63 Kilo GT - SA East Coast

[Alex Jordan]

Nice fish - shame it was speared ... I was under the impression GT's carried Ciguatera Poisoning hence I wouldn't risk eating one ...

Andre - sell your man some popping gear!!!

[Matt Harvey]

Andre - Myself and the missus are currently toying with the idea of Christmas in Mozambique and fishing would be high on the agenda as my brother in law would be joining us from SA.

I've always viewed Mozambique as more of a big game fishing destination but if there's popping opportunities I'd be very keen to find out more. 

Are there land based spots or is it all from boats ?

Would obviously be keen to see the DVD when it's been produced....

Cheers

M

[Andre van Wyk]

Hi Matt,

DEFINITELY some incredible GT fishing in Moz... both land and shore based...

I'm a bit pushed for time here, but will fill you in with info in a day or two... I'm busy setting up a few options for another forum member, but can defintely help you out with some amazing ideas for Mozambique...
Moz probably offers the best real world shot at a 40 kilo plus GT from the shore... numerous fish over 50 kilos are taken every season by the Land Based guys fishing slide baits... certain areas with the right tackle, offer a real chance at incredible fish..

Moz is an amazing Light Artificials and Popping/Jigging destination....

Will fill you guys in when I have more time.

CHeers
A

[Matt Harvey]

Thanks Andre,

Look forward to more info ...  salivating already 

[Warwick Joyce]

Massive fish.
Yet since spearfishing is a highly selective fishing style why the hell shoot a GT?
Crazy

[Luke Wyrsta]

There will be a new lodge being added to GTPopping.com quite soon with numerous GT options available. This area was where an 80kg GT was rumoured to be caught on a stickbait by a first time GT angler (I can't verify this, but source is trustworthy)...

[John Joubert]

Can confirm that the east coast of Africa is untapped for monster GT fishing. I spent a few years living in Tanzania and was blown away many times on sub standard tackle for these fish(1987/89)Spent time at Lindi which is close to Moz border and many times surfed some reefs that had massive numbers of quality GT's patroling the waters .our best was 62kg on a 6kg rainbow runner set off a rigger for Blue Marlin!!!(was the pending all tackle WR. at the time).

JJ

[Marc Towers]

 I second that opinion regarding the potential the East coast of Africa has concerning GT potential.. There are huge expanses of ocean around the Northern point of Madagascar (Cap st Sebastien, Courrier bay & further north) which hold huge potential - i have looked at nautical/contour maps of the area and one salivates at the thought...!

 There are a number of relaible reports of 60 kilo plus GT taken in these areas - the largest fish taken reputed to be 68 kg's.. The density of big fish seems to be very high, so such areas are a real option for that trophy fish...

 I cant wait for my 8 day return trip to the Mitsio islands later this month - hopefully bring back some more photographic proof of the potential..!

Marc.

[Marc Alexander]

Here's an extract from an encyclopedia description of GT -

"The use of growth curves fitted to observed otolith data shows an individual of around 1 m in length is approximately 8 years old, while a 1.7 m fish would be around 24 years old. The maximum theoretical length of the species predicted by the growth curves is 1.84 m, however the largest reported individual was 1.7 m long."

What the reported largest individual shows is not the unreported ones!!and those shows few larger GT`s than the ``published ``ones .

Over here in French Polynesia a GT was certified scaled at 73 kgs on a spearfishing shot and here are some unreported ones ..sorry were also speared..





me and my partner we already saw some GT certainly over 90 kgs in some our spot.

all the bests

regards

Marco

[Ben Earl]

Magnificent fish but seeing them dead leaves me feeling sick

[Chris Engel]

I have just returned from 10 days fishing in the Baie du Courrier next to the Channel of Mozambique; surface fishing was very slow, jigging was OK, but the biggest GT caught was around 30kg with most of the GT around 15kg. I have heard many tales of exceptional fish caught there, but sadly I could not verify it by myself. I have wondered if there has been an incidence of the commercial boats which are fishing (vacuum cleaning...) not too far away (judging from a report about an attack to a commercial boat by Somalian pirates in the vicinity. The stay was pleasant in a new camp located at the small village of Ambasindave.

Chris

[Marc Towers]

 Hi Chris,

 Sorry to hear that your trip to Northern Madagascar didn't produce the goods. I can say that the fishing in that area, or at least a little bit further south around the Mitsio islands, is normally excpetional for GT's - admittedly not too much water is popper friendly, but the GT action on the jig is normally fast and furious - 10-20 kilo fish a daily occurence, with normally a couple of chances at bigger (30-60 kilo) fish. I have experienced this on every trip i have gone on in that area (next one in August - fingers crossed!) I know of fish (weighed/verified) of up to 63 kilo's being taken in Courrier Bay, and honest reports of bigger fish (66-68 kg) being landed - even if this is a little exagerated it does show the potential of the place.. It will be sad if the commercial fleet is starting to abuse the stocks - again, i know around Mitsio the reef / bottom structure would make this difficult (although not impossible)..

 Who did you go with - Phillippe Marrone / Hotel Emeraude out of Diego....?

[Luke Wyrsta]

Another GIANT lost to this world.

Moreton Bay...

62.3kg - Jan 2010.

[Peter Morris]

Wonder what these guys actually do with these fish...?

Probably ends up as cat food....

Pete

[Laurent Thiriet]

a guy here in new caledonia told me he caught a ~50kg GT in the 80's in spearfishing
he made 200 skewer with 
now with the cyguatera, i would'nt try one