Still late with the fishing report, but here an highlight picture of a big GT caught by one of our regular japanese angler during a 3 days popping and jigging trip, beginning of the month.
Stay tuned full report coming soon !!!
Tight Line
Capt. Nico
Hot popping and jigging action for Japanese anglers !!!
With some delay, here is the full report of a great 3 days popping and jigging trip with Japanese anglers Nakamura san and Hayato san beginning of February.
The first day, we mainly go for popping and despite some slight green water due to some unusual heavy rain days before, the guys have 5 bites and caught 3 GT in the 15 kg range and Nakamura caught a nice 20kg + end of the day.
As we have bites early morning and end of day, the second day we do a mix of popping and jigging. The morning, Hayato san caught 2 small GT and miss a bigger one. Just before lunch, I decide as planned to reach some of our jigging spots. Good move, as the sonar show me some nice marks and the guys were immediately tight with fish. They caught some amberjacks, black tip trevally, Gt's and a nice long nose emperor for Nakamura.
On the way back, I stopped on a couple of popping spots and on the second spot, I spotted a bait school in surface. Nakamura san, cast his Carpenter Gamma and a big GT came and smashed his lure very close to the boat. The GT missed his stickbait and on the second bite it grab it properly. Nakamura strike, but sadly the hook were not set properly and he lost the fish... Tomorrow is another day...
Last day, we discover a very nice water color on the first spot and I told the guy, that will make the fish more active, especially the big ones. And it's what happen, on the second spot Hayato san had a big bite, the fish goes on a powerful rush and straight in direction of the rock. I started the engine, and followed the fish to make sure the line don't touch the rock. After some epic boat maneuver to keep the fish far from the rock, Hayato san can finally fight his fish safely. After, a hard fight, it's a cracking big GT and we landed on the deck. Not the biggest GT of Hayato san as it's a regular GT angler onboard Big Dipper with Fukui san in Japan. But Hayato san told me this GT was the most tough fish he has fight.
On the next spot, it's Nakamura san who had also a big bite and again very close to the boat. This time Nakamura san set properly the hooks and start an epic battle with a healthy GT who gave him a hard time. And it's another nice big GT we landed, that fish was a bit heavier than the one of Hayato san. We try a couple of others spots without success, than we decide to reach the jigging spots. As the previews day, the sonar show us a lot of big mark and we are expecting some good action. But the most frustrating scenario happening, they don't have a single bite !!! We try different jig action, slow, fast, short shape jigs, long shape jigs, colors etc... but nothing decide these fish. We back a bit earlier as the guys have a flight early in the night, I just stopped on the couple of popping spots, but like I was expected we don't have bite as it was a bit too early.
All in all, these 3 days fishing were great and for their first trip in Sri Lanka Nakamura san and Hayato san enjoyed a lot their trip and they have already plan to come back soon. I am waiting to see you again guys !!!
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
2 nice fishing days with french customers from Maï Globe Travel
Last week, I have guided Franck and Jean Claude from France. These two friends were traveling in Sri Lanka with their wives and as they are good anglers in France for bluefin tuna in Mediterranean sea, they booked 2 sea fishing days to target GT's on popper and have a try on trolling for tuna, wahoo or marlin.
First day, we have a great weather, but the water color was green on the shore and on our popping spots, which is not so good. Anyway we start the day with some popping, but quickly I discover that will be useless to spend all day to cast the poppers. Then after a couple of hours without any activity and decided to reach the drop off to found better quality of water to do some trolling.
Good move, as when we reach the continental shelf, water color was much better and we saw lot of birds. We put the lures in the water and in less then an hour we had a strike, but sadly the fish came off. I continued to fish the area as many birds are there and we can spot some bonito and skipjack in surface. And it paid off, we have another strike and Franck caught a nice wahoo. Few minutes later we have another wahoo on board caught by Jean Claude.
As I spotted some nice big marks on the sonar, who look like big tunas, I stay in this area. I change the lure to fish a bit deeper, but sadly we don't have the big bite excepted. Before to back to the harbour we spent an hour to do some jigging, not a crazy activity, but the guys have fun landing some colourful rocky fish. On the way back we stop to take a chance on 2 popping spots, but the Gt's were definitely not keen to bite their popper. Tomorrow is another day
Second day, as I found on my weather forecast a nice north current was coming during the night and I was expecting better condition for popping. And as expected, on the first spot we discover a slight green water and a nice line of current. On the second spot, Jean Claude has the first GT bite of the day and it was a big fish, but sadly he missed the fish as he doesn't set the hook properly. Next spot Franck landed the first GT and a couple of minutes later, it's a nice sailfish who was following his popper till it saw the boat.
The guys asked me to join them to cast and I caught 2 small GT with my floating stickbait. As the conditions looks good and fish were active I decided to fish some other spots little bit more far. On the first spot, a huge King Mackerel jump with the popper of Franck in his mouth, but as usual the fish doesn't hooked. Next spot, Franck had another bite, the kind of bite you are dreaming when you cast a big popper for Gt's. That Gt was a monster !!! We all saw this beast in surface coming from the side to smashed the Rapala Xplode. The swirl was huge !! Franck set perfectly the hook and the fish goes in a long and powerful rush. It was a long time I haven't heard a Shimano Stella screaming like this. I started the engines and moved the boat to help Franck and mainly make sure his line will stayed far from the rock. Franck handle it perfectly and when the fish and the boat were enough far from the rock, Franck started to fight his GT. This fish was damn heavy as I can see the bent of Franck's rod, the tip was close to touch the surface of the water. Everything was fine, but suddenly the line broke. Not on any rock or reef, the line just broke under the high pressure. This braided line was from a good brand, but Franck confesses to me that he has been fishing with that line for bluefin tuna since 2 seasons... No comment ! Just a quick parentheses for all the anglers who plan to come fishing with us, please come with new line, you never know what will be the size of the GT you will caught
Anyway, after this misadventure, the guys continued to cast their popper but I feel their heart was broken, like the braided line of Franck. And as the activity was slow down, I decided to do a bit of trolling and try to catch a sailfish or a mahi mahi. But the bad luck follow us as we don't have a single strike despite good conditions. On the way back to the harbour I stopped on few popping spots and on the last one Franck caught another recent GT to end the day.
All in all these two days fishing was great, but the missed and the lost of the beast leaves us a little bitter taste. Franck and Jean Claude were so funny on board, we had great time talking and joking, hope to see you again somedays in Sri Lanka !!!
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
They talk about us in Japan !!!
Here is our first news of the year and it's for our japanese anglers : this is the last cover of the japanese magazine Salt World, where you can read a nice article about fishing with us in Sri Lanka for popping & jigging.
Thanks to the chef editor Moto san for this article with beautiful pictures.
We were very busy guiding clients all these last days and we are late with our fishing reports, but that will come soon.
Stay tuned
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
GT fishing with US anglers
Last week, I guided Jesse and his friend Fred, for a popping day to target GT's.
Despite some windy conditions, the guys don't give up and they have 5 bites and caught 2 Gt's, their first ever GT on popping.
Congratulations guys !!
Nice to meeting you and to have you onboard of Diviya.
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
Successful Popping & Jigging trip for VIP Japanese anglers !!!
Last week, we started our sea fishing season with our first group of angler. This group was composed of Yamada san our travel agent in Japan, Omoto san from Salt World Magazine, Otsuka san the CEO of Studio Ocean Mark and Sano san, field tester for CB One and SOM.
During these 4 days fishing, they had an insane jigging session the first day, where Sano san caught a nice dogtooth tuna and Otsuka san a 30 kg GT. Mainly the catches were GT's, I have try some deeper spots to look for amberjack but sadly without success, anyway our guest were happy with the powerful GT's.
Popping was a bit slow at the beginning, but the last two days the reef and our different popping spots were on fire !
They caught some nice Gt's and nice king mackerels. Average size of Gt's was around 15-18 kg.
The biggest fish was caught by Yamada san with a decent 20-25 kg fish and sadly Sano san lost the 2 biggest fish, who broke the line on the reef.
A very nice trip to start our sea fishing season. A report of this trip will be publish soon in Salt World Magazine.
It was nice to met you and guiding you guys.
Tight lines
Great popping & jigging trip for the Jerry's
Middle April we have received the Jerry's for their second fishing trip in Lanka. This time, they wanted to focus catching GT's on topwater, plus doing a bit of jigging and finish their trip by some days fishing at Bolgoda Lake for Barramundi.
The guys were much better equipped compare to their last trip. This time, they came with proper rods and reels, and good lures for targeting Gt's. We started the trip with some really good action and they caught some nice Gt's.
Everybody caught his PB fish and "small Jerry" caught a cracking GT. Big Jerry also have a good GT in the 25 kg range on a PE 4 rod and a stickbait. Chugger popper made the trip as Cubera 150 or the usual Hammer Head E-cup. The last day a bit tired they let me join then and I caught a big GT.
Jigging was a bit slow during this trip in term of number of fish but the guys hooked some serious fish, like the unstoppable one who striped all the line, or the other one who fight for 45 minutes before big Jerry broke his rod and then the line. Small Jerry caught also a nice Shark and some groupers.
One day on the drop off we saw some big yellowfin tuna jumping and eating tiny red fish, we have a try but the tunas were focus on these small bait. A afternoon we go to found them, but without success despite some big school of spinner dolphin and pilot whales in the area.
They also did a bit of light jigging and ave lot of fun catching so different species and small Jerry caught a baby Napoleon Wrass just out of Colombo city on one our good spots.
All in all, it was a really good trip, the guys learned a lot during that trip, they enjoyed my sarcastic jokes and we have so much fun.
The last day we have a go at Bolgoda Lake and they caught some Barramundi and Mangrove Jack.
Guys thanks to come fishing with us and I know we will see you soon for another memorable fishing trip in Lanka !
Tight Line
Capt. Nico
GT Popping with Singaporean Team !!!
We have received a nice Singaporean team anglers with Henry, his brother Louis and his friend Dereck for a great 5 days popping and jigging fishing trip.
During all the trip, weather was really nice, the water color on our popping spots was a bit green due to some rain the days before, but that don't disturb too much the GT's which come in surface to smash the poppers and stickbaits of the boys. We had some great action on topwater, especially the first day with a total of 13 bites but for only 3 GT caught...
The others days we mixed the day between popping and jigging. On jig the second day Derek hooked a big sailfish, but sadly it came off after a while and Henry caught a shark. We did also a bit of trolling, especially the last day, condition were perfect with a lot of life, with many birds under skipjack feeding, we also spotted some dolphin and some big tuna, but fish did not seem to play with us.
This trip was really nice, we had a lot of fun onboard, especially with Henry when he missed these Gt's the first days, but finally he landed plenty of Gt's and as his brother, he took his personal best GT during this trip !! Derek was a bit unlucky the first days of the trip, but after I gave him some good tips to handle his floating stickbait, he made up for lost time and he landed some good size fish.
I really hope to see you again in Sri Lanka guys, I really enjoyed to guiding you and Henry be patient before to catch your monster GT, that will arrive one day for sure don't worry ;-)
Tight line
Capt. Nico
Nice GT fishing on popper !!!
Last week, before our Head Fishing Guide Nico goes to Japan for the Keep Cast, we received Sam and his girlfriend from Australia and 2 french anglers, Nicolas and Olrich for a day charter at sea, mainly to target GT on popper.
Sam and Nicolas have fished GT on popping before, for Olrich, it was his first fishing experience. Early morning we reach our popping spot with a flat sea condition. We found plenty of bait and after a while Sam with his popper Cubera 150 cast close a school of fusiliers and on the third pop a decent GT come up and grab his lure in a nice splash. He hooked properly his fish and after a nice fight he landed the GT, he was so happy.
We continue to fish around, Nicolas missed a fish but the current slow down and we decide to try some jigging but fish were no keen to bite their jig, then we decided to back on the popping spots with the current increased. Good choice, we had a super action on popper. First of all, Olrich was fishing with a pencil popper, our guide Nico spotted a long tom running as something was big and afraid him. Nico asked Olrich to cast in this direction and just when he was starting to reel an absolute huge GT come behind his lure and engulfed it. Everybody saw the fish and the bite, only Ulrich as a beginner didn't see it... We all told him to strike, but it was too late, the big GT has released the lure from his mouth...
This action keep all casting and Nicolas caught a small GT and another one, Sam missed a very nice GT close to the boat and at the same time 2 big king mackerel came behind his popper but sadly don't bit it. On our last drift of the day, a massive whale shark came on surface and passed under the boat and let us in memory the nature is just beautiful.
Another good day fishing in Sri Lanka with happy clients !!!
Swedish family caught their first GT's ever on Popping !!!
Last week, we have received Robin, his brother Tobias and their step father Thomas for a day charter to target GT's on popper. They were traveling in Sri Lanka and came from Galle to fish with us.
Robin wanted to catch his first ever GT on topwater lure. Morning was a bit slow, lot of bait cruising around our popping spot, but GT's were not keen to smash their lures. After lunch, we reach one of our favorite popping spot and we found some activity. Thomas caught a small GT on floating stickbait, Robin caught his first GT also and was so happy !! His brother has a serious bite on his floating stickbait, but sadly the fish hook off.
All in all it was a nice day at sea, with nice weather condition and it was not a bad day for these 3 beginners in GT fishing. Personally, I love to have anglers who catch their first GT with me onboard. Congratulations guys, you have never give up and you kept casting and you deserved your fish.
Tight line
Capt. Nico