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Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) => Reports & Expeditions => Topic started by: Brandon Khoo on April 23, 2008, 09:05:22 AM
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Guys, I haven't go time to write a detailed report for a little while so I though I'd provide some highlights and the photos and get around to the more detailed report at a later time.
In a nutshell, we did not exactly have great weather - it was wind, wind, wind and boy, did it blow at times. It was gusting from 20 knots and upwards and in my view, at times up to 40. That made for uncomfortable fishing and we moved further north to find better anchorage. That was a shame because in my view, the fishing south was better. The wind and rough conditions made it very difficult to find the points and we also struggled to find fusiliers. Last year, finding the fusiliers meant finding the fish.
All of that said, we still had some great fishing and some really nice fish were landed. I also saw some real stonkers during the week and with an ounce of luck, could have been attached to a couple of seriously big fish. Andrew Woodley-Page fought an absolute monster for some fifteen minutes after Damon had somehow managed to pull a rabbit out of ahat by getting the fish away from its cover and into deep water. Unfortunately, the hook pulled on Andrew when the fish was about ten metres under the boat. I saw the strike clearly and that fish would have been upwards of 60kgs.
Gerard Edwards, Hal Harvey and Brent Hughes all landed big fish in he 45kg and upwards category. Gerard actually got two and was wondering what the fuss was all about with GT fishing.
Martin Excel managed to land 13 fish on the first full day and followed it up with a duck on the next! Top bloke - he took it all in with great humour
Captain Ed Lester managed to earn the title of "Captain Crunch" by driving onto a reef. Andrew Woodley-Page saw the reef coming but did not say a word as he was sure Ed would veer away
Che Carson, David Hovinden and myself have earned a most uncomplimentary team title which will remain unsaid (what goes on tou stays on tour) for landing two fish in a day - after raising some 30-40. We raised the most fish of any boat and landed the least. We decided to blame the captain - as you do.
Overall, a great trip was had by all, notwithstanding the conditions.
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Despite the poor weather, looks like you guys still managed some very good fish.
Were some of the gts tagged?
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it was our intention to tag all the GTs but some of the dories forgot!
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A very windy week at Bugatti easy beats a week at work, I kept track of the weather there for the week and there were gusts to Brandons East and West +40 knots and 30-40 knot blows around Bugatti ::).
I like the Yellow Ebipop of Malcolm's, the full report should be interesting with the new poppers and the Coral Vipers ;D
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Awesome Brandon,
Shame about the wind, that said - Some top Gts their and a few other species mixed in- it is all good. Looks like another successful Nomad Adventure ah......
Thats funny about Captain Crunch - Ed will have to live with that for a while, he must have been a little bit tired, a little bit emotional.
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Hey Brandon,
Great 'mini' report and top photo's aswell. What was the feedback on not using treble hooks? By the look of the photos a lot of this fish are well hooked and cleanly also.
It does look really very windy in some of those shots.
Well done to everyone, despite the conditions. Can't wait to read more when you get the time.
Cheers Dave :)
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I don't think I've ever been on a trip where I have seen so many fish dropped and believe me, I've been on a few! I just can't understand it. I had a few drop off after I had really driven the hooks home. Everyone else had the same problem and it happened all through the previous week as well.
Nothing to do with the hooks, I think.
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Great results by the look of that. Shame about the capture rate. I've tried single hooks a couple of times but find trebles stick better (for me anyway). There's arguments for each method I reckon.
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Good report, nice catch, can consider wonderful trip as numbers of GT caught was a succesfull rate 8). I wonder if any of the poppers were made locally? I have Bill's Bug popper australian made which I would give a try in my next trip ::)
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Some awesome fish still landed Brandon.
Well done.
Pete
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Brandon, those are some AWESOME fish dude.
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Nice pictures Brandon. Looking forward to hearing what you have to say about the CVs.
The GT that Hal is holding up looks big. Very big. Past 55kg I dare say ???
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Brandon,
Nice fish! What were the Chinamans caught on?
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Interesting comments about the number of fish dropped!!
From the photo's it looks like alot of people using SJ-51's ?? or 41's??
I have just purchased a bunch of SJ-51 no. 9/0 and 11/0 in order to practice for an upcoming nomad trip. Hooks look very sturdy but it appears quite a bit of work may be required to get a good hook set in some instances!!!
A Balinese GT fisherman recommended putting a little grinder work on the points of the SJ-51 as he said he had issues with hook sets and this mod was working for him!!
I had this in mind, I'm more convinced now after having a good look at the hook. It seems I can easily draw blood from my fingers with the owner, gakamatsu and decoy trebles fumbling in my tackle box, less so with the SJ or Jobu!!
I also note a treble used in one photo, what is the official nomad line on this?
Nice pics, beautiful fish.
Cheers
Andy
I don't think I've ever been on a trip where I have seen so many fish dropped and believe me, I've been on a few! I just can't understand it. I had a few drop off after I had really driven the hooks home. Everyone else had the same problem and it happened all through the previous week as well.
Nothing to do with the hooks, I think.
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I wouldn't bother with the 9/0s as they too small. Also, the SJ51s are hard to make Bakers with due to the size of the eye.
You'll probably have to go down to a size 10 Owner split ring for this.
Most of the guys were using SJ41s for Bakers and also running them as a single.
The SJ51s and Jobus have the cutting point. It's an excellent point and slides it really easily. I'm not sure how you want to grind them but I'd be careful how I did it so as not to compromise the cutting edge.
The treble and SJ51s are probably mine. I don't think too many others were using them.
Nomad are phasing out trebles but you can still use them for the time-being.
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Awesome report and fish despite the conditions Brandon, congrats to all of you on that...
Quick question for ya Brandon, and please excuse my ignornace if its obvious, but the popper in the first shot of you, the Pink one, I don't recognise, what is it? Thanks
Awesome as always!! Keep it up!
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Halezan, there was a mix of poppers used. Most popular were the Nomad or Blackjack Cuberas, some Skipjacks, a few Craftbaits in GT3 and GT2, some Adhek PomPoms, FCL Ebipops etc.
I think the only Australian lures used were some prototype Fullscale poppers I was testing.
I don't remember seeing any Bills Bugs.
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well done brandon .... it,s great to see some story ::)
i wish there was a world gt popping magazine for us ... ;D ;D ::)
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sorry guys - I missed a couple of the questions I was asked.
Darren - the chinaman which Che Carson caught was on a Gillies stickbait. Not sure about the other one
Andre, the pink popper is an FCL Ebipop
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WOW Brandon! Amazing report and pictures! I'm drooling on my keyboard. :o