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Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) => Reports & Expeditions => Topic started by: Scott Maybury on January 21, 2010, 04:56:20 PM
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Well I just typed a report and added all my photos and lost it for some reason so here is the abridged version :)
Mates Tim Dave and I fished with Adrian Watt and his awesome deckie Joe out of Matava Resort on the above dates. We had such good weather we fished all 6 days we were there instead of the planned 5.
GT action was consistent to hot. We landed 55 GT to 40kg odd in 6 days, but a big chunk of one day was dedicated to jigging at the sea mount, and we spent part of most days during the low tide jigging the reef edges. We also prob saw and either missed or dropped as many fish again as we landed so the action was good.
Most fish were in the 10-25kg range but I got one that would have nudged 40kg which I was stoked with, Dave got one that would have been just over 40kg and Tim got one in the mid 30's, so we were all really happy. We also lost a couple of good ones
The day we jigged at the sea mount was crazy. We got a few 3-5kg doggies on arrival, plus a reasonabel amberjack. Then Tim got a nicer doggie, then I got one about 25kg. After that all hell broke loose when Tim and I both connected to good fish, his around 45kg mine later weighed at 63kg (I weigh 66kg!). We spent 15 minutes trying to revive mine to no avail, but it did not go to waste with plenty of happy resort guests and local villagers. Whilst that was happening David had hooked up to a 25kg Wahoo which snapped his jig in half, mental stuff.
Next drop Tim and I again hooked up with me landing a solid 25-30kg fish. Tim's went mental and later was weighed at 64kg. Again, it was bleeding badly and obviously suffering from barotrauma. It didn't release.
Given the hot bite, we then made the tough but we thought right decision to go throw poppers as we didn't want to kill any more big doggies and they clearly were not releasing well.
GT highlight for me, apart from my biggest fish, was Dave's. He had a decent red bass on and we saw a GT following it, and Tim was about to put in a cast behind it when the GT just destroyed the whole patch of water where the bass had been, and Dave was on tight to a big GT. He landed it but Tim and I spent the first few minutes of the fight in fits of laughter as it was so awesome, and Dave's shock and pain, on Day 6, were quite funny to us....
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Here are some pics
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More pics
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Couldn't recommend fishing out of Matava with Adrian and Joe enough. Our expectations were exceeded at every turn, which is a rarity on any type of holiday, let alone a fishing one where so much is dependant on external factors out of the control of anyone.
Technical info -
Rods used - Hots Gipang 75 and 79, OR Widowmaker, Ripple Fisher 78XH and 79R, Hots Wei World, Smith AMJ 52EX, Smith JTK 70SJ and 74PG
Lures - a variety of medium to large sized poppers worked well. My picks for the week in order would have been the Craftbait GT3 Ultra Bigmouth, Full Scale Kong 200, Fisherman s-pop HP tail 160.
Hammerhead C, E and G cups, Cubera 150's and Ebipop 140's also produced well.
Jigs that worked best were the Daiwa Speed Jigs, 300gm and Shimano Butterfly jigs
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WOW!!!!!
What an incredible trip Maybs, insane man!!! The fish, the weather, the pics, the write up!!! 10/10 all round bro, looks like an absolute dream trip!
Well done, and big thanks for sharing, I'm now gonna wipe the drool off my keyboard so I can get back to work!!!
Surperb!
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awesome Scott what a great trip.
good to see you got great weather and some good fish caught to.
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Outstanding report and great photos. Adrian put you onto some really nice fish.
Cheers
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Great report!
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Thanks guys, here is a couple short videos of doggie action. Video was not on for the hook up and first runs which are the best parts, but hopefully you can pick up some of the atmosphere of excitement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJdCMWbLtzc#noexternalembed (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJdCMWbLtzc#noexternalembed)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-xC0cynZds#noexternalembed (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-xC0cynZds#noexternalembed)
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a tremendous report!!
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Wicked trip report guys. It's good to have a beer with George back at the bar at the end of the day. Adrian might have to put the whole of next Janurary aside for GT Popping forum members???
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Awesome report Scott.
There's 4 of us headed to Matava on the 12th of Feb... hopefully we do as good as you guys did!
Fantastic GT's and some cracker Doggies!
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Well done Scott, what a fantastic trip. How about another trip next January?
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Quality pics mate, and a great report ;D
I think that Kong deserves retirement ;)
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wow look like you guy had fun over there didn,t you ya ..
thank,s for sharing with us .. ;)
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Great report bro, bout time you got lucky with a cracker of a trip with everything
going right, it must have been that warm up trip up north here after x mas ;D
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Top Stuff,
Fantastic trip by the look.....Got me keen for Fiji in March..!!! 8) 8)
Pete
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Great report and fantastic pics Scott. The water looks amazing. Congrats.
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Quality pics mate, and a great report ;D
I think that Kong deserves retirement ;)
Haha, hey Chris, Dave tells me that Kong has gone straight to the pool room. He got like 12 fish on it this trip, including his big one, wicked stuff. I had a 180 in the orange and white stripe that was doing well too until a GT took it home as a toothpick
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Great report bro, bout time you got lucky with a cracker of a trip with everything
going right, it must have been that warm up trip up north here after x mas ;D
No doubt mate, will have to do a few warm ups before every trip if this is the result, I have a trip to Bugatti later this year so make sure you free up some time for some tutorials before then!
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Brilliant report guys and congratulations on a great trip.
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Great Report Scott. Looks like you had a ball. The conditions look much calmer than when we were there. I have booked in for next year from the 3-10th Jan and am excited about it already. Got a couple of mates going and i think my old man is gonna come and get into it also. It's all i can think about - can't wait!
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Great Report Scott. Looks like you had a ball. The conditions look much calmer than when we were there. I have booked in for next year from the 3-10th Jan and am excited about it already. Got a couple of mates going and i think my old man is gonna come and get into it also. It's all i can think about - can't wait!
Hey Sam, we had a cracking time, already planning a return next year, sounds like we need to book early! We were really blessed with great conditions, one day was a bit windy and casting from the front not advisable, the other days I nearly exclusively fished poppers from up front and felt comfortable, and I am a bit of a clutz, so that shows you what it was like. The day we arrived was actually quite windy, and the guests were all telling us it had been like that for weeks, but we knew it was expected to die off due to the long range weather forecast and it did right on cue. Amazing luck, though I was due for some good weather on a big trip.
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Hey Sam, we had a cracking time, already planning a return next year, sounds like we need to book early! We were really blessed with great conditions, one day was a bit windy and casting from the front not advisable, the other days I nearly exclusively fished poppers from up front and felt comfortable, and I am a bit of a clutz, so that shows you what it was like. The day we arrived was actually quite windy, and the guests were all telling us it had been like that for weeks, but we knew it was expected to die off due to the long range weather forecast and it did right on cue. Amazing luck, though I was due for some good weather on a big trip.
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Hey Scott,
There is a spare seat at the moment for next year (and possibly 2) if you or anyone else is interested. We are going as a party of 6 from the 3rd - 10th Jan. Anyone interested send me a message!
Cheers Sam
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Awesome stuff, congrats on the great catches guys.... shortlisted for planning, soon. Cheers!:D
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hi Scott.
just a question if it is ok,
your Ripple Fisher 78XH, how did that go and cast and peform?
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Hey Sam,
I like the rod. I only got to use it for one day as I slipped down a stair leaving the bure on day 2 and damaged the top guide. It casts pretty well for a heavy stick, better than I expected. It was tough fighting the 40kg fish on it though on pretty high drag, think I need to put on a little weight to really get the most out of it.
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Off to Kadavu tomorrow. Hopefully have some nice pics up on the forum in a few days.
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Off to Kadavu tomorrow. Hopefully have some nice pics up on the forum in a few days.
I would say good luck dude but i don't think you need it!
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Scott,
Great trip report and some great fish caught!! I would be fulfilled to catch fish like that, got me thinking about the next fishing destination...
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Congratulations Scott on a great trip. It looks like all of the variable elements came right on this trip for you. great Doggies btw.
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Had an excellent day trip with some 20 GTs hooked and landed.
Unfortunately 2 mishaps occurred.
The camera was left behind and the biggest fish of 45kg hit the prop in its bid to get away and was not fit to be released. Same thing happened on a 30 odd kilo fish earlier in the week on a another boat.
The others were estimated at around 15kg to 30kg and 3 busted us off.
The jigging was very good for trout and various cods as well as thumper sized green jobfish. Got busted off on my very first drop of the morning so that was an indicator. Lost another couple of jigs to unknowns.
Learned that a Kaibutsu Long Cast can handle 100lb GT without too many problems.
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Not to long now Sachin.....Just pray to the weather gods for us. 8)
Pete
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Wow great fishing report and some great fish caught,nice doggies mate.. ;)
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well done guys!
congratulation :)
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Great report and great pictures, mindblowing stuff.
Cheers
stan
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I love a good fishing trip report!
Well done Dave and all.
Hope I get a chance top fish with you sometime soon.
regards,
Josh
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Hi Scott awesome trip bud. I fishied with Adrian and Joe last year and had such a good time (due to fishing and crew at Matava) that we are heading back in April this year.
Just wondering if you have any advice for the jigging side of things in way of jig sizes colours ect.
Also wondering if you have any advice for a jigging rod for saltiga 6500 80lb fins for these doggies
Thanks bud
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Hey Jay, yeah we have just booked back in for Jan next year as well, hope you guys get some good weather in April
Jig sizes, we found around the reef's edge where you are mainly jigging 60-100m, 200-300gm jigs were good, in any array of lengths (I mainly stuck with medium length jigs, but the guys were using some shorter ones like sea rocks too and they worked well around the reef). I prefer 250+ even for that depth because they get down quicker so there seems to be less tangles when fishing multiple anglers as less drift of your jig
For the sea mount, 300gm+ jigs are the go....we got all the doggies on approx 300gm medium length jigs, I know mine was a 300gm Daiwa speed jig, Tim's was a Shimano Butterfly, I think around 300gm too, both were blue also....I used a 400gm jig for a while but with the conditions we had it was unnecessary, you might want to pack one just in case though Adrian has a few in that weight range too
My suggestion would be pack a few 200-250gm and a few 300-320gm jigs....we didn't lose many either, maybe 7 or 8 betwen 3 of us for the week lost mainly to toothy critters so no need to go overboard on numbers given the weight restrictions etc
Rods....you can find a million posts on here debating that question haha....as I said earlier, I used my Hots Wei World 52XH and Tim used his Smith AMJ 52EX, both rods did the job admirably, the 52EX was a bit easier lifting the fish in the last stage of the fight, I did have to work pretty hard at that stage really pump the fish using hte butt of the ord and very short strokes a the Hots isn't as stiff, but it wa sa very comfortable rod for the fight for a small guy like me and the fish came on board so....Rods I can think of would include those two, the JM Powerspell range, probably the 300 or 350...gosh, there are heaps more actually....I think the main factors that would influence my actual recommendations would be how big/strong you are, and what if anything you are going to use the rod for apart from catching doggies....if you are going to use it for lighter work too you may want to go towards the lighter end of rods that are up to the task, such as the Hots, rather than go get say a heavy Carpenter
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Oh and apart from the blue jigs we had good success on gold, pinks and natural white/silver
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Thanks heaps bud for the advice I will hopefully have good trip report to post in 6 weeks time