Why do we love GT Fishing?

[Graham Scott]

There are a few really good topics going on at the moment, Andrew's small GT's he's been finding without assistance, the destinations we get to...and Mark Harris's ridiculous lure collection. This is on top of an issue I have been mulling over for a while about whether I would even enjoy a GT guided trip.
Let me explain,
As I get on a bit older I have sort of changed my view on why I go fishing at all. Sure there's the fun of the catch and the brag photos of a big GT, but is that why we fish, or is it the research and knowledge gained? Is it the destination, is it the raw challenge of something quite difficult, is it companionship...or like Mark is it pure OCD?

If we split it up into a few categories and rate them I would be interested to see other's views

Research knowledge planning.....................................................30%
Working out where the fish will be and getting yourself there....20%
Raising a fish and getting it to strike...........................................30%
Fighting and landing a fish...........................................................20%

So in my case 80% of the fun is over the moment a GT's mouth hits the lure....and I get a lot of satisfaction out of finding and raising fish, so not sure how I'd go on a charter.

Any thoughts?

[Travis Heaps]

I agree Graham - it is generally about all the stuff surrounding the actually capturing of the fish...sheesh, the vast majority of my fishing time is spent thinking about it rather than doing it! 

planning and anticipation - 25%
adventure and being in the location - 25%
seeing the fish - 10%
strike and fight - 15%
successful release - 15%
reliving and looking at photos afterwards - 10%

I know a mate of mine is the same - his first 4 trips went by without actually catching a GT, at this stage he went and bought $4000 worth of GT gear...so it can't all be about the catching!  That doesn't exclude charters for me, but yeah my preference is self guided. 

PS your inbox is full.

[Graham Scott]

Thanks for the tip Travis

[Peter Childs]

Graham

I take a slightly different view of the charter fishing.  I'm fortunate enough to do a lot of fishing in my home waters on a regular basis for short half day trips.  Most days I'm on my own, out of my own boat - which I've got to say adds up to a fair bit of work, but it is worth the effort.

When I look at a charter I see a few real benefits.

1) Being able to fish a place I might never be able to get my own boat to, teaming with fish or not (30%)
2) Meeting new people and seeing new scenery (20%)
3) Stepping off the boat at the end of the day (after drinking a beer on the way back in rather than a steering wheel in my hands) and leaving some other poor soul to the cleaning, refueling and prepping for tomorrow, whilst I have a warm shower and another pre dinner cocktail (% - can't even put a figure on that, lets call it 150%).
4) Learning new fishing techniques and ways of thinking - there is always something to learn from everyone - the lessons from the full time guys are even more valuable (20%)
5) Having the opportunity to focus on a technique, or new piece of equipment, the concentration for which might otherwise be disrupted for a whole bunch of issues.

A sprinkling of charters, is like a true fishermans holiday!  Share it with some great people (whether or not you already know them) in a new location, and its a recipe greater than the sum of the parts........whether you catch fish or not!

[Mark Harris]

Excellent topic Graham. 

I can't deny that there has to be an OCD element in the equipment side of things. However, as I am always joking about that and there is no denial, I guess it is not too strong .

Companionship, and especially helping others, is a big thing for me. I have been lucky enough to be standing with many folks when they have caught their first topwater GT ... that's a great experience. Also helping others out with a few pointers and advice in a forum like this is also rewarding. GT fishing is a fairly complex and ridiculously expensive form of fishing. So any pointers to help others avoid expensive mistakes have to be a good thing.

I am also lucky enough to get a fish a lot as I live so close to some excellent (if very unpredictable) GT grounds.

As for charters, I enjoy getting out to places I would otherwise never visit and meeting new people, and all the research and prep that is involved in such ventures.

I would score your categories as follows:

Research knowledge planning.....................................................35% (includes helping others)
Working out where the fish will be and getting yourself there....15%
Raising a fish and getting it to strike...........................................30%
Fighting and landing a fish...........................................................20%

[Graham Scott]

Peter,
Good points about the charter, plus I see maths is a strong point, like me I always like things to add up to a lot more than 100%
Mark,
Nice point about helping others, when I was doing a few charters it was more fun seeing others get excited about learning and catching a fish rather than catching it yourself.

Other very important point I guess is some of us can do the DIY easily because we live in GT country ( I have seen a 20kg GT 100m from the front door of my house), whereas living a long way away brings the charter option to the fore.

So interestingly "catching" GTs is not the main game (and I thought I was a bit strange)

[Mark Harris]

Raising the fish and getting it to strike is all part of catching.

If GT fishing were just the "pump and reel" bit, I doubt very many people would partake!

[Jay Burgess]

Some excellent points in this thread, there's definitely positives from both guided and self guided trips. Certainly for me though the best times of my life have been with good mates fishing remote parts of the Pilbara on self guided trips - nothing beats it for me. I think that anyone who has never done a self guided trip has really missed out. I also think that it can give you a certain 'edge' or level of experience that can be difficult to attain if you've only ever done guided trips.

[Ben Furness]

I would have to say research and anticipation would have to make up 75% of the buzz for me.

I would have spent 150+ hours reading and just as much time in tackle stores asking questions and buying gear for my first trip. I think I had spent almost $10,000 on reels, rods and tackle prior to booking the flights.

The rest would make up the final 25%.

Like Mark and a few others I am a huge tackle junkie and researching and obtaining the gear is a huge buzz for me!

[Serge de Bruijn]

Unlike some of you lucky *** the closest GT fishing is a 6 hour flight and some hours of driving from my home so the biggest part of the fun of GT fishing ( or other fishing trips) for me consists of research and gathering the necessary tackle.

I will rely on guided trips as I normally cannot spent the time needed to be well prepared, local knowledge is king.
We did do several DIY trips to Florida over the last years and had great results and I must admit that I love it when the research pays off and we get onto the targetted species.

Next year we are doing a DIY trip to St Brandon as the guided trips are too expensive for our liking.
It is a risk we are willing to take but we expect some decent catches due to the remoteness of the destination.

Organising it is half the adventure, especially when dealing with Mauritian authorities regarding the permits needed:)

After that I will be saving up for a trip with Nomad.

Serge.

[Warwick Joyce]

Some excellent points in this thread, there's definitely positives from both guided and self guided trips. Certainly for me though the best times of my life have been with good mates fishing remote parts of the Pilbara on self guided trips - nothing beats it for me. I think that anyone who has never done a self guided trip has really missed out. I also think that it can give you a certain 'edge' or level of experience that can be difficult to attain if you've only ever done guided trips.

Agree 100% Jay, on a charter there is a high expectation of finding (lots of) fish and if you have never put the hard yards in yourself at some stage you might not fully appreciate how hard the guys running the charter have worked for you.
I would have to say for me 50% in the planning/getting there, seeing/raising fish/watching others land a fish 30% actually landing a fish for myself ranks fairly low but it's always nice to land 1.
I clearly need to do some more thinking about this topic.

[Andre van Wyk]

actually landing a fish for myself ranks fairly low but it's always nice to land 1.
I clearly need to do some more thinking about this topic.

I reckon you definitely need to do some more thinking Warwick!!! 

I have no idea how I would classify my GT obsession to be honest... I think the tackle and preparation certainly is an enormous part of it, and I'd be kidding myself if I said differently... like most of you, I'm pretty tackle obsessed...

The best thing for me about the prepartion, is that unlike a trip, it lasts as long as you want it to.... and its always good.... so it makes up a huge part of what I enjoy.... but I guess one could spend just as much time preparing for a trout trip, or tuna trip... but I don't, I do it for GT's, or the chance at GT's....

SOmething about the act of chasing the Pitbull of the ocean, and for me probably the most beautiful creature that swims, is what does it for me...

I wish I had a video of South African guide Guy Fergusonb, who has been guiding in Mozambique for years, and has fished pretty much every corner of the planet, twice, describing a GT hitting a surface lure.... Guy is a big, larger than life, but pretty chilled guy... but he transforms when describing a GT hit... his whole body conveys the action and the excitement.... its an amazing thing to watch this big chilled guy suddenly come alive and transform, his eyes bulging, limbs contorting... its incredible.... and thats what it is for me and GT's..... my first true GT experience was flycasting to them on the flats of the Seychelles.... watching packs of these beast swarming through water so shallow it doesn't cover their backs, mauling the bonefish I was trying to catch, almost to my feet, and watching their eyes and pec fins come out the water as they annihilate 6lb bonefish is tough to forget, or even begin to start thinking about any other fish in the same way....

No percentage breakdown for me, just plain 100% obsession for the whole package and all it entails....

The cherry on top being the places GT fishing takes you... I don't think any of us would ever say they have fished for GT's in a place that wasn't visually incredible.... and the friends you meet, and get to share these adventures and obsessions with, make it all the sweeter....

Plus my chick thinks its rad that I fish for GT's....  She's never caught one, but she is becoming obsessed with catching one now after 2 years with me.... She reckons GT Fisherman rock... none of that sissy Tuna shit!!! 

[Graham Scott]

So based on some of these comments I think I would really enjoy a charter to somewhere amazing with a bunch of good people and learn a heap of new stuff.

Interesting that the 2 types of approach are quite different, however the overwhelming attraction is the preparation and planning.
Andre, you are a lucky bugger because I am pretty sure most of the rest of us have partners who think we are plain nuts.

Gt's are just on a different level to most other target species, a week ago I went out chasing Nannygai, a high quality bright red reef fish. We were doing Ok with fish up to 13kg, but all the time I was looking at my watch trying to figure out when I would have to explain to the other guys on the boat that I needed to go and chuck a popper at the headland 5 miles away before the run stopped.

[Nathan Tsao]

Hate to rub it in for all of you guys who have to travel so far to find GT's but...

GT fishing for me involves keeping 3 rods rigged and ready to go in the back of my truck at all times. Casting for an hour before work in the morning. And then maybe walk fifty meters behind my work to make a few casts on lunchbreak. Followed off by an afternoon of surfing/GT fishing until sunset.

Even though our hawaiian fishery isnt as good as many places around the world, we can still raise good amounts of big fish during the peak season. The best feeling is landing a fat GT before work in the morning. It's the only civilized way to start your morning. Better than coffee!

I suppose in my unique case the most important factor of GT fishing for me, is to tap into rhythm of the ocean and find synergy with the fishery. All the gear, and lures, and trips in the world could never equal the feeling of being connected to fish in your own backyard.
   

[Warwick Joyce]

Ok so after 24hrs of grinding gears in the ole noggin about this subject I still haven't come up with a percentage answer.
I guess my first call of 50% planning and getting there is because it forms the biggest part of the process and the anticipation/excitement sticks in my mind.

So I asked myself, what makes that anticipation and excitement so high? The answer I kept coming back to was the memory of my first GT trip, on the reef with glassed out water and schools of fusiler showering over bommies as far as we could see, casting a popper into them and seeing it get monstered by a pack of GT wolves.
I think I only landed 1 GT that day and lost 4 lures. Cue the spending spree!

All of my long range trips have been planned around chasing GT's, all other species are just by catch or something to do while the GT aren't biting!

Maybe its all about that explosive hit on the surface? I've jigged up a couple of GT's before but it's not the same. Give me the same fish hitting a popper in 5m of water and its a whole different rush!

As you can see I have made it as clear as mud!