Fishing New Caledonia w/ L.P.B.

[Evan Gluck]

Known as "the Land of Giants", New Caledonia lives up to its reputation.
What a place for Adrian to experience his first GT trip!!! And for Jared and I, only our second trips.

First off, I have to
thank Jared for organizing this adventure - if it weren't for you I
would not be sore as hell from fighting fish right now. Next, my man
Adrian, thanks for sharing all those laughs with me and staying at the front of the boat with me on those super windy days. Next, LPB - hands down
one of the best fishing operations in the world. These guys are
consummate professionals, not to mention some of the fishiest guys I
know. Rudy, David, and Stan... God bless you!
Now onto the fishing... although this is their off season (winter) there
where opportunities for 100lb+ GTs... just not many. We fished our
asses off for five days straight exclusively popping and jigging.
Popping takes on a whole new meaning as you cast lures no less than
200gm. The term "BIG LURE, BIG FISH" is absolutely true here. With GT's
over 150lbs patrolling the reefs you truly can catch a monster at any
time. Trust me, it keeps you on your toes. As far as the jigging goes,
if you can avoid getting cut off (everything has teeth) the
opportunities are mind blowing. Such a variety of species as well
including dogtooth tuna, yellowfin tuna, wahoo, narrow-barred Spanish
mackerel, coral trout, grouper, and various trevally and snapper
species... they are all here waiting for your jig.
The end result: satisfaction among friends! When you fish that hard
and are rewarded for it there is a true sense of gratification. Despite
the off season, weather conditions, and all other elements factored in,
we earned our fish. That's a great feeling in my book.
Definitely worth the wait and all the time traveling. Enjoy the photos and a little video I shot and edited from our trip.

http://youtu.be/iClAAjQPlzE?hd=1

[Evan Gluck]

More photos

[Evan Gluck]

More

[Evan Gluck]

Final batch

[Wan Izhan]

Dear Evan,
Thanks for sharing.
I am going to this heaven end October this year, what PE line class you use?
Any tips and tricks? How many rods max for each anglers?

Counting days....

cheers
Izhan

[Robert Tapert]

wow great  video and photos

Looks like the trip  was a blast......  is there a trip report coming???

[Robin Loi]

great job guys!

[Peter Olesen]

Thanks for sharing story, pictures and the nice video - the music is spot on.

I too would love to hear more about lures that worked well/bad. Fish size and funny stories

Best regards

[Evan Gluck]

Well that was the trip report but if you guys want a few more details/tips:

I had two reels, one PE8 and one PE10.  I had a break off on the PE8 due to probably some line damage.  The PE10 held strong.  If you have the ability, have PE10 on all you reels you intend to catch big GTs with.  You can bring a seperate setup for light casting if you think no big GTs are around. 

Each angler had around 3 popping rods (2 heavy and 1 light) and two heavy jigging rods.  You could probably add another rod or two.  Some arranging of the rods is necessary when done for day or moving but it works out.

For lures, the bigger the better for poppers and stickbaits.  I personally am a big fan of craftbait poppers but hammerheads work great too.  Although popping is generally the way to raise GT's and other reef fish, sometimes stickbaits work better in some situations or you might just need a break from working the poppers.  For stickbaits use big ones like the Carpenter Gamma, Fisherman Delta, Orion hotdog, craftbait realbait, Prosele Tohmath Sakura, etc. 

Few other tips:

1) Wear shoes with good grip; if your casting from the front and the boat is rocking, you need to have good footing if you want to continue casting and popping.
2) Fish hard!  You always have a chance if your lure is in the water
3) Use the right rod for the job; if you are popping all day, having a stiffer rod will be easier on the angler for the popping part, but beware the fight might be a little tough.
4) Use tight drag if you want to have a chance at pulling a big GT off the reef. 

Thanks for the replies guys.   

[Martin Gundersen]

Thanks for the info, Evan, and congrats with tha catch

I thinking about a trip to NC in 2012

What kind of rods did you use?

[Evan Gluck]

My main rod I was using was a Ripple Fisher since it was nice and stiff to cast and pop big poppers; although like I said a warning you have to be in good shape to fight big GT's with a stiff rod, especially at the end of the fight when the fish is below the boat. 

For casting stickbaits I was using the Saltywater Tackle Race Point 250.  It is a joy to fight fish with this rod and works the stickbaits nice too.  This fish was designed by Paul and Sami of Saltywatertackle.com to cast big bluefins but it works like a charm for GT as well.

For jigging I was using the Valley Hill Maori Spirits (the spinning version of this rod is called the Mogi Special).  I hooked a nice big fish (probably big grouper) but reefed me before I had a chance.  This rod has landed big bluefins but is also great for whatever you might catch jigging in the south pacific, like big doggies. 
For my light casting I had a Smith KGS 70H, although I didnt use it much.

As for some of the other rods that were being used on the boat, I dont have all the exact models, but we had Smith Tokara 60, Carpenter, Ocean Revolution, HOTS and Shimano,   

[Robert Tapert]

As i said great  pictures and a nice video.. someone actually  went to  the trouble to  edit the footage!

what  was the jigs that  got bit best. How heavy was your jigging gear?

did you ever land any  doggies?

[Nathan Cefai]

Good work Evan 

[George Relf]

Great report and trip Evan. Maybe one day for me 

The fish in pic 1607. Is that some type of mackerel? Weird looking tail on that thing.

You have some nice colours on the poppers & skipjacks. Are they homemade poppers at all or bought like that?

Cheers

[Martin Gundersen]

My main rod I was using was a Ripple Fisher since it was nice and stiff to cast and pop big poppers; although like I said a warning you have to be in good shape to fight big GT's with a stiff rod, especially at the end of the fight when the fish is below the boat. 

Thanks for the info.

Witch one of the RF rods where you using?