On a recent trip to Pomene, Mozambique, Barry chats to locals and gets them to show us how they shape and use green Paw Paw’s to catch their fish. It’s amazing to get a glimpse into a simpler life and learn that you actually can survive without all the modern gadgets we have today.

During our crazy experience catching Barracuda in Ras Madraka, Basil Attenborough explains the carnivorous behaviors of this fish.

Types of Lures

GT surface lures can be divided into three basic groups, the first being the floating, popping type lures.  These generally have a cup-head and are referred to as poppers, pushers or chuggers.  The second group are sub-surface lures and are often referred to as stick baits, sliders, sub-walks, etc.  The third group are nylon or wooden weighted plugs that are made primarily for casting, will sink if not retrieved and can be fished at long range both on the surface and sub-surface.

Colour

Colour is a hotly debated subject when it comes to these sorts of lures.  The vast majority of the time it is the action that gets the results rather than the colour.  Having said this, colour can definitely be a factor.  The general lure colours do apply – bright day, bright lure, dull day, dull lure.  One aspect that is not often discussed and has normally proved to be relevant wherever I have fished is that the calmer, cleaner and glassier the conditions, the better it is to fish with more natural translucent colours.  Rather have the fish be presented with something quite subtle in these conditions.  The rougher and choppier the water and also the more turbulent the current is, definitely demands brighter and bolder colours that are easier for the fish to pick up in the turmoil.

What To Fish And When

The greater the volume of fish in the area, the less of an issue lure selection becomes.  When fish are fairly scarce however, it becomes very important to use the right lure in the right place. In very calm, glassy conditions, a quieter less noisy and more subtle presentation will often do the trick.  Fish will sometimes shy away from very bold noisy presentations.  My preferred lure choice in these conditions is the GT Ice Cream Needle Nose type surface lure, which creates a very definite path to follow and quieter flittering type action on the surface.  It also covers far greater ground as the casting distances are incredibly good.  Surface popping type lures such as the Williamson Jethead, Halco Rooster Popper and Sebile Splasher will also work in these conditions, but you must try to fish these with a little more consistency in the retrieve and slightly less of the loud popping action. Once the wind gets up or the current starts going a bit, if the sea is still fairly calm, but with a definite chop on the surface, one can start fishing these cup-heads with a much louder popping action and longer pauses in between, so that rather than trying to follow a trail when the fish focuses on the noisy area, there is a good chance he will see what it was that created it.  The quieter stick baits and sliders start to work in these conditions too.  Try to fish them at the lowest level of the trough in between the chops, in other words it will be sub-surface in between wave troughs and therefore a lot more visible most of the time.  If fishing a GT Ice Cream Needle Nose in these conditions, a lower rod and a more jerky, sub-surface action produces better results.  The other option of course is the GT Ice Cream Chisel Nose Cone, which creates a lot more splash and noise in these noisier conditions. Rough, really choppy water, starts to create quite a bit of white water and fairly deep troughs in between the choppy waves.  This is where the stick baits and sliders really come into their own.  One can start fishing them a good foot or so below the wave troughs with a really hard jerk or twitchy action creating big sideways flashes.  Bigger pauses in between these slashing actions also help fish locate the lure.  In these rough conditions the bold bright colours definitely work better than the translucent or pearl or silver type colours which blend with the surface.  One can also fish a cup-head popper in these conditions. The bloops need to be really loud and vigorous with substantial pauses or very very slow movements in between.  When fishing like this, you are limited to fairly short range as you need to be able to see your lure to ensure that each pop is possible as the head needs to be able to pull air with it as it dives.  If it is already under the water there is hardly any affect.

Effective Rigging Of Your Lure

Whenever one is fishing with these surface and sub-surface lures it is very important to ensure that every strike results in a hook-up and that there can be as little damage done to the fish as possible.  Most surface lures come rigged with treble hooks and barbs on.  Not only does this make releasing a fish much more difficult but also results in a lot of missed strikes when fishing very buoyant floating lures. GT’s use a very strong sucking action, almost inhaling the lure by creating a vacuum with their gills before biting down onto the lure.  Very buoyant lures such as Halco Rooster Popper and Sebile Splasher are far better rigged with singles on a stinger type setup.  A really big strong hook such as the Owner Jabu, rigged onto at least 250 kilo Dyneema braid looped onto the hook attachment.  Normally one hook will be mounted in the middle of the lure and one on the tail end. I have had a lot of success rigging one on the swivel that attaches to the front of the lure and the other on the tail end of the lure.  Just make sure that the two hooks cannot hook each other during the cast.  The GT Ice Cream Needle Nose and Cone comes standard rigged with a stinger and a VMC 9260PS hook, which is more than adequate.  If the fish are really big I often replace this with a Daiichi 3111 10/0 hook or Daiichi Meat hook in 10/0 or 12/0, or Owner Jabu in 12/0.   I haven’t come across another lure yet that hooks GT’s more effectively than the Needle Nose.  As soon as it is in his mouth and he turns, the lure gets pulled out the corner of the mouth and the hook on the stinger, which is rigged circle-hook style, finds him in the corner of the mouth every time. When it comes to stick baits and sliders the lure is generally slightly sub-surface so there is no problem when the GT sucks at the lure as it does move towards its mouth unlike the very buoyant surface lures.  Generally with the stick baits one would stay with the trebles that are on it but make sure that the barbs are squashed and that they are really sharp.  On slightly lighter popping and spinning outfits like the Rapala series of Gliding Raps, Sub-Walks and X-Walks work very well, particularly where there are other types of fish feeding on the surface.

Remember, Remember

GT’s, pretty much like Garrick, tend to suck and grab their prey off the surface before turning away.  One has to allow this to happen otherwise there is a very good chance you will miss the strike.  When fishing with braid make sure that you have got the rod held either sideways or vertically straight up.  When the fish eats the lure just continue winding at the normal speed or allow the line to go tight before setting the hook. Never strike immediately you see the fish attack the lure. Happy popping and plugging!

PERFECTING SPINNING WITH BRAID With today’s technology, if you are not spinning with braid, you are at a huge disadvantage. Here are some “learnt the hard way”, solutions to the two casting problems you may encounter, the dreaded “FRRRT” and the “ZA-BA”. THE “FRRRT” This is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a wind-knot. Wind knots are the knots associated with the tippet at the end of a fly-fisherman’s line. Blaming the wind is the fly-fisherman’s excuse for not such good casts and the resultant granny-knots in his tippet. For the spinnerman, it is simply a “frrrt”. This is a little to large clump of braid that is pulled off the top of the spool during the cast and goes “frrrt” through the guides, if you are a bit lucky. If it gets stuck in the guides it can turn into a “Za-Ba”. There are only three possible causes of a “frrrt”. Causes and Cures • The cone angle on the spool of your reel is critical with braid. It should be either parallel or very slightly tapered toward the top. A reverse taper or an hour-glass shape will definitely result in the lower loops of braid pulling the ones above it off the spool. The spiral motion of the braid going up through the guides helps to wind this loop onto the braid, pulling off even more loops off the spool, thus giving birth to a “frrrt”. The way to overcome this is to make sure that your reel is of a fairly recent model, good quality and reputable brand. It must offer a “tapered lip” around the top of the spool and the ability to adjust the cone angle by using the additional washers supplied with the reel. A good quality reel will also have an aero-wrap type of winding system which ensures a very accurate and trouble-free line lay. Never over-fill the reel, but always make sure it is filled to the bottom of the lip on the spool. • A loop of braid passing over the top of the spool across the drag knob is the next most common cause for “frrrt”. This occurs when one is accustomed to using the auto-bale reset facility on the reel. In layman’s terms, you turn the handle of the reel to flip the bale arm over. This often causes the loose line after the cast to lie across the top of the spool. The other way this can happen is in a drop-shotting or popping type situation where the action you are imparting generates slack braid every couple of turns on the reel. On the next cast, this loop over the top of the spool will be pulled off by the spiraling braid coming off the spool, wound up into a nice little bundle, ripped off the spool and “frrrt” – wa-la. Get into the habit of flipping the bail arm over manually yourself and always making sure that you are winding on a tightish line. Also get into the habit of doing a visual inspection before the retrieve. • Some of the newest most expensive braids are extremely thin and on some spinning reels the roller on the bail arm has a tapered shoulder on each side leading to the valley in the middle of the roller that the line should be riding in. What sometimes happens, especially on very fast retrieve reels, is that the thin braid sits on top of the shoulder instead of where it should be, in the middle. This causes the line to not lay all the way to the top of the spool and to overlay by the same distance at the bottom of the spool. Once again, as the bottom layers of braid pull off during the cast, all those that have overshot the bottom of the spool slide up, forming loose braid and wa-la, “frrrt”! A visual inspection is required at the beginning of the retrieve to make sure that the line is in the middle of the roller. An inspection during the retrieve, especially if you have multiple colour braid (different colour every ten metres), will immediately show you that your braid is not winding to the top of the spool and that it is over-winding at the bottom. THE “ZA-BA” This is the sound that you hear from the person next to you as he lets go with an almighty cast, followed immediately by the most foul language. “Za” is the beginning of the cast – “Ba” is the loud cracking noise that follows. The rest is simply foul language. There are five things that cause a “Za-Ba”. Causes and Cures • A very large “frrrt” which becomes firmly lodged or wrapped in the guides. See “frrrt” section above for the solution. • A leader that is too long. As soon as a leader knot is wound onto the spool and in some cases, even if it is between the spool and the first guide, it has a whiplash effect when passing through the guides, which causes it to wrap and often knot itself quite firmly on a guide. This results in an immediate “Za-Ba” and often a broken or ripped-out guide. When spinning, any mono to braid joins such as a leader-knot, should be kept outside of the guides at all times, especially during the cast. Consistent in and out of the guides can also lead to weakening of the joining knot. • The auto-bale facility that is offered on most spinning reels can be problematic with an individual’s casting style. Depending on the reel and on the individual, it can affect others a lot more than most. What happens is that during the cast the physical motion that the reel goes through causes the handle to turn, which flips over the bail arm – “Za-Ba”. One can either wait to see whether it is a problem with you and your reel, or immediately upon purchase, you can ask a reputable tackle dealer to have this facility removed. Most of your big top-end reels will not have the auto-bale facility. It is good practice for you to flip the bail arm over manually anyway. • The tip-wrap is a very common cause for “Za-Ba”. The consequences are often quite devastating. When the braid gets wrapped around either the tip or the second or third guide down, the result of the cast is often not just a “Za-Ba”, but a broken tip on the rod or guides broken or ripped out of their whipping. This situation develops when the rod is held in the vertical position for a few brief moments and the lure or the braid swings around the tip for a few wraps. As a rule, try to never hold your rod in this position and if you do, immediately check to see that it is not tip-wrapped. If a visual inspection is a little difficult for whatever reason, a quick “pulling the trigger” action with your casting finger will determine whether the line is flowing freely through the guides or not. A good pull on the finger and the lure should move an inch or two. • Brute force, weak knots or weak braid can also be a cause for “Za-Ba’s”. Ensure that your line and knots are in top condition at all times with no weak links in the chain. Also know your physical ability and just how much pressure you really can put on the equipment. If you get all of the above right, you will be guaranteed of no more “frrrting Frrrts” or “frrrting Za-Ba’s”. Happy Spinning!

Summary of what we learnt and experienced on this mind-blowing Fujairah expedition. Dorado love current and will always be concentrated on the upside of any floating object or ship anchored at sea.  They are also partial to the sunny side rather than the shaded side of the vessel or structure.   Because they learn very quickly, always try to drag or pull a hooked fish well away from the others as quickly as possible.  Once they have wised up to your lure or technique, you either have to change lures, technique or location.  Big Bull Dorado are definitely more partial to the bigger lures and tend to hang around on the outside of the main body of smaller fish. The Dorado’s ability to hunt Garfish, Half Beaks and Flying Fish in particular, make it extremely partial to surface lures, especially the GT Ice Cream Needle Nose.  The lighter the lure and the bigger the single hook attached to it, the better it tends to stick.  Stingers are definitely by far the most successful hooking system. The Needle Noses work best in the ¾ to 1½ oz sizes and on the day I would have loved to have had the trusty Rapala X-Walk or Storm Chug Bug as there is no doubt that both of these lures will work very well.  I would definitely however rig both with stingers rather than trebles. The best casting and pulling rod was no doubt the 8’ Shimano Aerocast which throws ½ oz to 2 oz’s best and has incredible pulling power.  Also right up there is the 6’6 Shimano Trevala, which although labeled a jigging rod, does a good job of casting these types of lures and is perfectly capable of piling on the required pressure.  Lighter outfits like the Shimano Cumera’s with 3000 Stellas are also a great option but not if one wants to release fish. The ideal reel on the above rods is the 5000 Stella, new Twin Power or Sustain.  30lb and 40lb YGK Jigman braid will complement the reels perfectly.  Your leader must be at least 60lb fluoro carbon and only 1.5 metres long.  This prevents weakening of the join knot, as it doesn’t go through the guides and the strength of the line stops burn-offs from following fish.  A good quality swivel and split ring connection makes for fast changes of lures.   This heavy leader combined with a thick but sharp hook on the stinger allows one to grab the leader and then the Needle Nose to help lift when tailing fish. The most successful retrieval technique is to make a long cast, put the rod tip down low and wind the Needle Nose as fast as possible.  This creates a lot of noise and splash, which attracts all the fish in that area.  As the plug gets closer, lift the rod tip higher and slow down on the retrieve, giving it a more consistent fluttering action.  With X-Walk’s, the sharp “twitch, take up the slack, twitch, walk the dog” action, is best.  With the Chug Bug, use long, hard and fast “bloops” with two or three second pauses in between.  Never attempt to strike when you see a fish smashing the lure.  Maintain your retrieve and wait until the rod goes tight. The ideal conditions for this type of fishing are a relatively calm sea, with a light wind chop on the surface.  This is when the Needle Noses and X-Walk’s will work best.  The rougher the conditions, the more sub-surface one would want to go, so definitely more X-Walk or similar lures.  Smooth, glassy type conditions call for things like Chug Bugs and very small ¾ oz Needle Noses.