Friday, March 29, 2024
News

Time for a celebratory C-Gar!

HAVING the opportunity to try out new fishing gear, whether it be rods, reels, lines, lures etc. is one of the more attractive aspects of being a fishing scribe. These days the level of thought, design and build quality going into most fishing tackle means the chances of actually testing something that is well below par are increasingly remote.

In this modern age, maintaining one’s reputation or “brand” as it’s now described is foremost in the thinking of successful tackle creators, whether it be a boutique lure-maker or a global manufacturer of quality rods and reels.

Last week I had an opportunity to get Barraddiction out on the water and test the new C-Gar stick-baits made by Aussie tackle company Halco. No doubt it’s a catchy name for a lure, which I gather was chosen for its double meaning… one being it has a cigar-like shape, and the other that it looks like those big snub-nosed garfish you often find along the foreshores and out wider in the Top End.

According to Halco’s website, these newly released 40 gram lures are a weighted stick bait, designed for use on the surface for species such as Australian salmon, tailor and queenfish, or alternatively sub surface for tuna, mackerel and other predatory fish. Further, the C-Gar has an action that produces less splash than a popper, but has enough surface action to get strikes from wary fish looking for an easy snack.

Given that I love chasing macs, tuna, queenfish and GTs here in my home waters around Darwin, a new lure that could help in this regards is always worth a try, especially one that sinks down and can be worked sub-surface where a popper can’t go.

What also attracts me to the C-Gar is its manufacturer-heralded long casting ability and the fact that this 120mm lure comes with two very beefy Mustad 1/0 trebles, which means that it could also carry a couple of big in-line singles if you want to swap them over when tangling with really big bruisers. Looking at the size of the barbs on these Mustads, not even the recently departed Joan Rivers could have delivered a bigger one.

inline_561_https://yaffa-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/yaffadsp/images/dmImage/SourceImage/PZ1_3057---Version-2.jpg
Halco’s new C-Gar is an impressive looking lure with its unique nose design, finish and those big-ass trebles.

So with three C-Gars rigged up on spin sticks, we launched nice and early and headed out on the bluewater to see what we could rustle up. Conditions were excellent and glassed out which was unexpected but very welcomed.

Once at our target shoal, we started trolling a shallower running Laser Pro 160 and a deeper diving 125 Scorpion to see if we could find some fish to cast and jig at. After trolling for 15-20 minutes the Scorpion got hit by a smaller broad-bar Spaniard around 5kg. As it was being pulled towards the boat, coming up with it in the clear waters were another 10-15 of them, milling around like goldfish in a pond.

“Quick… someone start casting around a C-Gar…” was my immediate call.

As deckies Brian and Nathan Mappas were dealing with the hooked mac now beside the boat, it dawned on me that I had the free pair of hands so I grabbed my rod and flicked out a short cast … which for the record went a fair bit longer than I wanted it to go (yes Halco – you were right about this lures cast-ability credentials).

Anyway, I cranked the C-Gar flat out like I usually do with my metal jigs when targeting macs and queenies and it skipped across the surface just like a pencil popper. However, while a few macs followed it, there were no takers. Next cast I slowed down and it zig-zagged nicely along the surface. But again there were plenty of followers but no takers.

Third cast, I let it sink down about eight feet, cranked it fast for a few turns, and then slowed down and worked the lure side to side. In the clear water I saw one of the macs immediately flash in from the side and hit the C-Gar mid-body resulting in a solid hook-up. To quote George Peppard’s character John “Hannibal” Smith in the ’80s TV series The A Team… “I love it when a plan comes together!”

inline_377_https://yaffa-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/yaffadsp/images/dmImage/SourceImage/PZ1_2901 - Version 25_DC482960-396E-11E4-99E702C00C6DC988.jpg

Above: A neat broad-bar Spanish mackerel was the first fish taken on the C-Gar.

We spent the next couple of hours catching plenty of smaller broad-bars and a few big queenies on both C-Gars and metal Outcasts. I was hoping that some big GTs might turn up to the party but alas, we didn’t see any. However, while trolling another part of the shoal to try to find them, a couple of big Spaniards took a liking to our offerings. A double hook-up on these hard fighting macs provided some exciting times for the father and son combo aboard as they worked hard not to “cross the beams”.

inline_920_https://yaffa-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/yaffadsp/images/dmImage/SourceImage/PZ1_29443_F7051A10-396E-11E4-99E702C00C6DC988.jpg

This solid queenfish took a liking to the C-Gar as well. How good does that water look! And the level of finish on the new lure is very striking as well.

inline_772_https://yaffa-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/yaffadsp/images/dmImage/SourceImage/PZ1_3027---Version-29-550.jpg

Brian and Nathan Mappas enjoyed the experience of a double hook-up on hefty Spaniards trolled up on Scorpions and Laser Pros while the skipper was trying to find some fish to cast the new C-Gars at.

With the sun now getting high in the sky, we decided to leave the bluewater and fish a coastal creek to see if there were any barra or threadfin salmon handing around. I was also interested to see whether we could get non-target species on a C-Gar. It is one of my quirks to try and catch creek and billabong species on lures designed for pelagic speedsters and vice versa.

In the creek we came across a deep hole that the sounder reckoned was holding plenty of fish down deep. We trolled in for a while and scored a couple of solid threadies on deep-diving Poltergeists. However, I was keen to try and fish vertically for those deeper fish that were out of our trolling depth, as previously this technique has been very successful aboard the green Eliminator.

Thus, we rigged up some small Tremblers and dropped them down. Before too long we were rewarded with some sizeable threadies and smiles all around. After ticking that box, Brian and I then dropped down a couple of C-Gars to see what would happen. Brian’s son Nathan shook his head at the two old fools aboard and kept jigging his Trembler, and continued to be rewarded with more strikes from rampaging threadies. But we old blokes persisted with our C-Gars and by the end of the session had landed a small barra and goldie, as well as a couple of decent threadies.

inline_571_https://yaffa-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/yaffadsp/images/dmImage/SourceImage/PZ1_3277---Version-2-15.jpg

Thinking outside the square resulted in this thready being vertically jigged on a C-Gar in a creek system.

inline_620_https://yaffa-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/yaffadsp/images/dmImage/SourceImage/PZ1_32378 550_9F42E800-3970-11E4-99E702C00C6DC988.jpg

Nathan Mapps stuck to jigging his Halco Trembler and was rewarded with this impressive threadfin salmon.

Now let me be the first to say that vertically yo-yoing a C-Gar (in a tidal creek) is a technique for which this lure was clearly not meant for. Also our successes on it in these circumstances are probably more reflective of the amount of hungry fish swimming around in that hole. However, what it does illustrate is the potential versatility of having a sinking-style stick bait, and that hungry fish still consider this particular lure something worth striking at.

As I often like to reiterate when reviewing new gear, particularly when you’ve only used it once or less than a handful of times, one swallow doesn’t make a summer. But when used in the right circumstances, I reckon a few C-Gars in your lure kit is a very good idea for the versatility that this new offering from Halco brings. I am also looking forward to using these lures in low light conditions when hungry barra are boofing mullet and other baitfish off the surface or just under it. This is when those big mean trebles will come to the fore (except of course when a big mackie, GT or kingie gets hold of your C-Gar out on the blue).

Now upon reflection, maybe there’s even a third meaning to this new lure’s name. Like Colonel Hannibal and his A-Team crew, after a successful mission you might just want to celebrate the day’s action with a C-Gar… but with one that’s a little easier to light up.

What's your reaction?

Related Posts

Load More Posts Loading...No More Posts.