GT popping history

[Peter McConaghie]

Hello all,

Have just registered and noticed this topic so wanted to introduce myself and to congratulate Luke and Brandon on a terrific site.  I was raised in North Qld but have lived in Sydney for quite a few years now - just starting to find the time to think about doing some serious fishing again (if it's got a tail and swims I'll chase it but GT's were always something special).   Aaron's spot on - some of the Cairns skippers used to 'fun fish' for GT's on occasion and Mal Florence had been doing his thing around Townsville since the mid 70's,  but it was Barry Cross (and his brother John) who in my experience made popper fishing an artform in that part of the world.  I did a few trips with them in the late 80's / early 90's and had a ball - from memory Daiko EC-704's, Penn 850ss spinfishers and 10 to 15kg solaroam mono were the weapons of choice and we pulled some really nice fish on that gear.  Barry was making his own poppers at that stage which, thinking back, were probably ahead of their time.  Similar to a slightly stretched Arbogast Scudder with extra weight in the tail, they cast really well, shifted loads of water and were built super strong.   I may have a couple left so will post a photo if I can find them although most of my GT lures ended up decorating coral caves.    Great blokes and very patient with raw newbies.   Hope this helps.

All the best,

Peter McC.

[Al Morrison]

I have a sneaking suspicion i've read somewhere many moons ago about Hawaiian marlin anglers getting their trolling lures smashed by Ulua when in closer to the rocks and some bright spark trying to copy the trolling lures "pusher style" with a casting variety (broom handle bits etc). I think that is maybe 1960's vintage stuff. The only historic Ulua knowledge I can find easily online has been about the Slider technique - not popping. Certainly US companies were making surface lures for Bass in the 1930's, some of which were the size of Pili poppers etc - so it isnt a stretch to imagine someone lobbing one out over a reef and having a GT (or the local equivalent Trevor variety) nail it !

[Aaron Concord]

Peter,

I was lucky enough to be invited into Barry's "lair" to look at some amazing fishing history back in 2004.
He is a very patient bloke with newbies and I must say I loved to see the "blanks" of his poppers as well.
Your description is apt: they DO look like a stretched Arbogast Scudder!
You are indeed lucky to have spent time on the water with Barry and if you ever feel like handing the poppers over to an avid collector, my hand is up!
The Daiko/Penn Spinfisher set up was the equivalent of a SW Stella strapped to a Carpenter back then!
There were some memorable fish caught by Barry and John.  A mate of mine, Warren Steptoe, did several articles on the boys antics for Modern Fishing aaaages ago.  I still have the issues somewhere in the garage.  Wire on the front plus single tail hooks were a couple things I noticed about their lure rigging back then too.

Al,
It would be interesting to see who cast a popper at a Jack Crevalle (perhaps in Florida?) or over in Hawaii with some of the lures you mention.
I'd like a dollar for every "Bass" made lure that ended up being a good saltwater performer, if somewhat lightly built.........there HAD to be someone casting bass lures at some form of Jack/Trevally over there early on, you would think??

Aaron.

[Peter McConaghie]

Aaron,

We're working on the house at present so most of my gear is boxed up but I'll have a look on the weekend - any excuse of course!  Lucky is right, learned a heap from those guys.   The poppers I had were all rigged with about 6" of very stiff single strand wire haywired to the nose ring.  The idea with the wire was that it helped in getting the lure shifting water from the first pop as well as providing protection from the razor gang.  I certainly remember Warren's articles - sounds like you and I have similar garages.   I've still got my old Daiko / Penn rig as well - initially used an old blue Shakespeare 2450 until I had enough dough to buy the Penn - it seized up while I was on a fish and we had to handline it in.  John Cross used a big Mitchell with the manual bail to great effect and Barry also had an overhead rig with one of the smaller Newells.   My gear got a fair bit of attention from mates when I was fishing in Fiji years ago - the closest anyone else had to the Daiko was a Shimano rod which was a nice stick but waaay too soft in the tip.  I was always careful with the rod as they had a reputation for exploding into splinters if you went past the red-line.  Erskines eventually started selling their own dedicated popper rod in a couple of lengths based on a white blank in the 90's (no idea of the brand but think it was a composite mix) that was physically heavier but a lot cheaper and not as temperamental as the Daikos.  Barry would have a pretty amazing collection alright - I spoke with him via email late last year.  Had bought a collectable lure on fleabay (have always been interested in reels but also starting back into lures) and turned out that the seller was none other than BC.  Small world.   

PMcC

[Al Morrison]

Aaron,

That was my thinking too - with such good bass fishing in Florida, Texas and Louisiana and Jack Crevalle present there (although pretty much classed as vermin due to the relatively poor eating qualities) I'd be surprised if someone wasnt lobbing early Arbogasts or Heddons across some flats/reefs.

My first GT was landed on a Mitchell 306 spooled with 15 lb nylon and an old Shakespeare Ugly Stick about 20 yrs ago. Only around 10 kgs  - but i was HOOKED. and the Japanese economy has benefited ever since.

[Graham Scott]

AAAH Yes,
The good old days.
ANSA was certainly the breeding ground for new techniques. I was there in the mid 70's with the 3lb line class, then even lighter at 1kg. I was pretty good at the 2kg lurecasting division as you could put a bit of hurt on with 2KG!!!!
In CQ there was a bit of early popping attempted, Mitchell 489's Butterworth 7 wrap glass stick, 20lb pretest mono. I think we found 2 reasonable poppers, something from Rebel and a Cotton Cordell pencil popper. We caught some good queenfish, but never looked like landing a decent GT. They were called "bulldogs" locally and were much despised by pro mackerel fisherman.

By the late 80's fellas like BIll Sawynok of Infofish fame were catching quite a few GT's in Keppel Bay.

[Travis Heaps]

AAAH Yes,
The good old days.
ANSA was certainly the breeding ground for new techniques. I was there in the mid 70's with the 3lb line class, then even lighter at 1kg. I was pretty good at the 2kg lurecasting division as you could put a bit of hurt on with 2KG!!!!
In CQ there was a bit of early popping attempted, Mitchell 489's Butterworth 7 wrap glass stick, 20lb pretest mono. I think we found 2 reasonable poppers, something from Rebel and a Cotton Cordell pencil popper. We caught some good queenfish, but never looked like landing a decent GT. They were called "bulldogs" locally and were much despised by pro mackerel fisherman.

By the late 80's fellas like BIll Sawynok of Infofish fame were catching quite a few GT's in Keppel Bay.

Interesting to hear some local stuff Graham, with the ground around here it's not suprising very few were landed 

(PS - you're PM inbox is full, tried to reply but wouldn't send)

[Graham Scott]

Thanks Travis,
got the mailbox sorted now.

I also thought Hervey Bay had a fair bit of GT fishing going on in the early years of ANSA, Don Boneham and others?? Inside Sandy Straits, not out around the Cape

[Aaron Concord]

Qoute by Al Morrison:

My first GT was landed on a Mitchell 306 spooled with 15 lb nylon and an old Shakespeare Ugly Stick about 20 yrs ago. Only around 10 kgs  - but i was HOOKED. and the Japanese economy has benefited ever since.

Al
Loved the last line!  I think this forum and it's members does a good job at keeping the Japanese economy well and truly spinning!
I guess the "vermin" comment is apt for a lot of people were still fishing for protein first I guess. 
Tarpon fisherman must have come across Trevally while casting Mirrolures and other stick bait/lipless plugs back then, surely???

Graham,
I loved fishing 2kg.  Actually, it wasn't too uncommon for a day on Moreton Bay to have 1,2,3,4,6 and 10kg spin outfits for tuna, mackerel and kingies.
Some mates and I loved to chase smaller GT's and bigeye trevally on 2 and 3kg on poppers. 
Their size meant we would have a very good hooked-to-landed ratio, whereas the larger GT's (10kg+)would just destroy us on our heaviest gear most times.
For the GT's sake, we would just leave them alone if we got nuked more than a couple of times or we would take the trebles off just to get the strike, knowing we would get our lures back. 
You just couldn't help but make a few casts into the 'bear pit' at times.  The strikes were always welcomed though the lures lost sometimes did your head in at the money going East.
We also made our own poppers just to help the wallet and to pass the time during bad weather too.
Yep, a 20lb GT was a cracker and a 50lber was the holy grail...........Times have changed a weeee bit!
I am glad to have been a part of the ANSA movement.  I learnt a lot and met a lot of great people through the clubs in the 90's and early 2000's.
One of the guys from Marybourough told me of a mythical spot that they used foot long, home made pencil poppers for XOS GT's in the mid 1990's.........turned out to be Spit Bombie
The pro mackerel fishos fishing there really didn't like the GT's there either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aaron.

[Graham Scott]

I can't think of any other fishing technique that has changed so much due to technology. I still catch barra with a baitcaster and a gold bomber. Still bottom bash, still even use mono for whiting, high speed spin...all the same sorta
Imagine heading out with your 3,6 10kg rigs...and a bit of 60kg mono wrapped on a spinning reel, expecting to cast 70 metres and fish 15kgs of drag...wouldn't have picked it up let alone chucked it!!!
I fished 20kg mono on a sidecast alvey and a surf rod for planing up trout landbased on reef fringes like Northwest Island... now theres a thought a 50kg GT on a direct drive alvey...

[Aaron Concord]

Graham,

I agree!  The ingenuity that has gone into the more recent heavy GT and other facets of heavy surface luring has been immense.

For years we tried in vain to stop the kingies of Moreton Bay and the GT's of Cape Moreton and Point Lookout only to have raspberries blown at us time and again.

Nowdays, you actually have a chance of getting the fish out and your lure back.  Who would of though eh?

Aaron.

[Mark Harris]

Really enjoying this thread guys . Please keep it up!

[Graham Scott]

Righto Aaron, I'll hit you with "Ages of Fishing Theory"

Hands up all those that learnt some basic sociology/psychology. A bloke called Maslow developed something called
"Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs"

Basically it starts at the bottom with fundamental needs like shelter and food, then companionship, then acceptance or admiration by peers, then the top is something like understanding, or self actualisation (happy with yourself).
I reckon fishing has followed along the same path and you can see the changes between levels quite clearly, but just like Maslow, just cause the tribe thinks your a gun hunter doesn't mean you stop eating or burn down your hut.

My grandparents liver thru the depression, had no refrigeration, and they were fishing mad, they drifted wooden flatties up estuaries, they nettied, crabbed line fished...success was a good feed, prize cacthes were good eating and good size. They lived in the first Age of Fishing...FOOD
My parents shared the fishing bug, they also thought the best fish were the tasty ones, but they joined fishing clubs that started going to new places like charter a boat to the reef, boating and camping in groups in new places where other could help you out of the bog or tow your boat back to the ramp. I was pretty young at this stage but remember boubcing around in some bloke 4wd going to beaches we could only dream about with our old Ford.  So the rise of the Fishing Clubs was to me the Second Age of fishing. I'm guessing ita about the same time as fridges, 4wd's outboards. To me it was around the 60's and 70's
The Second Age of Fishing...COMPANIONSHIP and EXPLORATION.
The focus started to move off just catching a feed and it began to get competitive. Fish were now worth points. The were Annual Champions and best fish awards. A major shift was the arrival of ANSA where the competition moved away from Food based, (most whiting, biggest Jew) to skill based, a move up the Maslow levels. Big fish on small lines, degree of difficulty, only 5 fish allowed...Welcome to the third Age of fishing.... COMPETITION, PEER GROUP APPROVAL.  This was definitely the mid 70's and in some form is still pretty strong, but I think it waned in the early 90's with the odd burst of AFC and other media products.

So whats next? What is it now?  I think the fourth Age of Fishing is FISHING FOR INFORMATION, understanding, self control and respect....pretty much the top of the Maslow Pyramid.This AGE is about sharing information, setting personal goals, protecting the environment, partnering scientific understanding.

[Graham Scott]

SO how do GT's fit into these AGES?
Well they're not good to eat and they were very hard to catch so GT's don't feature in the food AGE and probably make a cameo appearance in the exploration phase.
When we get to the Competition AGE GT's arrive with a bang as they are a very difficult adversary. Many could say this site is all about GT competition... I think they're wrong. I don't see many post or trip reports saying "Hey look at me big GT...How good am I"
I think the successof this site is due to the FISHING FOR INFORMATION AGE.
Its all about learning and understanding. There are more posts about rods and reels and twisted leaders than GT reports. Its success is based on skilled, experienced anglers being prepared to share their knowledge. If Maslow is right, and the gurus like Brandon and Luke, actually ENJOY sharing their knowledge. I know for me, a novice at GTs, but pretty good in a few other areas, I get more fun out of seeing someone else catch a fish than catching it myself.

Better go now, the nurse wants me to take my medicine and go to bed before she locks the door.

[Mark Harris]

Graham Scott you are a bloody star.  That's just fabulous.  10/10.