GTPopping.com - Giant Trevally, GTPopping, Topwater & GT Fly-Fishing Resource
Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) => Reports & Expeditions => Topic started by: Duncan O'Connell on November 13, 2007, 09:53:28 PM
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For those of you wondering when the fish are going to start getting active in SE QLD this year... that time is now! We organised a jigging/popping trip with a few customers last Friday with Bill Corten on his 625 Cruisecraft. After a fairly rough day out wide in 3m swell catching kings, pearlies and snapper on jigs, they decided to throw a few poppers around pinnacles off Nth Stradbroke Island. Aaron Concord showed everyone how it was done, nailing this big GT off a bait ball in quick time. Matt Vinton was next up but not so lucky, getting comprehensively blown away on 90lb.
Bring on Summer!
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Cool :o. it would be great to head out soon ::) .
i better get pumped up ::)
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Hell yeah - what an awesome G. Congratulations Aaron 8)
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Thanks Fellas!!!
I'd have to say thanks to my Pilates instructor.....Sandy Clark.
My back was awful....4 months of Pilates sorted out the core strength issues!!!
Glad to be back out popping again...they are awesome fish.
Actually, it was great to actually catch one rather than film them....love doing both!!
Cheers
Aaron.
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Aaron - great to have you here! I don't know how you do it filming - it'd drive me mad watching people catch GTs!
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Brandon,
Its about getting across to people less fortunate what the "GT"experience is all about!!
Also, it is pretty cool to get a complete fight scene from the explosion on the surface, the brutal first few minutes(if a bust up hasn't happened!) to seeing the GT landed....my most memorable was filming David Creffield standing on Kenn Reef....he had a bull shark try and take him off the coral while he was getting ready to fire a stick bait up the gutter where the GT's were hanging out...filmed the shark...filmed the GT smashing the stick bait, running up & down the gutter only to have Dave get busted off!!
Truly remarkable place....trying to get a house there!!!!
Cheers
Aaron.
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Welcome Aaron to this fourm
about time you joined up ::)
I,m a bit jeajous about what you caught but congratulation ;)..... p.s. i hope your back is all OK
oh well i am STILL pumping up ;D ;D
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Mick,
It's a tad sore....though worth it!!!!!!!!!!
Bring on another I say !!!!!!
I want a "3 person GT".....they are the 60kg+ models that have toyed with me for years :(
Aaron.
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Yep, its a cracker Aaron- top fish- That is soooo good, and damn well deserved - most people end up on their bum saying
"What was that?" ;D
Love the photo's -well done Gordo's but where is the "eye shot"
8)
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Pete,
The better photos are being held awaiting the highest bidder ::) .... I gotta pay for that camera somehow ;D
That GT was definitely a seasoned campaigner though as we were saying the other day. With his "wall eye" and the big healed scars he'd obviously got to the top of the food chain the hard way.
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Welcome to the forum Aaron & Gordon - great to have you here.
Aaron - what do you estimate the weight of the fish to be?
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Hi
Aaron that is a sweet fish
I live around the aria and i would like to get some gt action like that
Does bill do charters around brisbane?
Cheers ivan
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Luke,
To be truthful we didn't spend much time guessing weight as we were all hyped for Aaron and more interested in getting a few pics and getting the bruiser back in the drink.
Consesus was that it is "at least 40kg" and being the one who got the job of lifting in and releasing the fish I must admit to grunting a little more that I used to slinging a couple of bags of cement ::)
Gordo
PS - sorry to butt in but I figure I could answer the question
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Well Said Lowy!!
YOU DID GRUNT A LOT....even for a man mountain...
I reckon 40+....without a sling set up on board, I'm just going off the several hundred I've seen in the 30-60kg class over the last few years....I think it is conservative...though I'd rather just know it was big & CONSERVE the fish.
It had taken the hard way to reach the top of the food chain....that's for sure :)
Crazy Pete.....You would be a man who has been connected to quite a few local "3 person GT's"....it's gotta be your season mate!!!
Luke, thank you for the warm welcome...I'm glad to be a part of it all!!
Ivan, I am doing an article on the trip with specifics on the charter side of things that Duncan O'Connell and Bill Corten have come up with as we speak actually.
Cheers
Aaron.
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Aaron, Lowy was telling me you were running st66's on that lure , how did they hold up & how much drag did you have dialed up, just interested in how strong those (little )hooks are.
Cheers Chris
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Chris,
Yep, I was running 5/0 ST-66 barbless trebles...the smaller GT Recorder hooks I forgot on the day to fit the popper properly for fishing extreme ogre drag:-[
I had 16kg of drag on the 10000 Stella from the reel. Not over the tip!
I was just lucky they got around jaw bone in the lower jaw.
If one hook gets stuck in the top lip & the other in the bottom, just their gill flaring head shakes and mouth popping can rip the hooks apart!
I was just plain lucky. I realised I hooked a moose and went for it...knowing the only thing I wasn't completley happy with was the hooks!!
Luck that they stood up to that pressure AND THEY DIDN"T BEND AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Luck....plain luck!!!
Bearing in mind, heavier hooks havn't been around in OZ for more than a couple years in any numbers...you use the heaviest you can get....or better yet....singles ;D ;D
Cheers
Aaron.
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Aaron, I'm being a bit technical here but trying to work a formula using a Bouz Drag Checker off the reel, so by having 16kg of drag from the reel how did you measure that, and what do you estimate it over the rod??
I tested it last week for the Mooloolaba Billfish Bash and it worked out at 3kg of drag over the rod with spring scales = 2kg of brag with a Bouz straight pull in front of the reel.
PS: The BB was won by Rob Smith, he was doing a gamefish presentation before Duncan's presentation at the Brizzy Boat Show, practiced what he preached
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you went and bought a Bouz drag checker!
now is that bling or what? ;D
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Bling is catchy ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Greg,
Go the Bling!!!
I scale tested the reel drag via a 20kg Samson Spring scale before heading out that morning in a straight pull and not at a quick pace, come to think of it.
Over the rod, when the fish was lunging in it's final stages it was probably 18-20kg over the rod tip.
When I hooked up, I kept the rod under my left armpit and swung to the right to make sure that there was no slack.
When the GT took off, I still kept it there though pointed the rod slightly skyward to make sure of no slack and to make the fish work hard for the line....I could only surmise that there was 20+kg of drag over the rod.
I have fished enough popping & 37kg stand up gear for blue marlin to know how high I can go.
A Precision Marlin Master 37kg bent butt lifts my heels at around 22kg and I could feel it start on a couple of the power dives....thankfully the coaming stopped me from going in the drink!
No formula when fishing 130 Greg....work out the max you can hold on to and leave it there.
It isn't like scale testing an 8kg stroker for Bills where I fish 2.6kg OVER THE TIP at strike drag while pulling at a reasonable pace.
It's "stop at all costs" setting on those big animals...
I used to feel chuffed when a 20kg GT couldn't take drag....young Olsen stops 30KG fish without a click from the drag setting he uses now....40's and over still pull line. ??? ??? ???
Cheers
Aaron.
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Did some drag testing with Duncan & Lowy a while back , one on rod ,one pulling line & one holding drag tester, noticed drag spiked up to 4kg when line was pulled from either the top or bottom of oscilation stroke on 15kg drag setting off the reel :o (when line angles get accute from opposite end of spool to line roller) We did not do a thorough test but still quite alarming, tests done on Expedition with std washers , do the carbon washers stop the spikes ???
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from my experience, the carbontex is much smoother
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Chris,
Part of the reason why I use 130lb!!! It's to allow for such variance.
Honestly, when pumping up a spin reel to "max" there will always be a variance depending where the line roller is positioned....any reel where line does at least a 90 degree bend is not going to be as flawless as line coming off a revolving drum reel like a leverdrag.
Even where the line comes off the spool can add or subtract drag when line is cranking out fast.
That's where having a flawless drag, great rod that compensates for the surges and a smooooooth fighting technique allow such large fish to be caught on spin tackle....Crikey, we are talking drag settings reserved for Chair Bent Butt 80 or 130 game gear as strike drag...and I have seen the die, so a CASTING outfit with an "egg beater" than can hold itself together with that much pressure IS a fairly recent advance in tackle.....or we would have stonkered 60kg GT's 20 years ago on our Spinfishers!!!
Once either a Saltiga or Stella is screaming out line, it's going that fast YOU DON'T SEE THE FLAWS...usually a bust up from too little drag too late or Moby Dick ate your popper and was going to cream you know matter what!
Aaron.