After a good nights rest we woke to light winds and an amazing sunrise. Due to forecasts for strong wind in the afternoon we decided to get away slightly earlier at 0700 so at o705 I went and woke John… he must have had an alarm clock malfunction…? I reckon he was dreaming about GT after GT after GT we were to boat in the coming morning session?
Now that we have all 3anglers on board we head off, John still wiping the drool from his mouth as he stepped on board. Perhaps this was a morning for sleep ins as there were no birds on the water on our way out so it was straight into casting poppers for GT’s.
First cast and a massive Spanish Mackerel leaped from the water with Nev’s popper cutting the 130lbs leader like it was a thread of cotton. Fortunately Nev only fishes barb less hooks so we were able to retrieve his lure when it came to the surface, with this in mind if you ever get cut off and you know your lure floats its worth searching the area for a few minutes as they often dislodge and float to the surface saving you $$$.
With a few solid fish boated we changed tactics and hit a few broken bommies where there was good current movement. We could see the bait all over the surface as we arrived so knew we were in for it. First cast and John is hooked up after a pack attack from half a dozen or more GT’s, Line peeling of his Stella 8k like it was a trout fishing set up.
Cast after cast we were hooking up to GT after Gt after GT… I was stoked to hear ” I love this place” come from John as he hooked up yet again, I think we landed a dozen GT’s from one stretch of reef no longer than 150m. Along with a couple of Bluefin Trevally and 3 sharks it was an action packed couple of hours before the wind picked up and we headed for home.
Opting to take the scenic and much calmer route home gave Nev a chance to get a couple of icy cold Fiji Babies down his gullet while John and I threw around a few good old fishing stories. Another GREAT day out on the water.
Before I call it a wrap Neville kindly listed the tackle used on this trip so you know what to bring for YOUR next trip with Half Cast Charters.
Popper Outfit.
Rod : Carpenter Monster Hunter H 80/40.
Reels :Shimano Stella 20000FA with two spools.
First spool had Varivas PE10 GT Max (which equals 130lb ) with a Varivas 200 lb leader.
Second spool for that reel was Sufix 832 PE 8 (which is about 80/100lb) with a 150lbJinkai leader.
Second Reel was ,
Shimano Stella 14000 XG spooled with Varivas PE8 GT Max with a 150 lb Jinka leader.
Poppers included,West Coast Poppers 120 gm Montebello in Pibara sun colour,
125 gm Cubera in Red,(the bug)
150’gm Orion T-Rex in Orange,
The “Baker” rig was used for all poppers,
It consisted of,
2 x Owner SJ41 11/0 hooks on the belly and a 9/0 Jobu on the tail.Split rings were Owner No 11,.
The Baker Rig was developed by Tim Baker a Nomad Guide (one of the best they had) who came up with
this idea as an alternative to trebles. Brandon from GTpopping was one of the first to use is ,was happy with it so he named the rig after Tim Baker,
It is now quiet famous.
My Stickbait outfit is as follows,
Rod : Carpenter TBL (the blue lagoon) 80/40. (80 is the length in inches,40 is a drag calculation.)
Reel : Diawa 6500 H (high speed) ,spooled with Varivas PE8 GT Max 100lb.with a 150 lb Jinka leader.
Stickbaits included,Orion 180 gm Big Foot (sinking),ASWB 130 SS(sinking),
Carpenter 100 gm Blue Fish,Carpenter 160H Gamma.Nomad 125 gm Dog tooth.All surface Stickbaits.
All of the Stickbaits were rigged with the “Baker ” rig with the exception of the 160 Gamma were 7/0
GT recorder trebles were used.
The 100 gm Blue Fish had smaller hooks for it’s “baker ” rig.
The light weight outfit
Rod :Yamaga PE4 Blue Sniper,
Reel: Diawa Catalina 4500 spooled with Sufix 30 lb 832 with a 60 lb Black Magic Leader.
The Stickbait used was a Sebile Stick Shad 114 Sinking.