30lb is very much borderline. I'd go heavier if possible and go heavier again on a good quality leader. GTs will try to make a meal of most things, they love lures, especially big poppers.

 ...excellent gear for salmon, tailor, perhaps some metro bottom bashing. BUT....even a modest GT will rip it out of your hands and smack you over the head with it!

Have never done this sort of fishing but all you have to do is read up on some of the experiences of Pilbarabrad, Jay Burgess, Kasey and a few of the other popping gurus on here. Oh, and 30 lb braid? May as well use it for dental floss up there...PE8 gear, with high end rods and reels and leaders testing up to 200 lbs is the norm for large, very powerful fish living in shallow, bommie filled habitats.

 Thanks, looks like i should probably upgrade, lol

 Haha how do you know it won't be 30kg? Anyway depends where you are, if you can get it away from structure you might land it.  We had no luck with gts at whitsundays. Got a few macks and stuff without much effort. 

Are you chartering a boat, or landbased? Can maybe give you some basic  tips. We chartered a cat for 6 days was a pretty cool trip. 

 Even a small GT will really be hard with 30Lb. Having a good skipper to run it down when it has stripped most of your line off will help along with a massive amount of luck not running the line across any reef.

I hooked a pretty big one with 40Lb mono years ago from the beach and it took 45min, and a lot of running up and down, to land it. I was knackered and so was the fish. Took another 15min to revive it before it limped away but it would have been shark bait if there was any around.

 How will 50lb braid work for some GT, and also, where are the best and most productive spots in the Whitsundays.

Thanks

 Hey robert1979,

we are chartering a boat, it looks like you know what you are doing, this is our first time, do you have any tips, we are chartering a monohull for 5 nights.

 how will 60lb braid work, i have heard it is fine, just need some confirmation

Fishing the Islands 30lb will suffice and be a good all rounder.
Plenty of other species to target which will take a topwater presentations.
Daydream Island jetty holds some nice GT's at times but don't expect to win to many battles.
100 -150 shock leader PR knot will help.

Good Luck

 Thanks Longcast,

how big of a gt would you say 30lb braid would be able to handle without the line snapping, not breaking on the reef

Lots of factors there mate.

How good are your knots, how well is the braid packed on your spool is it tight, is your drag smooth.

Check out Paulsjustfishing.com for line strengths and the best knots to tie to maintain consistent strength to your point of attachment on your lure.

Get all that right first and your half way there.

The other 25% luck and the other 25% good angling that be you.

Your line and rod is equivalent to your stick bait/popper you will be using.

I have some friends that fish 8 weight set ups in that area and have accounted for some nice GT.

Plenty of Queenies and Brassies in and around the Island.

If you want a decent GT give Ash a call at Seafever sportsfishing ASAP to book a spot we have got some nice ones while aboard, but that is out on the Reef.

Night time is also good for small tarpon cool fun on light gear.

It is truly a light tackle mecca don't expect to catch the record book just enjoy your fishing and take in the scenery of the Whitsundays.

 We trundled around on a cat doing about 7knots and pulled lures whenever we were on the go.  Especially through passages, between the islands and along reef edges.  Mainly successful with deep divers.

There is a book called 100 magic miles,  worth getting hold of before you go. Heaps of good info, including a short section on fishing. Also good idea to get the latest info on bag limits and various exclusion zones.

We didn't do much reef fishing. Gear wise we ran 10kg mono.like others said 30lb braid will be decent all rounder. We took a couple of 30lb braid outfit.  Wire trace is not a bad idea if you want to target macks.  

Some of the snorkeling was really good, I can try and find our itinerary and send you it to give you an idea of where we went. We tried to get onto a mooring each night as it can get windy and didn't feel to confident on anchor overnight.to do that you need to get to a mooring pretty early in the arvo. 

 thanks robert,

it would be appreciated if you can send me a pic of that itinery if you can, thanks

 Hey guys,

I used to run the Sunsail sailing school on Hamilton Island before they moved to Airlie. Spent all my downtime (and some of my uptime ) chasing GT's around the islands. Plenty of them there if you know where to look! Happy to point you in the right direction or give you some charter reccomendations (where to go / not to go), PM me.

The average size is sub 20kg but that there are some beast about. I used to run 50lb with a 12' wind on of 80 mono. Dont bother with FC....

Coral trout around the islands is another untapped fishery.. LOADS of them if you know where to look.

Oh and if you need a skippper with local knowledge...