Fiji GT Expedition

Hi All.

The three of us Marinco, Allan and myself recently went to Fiji on a boys only fishing trip in order to catch some GTs. I personally have only caught a small one in fishing pond in Singapore and was impressed by their power and aggression. Marinco have caught a couple while he was in Vanuatu and Allan have never caught one before.
But our lack of experience in catching GT didn't stop us from buying some quality gear as they are well known to destroy tackle. So we came armed with Stella reels, HOTS, Smith and Fisherman popping rods. Not to mention a variety of poppers and stick baits, and heavy duty terminals.

The trip didn't start off well as the charter operator informed us that their game boat 'Bite Me' was having engine issues and will not get fixed by the time we reach there so we settled for a 23 footer center console long boat for our trip. Without the game boat we can only pop and no jigging was to be done.


Getting there is a mission itself as you have to fly from Nadi to Kadavu in a small plane and from the airport you'll have to take a 45 min boat ride to the resort.


A view from the airplane.

One of the clearest waters I've seen


Let's get down to business.
Day 1

Fishing was very slow and we only managed to raise a few GTs. Adrian our skipper for the day was as frustrated as we were. The end result for the day was 1 bust off (dodgy knot by someone who shall remain nameless ) and a pulled hooked by yours truly.


Day 2

We only fished half day in the afternoon as the weather was expected to be rough in the morning.
Things started slow and then Marinco pulled out his magic lure the Sebile Stick Shadd 182, he replaced the rear treble to a single hook and didn't replace the middle hooks at all. First cast and booom !! a GT strikes and was hooked up solid. After a short fight the first GT of the trip was landed
It was only a small fish of ~5kg but at least that raised our morale a fair bit. A fish this size managed to straightened the middle trebles but luckily the fish was hooked up solid to the rear single hook.

first GT of the trip
About 8-10 casts after Marinco was hooked up to another fish and this fish seems larger as it was pulling off more drag and loaded up the rod a bit more. After the fish was landed we realized that this fish was hanging on to 2out of the 3 straightened hooks in the treble if it wasn't for the barb this fish would've won his freedom. This fish was estimated around the ~15kg mark.

Allan managed to raise couple fish on his stickbait (hammerhead cherry pai) but the fish failed to find the hooks on both ocassions. This lure won the "lure of the trip" award as you will see later on.

We trolled on the way back hoping for some tuna but they didn't show up.
At this stage I was thinking that fishing in Sydney is way easier :-)

Day 3
The plan for the day was to fish on the western side of the island and these areas apparently haven't been fished as much. So after a long boat ride we finally reach the stretch of reef.
Allan started the days fishing with his first GT of the trip which is probably the biggest fish of the trip. The fish was estimated at ~30kg and was caught on a craftbait GT3 popper.

me as the cheerleader

I finally managed to hook one up properly, but this fish was taking line and I kept tightening the drag, but this fish kept pulling line and off and after 10 seconds of hookup the line went slack. I thought I was busted off but the lure was still connected to the line. After the lure is retrieved I realized that the rear hook is missing.... WTF .This fish managed to pull the wires of the lures and won his freedom.
I wish I took a picture of the lure but I lost the lure somehere in the resort before I could.

A few more fish were caught by Allan and Marinco which includes a bluefin trevally. These fish were caught on stickbaits.
Day 4

We fished the nearby spots and in the morning only one fish was landed by Allan on his "cherry pai" stick bait.
Another slow day and that was the only fish of the day.
We also saw a spanish mackerel launched itself out of the depth hitting Allan's stickbait and taking a chunk of it away. Unfortunately it didn't find the hooks

Day 5

We ventured to new spots or so called virgin reefs.
Double hookup started the day off,Allan was hooked up first and Marinco saw another fish following Al's fish and he quickly cast behind and resulted in an instant hookup.
Allan was on fire after that and caught a couple more nice GTs. I managed to hook one again and whilst setting the hook, the fish managed to dislodged itself free from the hooks

Another good fish from Al on his cherry pai
Up close
By the end of day 5 I still haven't landed a GT and there's only one more day of fishing.... to say I was frustated is an understatement.

Day 6

We fished around Ono Island on the north east side of Kadavu. And being our last day I was determined and desperate to catch one.
I managed to raise a couple of fish in the morning but they didn't find the hooks. A mackerel of some sort also managed to steal my one of my GT3 popper.

At one point I was casting stickbait and I wasn't paying attention to the lure and all of a sudden the skipper yelled out "Fishhh fishhh !!" I set the hook on this fish and the fight was on. A minute into the fight I managed to lose my footing and at the same time the fish decided to have quick burst. I fell on the deck and nearly got pulled overboard. And the fish won it's freedom again. I was so angry at myself but I didn't give up.

Marinco managed to this black GT that went really hard and he was really buggered after the fight.

Allan hooked his last GT of the trip shortly after that on that magic lure that he's got.
At about 1pm I hooked one again and this time everything came together. the fish stayed on and I was focused and ready and finally land one. I was over the moon and this fish is probably one of my most memorable captures. This is also the last GT of the trip. Not a big GT by any means but I felt relieved to finally get one on the last day.

Popping or surface fishing for GTs is probably more exciting than jigging for kings. Pound for pound comparison,a GT will probably have more aggression when first hooked but I don't think they have the stamina when compared to a kingfish. It's also harder to bring GTs up from the depth since they have such a wide body compared to a king.

The lure of the trip.
Tackle Talk
For those who are interested

Reels:
Each of us were using Stella 18K reels. Spooled with 130lb Varivas GT Max, 100LB tuffline XP, and 120LB FROG Braid.
The only line that wasn't busted off was the 130lb Varivas

Rods:
Fisherman TRSH 7'6" - nice action and easy on the angler during the fight but struggles to cast and work bigger poppers. Excellent on the stickbait.

HOTS Gipang 75XXH - this is Allan's main rod and he was happy with it. I find it rather stiff and very hard on the angler.

Smith Komodo Dragon - Nice action and will cast and work heavier poppers. Downside is that this rod is slightly heavier. I was casting it all day for 5.5 days.

Lures:
These lures managed to get some attention from the GTs some resulted in a hookup some are busted off and lost forever.
Sebile Stickshadd 182 trout colour (stickbait)
Hammerhead Cherry Pai 200 silverish colour(stickbait)
Heru/Nomad or Blackjack Ulua 150 (stickbait)
Tailwalk Gunz (stickbait) - wouldn't recommend this one for GTs and heavy drags based on my experience. The wiring is not up to scratch
CraftBait GT3 190 in Black
Fisherman popper which I can't remember the name.

Hooks:
Owner SJ41 11/0 singles - none of them were bent
Owner Jobu 9/0 - none were bent although the skipper said he's seen some bent and I've seen pictures of them bent
Owner ST66 4/0 - some were bent and some held up
Owner ST76 5/0 - none were bent
Fisherman spinoza jigging hooks - bent
Owner ST56 - straightened !

Swivels NT size 2 and 3-Power Swivel apparently these are the ducks nuts when it comes to swivels.
Owner size 11 split rings.

Leaders:
200LB Black Magic Tough trace connected to the mainline using PR knot.

Fijian Sunrise
Random shots