Hi Luke ,
Upon arriving in an area ;
If it's deep water around the rocks then my choise of lures would be chugger and stickbait , however if the sea is somewhat choppy then chugger is out and stickbait is my main choice . If it's shallow reef / sand banks then my choise would be pencil popper and chugger , again when there is chop then pencil popper will be my choise and may even try stickbait . Colour of lures is not important but flashes in stickbait is of the utmost important so pelagic fish can see it from a distance away . Less than clear water warrant noisy lures and the bigger size may work better than the smaller one .
For these I have a specific rod for each task , for chugger I use short rod with stiff tip , for pencil popper I use long rod with stiff tip and for stickbait I use rod with sensitive tip . I prefer as light a reel as possible with retrieve speed of minimum 1m per turn of handle filled with 200 m of 80 lbs ~ 100 lbs braided line for GT fishing and 300m of 60 lbs ~ 80 lbs braided line for YFT .
I hardly use lures heavier than 125 gr. , my main concerns are reaching the target as accurately as possible each time I cast and the longer distance I can cast but still accurately the better it is . I prefer to have a strike for every cast but that is not possible so , yes as few cast and as many strike as possible !
I like to use thin main leader + 15 cm of thick " bite " leader , my GT leader would be 120 mono leader and my YFT leader would be 100 lbs mono leader , these will be connected to 180 lbs fluorocarbon leader . The length of my leader is double the distance from spool to rod tip , this is necessary because I cast from the bow of the boat which can be as high as 2 m above the water level .
For chugger I use sideway stroke n retrieve from the moment the lure hit the water till the end of the retrieve , with pencil popper I hold the tip of the rod high and stroke it while retrieving continuously , with stickbait I twitch and retrive with rod tip pointed somewhat lower than sideway stroking .
The best way to learn GT fishing is to fish along a more accomplished anglers , if a picture worth a thousand words then a movie worth a million words and meanwhile fishing in the real world with accomplished anglers must be worth a zillion words .
Jon .
