would indeed be a lot of fun. I have had a couple on inchiku jigs.
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Ah Parrotfish
Thats the other name, it had escaped me earlier. ;)
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This sweet lips!!!bite a black seafrog in kilwa
(http://s2.postimage.org/zbixm4pw/kilwa20.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/zbixm4pw/)
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Hi Guys, This is not so strange but I had to boat this wee Grey Reef shark to get my lure back!!!
Nick
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Ah Parrotfish
Thats the other name, it had escaped me earlier. ;)
However parrotfish have beak-like teeth whereas tusk fish are named for their tusk-like canine teeth. In this part of the world tusk fish are much more prized than parrotfish.
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It seems from the link that the term "Tusky" is used colloquially in Australia for both Parrotfish and Tuskfish?
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It seems from the link that the term "Tusky" is used colloquially in Australia for both Parrotfish and Tuskfish?
Perhaps on the east coast I'm not sure Mark but over here on the west it's usually bluebone or bluies for tuskfish and parrotfish for parrotfish. We don't really use the term tusky. Personally I think it would be incorrect to refer to a parrotfish as a tusky?
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Yep, I would agree it is confusing Jay. Common or colloquial names for fish so often are!
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I believe that 'tuskfish' have 2 clearly visible pig-like front teeth on each jaw, whereas true 'parrot fish' have fused teeth that form a beak-like structure , hence the name parrot fish. I was under the impression both parrotfish and tuskfish are members of the wider "wrasse" family.
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see the difference here.....
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All correct Angus and they are of course different fish groups under the Wrasse family (Labridae).
Reading around though, the Australian colloquial term "Tusky" does seem to be applied to Parrotfish as well. Many recreational anglers put little store in accurate fish ID :)
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Hi Guys, This is not so strange but I had to boat this wee Grey Reef shark to get my lure back!!!
Nick
Weather looks mint there Nick. Unfortunately Sharks are a far too common by catch when popping for GT's over here.
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Hi Guys, This is not so strange but I had to boat this wee Grey Reef shark to get my lure back!!!
Nick
I've seen a reef shark / whaler? 2 x 1/2 times that size pulled onboard to retrieve a lure (Cubera 150 from memory), long time ago now.. Went ballistic and not so easy to calm down.
Not my idea of sensible risk management.
Cheers David
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be hell of an achievement to catch a tuskfish or a parrot fish on a GT lure ;D
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You could try your Garfish techniques on those Brandon :) .
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It can only work if I can attract them right up to the surface first. If I could, I reckon I'd be a good chance with the garfish technique ;D
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It can only work if I can attract them right up to the surface first. If I could, I reckon I'd be a good chance with the garfish technique ;D
This technique can be quite effective on Milkfish :P
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O.K. Brandon & Jay..........I'll bite....I know this is something that obviously the "technique" is something you both of you know....If you don't mind me asking .what is this techingue?
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Lee, this might give you a clue.
The 'Beat like a Dog' system, for Gar and Grouper (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXGsPBiQelc#ws)
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That is just too funy...Thanks Mark.....I'm still laughing...
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Here is an interesting fish caught on charter with Nomad at Blight Reef- I think it is called a Maurie Sea Perch but maybe the other forum members can let us know if this is its correct name
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Rod, looks like a Maori Sea Perch to me. I have seen one of these caught on popper in Eastern Indonesia as well. Structurally rather like a Red Bass. Nice one!
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Well it was jigging but just too good not to post.
There was about 60 years fishing experience on the boat when this thing was raised on a 400 gram jig off Batu Sebatu in Bali, and nobody had ever caught a snake before! After a lot of expert work with 2 gaffs (keeping the critter at a distance), it was released and swam away seemingly OK.
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/Surprise-1.jpg)
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(http://s3.postimage.org/1exa8pa4k/IMG_1335_1.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/1exa8pa4k/)
(http://s3.postimage.org/1exbw8mmc/Picture_117_1.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/1exbw8mmc/)
(http://s3.postimage.org/1exiie0lg/Picture_119.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/1exiie0lg/)
Probably not an unusual catch on a popper,but how big does the Napolean Wrasse grow & is the small fish in the last two pictures a juvenile of the same species?Both were caught in New Caledonia,big fish from outside the reef & small fish inside the lagoon.Thanks.
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Hi Michael
I caught a Napoleon in the Andamans and was told that they are born as females and only the biggest fish in a population will be a male and colour would turn to green, so when a male dies or swims away the biggest remaining female turn gender. Not sure if it is wright or i was told a story.
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Thanks Michael they are a very beautiful & intresting fish indeed.
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Amazing fish i have never caught one but have seen one caught. There mouth is so big they just inhale the lure