I picked up Naoya san and his friend at their hotel in Colombo early in the morning. On the way to Bolgoda Lake, we talked fishing and Naoya asked me how the condition of the lake was after all the rainy days in Sri Lanka. From my experience, these aren’t the best conditions for Barramundi but they are really good for Featherback. Good news for Naoya, who has never caught one of these fish before. Naoya’s friend joined him at the last minute, he knows fishing but he is not an expert like Naoya and came along mainly to enjoy a day out on the lake.
We arrive at Ruskin Island, where ours boats are parked, around 7 am. We take time to have a tea and prepare our tackle before we leave for fishing. Starting at some spots to target Barramundi, nothing comes up so we head on to our Featherback spots. When we arrive we see plenty of them rolling on the surface. Naoya and his friend are surprised to see so many fish. But as usual with Featherback you need a lot of patience and never give up. I advise Naoya to fish with special lures and give one of my favourite lures to his friend to use. After a while, heavy rain comes down. Just after when the rain stops, Naoya’s friend has a bite and lands a nice featherback. He is extremely happy, it’s his first fish caught on lure !
This fish boosts Naoya and I feel him start to concentrate more. I give him some advice about how to animate his lure and on his second cast he has a bite but misses the fish. A few minutes later the Featherback start to become more active. The surface of water is full of Featherback rolling everywhere. Naoya’s friend casts close to where the Featherback pack is rolling and immediately has another bite landing his second fish of the day. Naoya casts in the same area and catches a very nice Featherback.
We stay a while longer at the spot but it was time to head back and there was more rain on the way. We have a late lunch at the Villa and I drop Naoya and his friend to Colombo airport. Naoya enjoyed his day fishing and plans to come back soon to make a 4 day trip at Bolgoda.
Hope to see you soon !
Nico - Head Fishing Guide