Giant Trevally

Scientific Name: Caranx ignobilis

Identification
Adult GTs are generally easy to identify but juveniles up to three or four kilos are a bit more challenging, given that there are just so many different trevallies in the ocean. The bigeye is probably most frequently confused with the GT but it has a much bigger eye, as its name suggests. The GT also has a steep forehead profile.

Tackle and bait
Anglers targeting GTs generally either troll or cast lures. Trolling outfits should be selected to suit the size of the biggest GT you're likely to encounter in the waters you're fishing. And whereas 10kg may be fine in deep, "friendly" trolling country, 24kg may not be heavy enough in shallow, bommie-strewn territory.

Fishing methods
The type of country that might hold some jumbo tailor down south is likely to turn up a GT up north. White water washing over the top of a lump, with shallow broken country all around, just screams GTs, and it's here that poppers really come into their own. The last thing you want to do in this sort of country is to cast out a lure and have it sink, or dive, into the reef and coral. So a floating popper is the obvious practical choice. Of the different types of poppers around these days, the three that have worked best for me over the years are the cup?faced wooden ones which skip and slurp all the way back to the rod tip. Varying retrieve rates are integral to this style of fishing.

The clear resin poppers such as Hawaiian pillie poppers or local Redbacks are best fished with variation in rod tip height and retrieve rates. I have had some really good sessions on these types of lures. Probably the most internationally popular popper style for GTs is the blooper. This bulbous, cup-faced popper is twitched, stop-start fashion, and frequently GTs will hit it as it sits motionless on the surface. The larger bloopers can really benefit from a savage downward rod tip action to "bloop" the bigger fish into your area. This is great fun, but don't forget to crush down the barbs to save both you and the fish from excessive damage. Some anglers target big GTs by trolling rigged mullet or garfish baits around dropoffs. Very slow trolling or mooching as 1 tend to call it with large weighted swimming baits can produce GTs, and also a very welcome bycatch of big mackerel.