BIG GT’s, GROUPER AND GIANT BARRACUDA SET OFF 2018-19

It is always a great feeling to have the first group of the year arrive and get started with a new season. The area is well rested and new fish have come onto the reefs and the drop-offs. The skippers are also all raring to go and get some fish, in particular, Geets, landed for our clients. To kick off the 2018-19 season we had the brothers Sultan and Ahmed, along with their friend Khaled, join us for what was their first trip away from home, to go after GT’s. The guys had carefully done their research and had come well kitted-out with a great selection of tackle and we could not wait to get started.

Heading out on the first day of the new season we managed to get them off to a good start with a lot of topwater and jigging action. Smaller Geets regularly crashed the lures and we landed fish up to the 20-kilo mark on day one and the guys got a sense of what the action was going to be like. The jigging also turned out to be hot, with plenty of species and a few runaways that set the tone for rest of the trip nicely.

Heading out to a different area we got into a great topwater bite and had plenty of action with lots of the smaller GTs around and a few big ones coming in as well. For the day we had the two biggest fish come in at 26kg and 20 kg while there were a few bigger ones that dropped after the hook-up, which was disappointing. We had a few treble hooks open up, as well as deformation on the CB-One split rings which had to be changed. The guys wanted to land a dogtooth tuna which we also managed for them. They tried their hand at light jigging which produced some great action including a 10-kilo GT on PE 1.5 and an 8-kilo Dogtooth. We had a happy bunch that ended the day with over a score of GT’s and lots of species added to the list.

Pushing further, we ran into a bit of dirty water which was surprising because it must have been stirred up by some natural conditions. Currently the waters are so clean you can see the bottom in 25 meters, which is incredible. Deciding to give it a try, we soon found there were a few predators lurking the area, with the Megabass Flip Flop being annihilated by a Giant Barracuda. A short while later the Fish Trippers lure did their job on a big grouper in shallow water that really gave Sultan a tough fight to land. Both the barracuda and the grouper were awesome specimens to land on a first trip.

With two days to go we fished another area and here Sultan had a huge bite followed by a hook-up with a big GT. The fish took off and all of a sudden, the hooks pulled. Looking at the lure when it came in, we saw that the fish, by sheer brute force, had broken the Amegari Dzanga centre wire, opened both hooks and deformed the split rings; the rear hook – a BKK 7/0 – and the 250lb CB-One rings were deformed. Some fish are just not meant to be landed. The jigging produced an insane session, with the guys losing nearly all their jigs and the defining moment of the day was when Khaled was completely spooled on PE#3 in literally a few seconds, an experience to be had by every angler at least once.

Khaled had said his target for the trip was a 40-kilo fish and we assured him we would try, so off we went on the last day of the trip. After changing a few locations, we came to an area where the current was running off the drop off. Sure enough, in a few casts the Fish Trippers lure did the trick again and Khaled had a singing reel. We knew it was a good-sized fish and after a nice fight we landed a great GT. It pulled the scales to the 35-kilo mark and was quickly released after a few pictures. We continued in the area and sure enough Khaled had another big bite from a big GT. On this one he set the hooks into and it took off; it kept going and going and as sometimes happens – more often than not – the hooks pulled. After a few more fish we called the day on a great first trip of the 2018-19 season and a bunch of happy anglers with plenty of stories to tell.

Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for more updates.

Till next time,
Tight lines,
Team GFA

Tackle Used

Popping Rods: Ripple Fisher Final Spirit GT 79, Ripple Fisher F-Stick GT82 LC Nano, Ripple Fisher Aquila 7-11, MC Works, Zenaq Tobizo 110

Popping Reels: Shimano Stella, Diana Dogfight

Lures: Amegari Dzanga, Blue Marlin, Reefs Edge, FCL, Here Cubera, Feed Pin 150, Evergreen True Diver, Mega Bass Flip Flop

Jigging Rods: Poseidon, Hearty Rise, Zenaq Twitch 2FS632

Jigging Reels: Shimano Stella, Twinpower and Vanquish
Jigs: Metal Jack

Species Caught: Giant Trevally, Bluefin Trevally, Gold spot Trevally, Coral Trout, Twin Spot Snapper, Dogtooth Tuna, Barracuda, Green Jobfish, Grouper, Rosy Jobfish, Long Nose Emperor, Rainbow Runner