Introductions :: Who Are You?

[Jay Burgess]

Cheers for the info Geoff, Christmas island sounds like it may be a better option.

Will be sure to post a report from the Rowleys when I get back, stay tuned.

[Geoff Anderson]

Christmas I (indian ocean) would be tops but from what i have heard it's all boat work. at cocos you WILL get shots at good size fish from the shore and there is still the opton of the charter. good luck on your trip.   

[Mark Lewis]

Hello all,

name is Mark Lewis but on most fishing forums I go by "hatidua".  I got back into fishing a while back as a diversion when the weather wasn't good enough to be shooting photos.  I photograph tropical imagery around the world for a living and found that there was little to do on cloudy days, hence the return to fishing after a long absence.  Well, one thing led to another and now I shoot fishing on even the sunny days for clients ranging from Garmin electronics, Sage fly rods, Orvis, Patagonia, and a host of fishing magazines as well as fishing equipment companies.

I split my time evenly between Florida where I keep my boat, and Colorado where I shovel snow.  Additionally, I travel internationally quite frequently to the Indian Ocean and South Pacific as well as closer to home (Mexico and Caribbean).

Although I currently live in the United States, I grew up in Southeast Asia (Philippines and Singapore) so that part of the world feels as much like home as anywhere.

That about covers it/
mark 

[Greg Burt]

Hi Mark, good to see you on this site, I have seen how active and helpful you are in the US forum with your posts on many topics and you will see  some familar names and face's here . I question if you don't mind, where does the name 'hatidua' come from?
 Catch you
  Greg 'GPB'

[Mark Lewis]

I question if you don't mind, where does the name 'hatidua' come from?

First off, the name "mark" is obviously already taken on every conceivable web forum, so that was out.  So, back to the origin of that one...  I've spent a lot of time in Southeast Asia and found it interesting how in Malay/Indonesian, a word is repeated twice for emphasis.  For instance, "selamat pagi" means good morning, and pagi pagi means that it's really early morning.  Well, while riding around in Java one day, I see all these caution signs that would normally say "hati hati"  (careful, but said twice for emphasis) and they didn't have enough room to write out both words.  Instead, they simply wrote "hati2".   As such, I would often tell my wife when she would step out for errands to "hatidua" (hati and then the word for two: dua).  Mind you, even the Indonesians had no clue what this crazy American was trying to say, but it has consistently been a username on web forums that isn't taken and kind of stuck now.  I've tried to explain it to Indonesian friends and they merely shake their heads at me.  Too much Bintang apparently.

[Greg Burt]

Top one Mark, the name intrigued me, I new a one off name like that wasn't plucked from the air so to speak, I think I now know how to pronounce it properly .

[Eric Tai]

Howdy all!

I am Eric from Perth,

I've off the fishing scene for a number of years now. I used to spend most of my free time fishing the local marina rock walls and swan river, but once I graduated from university and started working fishing sorta dropped off the radar.  I can't remember the last time I've caught a decent fish... 

Fortunately, hope is in sight!

The wife decided that after my postgraduate exams in September we should go on a fishing trip and she booked us in on a Nomad trip to Marion Reef! 

I must admit we were a bit shocked when the staff at Bluewater tackle Myaree asked us whether we had start some weight training in preparation for the trip ! 
The lures they advised us to get are bigger than alot of the fish I've caught!

September is going to be interesting!

I look forward to learning a few tips from the forum.

[Brandon Khoo]

Hi Eric

welcome to the site. If the limit of your fishing experience is mainly estuary fishing, you're going to find the kind of fish you encounter out there a different kettle of fish (literally!). Big reef fish can pull like hell and that is before we get to fish like GTs and dogtooth tuna.

If this is going to be sort of like a once only trip or a once in a blue moon trip, don't go rushing out and spending a fortune on gear. Nomad provides very decent equipment for your use and you can purchase just about any tackle item you need out there on the mothership. You can also use their lures on a lose it and pay basis. There's little point buying a huge collection of poppers and other lures you may not use again.

The lures I would suggest you take along are small stickbaits around the 60g size and some taikibura jigs in the 100 to 150g mark. The Taikiburas are very effective but you probably need to upsize the hooks on them. Don't go buying a heap of huge poppers and stickbaits as these are expensive and if you find the really heavy stuff unappealing, they will get little use. Soft plastics are also good for the reefies but again, you can get these on the boat. If you do want to take some along, look for things like the gulps in the six inch sizes and get jig heads around the 100g mark (at least). Finally, get a few big minnows for trolling like Rapala X-Rap 30s.

Good luck and have a good trip!

Howdy all!

I am Eric from Perth,

I've off the fishing scene for a number of years now. I used to spend most of my free time fishing the local marina rock walls and swan river, but once I graduated from university and started working fishing sorta dropped off the radar.  I can't remember the last time I've caught a decent fish... 

Fortunately, hope is in sight!

The wife decided that after my postgraduate exams in September we should go on a fishing trip and she booked us in on a Nomad trip to Marion Reef! 

I must admit we were a bit shocked when the staff at Bluewater tackle Myaree asked us whether we had start some weight training in preparation for the trip ! 
The lures they advised us to get are bigger than alot of the fish I've caught!

September is going to be interesting!

I look forward to learning a few tips from the forum.

[Eric Tai]

Sounds like sensible advice Brandon. I'll keep an eye out for these items.

[Steve Antos]

Hi Guys

My name is Steve Antos and I am a self confessed fishing nut!!!! Whether it be fishing for whiting with my son, or chasing billfish of Cape Moreton and Point Lookout.  From the above you can see that I am Brisbane based.

I absolutely love getting my arms ripped off deep water jigging, but have not yet had any luck in hooking up to a GT whilst popper fishing.

This looks like a great website and will enjoy sharing stories along the way, maybe I can even post a pic of my first GT when I actually catch one.

Look forward in talking to you all.

[Mick Cunningham]

Hi Guys

My name is Steve Antos and I am a self confessed fishing nut!!!! Whether it be fishing for whiting with my son, or chasing billfish of Cape Moreton and Point Lookout.  From the above you can see that I am Brisbane based.

I absolutely love getting my arms ripped off deep water jigging, but have not yet had any luck in hooking up to a GT whilst popper fishing.

This looks like a great website and will enjoy sharing stories along the way, maybe I can even post a pic of my first GT when I actually catch one.

Look forward in talking to you all.

Welcome steve to this forum .
i hope you will find every thing you need from this forum .
good to see that your,re from brisbane so am i
good lucky to your first catch  .
maybe we can fish someday .

mick <"((><

[Chris Ohta]

Howzit & Aloha GT Popping Gang,
     My name is Chris, some call me Critter, and I am from Oahu, Hawaii.  I love to fish! I am involved in the Moi/Papio Tag & Release program.  I mostly baitcast or whip for Moi (pacific threadfin) and Papio, but have recently been bit by the Popping Bug. 
     This year on the 4th of July, I decided to try out some plugs when I went fishing.  I have a 13ft Nitro graphite w/Stradic5000 (40lb.Power Pro)that I was trying to use, and after about 30-40 mins. my arm was about to fall off.  I took a break and started catching some baitfish. 
     After a couple hours, the sun was starting to set so I borrowed a 8'6" Shimano Clarus from my Uncle (w/my reel) and set out with the plugs again.  I was plugging from the sand and rocky shoreline for about an hour and decided to change my plug to a Hydro Popper (blk/redhead).  2o minuets later I saw 2 big splashes and Wham! I thought the pole was about to break in half.  My 1st ulua, a 15lb. Omilu(pic incl). My heart was pumping, it was so exciting to see the whack and strike of the Omilu.  I was a little lucky, being that I went 40lb. braid straight to the plug, and the Omilu didn't take off to the outer reefs and reef heads. I included a picture of a dead whale, showing the kind of grounds I was fishing.
     Anyway, now I have been trying to learn about this exciting style of fishing, so I can hopefully one day land a 40+lber. I can see that most of you are fishing from boats for the Big Boys, but hopefully I can learn about some techniques and tips on gear to be able to apply it to the kind of fishing I do (smaller game, Oahu no more too much Big Game from shore.)  I have already picked up some tips on knots (midknot--gotta practice more), when to use the different types of lures, and am slowly finding out how $$ this style of fishing is.  Taking it slow and steady...


T&R
Mahalo,
Chris

[Laurent Thiriet]

hi
my name is laurent
i forgot to start by this post, sorry
i am a 27 years old beginner popping and jigging fisherman from new caledonia
many people in my familly have boats but they mostly fish "eatable" fishes
game fishing and catch and release is not known a lot ...
i started popping when a morning, from the coast, fishing squids i saw a huge GT, a really big one!!
i baught magazines and realized that i was in one of the popping paradise destination!!!!
in one year i came from my little okuma combo to the new shimano gt special rod with saltiga reel. My credit card steel remembers
i have a lot to learn and it is really interresting
then i learnt that jigging at full moon nights is great!
on the other fishing forums my name is "lolo98800"

[Jim Squibb]

Hi everyone
My name is Jim and i'm from Bathurst NSW.
I am a long way from any Gt's here but am going to have
ago at catching a few in may 2009. Going to kenn and wreck reef for 10 days.I will get around to asking for
some advice on some tackle after i have finished
reading every ones posts,i have all ready found lots of helpfull information. looking foward to talking to you all.

Thanks Jim

[Ben Rutkin]

Hey All,

My name is Ben, I live in Cairns, but hail from the fishing mecca that is Gove.

Unfortunately, having left Gove for boarding school in Brisbane at the ripe age of 13, have never fished the place seriously with the exception of a few trips during school holidays.

I now live in Cairns and get out with the lads as often as the weather permits.

I would have got to meet Aaron C, but he's too slack to go to the upcoming wedding in Port Douglas.  Im sure I'll cross his path before too long.

Over.