We had two Italian anglers Federico and Raffaelo wanting to try popping for the first time. It was their first trip to the Andamans and India.
They got in early and asked to do a half day trip which we were happy to do for them especially as we would have the chance to show them how to pop properly and get them used to the casting. We rigged up the Racepoint rods for them. These are standard on our charters as they are built to last. On the first half day they had a few hits and landed one nice Coral Trout to get them going.
The guys said they would like to mix it up a bit for the remaining days with trolling and jigging as they did not want to exhaust themselves popping the whole day. So we headed out to one of our deeper popping spots. Federico landed his first ever GT a 10kg specimen and just after his popper was smashed on the first drift by what was definitely a big fish. The Racepoint bent and the fish took line off the high drag set on the Stella. After a great fight we landed an amazing 40 kilo Andaman GT.
There was more action to follow with a number of fish of different species being landed on both popper and jig and even when we put the trolling lures in the water as we moved between spots.
Federico had another awesome strike and a lot of weight on his line only to see when boat side that he had a double hook up on one popper: a 25 kg GT and a 10 kg grouper on the same popper. However it was not to be and the rear hook broke for the grouper to swim away… At least he got the nice GT.
The guys had a double hook up of very nice Coral Trout and also with some small Dogtooth both on jig and while trolling to keep the action going for them at all times.
They were really tired after the third day and said they would only do a half day on the last day to end their trip as they did not want to need another holiday to recover from their fishing holiday!!
They are already looking forward to their next trip with us.
Tight lines!
Species Caught:
Coral Trout, GT, Dogtooth, Jobfish, Grouper, Long Nose Emperor, Rainbow Runner
Tackle Used:
Rods: Saltywater Tackle Racepoint 200, Shimano Jigwrex, Shimano Backbone Trolling Rods
Reels: Shimano Stella Saragosa, TLD 20
Lures: Rapala Trolling Lures, Bertox, Patriot Design
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