Kirabati GT's

[Geoff Anderson]

hi all. i was wondering if any of you guys have ever been there chasing them? I am doing a trip there in august with a group of guys chasing bones. i know they get a few off the flats from time to time but i really dont want to chase them over the typical shallow sandy flats with just a slight chance of finding one. i will be shore based and want to target them from the outer side of the island on the reef's edge. (i have had some success fishing Cocos Keeling Islands shore based)  Have any of you guys fished there?  If I need to i will hire a boat but it is a buzz targeting them from the shore.  thanks   

[Mark Gonsalves]

We used heavy duty surf casting rods rated 60-90lb test with both spinning (Stella and Saltiga) and Conventional (Penn 4/0 and Trinidads)reels.  We used bonefish filets and octopus for baits.  These produced quite a few GT, but the largest was only 44lbs.  The guides will know where to take you.  Lots of action (innumerable) of smaller GT 2-7lb spinning with salted calamari strips. For these we used spinning reels in the 3500-4000 size with medium power rods 9-12 feet to get them over the reef.  We had several over 20lbs hooked up with these setups gut the GT always cut us off.

[Geoff Anderson]

thanks for that Mark.
i have a heap of Ocea pencils and Richter plugs for sight casting with in skinny water and light work and a heap of 7seas poppers for the deeper water where a "come here" bloop is needed.just going to take a stella 10k and 20k.(and a custom made 13 weight flyrod with a pacific)

 anyone given it a good bashing with poppers?, i'm not chasing locations, just like to hear other reports.
thanks

[Luke Wyrsta]

thanks for that Mark.
i have a heap of Ocea pencils and Richter plugs for sight casting with in skinny water and light work and a heap of 7seas poppers for the deeper water where a "come here" bloop is needed.just going to take a stella 10k and 20k.(and a custom made 13 weight flyrod with a pacific)

 anyone given it a good bashing with poppers?, i'm not chasing locations, just like to hear other reports.
thanks

Very little conventional fishing has been done there in terms of high-tech spinning/popping techniques for GTs and the like.

I have read a few articles about fly fisherman specifically targeting GTs in the lagoon, mostly seasoned US dudes that have been freaked out by submarines charging them while wading over the last 20 odd years. There was a great Fly Angler story last year by one of these guys.

Having said that Papa Otsura has fished there along with some other Japanese. I am aware of several 55/60kg GTs taken on the outer edge and have heard GTs up to 40kg in the lagoon - I also have heard confirmed reports of AJ's upto 60lb in the lagoon as well.

Find the bait and water movement and you will find success. You will need to stake out on a gutter point or the like and wait for them to pass if fishing with fly - choose your path wisely ahead in time and make the cast count.

I would also be checking out the Korean Wreck - WAVES + BONES = GT GT GT!!!!!!!

[Geoff Anderson]

[Mark Gonsalves]

when we went to Korean Wreck the bonefish were gone, but we caught lots of smaller GT's on 10lb test powerpro.  There were several spots along the way to Korean Wreck where popping with pencils and Yozuri's were possible but my friend, who led us on the trip, said too many large GT's and they always cut you off on the edge.  We were saving our popping gear for the 2 days we spent on the boat.  The grounds for popping from the fingers leading to the reefs edges were nice but not what we were targeting.  We went primarily for catching the GT from the shoreline with the gear I mentioned in my previous post.  We will be returning there in Oct 2009. Hope this helped.

[Geoff Anderson]

thanks again Mark. i just have to hurry up and wait now for August to come around. did you get many/any red bass when you were there?

[Luke Wyrsta]

thanks again Mark. i just have to hurry up and wait now for August to come around. did you get many/any red bass when you were there?

I reckon that Kiribati has more Red Bass than anywhere I have been to. A Red Bass capital. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the Red Bass outnumber the GT on Kirimati. My other exploits over Kiribati had little success with GTs but we had more Red Bass and Coral Trout than we could poke a stick at.

Here's hoping I can get to Canton soon 

[Chris Young]

There is a bunch of local guy's going over in 2 weeks, they are mostly chasing bones but I know at least 3 of them want big GT's. They want to tease them onto the flats to get a shot. The local teasing technique is for the guide to get a boy to run around on the flats making a racket, sounds strange but it works , the GT's come onto the flats to see whats going on  .
Some of the blokes are taking popping gear to have a serious go at them & to try & tease them onto the flats & a waiting fly  .
Last year a friend of mine caught a free swimming sail on fly & quite a few YF tuna.
The local boats are very basic with minimum (if any) safety gear, I know a lot of the fly dudes that go there take spare parts with them for the locals, things like spark plugs, flares & 2 way radios.
For more info check this site .  swoffa.com   It gives you a good idea of what's on offer.

Cheers Chris

[Kenny Tan]

I believe GT of this size are common there.

http://grouperboys.web.fc2.com/photo08/christmas/chri.htm

[Chris Young]

Some great fish there Kenny, I also beleive they are there more than not, so I have sent some poppers over with a mate to leave with the guides so they can explore a bit.
Love those wide angle flats shots

Cheers Chris

[Kenny Tan]

I hope to do a trip there by 2010. But looking for a operator willing to do big game popping and jigging might be the obstacle.

[Kurt de Villiers]

hey hey all,
just got back from CI, what a joint! this place will blow jigging and popping dudes minds! Went over there as part of a fly fishing team but very shortly got destracted with the monsterous geetz on offer. The waters are teaming these "animals" that are willing to destroy anything you throw near them. Fishing out of the local outrigger canoes is a challenge at the best of times, but as we where leaving, news was that there are some 23ft and 30ft fibreglass center consoles arriving very shortly. Purposly for popping and jigging. we dedicated about 2hrs a day, in the late afternoon just popping within 2klm from the resort for 6 days and came up with 17 GT's all over 25kgs. We got 2 GT's at +-40kgs. We only had one popping outfit and only used FULL SCALE poppers rigged with 10/0 decoy barbless singles!!! thanks Crusty! This place is unreal and will deffinatly be returning there in the new year when new boats are up and running.

[Chris Young]

Welcome aboard Kurt

Sounds like you guy's had a great time, I'm glad you put the lures to good use 
 I spoke to a couple of the other guy's this morning . I would have loved to been in the "peanut gallery" when you guy's were taking turns at getting beat up
Thats great news about the new boats, I think it will really open things up for popping & jigging over there.

Cheers Chris

[Kurt de Villiers]

Crusty, you old sea dog,
i prefer the term "CAGE POPPING", the newest extreme sport to hit the scene!