New Caledonia fishing for big GT'S

[flat rock]

Hey there guys i recently just went to new caledonia 2 weeks ago this time mainly concentrating on big GT'S...We managed some Big fish to the 55kg mark and plenty of fish from the 25kg mark to 40kg..The tuna fishing there is insane with heaps and heaps of school yellowfin and having a great time catching them on large 300g poppers...Leading up to the full moon towards the end of the week we had big schools of fin from 30kg to at least 80kg leaping out of the water and ben from windsor bait and tackle hooked up to a atleast 60kg YFT and i managed to watch this fish leap 6ft out of the water with the popper in his mouth stipping 130lb tuff line 300m off in no time,it went rite down to the backing of the Saltiga 6000 and the started to swim with us but unfortunetly the sharks go in to him 300meters down and it was all over and was managed to catch on video camera...We hooked heaps of dogtooths but didnt managed to stop most of them due to them beating us to the reefs and also getting sharked...We didnt hook to many coral trout at all,it was mainly shut down to all the coloured fish but for the humble GT they were everywhere,i managed a 45kg GT of a sand island where all Mutten birds breed and belive it or not the GT'S hand around the island to feed on the baby mutten bird which dont make it off the island at all...Maurie wrasse do the same thing...My mate managed a big wrasse on 50lb braid and on a popper which i let him borrow the bugger...I had my chance at a sailfish which chased my nomad stick bait,he had a few swipes at it but thats all i could get out of the saily...WE seean MASSIVE GT'S to atleast 70kg so david and ruddy said which are the skippers but just were under gunned with 130lb braid...On the first day we straightend 7/0 9/0 and 10/0 Owner jobu hooks and ST66 Trebles and as we showed the boys befor out first day they called our hooks and braid bubblegum...they said we needed a mininum of 130lb braid and from what happened on the first day i can definetly say we were under gunned to the boys were kind enough to give us a fare bit of 130lb Tuff line and Decoy 12/0 and 13/0 trebles which were much better... i went there with river2sea dumbells and they laughed at them and said they were rubbish and the wire which goes threw them will pull threw on the strike of the fish so i pulled out some fisherman japanese poppers and they said thats what we gotta use and that what we mostly got our fish on i went there with around 15 japanes poppers and come back with one:1yikes:...I went there with 20 deepwater jiggs and come back with 2,from loosing them to wahoo,spanish mackeral which were bloody huge to 45 kg and also to sharks and of course doggies busting us off...Any questions please dont hesitate to ask...

The out fitts that i had were:
Shimano Stella 20000 with 100lb braid,a custom japanese Ripple fisher rated to 100lb for jigging..
Saltiga dogfight with 130lb braid with a custom fisherman rated 80lb to 100lb for popping..
Shimano Stella 8000 with 50lb braid with a Saltiga 80TN popping rod rated to 60lb for small pelagics and inner reef fish..
Daiwa Certate with 30lb with a G loomis Greenwater for mangrove jacks and all the smaller reef species...

I have pics in my album but ill chuck some up just below..
Cheers nath

[sclark3]

Epic stuff m8..Im off with Nomad boys next year cant wait and your article didnt help my patients

[Krust]

Wow that big blue fish looks pretty intriguing... What is that?

[xtosea]

Awesome truly awesome i been waiting for this report!
Kamil

[BONECRUSHER]

nice one, they are freaking massive GTs

[flat rock]

That blue big lipped mumma is a maurie wrasse...caught on 50lb braid:scull:

[quintrex101]

bloody ripper fish there mate, well done

[beats]

Toooooooooooo much fun mate! looks like you had an absolute ball.:hellyeah:

[Pukunui]

Great read, Some awesome fish there.
That maori wrass is spectacular.

[catchnrelease]

I hate you....

[leelee]

great report nathan.

I have been waitign for this one as Benno has told me about the trip.

I still can't get over that his big GT was still dwarfed by the others that are around there.

Is there any gear around that can subdue these 70kg+ GTs:tease:

Looks like you all had a ball.

Cheers

Lee

[salty fil]

Now thats a holiday.
Great trip.
Id love to do something like that!

[neilm]

awesome, total insanity.
Where do we sign up?
Great report.
Cheers,
neil

[flat rock]

Mate we hooked up on 130lb braid to some 60 to 70kg GT'S but could stop em but the boys said we need 170lb varivus braid from mr suzuki of from autralian angling...Thats the only chance and u got to get the boat in to drive asap and pull them off the reef mate...Trust me i hooked up to them and they are some seriously powerfull fish man..

[flat rock]

the boys have no reservations till november next year..If u wish to go on a trip like this make sure u go threw your financial controller first,(the wife) cause its big dollers....Thats if u have one boys...Im organising one for next year again,the boys said they will squeeze me in around may...so ill be looking for around 4 people...:scull:

[kingyfisher]

Sounds like you need some straight through multi-strand 300lb wire .....to keep your arms in their SOCKETS

[borisboga]

I am jealus now... wow... very nice fish there...
well done to your efforts mate...

[catchnrelease]

What I don't get is why use 170lb braid? Do you lock up completely, i.e. don't let the fish have any line at all rendering drag useless? If so these are serious fish if they can pop (not bust off, actually pull apart) 130lb braid.

The reason I ask is that even the highest of drag settings is still no where near 130lb so why bother going any heavier?

[xtosea]

Alex its because the area that is fished is only so many metres deep, maybe like 3-6m and you just have to stop the fish and basically tug of war with them til you get them, its pretty much like fishing with rope but you still get done!
Kamil

[Jewman70]

awesome gt's nath, how much does a trip like that cost? that would be an awesome trip 2 do, my brother went on a schoolies cruise to new caleldonia, he said it was awesome there, i can't imagine the fishing..wooow...

[flat rock]

170lb for abrasion and grabing the spool with ur hand and pulling them off..130 kinda dose it but not for the 60 plus kilos...The trip cost $5200 per person man..

[catchnrelease]

So you guys literally lock up the drag. How do the rod's fare with this treatment?

[Jewman70]

with ease? LOL? 5200 thats crazy, but i reckon it would be worth it, i would love to go, but im also saving for a greenhorn snowboarding trip, with some mates to nz..i cant wait!!!!!

[xtosea]

Alex get a copy of the Nomad DVD, you will see how they fish for them. Hook up, locked up drag and back the boat straight up!

Kamil

[flat rock]

Mate these rods can hold up to anything,for example when it come to jigging for big 100+kg dogtooths,amberjacks or samsons or popping for big GT'S nothing beats the brand like for example:
Fisherman
Carpenter
Ripple Fisher
Smith
ZenaQ
Hots...
Most of these rods have a waiting list of 3 months or fisherman for example is a minimum of 8months till u receive it...The waiting list is crazy but the quality of them are amazing...I have a few japanese customs and put it this way i look after them more than the mrs at sometime haha..These rods when it come to popping or jigging are way better then shimano or daiwa...