Hi Craig - you should feel free to ask any question you like relating to popping. The worst thing that can happen is that noone can answer it! We all start somewhere sometime and even the most experienced GT fishos on this forum were beginners once upon a time so please don't feel embarrassed.
Of course, one caveat. Notwithstanding there are many experienced fisho here, people offer their opinions and that is exactly what they are - opinions; so don't necessarily take everything you read as absolute gospel. You will make up your own mind on what works for you in time but hopefully, the information on this site will provide you with a useful grounding in the basics.
Samoa is one area where I have no experience at all so I can't give you any idea on how suitable your gear will be for the region. Rather, I'll cover it on a more generic basis.
Your rod and reel combo is terrific and the GT86 is an excellent rod. Don't get too caught up in what size of GT the rod can purportedly handle. I've seen BIG fish landed on a T-Curve 24kg which is a much lighter rod than your Saltiga. It all comes down to the location and terrain. In completely open water, one would probably have a chance against a 40kg fish on a baitcaster provide you can chase the fish. At Bugatti recently, I went close to landing a very nice GT about the 20kg mark on a baitcaster and that was in an area where the some of the guys had been smashed on heavy GT gear! i don't know why but it took the fish half hour when it was exhausted before it finally decided to go to the bottom and cut me off.
The Saltiga GT86 will serve you well. It's length will assist in casting distance and it it plenty enough power for the very large majority of fish you will encounter. A rod like the GT86 will probably be rated around the 10kg mark in terms of drag. 8kg is nothing but 20kg is a pipe dream. 20kg would be pushing the strongest rods on the market to the limit. Personally, I think you could fish 12kg with no trouble at all. What you need to avoid is getting caught in a really bad high sticking position on high drag.
I was fishing 15kg on a PE8 rated rod recently and it survived. I think if you work from 10-12kg and if you need more when fighting the fish, use your palm to exert more pressure on the spool. I would definitely go with PE8 rather than PE6 for this combination. Of course, you need to make sure you can handle the drag pressure. There is no point setting 15kg if the only result is that the rod is going to get pulled out of your hands. Use as much drag as you can manage but don't take a risk of being pulled in. Don't laugh - it can happen!
The rod will handle poppers around the 150g range although you may find that it will be happier with ones around the 120g range. Don't forget that two trebles adds a bit of weight. You may find that the issue isn't so much whether the rod will cast a 170g lure (it will) but that a chugger of that weight will have significant water resistance and the rod may struggle to work it effectively.
Your twisted leaders at 12 feet should be fine.
Couple of other suggestions:
Use quality terminals like Owner or Varivas split rings and quality swivels on your twisted leaders
For hooks, get quality trebles defintely no lighter than Owner ST-66s (preferably ST-76s) or strong singles like SJ-41s or Jobus. Also, please remember to crush your bards completely. This will make release easier, its safer on the anglers around you and finally, it gives the fish a chance to dispose of the lure if it breaks you off.
If there are a few of you on the boat, take great care when you are casting to make sure the coast is clear before you cast. The last thing anyone needs is a treble in the back of the head or the back when you are a long, long way from decent medical assistance
Carry a spare spool or at the very least, bring some spare line
Gat a range of lures covering chuggers, pencil poppers and stickbaits
If you hook a fish, be prepared and hold on tight! Unless you've fished for seriolas before (Which are a reasonable proxy for the power of a GT), you will not believe how powerful a GT can be and how hard you will need to go at the fish to prevent it cutting you off. Do not let the fish run if you can avoid it even if this means putting a death grip on the spool. The fish will take small amounts of line against your best efforts but the objective is to minimise it if the terrain is rough.Your approach should depend on the terrain but they have a bad habit of living in very rough areas
Take a gimbal along as well as a good pair of jigging/popping gloves - these are an essential.
Finally - good luck!
