Advice for next trip

[BigLes]

Good Day Gentlemen

I recently spent a week in Pomene Moz and was able to spend to 1 day deepsea and one day estuary fishing, and although I only landed some smaller fish, I hooked into 2 monsters that one reefed me and the other spooled me of 80lb braid...

Now I have been preparing myself for a proper trip again, which is scheduled on the calendar for April/May next year.

I have just finished getting my boat up to my standards, Cat C certified, electronics installed and ready for action....
Got my tackle sorted,
6x trolling rods and reels 30lb class,
1x Popping Setup (Finnor Lethal 100 with 80lb braid and Quantum Boca Popper)
1x Jigging Setup (Finnor Lethal 100 with 100lb braid and Team Diawa Speed Jigger)
1x Spinning Setup (9ft Shimano Schimiter with a ecooda Black hawk 4000 with 20lb braid.)

Now the plan was to spend 2 weeks fishing Pomene alone with the boat, trolling, jigging and popping. I am very new to the jigging and popping side of things and still have a ton to learn.
I have done a ton of research trying to find some solid info on Pomene, while everything points to it being a top destination and I feel personally it is, I have doubts about fishing it alone and without solid info on GPS points, pinnacles, drop-offs and so on, and no one is really willing to share these with me.

So I started reading up about other destinations like St Lazarus and Mafia and all the others and wonder if it wouldn't be better for me to rather try slot into one of those trips, maybe I can find a group that is short a person or so on.

My mind is really torn, where to go? What to do? Budget is around the 30k mark... Please bear in mind that I am one man fishing alone and that no one that I know fishes so am truly on a one man mission...

Your advice will be tremendously appreciated

[Cam Mundy]

1x Popping Setup (Finnor Lethal 100 with 80lb braid and Quantum Boca Popper)
The lethal 100 is fairly small if you can try get a reel that you can spool PE8 or 100lb braid if you have the budget.

1x Jigging Setup (Finnor Lethal 100 with 100lb braid and Team Diawa Speed Jigger)
50 to 60lb braid PE4 to 5 will be a better bet jigging with 100lb braid is a slep and almost never needed unless you are after 100 kilo plus Doggies or monster Bluefin and if thats the case you will need a Stella 20K I've landed plenty 30 kilo plus GTs on PE 4

1x Spinning Setup (9ft Shimano Schimiter with a ecooda Black hawk 4000 with braid.)

Can also double up as an ultra light jigging combo.

Now the plan was to spend 2 weeks fishing Pomene alone with the boat, trolling, jigging and popping. I am very new to the jigging and popping side of things and still have a ton to learn.

Study the Charts for the likely looking areas and spend time trolling back and forth marking out the reefs on your GPS GT's will come up and eat poppers from about 25meters till 1 meter in depth. Have one colour mark for 20m one for 15m one for 10 and so on this will help you to map out the reef and understand its shape and you will know in advance during your drift what to expect. Keep an eye out for bait fish especially fusiliers they are a dead give away of prime GT water.

I have done a ton of research trying to find some solid info on Pomene, while everything points to it being a top destination and I feel personally it is, I have doubts about fishing it alone and without solid info on GPS points, pinnacles, drop-offs and so on, and no one is really willing to share these with me.

So I started reading up about other destinations like St Lazarus and Mafia and all the others and wonder if it wouldn't be better for me to rather try slot into one of those trips, maybe I can find a group that is short a person or so on.

My mind is really torn, where to go? What to do? Budget is around the 30k mark... Please bear in mind that I am one man fishing alone and that no one that I know fishes so am truly on a one man mission...

Come spend 5 days with me I'll have you fighting fit in no time lol.

Your advice will be tremendously appreciated
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[Prego]

Go fish magazine put trips together to St Laz and always have a few spots available for individuals

[BigLes]

Prego, I saw that and that's where the doubt started to creep in... Go get some experience with experienced ppl or figure it out on my own...

Cam Mundy - I have seen and read a lot of great advice from you, do you do charters? Sorry for my ignorance...  What would 5 days with you set me back???

On the Lethal 100 I have 350m of 80lb braid and the other one has 300m of 100lb braid, is that too little?

[Cam Mundy]

Prego, I saw that and that's where the doubt started to creep in... Go get some experience with experienced ppl or figure it out on my own...

Cam Mundy - I have seen and read a lot of great advice from you, do you do charters? Sorry for my ignorance...  What would 5 days with you set me back???

On the Lethal 100 I have 350m of 80lb braid and the other one has 300m of 100lb braid, is that too little?

I'm a GT guide but I'm based in Sri Lanka 5 days with me will run you about 2500 USD all in but not including flights we do single angler trips so if you are keen let me know.

I'm not all that familliar with the lethal 100 its about the same size as a shimano 8000 if I remember correctly?

[Cam Mundy]

I had a quick Gander on my Navionics App looks plenty of likely looking spots around Pomene.

[BigLes]

Pomene has had many big fish caught from its waters, in may I saw 2 guys spear what they said was a massive 60kg kingfish, which literally pulled them and their boat around for 10mins before the spear came free. The current was extreme that day and that fish pulled the boat up current...

My thing is that everyone who has had very good success keeps it quiet there, I understand this, I mean a lot of guys rape the oceans and keep all they catch, I don't eat fish so they get to swim another day if caught by me... But yeah I have asked info on several forums to only receive very vague answers... I love the area, and I'm dying to go again, just wondering if I'm wasting my time without much experience.

I also think the Lethal 100 is a bit bigger than an 8000 size real, probably 10000 or closer to 14000. It also has a 20+kg drag...