Series 22 - Ram Road Trip 4
ADVENTURE 4
One of the toughest sportfish on the planet is the Giant Trevally and on this Ram Road Trip, we head to the Capricorn Coast to fish around the Great Keppel Islands.
My trusty V8 Ram 1500 Warlock is the perfect tow vehicle for my Surtees 650 Game Fisher boat. I live in Sydney so a trip of 1500 kilometres is needed for me to arrive at Keppel Bay Marina. The Ram truck is a joy to drive and the extra space to carry all my gear makes it the best tow vehicle on the market.
Keppel Bay Marina is the perfect location to access the many Capricorn Islands dotted along the coastline. The currents hitting these rocky outcrops force baitfish to school up and push the bait around the many points creating feeding zones for predators.
Giant Trevally are a prized sportfish. Hooking one with loads of reef around gives these big powerful fish a good chance of reefing the angler and cutting him off.
Over the years I have been fortunate to land many quality GT’s and every one of them was hard work.
Rocky points like this one behind me show you the rough terrain these powerful fish live around.
You need the strongest gear to land one and I use a long Shimano spin rod that is designed specifically for long casts and tough fights. The reel I always go to is a Shimano 18000 Stella. The drag system on these reels is awesomely smooth and it needs to be. When you have the drag system a shade under
fully locked any reel not up to extremely high standards will breakdown. A quality outfit is a must so you can turn the big opponent and guide him into the net.
With the adrenalin still pumping in my veins I manage to haul this 25-kilo beast to the boat and up for a quick picture. This fish pulled like a train and was still pulling drag after 10 minutes of battle.
Sometimes you get lucky and on my first cast 4 giant Trevally appeared behind my surface popper and had a crack at the lure before this unlucky one bit the hook.
With a huge mouth and streamlined body this big fish was set free to harass more baitfish and grow even bigger.
When you’re looking at a likely spot to cast a big surface popper look for rocky points with current.
Back on dry land with a quality Giant Trevally in the can, I’m off in the Ram 1500 pick up truck to my next fishing destination which is a mere 422km south. Hervey Bay is a great place to find some quality reef fish and I get lucky with some calm weather and head around the top part of Fraser Island to land a few beauties.