How to catch giant trevally

Caranx ignoblis, giant trevally or GTs, are spread worldwide in tropical waters.

They are one of the toughest fish that swim, live in unforgiving terrain, crave big currents, and have few predators to worry about.

----- Advertisement -----


Everything about giant trevally suggests a formidable foe: their body shape, their hard, bony heads, thick skin, and fearless disposition. They can be found as huge wandering loners or as marauding schools of more modest-sized fish, but all instill fear into the reef’s smaller inhabitants. Like our New Zealand kingfish, they can be found in open water, but prefer to locate near structure such as coral heads, rocky points, wharf pilings, deep reefs and wrecks.

New Zealand waters are a bit cool for GTs, but they are well within striking distance for New Zealand sports fishers. Tropical Australian waters host them, and most Pacific Islands have them as well. Wherever you find them, in whatever size, they are well worth pursuing.

To give you a quick understanding of the fish, imagine a kahawai and kingfish hybrid that grows to over 60kg – a fish with teeth and intense biting ability; a fish that eats anything. Imagine an avid lure taker, a surface feeder as well as a denizen of the depths; a fish with an insatiable appetite… That’s the GT, so you have to admit we’re dealing with a creature that’s close to being the perfect sport fish.

How do you catch them? Well, that is up to you, as they will respond to most approaches, including: casting (poppers, stick-baits and spinners/jigs), trolling, jigging, fly-fishing, and deploying dead or live baits – they all work in the right situations.

The giant trevally is the most desired of all shoreline fish for Hawaiian surf and rock fishermen. They grow to over 50kg there, and the best fishing is at night. Anglers fish from the rocks in places where they can cast into deep water using a technique called slide-baiting. This sees a sinker cast out and allowed to lodge in the coral. The line is then pulled tight and short traces with a variety of live and dead baits are slid down the line until stopped a metre above the sinker by a large metal ring. A lighter line from the ring to the sinker breaks away when a fish is hooked (or the angler snaps it by pulling on the line).

Anglers attach a loud ringing bell to the rod and camp right beside it for the night, waiting for a bite. The preferred bait is octopus, but many other types of live and dead fish baits are used, too.

In other locations, the most common fishing technique involves casting poppers into areas where the giant trevally might be waiting in ambush for baitfish. This scenario tends to occur around reefs, where breaking waves offer cover for baitfish and predators alike. The best spots by far are the ends of coral reefs, where the water has plenty of wave action and deep water is nearby.

Boat handling is the key to good fishing in such places. The caster needs to cast to the edge of the reef and retrieve the popper away from the wave action’s turmoil. Loud, active poppers are generally used, with vigorous rod action creating the popper’s blooping noise and splashing, which hopefully convinces any trevally present that there’s a baitfish in trouble – potentially an easy meal.

This can be exciting fishing, but often there are long lulls between strikes. After half an hour without any action, one’s concentration can be at a low point – then suddenly a fish as big as a Volkswagen smashes the surface trying to swallow your lure. You never know when GTs will show up.

The other side of popper fishing takes place in shallow, coral-studded waters with little surface disturbance – but can be even more exciting.

In this instance, lures are cast to the heaviest cover, where coral heads are just under the surface, and then whisked back like a frightened baitfish. The bow wave of water that charges across, followed by an explosion of water as the trevally catches the lure, provides an unbelievable sight.

However, this method’s not the best approach if you like a good hook-up to strike ratio. After all, when a big GT attacks your popper on the surface, a bow wave is pushed ahead of it. This can cause the popper to be washed out the way so the bite misses. Sometimes this happens over and over again. Yes, it’s discouraging, but other than switching to sub-surface lures, this is part and parcel of the method. Besides, at other times it can be ridiculously easy: you cast and retrieve your popper, and a big GT comes over and swallows it out of sight. Go figure!

Other lure options include: deep water jigging; casting swimming lures and stick-baits into likely looking spots; trolling reef drop-offs; and fly fishing with surface poppers or big, quickly retrieved streamer flies.

Alternative fishing methods include fishing with a live bait – which can be just about any small live fish – near coral heads, gutters, or in the channels and reef passes. Dead baits will work, too.

Giant trevally also respond well to ground baiting or berleying, and when attracted and excited by fish chunks, will often readily take a cut bait. Circle hooks are the best to use, as they tend to hook up in the corner of the jaw, allowing release afterwards.

The gear

As you must give these fish heaps or they will take you to the cleaners every time, you’ll need good gear. This means strong, robust reels with smooth, powerful drags that can be set to around half the line’s breaking strain, while rods need plenty of grunt and should be able to fish the line weight being used to the max without flattening out.

Tough fluorocarbon leaders help to reduce line abrasion. This can be from the fish’s head and fins when hooked up, or from swimming into and around reef structures such as bommies, caves and gutters, which often sees them win their freedom. However, in such situations I have found that slackening the line will sometimes encourage them to change direction or come back out again – hopefully the same way they went in.

Accessories

If catching and releasing your fish, then wear a pair of long-nosed pliers on your belt. It will let you easily remove hooks without hooking yourself.

Gloves are helpful for stopping blisters when casting poppers for hours on end and also when you want to grab your trevally for a photo. The giant trevally have very sharp scutes at the base of their tails that can cut your hand with ease. Just ask anyone who has wrestled with one barehanded.

Of course GTs come in all sizes – and they don’t have to be giants to offer you some fun or be a challenge. I weighed-in a 2kg GT I had caught on 2kg line for a Fiji record (which shows that line-weight fish are always possible), while in Western Australia we had lots of fun with 2 to 3kg GTs. On the other end of the scale, my wife Sue caught a 40-kilo-plus GT earlier this year on 15kg line in Aitutaki.

Average weights vary from one location to another. The biggest individual I have seen was in the Solomon Islands – a fish well over 50kg – but otherwise the average was small there. In Niue, I spent two weeks making a video on fishing for GTs. I hooked 18 and landed only two. They were both big fish, as were all the ones I hooked and lost – no tiddlers there. In Aitutaki they are all sizes, but have a high average. You just need to be ready for anything when travelling.

Rate this

Comments

Post a Comment

Required Field

Fishing Reports Visit Reports

Saltwater Fishing Reports
Top of the South Fishing Report - 22/03/24

Tasman and Golden Bay snapper still running hot We are not far away from daylight... Read More >

22 Mar 2024
Saltwater Fishing Reports
Bay of Islands Fishing Report - 22/03/24

Variety is the spice of life On one recent trip, the plan was to spend a... Read More >

22 Mar 2024
Saltwater Fishing Reports
Hauraki Gulf Fishing Report - 22/03/24

Fish where the fish are! Catching fish or just going fishing? I tackle this issue... Read More >

22 Mar 2024
Saltwater Fishing Reports
Inner Hauraki Gulf Fishing Report - 22/03/24

Thoughtful tactics required for better fish Over the course of each year the fishing varies,... Read More >

22 Mar 2024

Fishing bite times Fishing bite times

Major Bites

Minor Bites

Major Bites

Minor Bites

Fishing Reports, News & Specials

Popular Articles

Softbait Fishing - Part 1 - gear selection

John Eichlesheim writes an article about selecting the right equipment for softbait fishing... Read More >

Softbait fishing Pt 2 - tips and tricks

Techniques, tips and tricks of softbait fishing – getting the most from your soft baits.... Read More >

Surfcasting - setting yourself up

Gary Kemsley helps sort out the necessary gear for intending surf fishers.... Read More >

Squid - How to catch them

Squid fishing is a rapidly growing aspect of fishing - Paul Senior shares some hints and tips to get started.... Read More >