The Giant Trevally

Ahhh, the Giant Trevally, aka Caranx Ignoblis. These were a lot of fun on the edge of the flats. The first pair I saw was on our first day out on the Bonefish flats. Our guide Michael had the 12 weight and he was with Ken about 100 yards to my right. I didn't have enough time to try to get a shot with my 8 wt before they cut left and started to head toward Ken. I yelled over to those guys to warn them so they could get a shot off. I think one of these two is the one Ken hooked up with. I remember him telling me the thing just shot off like a rocket and didn't stop, and that there was nothing he could do except watch it snap the relatively light Bonefish leader.

They don't show up all the time, so you either have to be prepared with your guide holding a ready 12 weight or you have to pursue them exclusively. We stopped at this one flat that had deep edges to the water and Michael and I set off to find some GT. We didn't run into any large ones, but we got into some smaller ones like the one in this picture. They're a blast to catch with a popper. you just toss into the dark water and strip hard. You'll soon see a bulge of water behind your popper - these guys have a tall head and they push a lot of water out of the way. It kind of looks like a submarine surfacing. When they strike a popper, there's no mistaken it - these things have a mean set of jaws and a hell of an attitude. I never thought I'd find a fish that could kick a Bluefish's butt in a fight, but these things probably could.


One day, we stopped over a very deep reef on our way out to the blue water to catch some tuna and we started popping for GT. Apparently, early morning is the best time for big GT. The water was fairly featureless and we were popping for a while. We did get something blowing up on them occasionally, but no hook ups. I think I actually bumped a giant manta ray with the popper too, as they were flying by us in good numbers. I was at the stern fanning casts. Then I took a super-long cast, and started to pop. The Yo-Zuri Surface Bull GT popper is massive and makes a huge commotion on the water. The water was fairly calm and I had my eye on the popper the whole time, then all of the sudden - boom. I saw something strike it from directly underneath and exit the water completely before doing a giant belly-flop on the water. It was the most violent thing I've ever seen a fish do. I clearly remember yelling out - "Oh my God, what the hell is that?" - my heart nearly stopped. The game was on, and the line just started going, and going, and going. I laid into the drag pretty good since I knew I had 80# braid mainline but it just kept going like it didn't even know it was hooked. I had 580 yards of line on that Fin-Nor Offshore reel and I was coming really close to the spindle. I thought that the only thing I could do was bottom the drag and try to stop him before he took it all, so I did and just held the rod as it pumped. I remember Ken looking over and saying - "Dude, I'm gonna get spooled if I get one of them". At this point, it's just a game of attrition - something has to give -either the fish or my gear. Michael came over to me at one point because he noticed this creaking noise that was coming from my reel. I thought it was the drag, but the spool was locked down on nearly 65# of drag. Michael moves his hand over to my rod and takes his forefinger and thumb and slightly pinches the line, then looks at me and says - "the line". It was apparently the braided filaments moving in the carrier of the line making that creaking noise. I looked back at Michael and said - "Don't worry, it'll hold". I did a year's worth of research on GT before I came to Christmas Island and I can't tell you some of the horror stories I've heard. I called this one guide when we were shopping for outfitters. After a brief discussion of GT, I said "I plan on bringing a 12 weight and a backup rod to which he responded - "You better bring three or four backups if you want to mess with these things". I said - "You're joking", to which he responded - "I'm telling you; you might get into one that big, but you probably won't land one that big". So needless to say - I made sure I had the reel, the line, the knots, and the terminal gear that would stop this thing if I ran into one. After some time, the fish finally started to break and I was now gaining line on it. When it finally got about 20 feet under the boat and rolled over on its side, my jaw just dropped. This is what I came for - a world class Giant Trevally. Russ looked down and yelled - "Ulua". Michael comes over and looks down and starts laughing, then looks at me and says - "A hundred pounds". It took both Russ and Michael to get the thing in the boat - one by the tail and one by the mouth. Just to get a perspective on how fast this fish must have been coming at that popper from below - its entire body left the water with about 4 feet to clear before it belly flopped. After it was in the boat, I just yelled and started banging my fists against Michael's chest - I was livin'. A special thanks to Ken for getting this awesome shot. I know I can aways trust Ken with the camera - he never takes a bad shot, where I do occasionally. Big GT like this don't come very often, and I'm glad I got one without having to spend 10 years chasing it half-way around the planet. We released this fish unharmed - it lived long enough and deserved it.


To get a good idea of how powerful the jaws are on a GT, take a look at the popper. Those are holes punched though it from the conical teeth. Looking at the bite radius, you can see that it came right up from underneath. Take a look at the deep channels that are carved on its one side. This popper cost me $25, but it was well worth it. Notice the hook that got it was the one that went through my thumb - notice the two cut marks in the eye of the hook from when we were trying to cut it off when it went though my thumb. I had no reservations about putting that hook back on - I knew it was strong enough just from that experience.