Hi Guys,
New to the forum and recently new to GT fishing. Thought I would post a quick report of a trip that I did a couple of weeks back resulting in my PB GT caught on surface.
The trip began on a Saturday afternoon three weeks back now that saw myself and Scott Findlater (well known in the barra fishing scene) heading out to an island off the coast of central Queensland. There was minimal run in the tide when we arrived at our first spot at approximately 3:30pm though still managed to get a few raises from what appeared to be GT along with some smaller fish (5kg approx) that appeared to quite dark in colour half-heartedly attempt to take our lures. At the time we were both using poppers (jai Big Head 130 gram in a blue pattern & Black Jack Cubera 150 gram in a red head pattern) though couldn’t manage to get a hook up, Stickbaits were used after a couple of hours but still could not manage a hook up so the decision was made to set up camp for the night and we would try another spot in the morning on first light.
After a terrible night sleep, we both jumped out of the swags in anticipation of the morning ahead. The rods were rigged up ready to go from the evening before (swapping back to poppers) we motored out to the spot which was only a ten minute run from where we camped. It was not long before Scott was hooked up to what appeared to be a decent GT, with the initial hit being in very shallow water PE8 line started to get stripped from the Stella 10,000 but managed to get it clear from the bottom as we motored out into deeper water. It was not long until the fight came to an end and we tailed a nice GT which measured just over 100cm which was released to fight another day after the picture.
Both amped from the first fish of the morning rushed back to the same spot (after drifting a considerable distance) to have another go and try and get something a little bit bigger. However this was not the case and did not raise another fish in the spot. The decision was made to move around to the other side of the island, once again it was not long before and I had something big smashing my popper as it paused on the surface, line got ripped off my reel as though I had forgot to set the drag – heading for danger I cranked up the drag which seemed to have no effect on this fish, some anxious moments passed as I feared the line could break at any point we steered the GT out into open water. After I realised I needed to spend a considerable amount of time doing some more cardio in the gym I had the GT to the surface, I knew it was big but was elated at the size of this thing. Scott grabbed the leader and then the tail of this beast, however after he realised he needed to spend some more time lifting in the gym Scott yelled out to give him a hand getting this GT into the boat. With Scott holding the tail and gaffing the lip of the GT we managed to get the GT in the boat and take a couple of shots, unfortunately I didn’t get a measure on him which would have been good but was concerned that was a bit tired from the fight (considering how stuffed I was) but darted off fine when put back in the water.
All in all a great time out on the water, hopefully get a few more sessions out on the water to get a new PB – will try and include some more details next time! Pics to follow (had trouble uploading)
Cheers,
Allister
