|
Print 
The hunt for GTs with Caranx Kaibutsu
To test the new range of Caranx Kaibutsu popping rods, Shimano chose to carry out their rod field-test in Exmouth Western Australia. Exmouth was selected as the location of choice because of the variety of conditions and environments which different styles of popping can be carried out. The area is also under minimal fishing pressure due to its beautiful and remote ruggedness.
Location
Exmouth is situated 1270km north of Perth in Western Australia. The area is tropical in climate and houses the extensive Ningaloo Reef that stretches for 260km. Evidently, this reef is also home to record sized GTs and while GTs to 40kg have previously been caught there, many bigger specimens have been spotted but yet to be landed.
To test the range of the new Shimano Caranx Kaibutsu popping rods, our team which consists of Kervin Yeow, Tong Chee Hoe (Our Videographer) and yours truly set off from Perth to Exmouth for a 2 week adventure of a lifetime. Hindered by towing a boat, it took us a full 18 hours drive including rest breaks to reach Exmouth. The drive there was arduously long, but the landscape was filled with interesting wildlife sights such as kangaroos, emus, eagles, foxes, termite moulds etc which made the long drive that much more bearable.
Land Based GT action!
When we finally arrived at Exmouth, the sight of the mighty Indian Ocean pounding through the Ningaloo reef system was truly a sight to behold! The azure waters crashed onto the reef, creating a whitewater backwash that was just too inviting for any boat based GT fisherman. Unfortunately popping from the boat was not possible for us; checks with the weather bureau indicated unexpected strong wind warnings that would last the whole of the week and we would have to do all our popping from shore, at least until the winds subsided.
Not to matter, since we already had a game plan, we change our popping style to shore based popping and proceeded to one of our landbased popping spots, the Exmouth Navy Pier. The Exmouth Navy Pier is a pier that juts out into one of the most fishable waters in the world. It acts as a FAD(Fish attracting devices) and is home to a mind boggling array of fish species. It is also home to many GTs and is hence affectionally known as the ‘GT Farm’ by the locals. Trouble was that you have to walk approximately 1km to reach this spot and have to fish 50m away from the pier due to regulations.
After our long walk, we set up our popping gear and both Kervin and me blasted our poppers out parallel to the jetty for our first cast in Exmouth. What happened next took us by surprise, instantaneous double hookups! Even Hoe was unprepared and rushing to get the camera set up to film the strikes. Kervin had a huge surface take with a GT conservatively estimated at over 25kg smashing the popper and creating a boil of whitewater, missing it only to return and engulf the popper again. Upon hookup, the fish ran hard on 12kg drag with the Kaibutsu Long Cast rod loading into a beautiful arc before fanning its broad shoulders and fin on the surface. Alas, the fish suddenly dived and snapped the 150lb leader onto the reef directly below, leaving an obviously disappointed Kervin wondering what went wrong in the battle royale he just had. I was luckier and managed to extract a small Jack to shore on my Kaibutsu Pencil Instrument while still retaining my Ocea Pencil Stickbait.
The next cast I made was a duplicate of the first. One cast, a few twitches of the rod and Bam! Hookup! This time however, the fish threw the hook before I could control it properly. I quickly recast my Ocea Pencil and once again hookup! The same scenario unfolded, 3 strikes in 3 casts, for sure, fishing couldn’t get any better than that!
This time I managed to force and control the fish with pre-measured 10kg of drag off the Stella and drag it away from the Pier while using my gloves to palm the spool to add more drag pressure. I had managed to bring the GT to within 10m from the shore, but just when I thought that I had won the battle, something unexpected happen. A marauding reef shark saw the commotion and went for the Ocea Pencil. As expected, with such battles between GT and shark, the shark was the victor. I was left fighting the shark and managed to bring it to shore despite being worn down by having to fight 2 fish in a single cast. Upon inspection of the lure, I was shocked to see that the 400lb extra heavy duty split ring and hook that I had fitted on the middle of the lure was missing. Somewhere out there a GT is wearing my 400lb split ring and 5/0 hooks as new battle jewellery.
The next few casts saw me hook up and busted off, this time by sharks. As it was getting dark, we packed up and sensibly left the sharks to play their own sinister games.
We fished the area several more times during the week and sadly, the big GTs had gone into hiding within the pylons of the Pier. Kervin managed to land a nice grouper and several more sharks, but we could not coax the big GTs out of their playground like we had managed to on the first day.
Exmouth is situated 1270km north of Perth in Western Australia. The area is tropical in climate and houses the extensive Ningaloo Reef that stretches for 260km. Evidently, this reef is also home to record sized GTs and while GTs to 40kg have previously been caught there, many bigger specimens have been spotted but yet to be landed.
To test the range of the new Shimano Caranx Kaibutsu popping rods, our team which consists of Kervin Yeow, Tong Chee Hoe (Our Videographer) and yours truly set off from Perth to Exmouth for a 2 week adventure of a lifetime. Hindered by towing a boat, it took us a full 18 hours drive including rest breaks to reach Exmouth. The drive there was arduously long, but the landscape was filled with interesting wildlife sights such as kangaroos, emus, eagles, foxes, termite moulds etc which made the long drive that much more bearable.
Land Based GT action!
When we finally arrived at Exmouth, the sight of the mighty Indian Ocean pounding through the Ningaloo reef system was truly a sight to behold! The azure waters crashed onto the reef, creating a whitewater backwash that was just too inviting for any boat based GT fisherman. Unfortunately popping from the boat was not possible for us; checks with the weather bureau indicated unexpected strong wind warnings that would last the whole of the week and we would have to do all our popping from shore, at least until the winds subsided.
Not to matter, since we already had a game plan, we change our popping style to shore based popping and proceeded to one of our landbased popping spots, the Exmouth Navy Pier. The Exmouth Navy Pier is a pier that juts out into one of the most fishable waters in the world. It acts as a FAD(Fish attracting devices) and is home to a mind boggling array of fish species. It is also home to many GTs and is hence affectionally known as the ‘GT Farm’ by the locals. Trouble was that you have to walk approximately 1km to reach this spot and have to fish 50m away from the pier due to regulations.
After our long walk, we set up our popping gear and both Kervin and me blasted our poppers out parallel to the jetty for our first cast in Exmouth. What happened next took us by surprise, instantaneous double hookups! Even Hoe was unprepared and rushing to get the camera set up to film the strikes. Kervin had a huge surface take with a GT conservatively estimated at over 25kg smashing the popper and creating a boil of whitewater, missing it only to return and engulf the popper again. Upon hookup, the fish ran hard on 12kg drag with the Kaibutsu Long Cast rod loading into a beautiful arc before fanning its broad shoulders and fin on the surface. Alas, the fish suddenly dived and snapped the 150lb leader onto the reef directly below, leaving an obviously disappointed Kervin wondering what went wrong in the battle royale he just had. I was luckier and managed to extract a small Jack to shore on my Kaibutsu Pencil Instrument while still retaining my Ocea Pencil Stickbait.
The next cast I made was a duplicate of the first. One cast, a few twitches of the rod and Bam! Hookup! This time however, the fish threw the hook before I could control it properly. I quickly recast my Ocea Pencil and once again hookup! The same scenario unfolded, 3 strikes in 3 casts, for sure, fishing couldn’t get any better than that!
This time I managed to force and control the fish with pre-measured 10kg of drag off the Stella and drag it away from the Pier while using my gloves to palm the spool to add more drag pressure. I had managed to bring the GT to within 10m from the shore, but just when I thought that I had won the battle, something unexpected happen. A marauding reef shark saw the commotion and went for the Ocea Pencil. As expected, with such battles between GT and shark, the shark was the victor. I was left fighting the shark and managed to bring it to shore despite being worn down by having to fight 2 fish in a single cast. Upon inspection of the lure, I was shocked to see that the 400lb extra heavy duty split ring and hook that I had fitted on the middle of the lure was missing. Somewhere out there a GT is wearing my 400lb split ring and 5/0 hooks as new battle jewellery.
The next few casts saw me hook up and busted off, this time by sharks. As it was getting dark, we packed up and sensibly left the sharks to play their own sinister games.
We fished the area several more times during the week and sadly, the big GTs had gone into hiding within the pylons of the Pier. Kervin managed to land a nice grouper and several more sharks, but we could not coax the big GTs out of their playground like we had managed to on the first day.
Popping along the Ningaloo Reef System
Fortunately for us, the winds died down and finally we could make our way out to pop the Ningaloo Reef by boat. The Ningaloo Reef runs along the coastline of Exmouth and protects the lagoon from the harsh and wild Indian Ocean. Inside the lagoon, all manner of placid marine life can be found in the relatively calm water, but once outside the reef, you will be thrown into hoodlum territory. Big GTs, cobia, huge Mackerel, Wahoo, Marlin and Tuna constantly patrol the waters outside the reef and are all fair game on popping gear if you are lucky.
The boat launch in itself was an adventure in itself and we got to see an amazing array of marine life as we walk the boat out to deeper waters. Once we are out of the lagoon, Kervin and I took turns popping and steering the boat. The modus operandi was to drive the boat right up the where the waves crash into the reef and cast our poppers into the whitewater. Should we have a hookup or a big wave approaching, we would then drive the boat away from the dangerous reef area so that we can fight the fish safely. This style of fishing is exciting, physically demanding and tricky as we had to constantly watch the sea, find our balance and fish all at the same time.
Seeing that the water was very choppy, I opted for the sinking 18.5cm Ocea Pencil to give me the advantage of more visibility by having the lure hang slightly deeper underwater beneath the waves, this decision was a wise one and soon paid off. Being skeptical at first as I was usually more used to using conventional chuggers for GTs, I launched the Pencil to where the reef was. I would have gone not more than 5 casts between hookups with this amazing stickbait! When the waves crashed onto the reef, I gently twitched the Pencil to the ledge of the reef and sat it there for a few seconds before twitching it again. Usually that was all it took to get a spectacular crashing hit from the GT that patrol under the reef ledge.
Kervin and I tried switching to a convention chugger but could only draw minimal strikes which did not elicit the same aggressive takes as with the Ocea Pencil. So once again I swapped back to the magic lure of the trip. During a fast paced 2 hour period, we had hooked and landed around 6 decent GTs and an obese 8kg Mack Tuna, whilst missing a couple of strikes each as well. One of the larger GTs was trickier and had me dipping my rod into the water as it tried to bust me off under the boat, but luckily I managed to turn its head with the Kaibutsu Pencil Instrument I was using. Imagine my surprise when that particular fish came out; it had a sizable chunk near the anal fin that was previously bitten off presumably by a shark. Despite this, its wound had healed completely and the fish showed no signs of being handicapped with the great fight it put up; GTs truly are tough piscatorial adversaries!
The fishing we had over the next two days mirrored the one we had on the first day. We had a couple of reefings when the GTs decided to head home prematurely, but generally we landed most of the GTs relatively easily. Needless to say, we practice catch and release and fish barbless hooks to minimise injury to the fish.
Fortunately for us, the winds died down and finally we could make our way out to pop the Ningaloo Reef by boat. The Ningaloo Reef runs along the coastline of Exmouth and protects the lagoon from the harsh and wild Indian Ocean. Inside the lagoon, all manner of placid marine life can be found in the relatively calm water, but once outside the reef, you will be thrown into hoodlum territory. Big GTs, cobia, huge Mackerel, Wahoo, Marlin and Tuna constantly patrol the waters outside the reef and are all fair game on popping gear if you are lucky.
The boat launch in itself was an adventure in itself and we got to see an amazing array of marine life as we walk the boat out to deeper waters. Once we are out of the lagoon, Kervin and I took turns popping and steering the boat. The modus operandi was to drive the boat right up the where the waves crash into the reef and cast our poppers into the whitewater. Should we have a hookup or a big wave approaching, we would then drive the boat away from the dangerous reef area so that we can fight the fish safely. This style of fishing is exciting, physically demanding and tricky as we had to constantly watch the sea, find our balance and fish all at the same time.
Seeing that the water was very choppy, I opted for the sinking 18.5cm Ocea Pencil to give me the advantage of more visibility by having the lure hang slightly deeper underwater beneath the waves, this decision was a wise one and soon paid off. Being skeptical at first as I was usually more used to using conventional chuggers for GTs, I launched the Pencil to where the reef was. I would have gone not more than 5 casts between hookups with this amazing stickbait! When the waves crashed onto the reef, I gently twitched the Pencil to the ledge of the reef and sat it there for a few seconds before twitching it again. Usually that was all it took to get a spectacular crashing hit from the GT that patrol under the reef ledge.
Kervin and I tried switching to a convention chugger but could only draw minimal strikes which did not elicit the same aggressive takes as with the Ocea Pencil. So once again I swapped back to the magic lure of the trip. During a fast paced 2 hour period, we had hooked and landed around 6 decent GTs and an obese 8kg Mack Tuna, whilst missing a couple of strikes each as well. One of the larger GTs was trickier and had me dipping my rod into the water as it tried to bust me off under the boat, but luckily I managed to turn its head with the Kaibutsu Pencil Instrument I was using. Imagine my surprise when that particular fish came out; it had a sizable chunk near the anal fin that was previously bitten off presumably by a shark. Despite this, its wound had healed completely and the fish showed no signs of being handicapped with the great fight it put up; GTs truly are tough piscatorial adversaries!
The fishing we had over the next two days mirrored the one we had on the first day. We had a couple of reefings when the GTs decided to head home prematurely, but generally we landed most of the GTs relatively easily. Needless to say, we practice catch and release and fish barbless hooks to minimise injury to the fish.
Light Popping
Getting abit weary from heavy popping, we decided to change our popping style to light popping to break the monotony and test the Kaibutsu Light Pleasure rod. We traveled by boat to several of the shoals inside the gulf and berleyed up the area to try to entice the Gold Spot Travellies, Golden Travellies and Queenies to come. Unfortunately this time, the water was still abit cold and these fishes did not make their presence known. What came in with the berley trail though were Mackerels, Sharks and countless bottom fishes. Being unprepared for the toothy brigade, almost every other cast resulted in a solid hookup, a screeching run, followed by a biteoff. In between biteoffs, with luck, we managed to land a decent mackerel and several sharks, enough for us to identify the culprits that were doing us in. We also landed several beautiful fusiliers which are a favorite food of the GTs; revealing why there is such a healthy population of GTs in Exmouth.
Having lost too many rigs, we decided to cut our losses and head back and do some light shore based popping. We headed to a place called Pilgramunna where there were several coral outcrops within a lagoon. As with heavy popping, the trick here was to cast the Ocea Pencil and Popping Bait to just above the coral outcrops and twitch it back in. This time, it took a few follows from several fish before I managed to get a decent hookup. The fish that came in was a Gold Spot Trevally, a cousin of the GT that is not quite as big in size but equally good fighting as well. Unfortunately this fish was a tiddler and I soon had him up for a few photos before releasing him to swim off energetically.
After this the fishing slowed and the only other interesting event was when a reef shark patrolled the waters under the rock ledge we were fishing and when a tabletop sized stingray accidentally surfaced and got jagged on my popper.
Catch and Release, the way to the future!
During the period when I was light popping, I had a visit from a student from one of the local universities who was doing a survey for the Fisheries Department of Australia. Basic questions like sanctuary zones, marine activities, C&R etc were discussed in order to assist the Fisheries Department in more educated decision making; all this was done while big parrotfish, reef sharks and rays were swimming naturally just meters from us. It was good to know that even in the remotest parts of Australia, there is still a proactive effort being undertaken to conserve marine life and to promote healthy fishing practices. With such a positive conservation culture, it is no surprise that the diversity and density of marine life will be preserved for many generations to come; clearly something we should strive to follow in South East Asia.
A different mindset
On the long drive back, as we drove pass the Tropic of Capricon, each of us left Exmouth with bitter sweet memories. Bitter because the 2 week trip had ended all too soon, yet sweet as it was filled with memories of all the wonderful places and venerable fishes that we had hooked and battled. Having fish on this trip was just a bonus, but with such a wonderful time we had, even if we were to go back empty handed, it will still take a lot to wipe that smile off our faces. It was also at this time that I reflected; true fishing is not just about hooking and landing fish, but rather it is the combination of the great company we have, the pristine environment that we fish in and the knowledge and respect we have for the fish that makes fishing such a unique sport to us.
Getting abit weary from heavy popping, we decided to change our popping style to light popping to break the monotony and test the Kaibutsu Light Pleasure rod. We traveled by boat to several of the shoals inside the gulf and berleyed up the area to try to entice the Gold Spot Travellies, Golden Travellies and Queenies to come. Unfortunately this time, the water was still abit cold and these fishes did not make their presence known. What came in with the berley trail though were Mackerels, Sharks and countless bottom fishes. Being unprepared for the toothy brigade, almost every other cast resulted in a solid hookup, a screeching run, followed by a biteoff. In between biteoffs, with luck, we managed to land a decent mackerel and several sharks, enough for us to identify the culprits that were doing us in. We also landed several beautiful fusiliers which are a favorite food of the GTs; revealing why there is such a healthy population of GTs in Exmouth.
Having lost too many rigs, we decided to cut our losses and head back and do some light shore based popping. We headed to a place called Pilgramunna where there were several coral outcrops within a lagoon. As with heavy popping, the trick here was to cast the Ocea Pencil and Popping Bait to just above the coral outcrops and twitch it back in. This time, it took a few follows from several fish before I managed to get a decent hookup. The fish that came in was a Gold Spot Trevally, a cousin of the GT that is not quite as big in size but equally good fighting as well. Unfortunately this fish was a tiddler and I soon had him up for a few photos before releasing him to swim off energetically.
After this the fishing slowed and the only other interesting event was when a reef shark patrolled the waters under the rock ledge we were fishing and when a tabletop sized stingray accidentally surfaced and got jagged on my popper.
Catch and Release, the way to the future!
During the period when I was light popping, I had a visit from a student from one of the local universities who was doing a survey for the Fisheries Department of Australia. Basic questions like sanctuary zones, marine activities, C&R etc were discussed in order to assist the Fisheries Department in more educated decision making; all this was done while big parrotfish, reef sharks and rays were swimming naturally just meters from us. It was good to know that even in the remotest parts of Australia, there is still a proactive effort being undertaken to conserve marine life and to promote healthy fishing practices. With such a positive conservation culture, it is no surprise that the diversity and density of marine life will be preserved for many generations to come; clearly something we should strive to follow in South East Asia.
A different mindset
On the long drive back, as we drove pass the Tropic of Capricon, each of us left Exmouth with bitter sweet memories. Bitter because the 2 week trip had ended all too soon, yet sweet as it was filled with memories of all the wonderful places and venerable fishes that we had hooked and battled. Having fish on this trip was just a bonus, but with such a wonderful time we had, even if we were to go back empty handed, it will still take a lot to wipe that smile off our faces. It was also at this time that I reflected; true fishing is not just about hooking and landing fish, but rather it is the combination of the great company we have, the pristine environment that we fish in and the knowledge and respect we have for the fish that makes fishing such a unique sport to us.
You may wish to view more photos of the Caranx Kaibutsu Rod Fieldtest by clicking here