GT Fishing in the Andamans

I remember as a young eager angler, watching old YouTube videos of guys catching massive GTs and dogtooth tuna in the Andaman Islands.  Always dreaming how good it would be to get there and what an adventure of a lifetime that would be. Fast forward a decade and a regular customer mentioned he was putting together a group to go back there after a successful trip and I guess the rest is history.

For the next few weeks, I binge watched those old videos again with the realisation that Its happening!

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are in the Bay of Bengal, between the coast of India and Myanmar. These Islands are a union territory of India comprising of 572 islands of which only 38 are inhabited. One of these being the famous North Sentinel Island with one of the last wild tribes of the Sentinelese people. Unfortunately, I couldnt join the wild tribe after hearing stories of any visitors tragically being killed, so I thought Id stay clear (there is a actually a large no-go zone around the island!). Anyway, enough of the introduction lets get into the reason you are probably reading this; the fishing!!

We booked the trip with Gamefishing Asia in Port Blair; Darren and the team went above and beyond to make our once in a lifetime trip very memorable. After meeting the crew and another group from Spain who were fishing on the second boat, it was time to rig gear, eat dinner and get to bed for a good nights sleep. Safe to say I was the first one up the first morning, tuning gear to perfection for the day ahead. A short walk to the marina from the accommodation and you get the first glance of the fleet of centre consoles that we were fishing for the week. Set up for casting and jigging, the large centre console boats are the perfect platform for fishing and travelling in the region. Most of the fishing out of Port Blair is roughly an hours drive with heaps of islands, coral flats and deep ledges that are home to big GTs, dogtooth tuna and a vast array of reef species. Still a little sceptical at this stage how good the fishing could be, but within five minutes there was a double hookup on GTs! The adrenaline was pumping and any jetlag from the travel was left behind right there and then.

From that first double hookup, fish came thick and fast with most proven techniques working well. Throwing bigger cup poppers, diving poppers or stickbaits, it didnt seem to matter and better still if we gave them a few options. Over the 5 days of fishing, countless GTs were landed and 20kg plus fish were regularly caught. One afternoon the captain took us to the GT honey hole, where on a previous trip Joakim landed three fish over 25kg in 3 casts. Funny enough in the same spot it happened again, so after watching him land a few I thought Id have a cast. As Im working my lure, I look over my shoulder and everyone on the boat is hooked up. Patiently working my lure in anticipation, it got smashed off the top right next to the boat. I knew this was a proper one but of course I hooked it on my lightest GT rod, the Zenaq Tobizo 84-100 Type R. The rod handled it with ease, and after an intense battle my new PB of 37kg hit the deck. This fish was just one of many more memorable moments scattered throughout the week.

On our trip the doggies didnt want to play the game (they turned up the week after our trip), but the sheer numbers of quality GTs and reef species more than made up for it.

Tackle Used

With the rods, having a more popper specific rod was a bonus as larger poppers are commonly used over the deeper drop-offs around the islands. I used the FCL Labo UCB81 MH Pop which covered all my bigger cup poppers. We also took a few all-rounder casting rods more aimed at casting stickbaits and smaller diving poppers which included the Zenaq Tobizo TC83-150G and the 84-100G Type R. Light tackle consisted of a casting rods in the PE 3-4 category for chasing reef species over the flats, like the Zenaq Fokeeto 73-3 Twitch and FCL Labo UCB-73 L. Lastly the jigging setups we took were in the PE6-8 category aimed at stopping dogtooth tuna - in my case the Zenaq Ikari DBL FS56-J10 which performed flawlessly. We didnt end up taking light jig rods, for space reasons, but the light tackle casting gear doubled up for this purpose. As for lures to bring, there didnt seem to be a massive shark problem, so 2 or 3 of your favourite poppers, diving poppers and stickbaits in each category was sufficient, and gave plenty of options to keep the fish interested. Leader sizes were between 120lb up to 200lb depending on the rod and lures we where throwing.

Dont forget our summer special where you get a free FCL Labo X Yeeman Lure when you spend $250 or more online at Fish Head.