Episode 346: Lucinda Giant Trevally With Brett Horne

Brett’s Top Giant Trevally Fishing Tips

• Giant trevally are easier to tempt the further you travel from fishing pressure. If the weather is bad and you’re forced to stay inshore, look for places that have good water clarity, flow and bait. The rougher, more exposed areas are uncomfortable for anglers but offer the best fishing.
• Impatience is a virtue when GT fishing. Don’t stay on a spot all day putting in casts if nothing is happening. Have a few spots in mind before you leave home and be prepared to switch spots if it’s quiet, coming back to the same spot at a later time.
• It’s sometimes necessary to palm the spool, point the rod at the fish and drive the boat away from cover, especially when you’re reef fishing or hook a big fish close to heavy cover. However, Brett finds that it’s often not necessary to go that hard on the fish, especially on headlands where the water is deeper and there’s not too much structure.
• As with most offshore fishing, weather is the main factor to consider. If anything, the times around the new moon might offer slightly better opportunities.

Brett’s Preferred GT Fishing Tackle

• You don’t have to have the biggest, most expensive or flashest of everything, although good, solid tackle is a must. Brett uses a Penn 24kg popping rod, 14000 size reel loaded with 80-120lb Power Pro braid and 180-200lb leader.

Brett’s Preferred Fishing Lures

• The Heru Skipjack Popper (120-150g) is a commonly used surface popper and will generally be the first lure that gets tied on at a new spot. Brett likes the dark colours and uses this lure to announce his arrival to the fish with lost of noise and silhouette. This is a lure that is simple to use, casts well and regularly attracts some stonker giant trevally. He rigs these with flat split rings of 200lb breaking strain and 7/0 Shogun or BKK trebles.
• Nashy’s Customs floating stickbaits are a Hervey Bay made timber stickbait, which he again rigs with 7/0 trebles. These lures are great to switch to when you’re fishing the inshore areas – as surface lures they attract the GT’s up away from structure and can be fished over the drop offs from shallow to deeper water. They’re also great when you’ve been throwing poppers all day and need to give your arms and back a break. They are extremely versatile and can be worked with anything from a flat stick burn to long sweeps or a walk the dog action. Irrespective, these lures have a wide and enticing action.
• The CSP Sinking Stickbait S220 in sauri colour is another lure that is easy to use and has an awesome action through the water. Rig with 4/0 trebles, cast, let sink and then burn back with occasional pauses. Particularly deadly on larger models of GT. This is the lure Brett usually switches to when the surface popper isn’t working, unless he’s on shallow structure.