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Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) => Reports & Expeditions => Topic started by: Mark Harris on February 19, 2011, 10:41:48 PM
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Just back from a day of GT fishing with my friend Dede at the main Bali site of Batu Abah.
As a couple of members at this forum will attest (sorry guys :( ) it has been hard work fishing out there since the excellent run from October 2010 into the early New Year. Today it all seemed right - full moon, swells down below 2 metres, gentle northerlies with waves coming from the southwest and a very convenient high tide time of mid-day. And the day panned out nicely after a slightly disturbing first couple of hours.
First cast of the day and Dede was into a fish, the smallest GT we caught as it turned out and the only one caught on a chugger (Adhek Venus) all day. Several hours of frustration followed with many misses and a couple of major bust offs in true washing machine conditions. This was not made any easier to stomach by the arrival of Adhek's boat and every time I looked across they seemed to be into a fish!
One of the misses deserves a mention- this was the largest GT I have ever seen in Bali. It came at my stickbait 3 times close to the boat and I could only see a VERY large and long back, no head or tail. A fish which could easily have been 50 kg+.
After all that we retired around the corner to gather thoughts, eat and find the energy for another go. Too make the morning even more irritating I had lost my favourite Craftbait GT3.
I was not that hopeful as the raging current had calmed down after high water and notably, Adhek's boat was gone. But perseverance in blistering, sapping temperatures paid off and we landed 5 more GTs including a very feisty black fish which gave me a real workout. All were caught using Adhek Penipen stickbaits, either 140 or 160 gram, with the 140 gram redhead doing most of the damage.
When conditions are like this, GT fishing in Bali is a lot of fun. If only it could be more consistent....
Rods: Carpenter Coral Viper 79/40, Carpenter DJ83MH
Reels: Dogfight and Twinpower 10000 with SOM NL 16000 spool, both loaded with Avani GT Max PE8
Successful lures: Adhek Penipen 140 and 160 gram, Adhek Venus.
Very feisty black GT:
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/Feb192011GT04.jpg)
Nice GTs:
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/Feb192011GT02.jpg)
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/Feb192011GT03.jpg)
Baby GT:
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/Feb192011GT01.jpg)
Loaded-up Coral Viper:
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/LoadedCoralViper.jpg)
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That big blackie is making me drool, I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight now!
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Hi Mark ,
A very good start for the CV79/40RF SHP , congratulation ! I am going to be back in Bali again next week for working weekend around the house . I will be visiting Nuri's again !
Jon .
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Ben, I really hope the fish come out to play when you are here in April.
Jon, it is a cracking stick bait rod I have to say. I fished the CV just about all day with Penipens in 140 and 160 gram. And dinner on me this time :) .
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i can only drool on it for a while now :(
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Nice one Mark, that black fish is awesome. Haven't tried the penipen, will have to rustle one up. Just leaving on a trip now, hopefully have a trip report to go with this one :)
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Great looking fish Mark,
Bali is looking the goods for a trip one day soon.
Pete
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Awesome fish Mark! That place is spectacular and should have a sign on the cliffs "GT Lives Here". Glad to see it didn't stay dry for too long!
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Damm, Looks like I left a few days to early Mark.
Very nice fish.
I managed to get a couple of Penipens before I flew out.
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Great results Mark congratulations, that black fish is a beauty.
Love that CV, stick baits and small faced poppers all day on it, a great endurance GT rod, I use mine with my SP78EXH handle for a little extra distance.
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Thanks guys :D . All very much appreciated.
Thinking about it now, that big fish that came to have a look was so notable. It has convinced me that Batu Abah still has 50kg GTs.
Travis - you should. I keep battling on about this stick but it really is a cracker. And unlike so many favoured stickbaits, you don't need to sell the car to afford them! It sits so nicely you can use it to great effect even in the spin cycle type conditions we experienced yesterday. I mentioned I had a keen eye on Adhek's boat all morning and Adhek himself and both crew members were only throwing this stick and catching a lot of fish. So it is not just me.
Andy - neat idea on the longer butt section for a CV79/40 - thanks for that tip. This rod has gone firmly into my favourite category and sits alongside the GT82LC as a "fish all day" rod. Loads of power down low as well. The largest faced popper I tried it with was a Craftbait GT3 150 and that was OK. Not sure if it will handle bigger than that or not? As an aside I have 3 Lombok/Sumbawa trips lined up between now and early May.
Jarrad and Paul - I hope to fish with you both again one day and that we run into a day like this one rather than the shut down conditions of a couple of weeks ago.
Peter, you would be very welcome at any time.
Garry, next time mate, next time it will happen :D.
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Mark,
excellent news, thanks. Any space on the upcoming Lombok trips ?
cheers Anthony
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Mark,
You just have to love the full moon and it's big tides after a trip like that!
Congrats mate. My CV is in repair at the moment and I feel like an arm is missing :'(
Aaron.
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Mark,
excellent news, thanks. Any space on the upcoming Lombok trips ?
cheers Anthony
I'm heading out with him for three days from the 21st -23rd of April and was looking for one more?
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Yeah Anthony, that trip would be the one for you if you are free. The other two are full. Drop me and Ben a PM if you are interested. 3 days fishing, 2 nights staying onshore in Lombok. A mix of jigging and popping.
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Mark,
You just have to love the full moon and it's big tides after a trip like that!
Congrats mate. My CV is in repair at the moment and I feel like an arm is missing :'(
Aaron.
Thanks Aaron. I just love fishing in those in spin cycle full moon currents :) . The only downside is the boat joining the spin cycle and your lure ending up behind you. I hope the CV was not too sick.
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Good work mate.some nice fish landed as...
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Andy - neat idea on the longer butt section for a CV79/40 - thanks for that tip. This rod has gone firmly into my favourite category and sits alongside the GT82LC as a "fish all day" rod. Loads of power down low as well. The largest faced popper I tried it with was a Craftbait GT3 150 and that was OK. Not sure if it will handle bigger than that or not? As an aside I have 3 Lombok/Sumbawa trips lined up between now and early May.
Mark,
Lucky devil, I wish you good hunting. Working like a dog at the moment, later in the year i am going to free up some time.
Until then...
Andy
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Yep looking forward to those jaunts Andy. Will be fishing Selong Blanak and the other South Lombok spots as well as crossing the Alas to Sumbawa.
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Yep looking forward to those jaunts Andy. Will be fishing Selong Blanak and the other South Lombok spots as well as crossing the Alas to Sumbawa.
Excellent, look forward to fishing vicariously through your reports :-[, I am actually looking over Belongas bay at the moment but deskbound so to speak. :-[ :-[
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Beautiful part of the world to be working in Andy. Belongas is the deep bay to the south of Sekotong Tengah right? If that is right, I have caught GTs off the spikey western headland there!
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Beautiful part of the world to be working in Andy. Belongas is the deep bay to the south of Sekotong Tengah right? If that is right, I have caught GTs off the spikey western headland there!
Mark,
Thats right you and me both, i used to try them off the rocks here but gave up on that, I jump in the local boats occassionally.
Cheers
Andy
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Hi there! Guess what? I was with my friends on that Adhek boat on the 19th Feb. Yeah, we arrived late that morning and we saw a boat at Batu Abah.
Mr Adhek himself was with us and we all started popping at about 930am. The action started at about 1015am and was frantic for the next hour plus. I started the morning with a decent first strike of the day from the boat's bow. It was quite a challenge balancing at the bow and fishing at the same time with the rising swell.
We had about 7 strikes before lunch and landed 5 of them.
Slower action after lunch and so we decided to go jigging for our dinner fish.
The next day, 20th of Feb, we had another run to Batu Abah for GT again. Slow morning with 2 missed strikes. We had early lunch and then it started.... strikes after strikes.... It was right about 1pm. We landed 5 GTs. All tagged and released. It was a decent day. We had fun and we'll be back.
Any places in Indonesia where you would recommend for GTs?
Cheers!!!
Happy fishing.
Just back from a day of GT fishing with my friend Dede at the main Bali site of Batu Abah.
As a couple of members at this forum will attest (sorry guys :( ) it has been hard work fishing out there since the excellent run from October 2010 into the early New Year. Today it all seemed right - full moon, swells down below 2 metres, gentle northerlies with waves coming from the southwest and a very convenient high tide time of mid-day. And the day panned out nicely after a slightly disturbing first couple of hours.
First cast of the day and Dede was into a fish, the smallest GT we caught as it turned out and the only one caught on a chugger (Adhek Venus) all day. Several hours of frustration followed with many misses and a couple of major bust offs in true washing machine conditions. This was not made any easier to stomach by the arrival of Adhek's boat and every time I looked across they seemed to be into a fish!
One of the misses deserves a mention- this was the largest GT I have ever seen in Bali. It came at my stickbait 3 times close to the boat and I could only see a VERY large and long back, no head or tail. A fish which could easily have been 50 kg+.
After all that we retired around the corner to gather thoughts, eat and find the energy for another go. Too make the morning even more irritating I had lost my favourite Craftbait GT3.
I was not that hopeful as the raging current had calmed down after high water and notably, Adhek's boat was gone. But perseverance in blistering, sapping temperatures paid off and we landed 5 more GTs including a very feisty black fish which gave me a real workout. All were caught using Adhek Penipen stickbaits, either 140 or 160 gram, with the 140 gram redhead doing most of the damage.
When conditions are like this, GT fishing in Bali is a lot of fun. If only it could be more consistent....
Rods: Carpenter Coral Viper 79/40, Carpenter DJ83MH
Reels: Dogfight and Twinpower 10000 with SOM NL 16000 spool, both loaded with Avani GT Max PE8
Successful lures: Adhek Penipen 140 and 160 gram, Adhek Venus.
Very feisty black GT:
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/Feb192011GT04.jpg)
Nice GTs:
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/Feb192011GT02.jpg)
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/Feb192011GT03.jpg)
Baby GT:
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/Feb192011GT01.jpg)
Loaded-up Coral Viper:
(http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/markinbali/LoadedCoralViper.jpg)
[/quote]
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Hi there! Guess what? I was with my friends on that Adhek boat on the 19th Feb. Yeah, we arrived late that morning and we saw a boat at Batu Abah.
Mr Adhek himself was with us and we all started popping at about 930am. The action started at about 1015am and was frantic for the next hour plus. I started the morning with a decent first strike of the day from the boat's bow. It was quite a challenge balancing at the bow and fishing at the same time with the rising swell.
We had about 7 strikes before lunch and landed 5 of them.
Slower action after lunch and so we decided to go jigging for our dinner fish.
The next day, 20th of Feb, we had another run to Batu Abah for GT again. Slow morning with 2 missed strikes. We had early lunch and then it started.... strikes after strikes.... It was right about 1pm. We landed 5 GTs. All tagged and released. It was a decent day. We had fun and we'll be back.
Any places in Indonesia where you would recommend for GTs?
Cheers!!!
Happy fishing.
Hi Sur, so it was you on Adhek's boat :) . That was a hectic day. While you guys were catching lots in the morning, we just kept missing. Adhek was also very good at holding the prime spot for his boat - quite right and I would do exactly the same thing. As you will have read, the bite picked up again as the tide started to fall and you guys had left.
From your name, you must be Indonesian? There are many good GT spots throughout the archipelago, but mostly to the east of Java. Bali you know about. Neighbouring Lombok is very good - Adhek goes there a lot himself. Then many more as you go eastwards, and you could probably fish for GT around almost any of the myriad islands all the way to Papua. The best known of these GT fisheries are Komodo, Sumba, Alor and Sumbawa.