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Grant Robinson

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When do GT's bite?
February 03, 2010, 06:38:17 PM
Im a newcomer to the site and am really enjoying reading about everyones experiences chasing GT's.
Im off to Stanage on Feb 20th for a couple of weeks. We are planning to stay at Stanage and also stay out on the boat around some of the islands and down Island Head Creek way.
I can find plenty of info on popping tackle and where to find fish.  There is not so much on how tides and time of day effect how GT's bite. Which tides are generally best for poppering? For most fishing the turn of the tide fires things up, but as Gts seem to like current, is it better to target them mid-tide when the water is moving more? Is there any difference in the bite on a rising or falling tide? Does the time of day matter?
What else should one consider to ensure the best chance of success.
Cheers, Grant

Luke Wyrsta

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 05, 2010, 01:59:33 PM
Im a newcomer to the site and am really enjoying reading about everyones experiences chasing GT's.
Im off to Stanage on Feb 20th for a couple of weeks. We are planning to stay at Stanage and also stay out on the boat around some of the islands and down Island Head Creek way.
I can find plenty of info on popping tackle and where to find fish.  There is not so much on how tides and time of day effect how GT's bite. Which tides are generally best for poppering? For most fishing the turn of the tide fires things up, but as Gts seem to like current, is it better to target them mid-tide when the water is moving more? Is there any difference in the bite on a rising or falling tide? Does the time of day matter?
What else should one consider to ensure the best chance of success.
Cheers, Grant


Hi Grant,

Welcome to the site.

Like with most fishing GT popping is an art, not a science. One factor that may contribute in one area, may not apply in another - and one technique used may not be as effective as the next between locations. However, there are some best practises that can be followed.

Please note, I have not fished the Stanage / Shoalwater area - there are many members here that will be able to give you some more specific insights (hope they aren't too cagey).

I would have to agree that most of my fishing successes revolve around the middle segments of the flood and ebb stages of the tide (incoming and outgoing) where current/water flow can combine to create the strongest water forces. As you may know, GTs thrive in these conditions, and can sit behind leading edges/eddies to ambush bait fish.

Notwithstanding that sometimes the change of tide can be a factor, however, my GT fishing success is usually well past the first quarter of the tide after the change.

Moons are often relied on in GT fishing, where the New and Full moon are major factors for larger tidal variances, combining to create stronger water flows and currents. You should also note that these great water forces can work in against, in terms of creating an ideal hunting environment - where the forces may be moving in the same direction or opposing each other - it is all very subjective in my books.

From experience, I have experienced more strikes and captures in the afternoon. The middle of the day tends to put fish deeper and less inclined to strike artificials.

Slight to rougher conditions tend to be more productive and conducive to GT activity whereas calm conditions are generally very unproductive. Not a hard and fast rule, however, this tends to be a pattern. Enough wind to cause ripple/chop and overcast coverage make up this observation.


Jay Burgess

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 05, 2010, 11:02:19 PM
Hi Grant,

Welcome to the site.

Like with most fishing GT popping is an art, not a science. One factor that may contribute in one area, may not apply in another - and one technique used may not be as effective as the next between locations. However, there are some best practises that can be followed.

Please note, I have not fished the Stanage / Shoalwater area - there are many members here that will be able to give you some more specific insights (hope they aren't too cagey).

I would have to agree that most of my fishing successes revolve around the middle segments of the flood and ebb stages of the tide (incoming and outgoing) where current/water flow can combine to create the strongest water forces. As you may know, GTs thrive in these conditions, and can sit behind leading edges/eddies to ambush bait fish.

Notwithstanding that sometimes the change of tide can be a factor, however, my GT fishing success is usually well past the first quarter of the tide after the change.

Moons are often relied on in GT fishing, where the New and Full moon are major factors for larger tidal variances, combining to create stronger water flows and currents. You should also note that these great water forces can work in against, in terms of creating an ideal hunting environment - where the forces may be moving in the same direction or opposing each other - it is all very subjective in my books.

From experience, I have experienced more strikes and captures in the afternoon. The middle of the day tends to put fish deeper and less inclined to strike artificials.

Slight to rougher conditions tend to be more productive and conducive to GT activity whereas calm conditions are generally very unproductive. Not a hard and fast rule, however, this tends to be a pattern. Enough wind to cause ripple/chop and overcast coverage make up this observation.

That's interesting reading Luke and it seems that the conditions that you most like to fish are completely different from the conditions that we've had success here in WA. I've fished on many overcast days here and on most occasions I've barely even had a look in from any kind of fish let alone GT. The same goes for slightly rough to rougher days, again hardly even a sniff. Almost all our success has come from clear sunny days with calm water. I do realise that these conditions are more comfortable and hence we probably spend more time on the water in these conditions but I've persisted on many occasions in the conditions you describe and I haven't done well at all.


Callan Wallace

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 06, 2010, 04:09:27 AM
I have always found a little chop is best. Of course I love those mill pond days but usually do better when it is choppy.
Cheers

Grant Robinson

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 06, 2010, 08:28:45 AM
Thanks for the reply Luke. Its interesting what you say about calm conditions being less productive. I have found this definately to be the case with some other species, particularly tuna. The fish tend to be much more timid when its glassy. They seem to be much more confident in attacking artificials when it is choppy.

Adrian Watt

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 07, 2010, 07:41:23 AM
Hi Grant,
Something else to consider.....The colour of the water and the colour of your popper....
We find that on a calm sunny day in clear water a dark popper works best but on a choppy overcast day when the water is sometimes also a bit coloured / stirred up because of waves breaking on a reef then the bright popper colours work better.
We mostly fish a barrier reef system and the best time to fish the outside of the barrier reef is the top half of an outgoing tide. I believe this is because of the water pouring out over the top of the reef. The GTs like to get up into the shallows and hunt in the areas where this current flows out. If you are fishing an unknown area, I suspect these hotspots are easiest to find on a calm day. If its a bit rough, the breakers can 'hide' these outflowing areas but on a calm day you can usually see the rippling current.
As Luke advises though, every area has its own quirks !

Graham Scott

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 08, 2010, 12:54:11 PM
Hi Grant,
For Shoalwater area I have found calm conditions to be much better than choppy. Most of the spots up there are completely open to the elements and soon go past "a bit choppy" to bloody rough!
Otherwise agree with all general comments, mid tide lots of run, early or late not midday.
Only other specific comment is Shoalwater can get very dirty on large tides and stir up the bottom reducing viz. I have found there's plenty of run even on smaller tides.
The only other important rule is "there are no rules"

Grant Robinson

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 08, 2010, 02:56:12 PM
Thanks Adrian and Graham for your input. Does reduced visibility tend to affect the bite, or just the colours and style of lures that should be used?

Graham Scott

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 08, 2010, 06:04:17 PM
Hi Grant,
I have not done well in really clear water, nor really dirty. I like it green/blue, maybe 3 to 5m viz. Probably similar to other continental Islands, much dirtier than GBR or Coral Sea.
I haven't noticed much about colours. I do note that stickbaits are the go in clear water.

mark gaal

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 08, 2010, 09:31:50 PM
I recently spent 3 weeks in Fiji poppering and found that the GTs were pretty quite on the glassy days , when we had a bit of ripple on the surface or indeed ripple and some swell they seemed to bite more aggressively. We did see a few on the quiter days but they didn't seem to keen to eat our poppers . We fished in varying conditions with a mixed sucess rate. I'm no expert by any means but two things seemed to play an important role when we sat back and analyzed each days fishing,particularly the days we caught fish, and that was  locating bait and water movement . When we got it right ,( being first timers this was rare believe me,) these two elements featured strongly in the locations where we got fish. I have a few questions of my own regarding these things which I will put to everyone in a brief report. One thing I know for a fact is that I am hooked, what a great fish they are to target, I have caught just about everything that swims from billfish to trout but GTs are something else.  One thing more, at low tide we seemed to have no luck at all.
Last Edit: February 08, 2010, 09:40:05 PM by mark gaal

Adrian Watt

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 09, 2010, 08:34:42 AM
Hi Grant,
In my humble opinion, reduced visibility caused by rough conditions (20kts, 5ft wind chop) does not stop the GTs feeding but it does make your popper or stickbait harder to see from farther away and noise from a popper gets somewhat lost in all the mess. I think if you run a popper past the nose of a GT in rough low vis weather it will get hit....but 15 yards away...it just might not be seen or heard....so no strike...so you move on thinking they are not biting....
So - rough weather & reduced visibility - try using a popper that is best seen from as far away as possible. Alternatively a sinking stickbait that sinks below the more churned up low vis surface waters.
Calm weather & clear water - try using a dark popper that is best seen against a bright surface or go with stickbaits.
I think everybody here is giving you good advice. The problem is that there are a lot of factors and different locations fish differently. I suppose if I was fishing a completely new area I would look for areas of current, bait rippling, fish with a mate and make sure you are both using different colour poppers or one popper and one stickbait to improve your chances of discovering what is working best at that time and in that place.
Here we find that around the low tide the popper fishing goes quiet so we jig....and frequently catch GTs down deep... So if you try a good looking spot and don't get any bites, come back later and try again when the tide / current is doing something different - you might get a surprise  :)
Exploring is fun !

Travis Heaps

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 09, 2010, 09:07:27 AM
The only other important rule is "there are no rules"

I like this one. 

Warwick and I were chatting the other day about how we never used to know what tide we were fishing, let alone what moon phase....and we used to catch more fish.  We used to always get a GT somewhere, now these days I "know" more (apparently) and try to focus on the right moon phase, right tides, right spot, right lure and seem to catch less fish... :( 

I think it comes down to in the past we didn't really know what we were doing, we just knew that the more we cast then the more time the lure was in the water then the more likely we were to get a fish - and it worked.  I've made a conscious decision lately to "un-learn" everything I apparently know and just have a go anywhere, anytime...make the most of when everything synchs perfectly like the textbook says but in the mean time just fish hard.

For interests sake my records show very little pattern in regards to tide, moon phase, pressure, wind etc, they aren't very comprehensive records but....  The one thing I do like though is overcast or slightly rainy weather, I think it creates more shelter/cover for the fish and keeps them near the surface longer.

Graham Scott

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 09, 2010, 09:35:44 AM
Hey Travis,
The rule that there are no rules is vital as fishing pressure increases. If everyone follows "rules" then the fish will soon learn to avoid those "rules". This has been especially true  for me chasing decent reef fish. I don't generally fish where the rules tell me to.

Grant Robinson

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 10, 2010, 07:03:43 AM
Thanks all for the replies. You are spot on Travis about the best chance of hooking something is to out on the water with a line in. I will post a report of how we get on during our trip.

steve wallin

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Re: When do GT's bite?
February 10, 2010, 04:47:47 PM
One other little clue... Havnt fished the southern reef but this works up north.
GTs love pressure points, to find pressure points use your marine charts (not GPS charts)... there will be a couple of areas on the charts which have measured tidal current (directions and velocities) reported from flood through to ebb.  these are usually in the shipping channels or in the passages.  Pick the one closest to the reefs you are fishing.  Use this information to find which tide phase has the strongest flow and from which direction.  The pressure points will be the reef edge / bommie field that is copping that current.   Can save alot of time looking for good pressure points when fishing new ground.

Steve