We arrived at remote Kanua lodge for the weeks fishing with the ocean at our doorstep. With the picturesque landscape surrounding us and easy access from our base to top fishing areas, we knew it was going to be a good week.

DAY 1 Our captain Olivier aboard his 28 foot Luhrs rolled up seeing four happy energetic faces standing on the wharf and once all the introductions were out of the way it was a quick load up of the gear and away we went.

On the way out a quick check of terminal tackle and a double check over everything, then sit back and relax while Olivier did a short run to the reefs where we were going to fish. Olivier was quick to break the silence shouting “Jig gloves on Aussies it’s time to pop!”. We all ran to our rods and couldn’t wait to get that first popper in the water.

Second cast in…pop..pop..pop smash!, I am on a Spanish mackerel which immediately starts sizzling the Stella for the first hook up of the trip. Few minutes later a 10kg mackerel hits the deck, following the start of many.

All was quiet until our first GTs appeared, two 35kg models shadowed a popper from the front and back of the boat. One of the fish followed like a silver torpedo then struck a line which crackled through the rod guides, a truly awesome moment to see the fish take a popper so close to the back of the boat.

Fifteen minutes later after a good fight, 35 kgs of GT hit the deck and the party started with hi 5s all round. That was definitely the fish of the day, along with plenty of Coral Trout and Spanish Mackerels were everywhere, along with Blue Groper and Golden Trevally and last but not least Red Bass.

DAY 2 We were on the boat early and headed off to some new reefs. Everyone was still pumped from the day before. Two casts at the bommie and a good size Spaniard leaps two metres in the air straight over the top of the lure just to get everyone started for the day.

A GT of approximately 15kg takes off on a popper over the top of the bommie so some good driving from the captain sees the fish stay connected and landed. Meanwhile, the Spanish Mackerel continued to keep us interested with an aerial display but to our dismay did not hook up.

The afternoon bites were very slow and only one Barracuda was landed for the rest of the day. With our egos bruised and confidence down, we headed for our resort for a few beers but the thoughts of tomorrows potential soon got us back in the mood.

DAY 3

We had thought it would be good to jig for the day but our captain had other plans. The wind had ceased overnight and the water was a lot calmer then the previous two days. Olivier was confident telling us that the GTs will be on for sure and he was a man of his word.

The first popper in the water got nailed within seconds of hitting the top of the water by a little GT. Our first five bommies then produced quality GTS within the first hour! Today was going to be a day that we never forget…

The next reef we pulled up to all four poppers went flying at the aqua blue underwater reef. All four poppers were getting hits with two successful hook ups. We had our first double hook up, one GT coming in at around 20kg and the other slightly larger about 25kg.

As the sun got higher in the sky the GTs seemed to shy off a little but that still didn’t stop the Red Bass from smashing our poppers and a stunning 10 kg Coral Trout was caught right on the reef edge which was an awesome sight, especially when it tried to get the lure back to it’s lair.

For the afternoon session a Blackjack stick bait proved to be the secret weapon with no more bites on the poppers. I launched the stick bait out and as soon as it hit the water a solid GT was all over it, with a very savage hit the Stella was in full swing. The fish tried to make a getaway down the reef edge but then made the mistake of running out into deep water and was shortly boated, a GT of around 20kgs. With a numerous amount of hook ups and hook pull outs for the rest of the afternoon our third day had concluded, a few beers and story telling was had on the way in to shore and everyone was pumped for the final day.

DAY 4

Our last day started the same as the previous, lots of GT action on the first few poppers in the water. GT after GT harassed our lures, hook ups and losses were common but kept everyone keen to keep launching poppers into the reef. Several fish were landed including a 35kg GT that crunched the lure so hard that it engulfed the whole Kronik popper inside its mouth and with a good solid fight for 20 minutes, plenty of rod bending and line crackling runs the fish was boated.

With our day coming to an end soon we had to start making our way back into port but we talked Olivier into one more reef cast and he picked a good one that had plenty of current running through coral, which looked like a fish haven and it was! Cast after cast had Golden Trevallies in a frenzy knocking each other out of the way to get to the lure first, an unreal sight! We also had a Barracuda school in on the action mixed in with some nice GTs, it was action packed and non stop until a massive feisty Grouper came out of this hole to play with a popper. He opened up his bucket mouth and engulfed the lure and then I was left helpless as it stripped 20 odd kilos of drag off the Stella. He travelled straight back into his hole where it snapped straight through 100 pound braid, what power!

With more GTs and Golden Trevally coming in we weren’t too fussed and it was a great action packed last hour or so to top off a truly remarkable trip.

From all the boys, special thanks to David Noble at Oceanblue for an awesome experience and doing what he could to make sure we had a trip to suit our fishing needs. Also a shout out to the man who never stopped trying to catch us fish all week, Olivier our captain a top bloke who made our trip everything we could have imagined and much, much more.

Olivier knows these reefs inside and our and it showed, we can’t thank him enough.

From all the Aussie boys…Luke, Trav, Brett and Mushy.