GT: A Flyfisher's Guide to Giant Trevally

by Peter McLeod

Overview

Catching a giant trevally (or 'GT') on a fly rod is the pinnacle of flats fishing: highly challenging, requiring skill and preparation. This is the first comprehensive guide to giant trevally fishing on the fly.

The giant trevally is an apex predator, and the way it operates is nothing less than brutal. These 'gangsters of the flats' are like packs of hoodlums marauding across the atolls and shallow estuaries. Hunting for trevally in the harsh environment they inhabit needs a certain resolve. The flyfisher's first encounter with a giant trevally will be an electrifying experience. A GT can destroy tackle and ego, leaving all in its wake.

But once you've caught one, GT flyfishing is an experience that any angler will want to repeat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910723333
Publisher:	Merlin Unwin Books
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Peter McLeod has worked in flyfishing travel for over 20 years and founded flyfishing specialists Aardvark McLeod International, in 2005. He has visited over 60 fishing locations in 20 different countries, some of them as many as nine times. He has travelled widely in his quest to find the finest flyfishing experiences in the world. His fascination with the trevally species is bordering on the obsessive and he is constantly scouring the globe for that next mind-blowing hotspot to target these bulldogs of the flats.

Read an Excerpt

So where do we find GTs? These predators are one of the most opportunistic feeders swimming in the ocean. To catch a GT on a fly you are first going to have to enter their environment and then hunt them in it. There is nothing random about how GTs move. Their movements are dictated by their unique understanding of their environment and the availability of food. And, in a similar way to humans, individual fish have their own characteristics and preferences.
Although their overriding motivation for being in a particular locale is dictated by water temperature, tide levels, available food sources and seasons, an understanding of the areas they frequent is vital. There is no quick and easy fix; it is just a question of understanding what motivates them, covering the ground and putting in the hours on the flats and the other areas they hang out. The more ground you cover and the more of their environment you can visit, the more chance you have of getting a shot. When that shot comes, you need to be ready as the opportunity comes and goes like a match lit in a wind. It can be not only physically but also mentally challenging to maintain that level of concentration for an extended period of time, often while just trying to stay upright on coral or surf.
As these bruisers are so adaptable, their hunting grounds range from offshore rock pinnacles to coral reef edges, channels, flats and estuarine systems. Juveniles tend to be more prevalent in estuaries and river systems where, like baby tarpon, they feel safe from larger predators and in turn can hunt other bait living there for the same reasons. Once they attain a certain size, perhaps 20-40cm, they will begin to group together and move out to deeper water to find structure such as a coral reef, bombies, drop-offs or channels. These locales contain strong currents where schools of bait are buffeted, making them easy targets for the fast and powerful trevally. As a rule of thumb when on the flats, the larger the group of GTs, the smaller the fish are — with the really big fish tending to remain as singles. The exception to this is a high concentration of food which will draw large concentrations of trevally to an area including the bigger fish which will shoal up again.
As soon as the tide allows, even very large GTs will venture onto flats, headlands and shallow water to hunt, utilising the network of channels or areas of deeper water.