Well two weeks in, time for an update I guess. Lets see thoughts on the trip. I am using a new three piece rod here for chucking me poppers etc now. I've been a bit leery of these before you know, one more thing to go wrong, snap etc, but I have to say I am loving it. Its a hamachi gt 'n'doggie expedition rod, i did a little fb post vid on it. Works lures beautifully, and loads up on a fish really really nicely...

The next thing I most comment about is the lure I am tending to use here this trip. This is the river to sea Doggie. Bloody awesome lure, liked it for years, but seriously lovin' it now. Teamed with a rod that can really twitch the lure well, it seems to be deadly.
It is a very slow action stick bait, more a twitchbait I'd call it, comes in a metre or so down. We have had steady trade winds here most of the trip, causing small 1ft chop many of the places I popper, waves that cause poppers to tumble and tangle oftentimes, so having a subsurface lure really seems to be a huge benefit....not to mention it seems to pull a lot more of the not necessarily surface feeding fish up for a smack. Here is a range of the fish we have nailed on the lures (I have lost the 5 brand new ones I brought up with me already dammit, last one went down a sharks gob yesterday arvo dammit, so now I am hunting thru me boxes of gear up here to find more! Eeek!)


High fin coral trout.


bluefin trevally


Flowery cod


Red Bass



GT

So, they clearly have been working.
i also have a brace of sweet little 20lb spin sets, one with a smaller R2C bubble pop popper, one with R2C Wideglides (small ones), that we have also been having a pile of fun with
Lost a lot of lures, must be said, luckily I have a pile of these small lures here. Light line and light rods mean the fish can turn their heads and get to the coral usually barely a metre or two below, and that is tackle donation time, dammit.
However, got a few really nice fish on them, one, a big golden trevally took a good half hour to bring to book....


That is on the small wideglide, we've got loads of fish on these, I prefer the ss sinking version as it is heavy enough to cast a decent distance. I just wish they would make them in sexier colours, the mutes blues and browns the europeans and americans love just dont do it for me I am afraid. However, I aint complaining, it got me my biggest queenfish I personally have ever seen up here....

not huge by Aussie standards, but a monster for up here.

The weather has been tropical. Rain sweeps in for half an hour every so often, but in a boat you just belt thru to the other side where the weather is once again idyllic, so that aint a biggie. And the scenery....maaaaate.


The seaward side of Parara Island. 100m deep within casting distance of the white water, deepest blue waters, white foaming surf, rainforest overhanging the cliffs, blue on blue skies..... bloody magical.

Well, anyhow, time to get afloat again now. Whatever will I do today? Ummmm.... let's see, it'll probably involve a boat, blue 30degree water, and tight lines, I hope! :-)

Cool story. What is your three piece rod and reel for GT's? 

Oh, the reel is a 6000 size Penn Clash, loaded with 50lb braid. Awesome reel. Left it up here from my previous trip, they have used it for resort customers, best catch to date, a 35kg sailfish! Took them three hours to land it, it had been hooked in the back, lol. That woulda been fun! (Not....twenty minutes is my tolerance level for working a fish these days, lol) apparently the new Penn Slammer III coming out soon is a step up from the clash, so I will definitely get meself one of them! I like the 6000 size reels, you can get over 250m of 50lb braid on them, the drag is as much as you'll ever need, and they are WAY friendlier to drive all day than the massive 8000 size reels. For twenty to thirty pound braid, I use the 5000 size reels.