A bit about the Popping

**Indian Angler** · 26-04-2006, 11:21

Well we went to the Andaman’s and I may add that it would make an ideal place to disappear for life, especially if you are a fisho!!
Anyway to start the trip off we did major research into the area, our good angling pal Pat who lives in Singapore currently, was invited to join us on this exploratory trip, I have been addicted to popping ever since I have first tried it so what comes first is the reel and rod. So got myself a Stella SW10000HG from Poh over at Sabre Akshay decided big mean and heavy was the way to go and got a 50WLRS, **** that is one beast.
Pat was good enough to do the honors and picked up the stuff for us. Next lures, whew this was one huge list everything looks so good especially the Yo-zuri’s and stuff and its not available in India, our list was going to set us back financially big time!!. Poh came up with a good selection and local Rapala’s, Halcos etc made up the package.
Once we got to the Andamans I could not wait to try out the new stuff and get into some momma GT.
Thanks to all the good advice at FK and the Caranx net, I was rigged up with PE 8 Powerpro, a 230 lb shock leader, would you believe? US leader is made in good old INDIA. I was now ready for action.
The first 4 days of the trip I cast a lot chucking the bull GT poppers, etc over very likely looking spots, what happened nothing, it was bloody frustrating. So much great looking water and nothing, I know the fish are here but what was happening, I must have been doing something wrong for sure.
En-route we were trolling and pulling in fish after fish plenty of action so I was pretty down in the dumps as it were.
One morning we decided to try the SW corner of an Island where a deep channel comes in with some pretty deep reefs, and bang Akshay started the popping action with a small GT, within minutes I was on to a Grouper which came in at 14 lbs, my first Grouper on popper!!!
The best thing about the Grouper was that he had just swallowed an 8 inch lobster that was still alive and we could see it moving around right down his throat, I would have released it but Grouper had swallowed my Rooster popper all the way down and after my last trip in the Andaman’s I was not putting my hand anywhere near those teeth!!! We had a couple more smaller Trevally, blue fin and GT for the day but at least we knew where there was some action to be had.
The next day our 2 friends Pat and Prathap returned home so it was Akshay and Moi left to the action, it so happened that it was pretty choppy that day so we decided to pop the same place as the previous day, second cast and whammo Akshay was on it was nice big GT he swam towards the boat saw Akshay and decided he had enough so he just took off and was gone popper and all. Lesson learnt you need a big mean drag and a rod to take it!!!
I was a bit heavy on the tackle setup so switched rod to a lighter one and decided to put out a CD-18 BRH, it has a fantastic action and 3 cast I was into a big GT, he gave it the unmistakable shake of the head like that of an angry buffalo who has an irritant and nearly jerked the rod from my hands on his first run, I applied all the pressure I dare try with lighter tackle but I estimate the fish to be at least 20-25 kg and I lost it over the reef. Was it ever going to be my day?
We went back to our rooms and looked at what we had despite losing the fish we had learnt a good lesson, when the bites come.
The next day we decided to scout around some more at different islands and put our theory into practice, we taught the local lads on the Dunghi how to operate trolling rods and they we at it en-route, it was good fun as they had numerous Spaniards to 8-10kg, blue fin, grouper etc. We watched the fun as they struggled to come to terms with pumping a fish and what a pain it is to hold onto a rod and a CD 18 when the boat is moving!!.
We could not wait to start popping, come the time and we started, first cast and I had a big Reef Shark follow my Surface Bull, he saw the boat and shied away last minute.
We decided to let the boat drift down the edges of the reef so that we could pull fish from it if we were taken.
Third cast on my Rooster popper and the fun started, the visual effect of a GT coming for a popper from the side shoulders out of the water and then bang as it smashes the supposed fleeing fish it all the reason I had to be in the Andaman’s. My first GT of the trip a small 8kg fish.
It was the right time alright there were signs of GT feeding everywhere you only had to look to see it as small fish were flying in all directions. I was keeping my casts to where the small fish would flee and bang, bang, bang non-stop action. My arms were giving up so gave Akshay a go on the Stella combo he was into the action in a flash as well. The GT were there all right along with coral tout that were taking tandem turns trying to nail a big surface bull.
Big boys time, Akshay started again with one that smashed a Rooster, it came it saw him and decided it had enough, Akshay had 7.5kg on the drag but this guy just took off, Akshay tried to slow the spool with thumb and forefinger but that came off pretty quick as it got heat burnt. A big one lost. I upped the Stella to 9 Kg linear so it would mean about 12 on the rod as much as dared put on a small moving boat any more and I would be in the sea if a big GT smashed the lure while the boat was rolling. That seemed to work fine and I landed fish of 15 and 18 kg in quick succession. It was not stop action one fish coming in every ten minutes or the moment we shifted to a new spot.
The next day our last unfortunately we tried the same thing to make sure that we had got the time right, we had far to many fish to show you guys all the pics although we would love to.
Andaman popping is all about timing and though you will get bites at other times they are quite slow, get the time right and boy are you on!!. Although we did not get any real monster GT we know they are there, trolling has produced a 37kg fish and beyond. What more can you ask for non stop popping action light and heavy, great trolling action. Our next bastion is to figure out how to get to the doggies on jig. Once that is done I can confirm that there is no better place to fish this side of the planet.

As written by Darran Davis who's become a popping fanatic after our 1st trip to the Andaman Islands.