Light Tackle Jigging for GTs in the Philippines

[Fish-On!]

I've moved to the Philippines to retire since back in Dec. Although I grew up there, I've lived longer in different parts of the US and overseas being in the military. Pretty much I've forgotten my way around since alot had changed since then. Good thing I've met and became friends with local anglers there. Since moving there, I've only been able to fish offshore a couple of times. The first back in late March for dodos which went pretty well. We just flylined and slow trolled dead local sardine like baits around fish attracting devices --FADs (aka Payaos) made by local fishermen (handliners) spread across the ocean to the nearby islands. We trolled around it until its empty and moved on to the next. Kinda like kelp paddy hopping. The recent one this month, I was invited to a fishing tournament sponsored by a local fishing club. The event was held in the northern most tip of Luzon island, a 14 hour road trip from where I lived. It was a light tackle competition limited to PE2 (20lb) mainline. Me and my buddies decided that we'd jig for Giant Trevallies (GTs). All of my reels are pretty much loaded with 40lb spectra and up. The only reel I had loaded with PE2 is my small Van Staal VM150 which I use for light tackle surffishing in SoCal beaches. I didn't have any extra spool PE2 line either. So I'm stuck with the VM150 and it'll have to do. The problem is, jigging entails dropping jigs at certain depths then jigging it back up in the hopes that a fish would be enticed to bite. If I got bit deep, I was afraid my VM150 might not have enough line left to stop the GT on its initial runs, and will surely result to getting spooled! The key was to get the boat captain to be fast enough to move the boat and run after the fish in order for me to recover some line, enough to subdue the fish. In the end, everything worked out right and I was able to land several GTs with the VM150. Between me and my buddy on the boat, we bagged a total of 7 GTs and some groupers all by jigging. Fish on!

Link to the video of one of my GT hookups.

https://youtu.be/VGG3jQohXhI

Beat up jig after GT hookups!

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z11/rbgrecia/jigdstrike_zpsagicpkjk.jpg