Best timing for popping trips

[Mahmoud Salem]

Hi all

Previously my trips in the red-sea, Egypt were a mix of trolling, live bait, jigging & popping
Until recently trips became more of jigging trips with popping whenever possible(weather, location...)
Now we are trying to focus on popping for GTs, Bohar snappers and other smaller trevallies, with some jigging if bite is not very good

From what I understand, bite is most active with current, current is mostly affected by two factors:
1-lunar phases, strongest at time of new and full moon, varying during the day according to moon position relative to Earth
I usually check http://www.tides4fishing.com for fish activity
2-Current variation with location(I know very little about this)

Usually for trolling we got better results in the days of new moon(generally not GTs or Bohars)

I would really appreciate your advise about which days do you get better bites on topwater, new moon, full moon, in between ....etc, do you try to schedule with solunar high activity, or it is worthless

I totally understand that many other variables influence bite, but as I can't live on water, I'm trying to get the best of the days I can go fishing by well planning in advance

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience
Mahmoud Salem

[Luke Wyrsta]

Mahmoud,

Thanks for posting.

I like to keep things simple these days. I will also focus on full and new moons, with the key being building tides and greater current influence.

In many areas of GT fishing, wind can also be a huge factor in triggering activity, and as such, can be more important than moons. We have found that many locations typically require 5-15knots of wind in conjunction with other factors (current, tide, bait) to really switch on.

You need to start fishing your locations and compiling some data based on tide, moon and wind so that you can determine prime fishing for your areas. Some reefs GT's can be residential and in some cases they can be highly migratory.

Sometimes you really need to go by the adage of "GTs are where they are" and more time spent fishing will result in more catches.

Regards,
Luke