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Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) => Reports & Expeditions => Topic started by: Andy Rowe on April 07, 2009, 01:38:11 AM
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Hi All,
We did return as promised, (refer to 'Timor Adventure' post Dec08) we had a proper speed boat this time which allowed us to better investigate the potential of the Islands around Alor in the eastern Nusa Tengara Province of the Indonesian Archipelago. Four Days of perfect conditions and the fish came out to play and put everyone to the test. A good assortment of East-Indo GT's from rat sized to 45 kg were released with more than a handful of lurking bigger fish effortlessly burying tackle in the reef on big drags and PE10 line, next time I'm going to take some PE12 and really lock it up. Other species including Dog Tooth Tuna, Bronze whaler shark, blue fin trevally, red bass and green Job fish were taken on poppers.
Our tackle included, Carpenter WV80XH, SP78EXH, Ripple Fisher GT Flex, Kaibatsu SM and dogfight and SW18K reels. With an assortment of poppers including offerings from Heru, Craft, Hammerhead, FCL Labo, Patriot Design and some other locally made lures.
The company was excellent and everyone had first class trip under very down to earth conditions with our excellent guide Verdi and Captain Bacho, this was a return trip for Brad B. and myself. Our third member was Brad L. who had never fished in this manner or caught a GT. After spending the first day figuring out how to cast and retrieve a popper, his first GT ever opened its very large mouth and sucked down a dumb-bell close to the boat, the fish was huge, luckily it took the lure in deeper water chasing scattered bait. Brad's first ever GT weighed in at very respectable 45 kg 8) ...beginners luck...but then he proceeded to land the next 2 biggest GT's over the following 2 days :o :o
One of the funnier moments, was Brad B taking a strike and calling red bass, a couple of easy pump and retrieves on the wild violence and I see the carpenter begin to develop a very serious bow as the 'bass' puts its fin down and the reel screams in protest as PE10 starts stripping off the spool, the look on Brads face becomes a lot less nonchalant right about now and the fish turns across the bow with both brad and the rod bent over backwards trying to follow the fish under the bowsprit, Brad B ended up landing a very respectable Doggie, at the same spot as I had landed a 30 KG doggie the previous day. The dog tooth I landed the previous day was also a first for me and I was very impressed by the incredible power of the fish.
Enough talk here are some pictures.
More pictures to follow tomorrow morning.
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more pics later
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Not finished yet
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Andy ,
Bravo , from the smiles on everybody's face I think you guys must be having a good time in Alor . Thinking of going there after my return from the ancestors' land .
Jon .
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Hey Andy what do you think of the Kaibatsu Surface Monster????
I have just bought one and yet to use it, Just seeing what you think of them and what lures were you using on it???
Cheers Jarrad
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and more
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Great report Andy.....
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Awesome stuff Andy - can't wait to get there myself! If only work would let up! >:(
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And Finished, Thanks to Verdi for all the great photographic work.
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Good to see some Doggies on poppers. How many did you get and what was the biggest?
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Andy ,
Bravo , from the smiles on everybody's face I think you guys must be having a good time in Alor . Thinking of going there after my return from the ancestors' land .
Jon .
Hi Jon,
Everything went so well, perfect conditions, great scenery, even dolphins, whales and scattered Big YFT launching in the sunset.
Cheers
Andy
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Good to see some Doggies on poppers. How many did you get and what was the biggest?
Just 2 doggies, biggest 30Kg, the first run was awesome, these fish were really turned-on and felt like mini bullet trains.
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Hey Andy what do you think of the Kaibatsu Surface Monster????
I have just bought one and yet to use it, Just seeing what you think of them and what lures were you using on it???
Cheers Jarrad
Hi Jarrad,
The surface monster is fine, Brad L. slayed the 3 biggest fish on it up 45 KG. Brad was using 200gm dumbell's and 150gm chuggers, the latter probably loading the rod better for cast, it gets the lures out far enough and has enough to stop big fish obviously. We did break one on the december trip though, and i keep pushing Brad to load the footage onto Youtube ::).
The only quirk with the rod is the long handle makes it awkward in close when fish is vertical. It may be suited better to a lower slung lap-gimbal but i prefer a higher position. Anyway try it out, it works for the money.
Cheers
Andy
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Great trip there Andy!!!!
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Awesome trip! The conditions and scenery look perfect. That last shot speeding across a milpond ocean with beers after a days fishing - look like two very satisfied campers!
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Hey Andy what do you think of the Kaibatsu Surface Monster????
I have just bought one and yet to use it, Just seeing what you think of them and what lures were you using on it???
Cheers Jarrad
Hi Jarrad,
The surface monster is fine, Brad L. slayed the 3 biggest fish on it up 45 KG. Brad was using 200gm dumbell's and 150gm chuggers, the latter probably loading the rod better for cast, it gets the lures out far enough and has enough to stop big fish obviously. We did break one on the december trip though, and i keep pushing Brad to load the footage onto Youtube ::).
The only quirk with the rod is the long handle makes it awkward in close when fish is vertical. It may be suited better to a lower slung lap-gimbal but i prefer a higher position. Anyway try it out, it works for the money.
Cheers
Andy
Thanks for that Andy and as said great pics of some awsome fish....
Jarrad
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Great trip you got there, Andy.
Congratulations.
You guys are huge, so kind of did injustice to the fishes making them look smaller than they actually were in the photographs. Good variety, good sizes and I believe good quantity as well.
This place make anglers spoilt when it comes to GT popping.
Did you guys try jigging at all?
Ah Gu
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Great trip you got there, Andy.
Congratulations.
You guys are huge, so kind of did injustice to the fishes making them look smaller than they actually were in the photographs. Good variety, good sizes and I believe good quantity as well.
This place make anglers spoilt when it comes to GT popping.
Did you guys try jigging at all?
Ah Gu
Hi Ah Gu,
Haha, I was the lightweight of the group.
Quality and quantity were there, I dropped 1 and got reefed by another that I'm sure were going to be close to 50kg trophies. Very exciting stuff.
I did not bring any jigging gear I was loaded with popping gear only.
Cheers
Andy
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Mate what a great report and some wicked pictures,some pics there the water is a dead set mirror...Great fun wih them dogs on poppers also..
The ripple fisher Flex,what do u think of it for GT fishing ??
Well done again..
Nath
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Mate what a great report and some wicked pictures,some pics there the water is a dead set mirror...Great fun wih them dogs on poppers also..
The ripple fisher Flex,what do u think of it for GT fishing ??
Well done again..
Nath
Nathan,
Yes the water was mirror like between movements, we could see the fish swimming around under the boat while we were waiting for the bite, lit-up wahoo's, sharks and groups of GT, absolutely mint.
The only place I have found a description of the GT Flex is on the nomad site, and i don't completely agree with their comments. I have used it with PE10 and find it works 150gm poppers very well (heru cubera's, craft GT2 and GT3). The fast taper makes it tip light though still stiff enough for these mid-weight poppers with plenty of backbone for 35 kg gt's, I landed the shark on it and put some serious bends on it. It is not as 'come here' as my SP78EXH but a good rod to spell between bigger chugging sessions. To date I am very impressed with it in fact I ordered a custom handle with a longer rear grip for it.
Cheers
Andy