Well today the tides were really big so I figured it would be a good chance to head out and do some serious GT fishing. I was fairly excited becuase the tides were good, weather was good and the spot I had chosen was renowned for having heavy tide rips and showed a lot of potential.

Glenn was armed with a custom G-Loomis 15kg spin stick and a Saltiga Z-4500 with 40lb line. I had my new Carpenter SP-78H-SHP and my Stella 20000FA with 80lb line.

When we first got there we cut a few laps around the small island to suss out a likely spot. We put in a couple of drifts but we soon realised that it was useless as the tide was moving so fast we barely made 2 casts before we were out of range.

The water was shallow so anchoring was the better option. We anchored close to this small reef complex that consists a group of bommies that come out of 7m of water with channels between them.

It didn't take long before we had some interest but they were only smalls trevs and they weren't hitting the poppers, just following them. Then after about 5 minutes Glenn had a big GT shadow his popper all the way to the boat and then at the last possible minute the GT hit.

We knew he was seriously undergunned but he managed to apply a fair bit of stick with the 40lb and since the fish hit the lure so close to the boat he already had a serious advantage. Unfortunately the hooks pulled witch was dissapointing as he had a pretty good chance of landing the fish. We estimated it to be about 20kg.

The Dumbell lure had some serious damage. Looked like it was almost bitten in half.

Glenn hooked up to the first GT

A few casts later Glenn had another strike from a 20kg+ GT but it didn't hook up. On the next cast a MASSIVE GT that dwarfed the first one hit and hooked up. It was all over in 4 seconds. Glenn never had a chance.

Meanwhile, I hadn't had much interest on the pencil popper I was using so I switched to the same as what Glenn had been using. It didn't take long and I hooked a small GT about 10-12kg. Unfortunatley our lines tangled during the fight and I lost the fish.

It went a bit quiet so we moved around to the other side of the small reef complex we were fishing. On about my 3rd cast it happened. A Volkswagen sized black GT materialised behind my popper and had a good swipe but failed to hookup, on the second go he made sure he didn't miss it.

Line ripped from my Stella like no tomorrow so I cranked the drag until I had as much as I felt comfortable hanging on to. I started to gain control and managed to turn it's head. I started gaining line and then he got me on a smaller bommie that was between the boat and the bigger bommies. My 100lb twisted leader was ripped to shreds.

Me hooked up to a 25kg+ GT

While I was tying my bimini to re rig Glenn started popping with a big blooper. I never saw the fish but I saw the splash as I looked up to see Glenn frantically wind the popper to avoid hooking up to another monster. Glenn said it was easily the biggest so far and would of pushed 30kg.

Some of the GT's were so big you hope that you don't hookup because you know it's just going to cost you more gear.

Glenn changed to a little Classic Popper and he hooked a nice little Big Eye trev, one of the few fish we managed to land.

After a frantic session that would have lasted around an hour and a half they went off the bite as it neared the top of the tide. We hooked about 6 GT's the smallest being about 12kg and the biggest around 30kg.

We decided to head out a bit wider and chase some bottom fish. Glenn got a nice Chinaman and we got smoked by some big Goldens before we had to high tail it back due to the wind picking up.

It was a wicked day that was just non stop action and the GT fishing was mind blowing. I will never doubt that there's 40kg+ GT's in the archipelago now. We'll be heading out again for another crack tomorrow, this time hopefully we land one!