Fishing Reports
and News
Markku was travelling in Lanka with his wife and decide to go fishing one day at Bolgoda Lake last week.
He caught a nice barramundi, a couple of mangrove jack and a baby GT.
He tried to catch some featherback but this elusive fish was not keen to play with him.
“Thanks, it was an excellent fishing day and the guide Shaktivel was super”
See you next time Markku.
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
Last Sunday, after 2 good days fishing with our Malaysians anglers, we received Hiro san who works in Kandy in Sri Lanka. He heard about our fishing charter from Kamiyashiki san blog and booked a day fishing at Bolgoda Lake.
His main target was to catch a Wild Golden Barramundi and a Spotted Featherback. Mission accomplished for Hiro san, he caught 2 Golden Barra, 1 Featherback, plus a nice Mangrove Jack and the second Black Sea Bream caught on lure in Bolgoda Lake !
A superb fishing fishing like Bolgoda can give. Hiro san was so happy, then he has already booked another fishing day this month with one of his friend. See you very soon Hiro san !!
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
Last Friday and Saturday, I have guided two Malaysians anglers : Brian and his friend CK from Lure Fisher. These 2 days fishing was good with some nice catch, like this Wild Golden Barramundi caught by CK.
During these 2 days, predators fish were active like the Mangrove Jack, CK caught a big one up to 40 cm on popper !!
Some nice Lady Fish give good time to Brian, these fish are incredibly strong on light tackle.
Spotted Featherback was also a target fish for our anglers and they caught some nice one. We were waiting for the Juvenile GT but they don't want to show to our Malaysians how hard they fight.
It was a really pleasure to guide Brian & CK, lot of fun and good time, I know I will see you soon guys.
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
Another good fishing week end at Bolgoda Lake with japanese anglers Fumiaki san and Norifumi san from Bangalore, where they are working. Like expected, water color in the lake and his backwater was a bit better compare to last week end and made the predators also more active.
Fumiaki san caught a proper Golden Barramundi of 58 cm but sadly his friend Norifumi miss 2 barra, one was really big !
Fortunately, Norifumi san has a great time with the Mangrove Jack and honestly we could not remember how many he caught, but enough for giving him the nickname of "Mister Jack". Some Mangrove Jack were very close of the 50 cm mark (48 cm and 49 cm).
They also caught some others species like juvenile GT which give so much fun to catch on light tackle, and also Fumiaki caught 2 featherback with the finesse technique, plus some oxeye tarpon and ladyfish.
It was a really nice fishing week end, I enjoyed to guide Fumiaki and his friend Norifumi, they promised me to come back soon for another week end at Bolgoda Lake. See you soon guys.
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
Yasuda san from Japan came fishing at Bolgoda Lake last week-end. A bit thought condition after the heavy rain of the last week which made water color murky.
Despite this water conditions, Yasuda keep casting, waiting for the bite of Barramundi, his main target. Sadly, Barramundi seems not keen to play the game during these 2 days fishing. Hopefully for Yasuda san, the other predator of Bolgoda Lake and especially the feisty Mangrove Jack give him some good time, like this 50 cm + he caught in heavy structure, a hard fight and good fun on light tackle. See you next time at Bolgoda Lake for another trip Yasuda san.
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
* No more rain this week, we are expecting some better conditions to fish the lake with our next anglers this week end.
Ota san, from Japan, fished with us 3 years ago and has a good trip at Bolgoda Lake. Then he decide to come back and this time he has a better trip with good action with Wild Golden Barramundi, Mangrove Jack and Oxeye Tarpon.
First day, we concentrate our effort on the main lake in search of Mangrove jack and Ota san has a great morning catching them. Afternoon, we go for Barramundi spots. Water color were perfect but the wild golden barramundi don't seems to bite... But on our last spots we found plenty of Oxeye Tarpon rolling on surface. Ota san caught some with small silver color minnows. I suggest him to put a small popper for fun and he has a great time catching these jumper fish on light tackle. A good way to finish the fishing day.
Second day, we try again some Mangrove Jack spot and Ota san caught 2 nice one with his Duel Hardcore Minnow. Just before lunch, we go for Barramundi spots and Ota san miss one and after a coupe of cast caught a nice 63 cm Wild Golden Barramundi. Afternoon, we went to our featherback spot. Last trip Ota san was unlucky with this elusive fish, but this time he came with some good soft plastic bait. Featherback were there rolling in surface, but they don't seems interest by Ota san lures. Hopefully, Oxeye Tarpon were there also and like last day he has great fun to catch them with popper.
Third day, we are looking on Barramundi spots, but the morning timing tide was not so good and Ota san caught some small mangrove jack and a nice Ladyfish. After lunch, tide was running well in Bolgoda Lake and his backwater, good time for Barramundi !! Straight away we reach a good barramundi spots.
On the third cast Ota san has a nice bite, immediately the fish rush and jump. Sadly on the second jump, hooks came off. Ota san was a bit disappointed, I told him to keep casting in the area and less than 10 minutes he caught a 56 cm Wild Golden Barramundi. He was so happy. On his barra lure he caught a nice featherback also and just before sunset time, Ota san lost a big fish at the edge of a lily pad patch. We don't see the fish but it was a powerful rush, certainly a nice Barra.
The last day, Ota san was fishing only the morning due to his afternoon flight. I couldn't guiding him for this session but he gone with our local fishing guide Shaktivel and he has a very good morning session with 3 barramundi bites but he hasn't landed one !!! Shaktivel was telling me, Ota san lost an easy 15 pound barra just before to put the fish in the landing net.
It was nice to guiding you Ota san and see you soon again at Bolgoda Lake.
Tight Line
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
Catch of the day : big barra of 93 cm for 10 kg !!! This beast was caught by japanese expert angler Kamiyashiki san from Mangrove Studio company, who is coming to do a fishing report for japanese Salt World Magazine.
Certainly one of the biggest Barramundi caught in Bolgoda Lake on casting lure.
Stay tuned for the report in Salt World Magazine !
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
French journalist, wildlife enthusiast and chief editor of the famous, French angling magazine “Predator”, Numa Marengo and Japanese price winning Daiwa angler, Ryusuke, joined our fishing guide Nico for six action filled days at Bolgoda Lake.
Bolgoda has a healthy stock of Mangrove Jack, which is one of Numa’s favorite predators to fish for. On this trip though, his goal was a hard fighting Barramundi.
On the other hand for Ryusuke, the aim was set on catching his first Featherback.
The weather for the trip was quite stable with shining sun and a bit of wind. Just a couple of times during the last two days the rain fell heavy in monsoon like ,short 15 minutes bursts.
Unfortunately for Ryusuke, the levels of salt content in the lake had begun to increase as it is connected to the sea. This means that his target species the Featherback, seeks refuge in remote areas with a higher level of fresh water.
For Numa though, it meant very good news, as the saltwater loving Barramundi is more plentiful and aggressive.
During the trip they had very good action, with 25 bites some days, mostly catching the aggressive Mangrove Jack.
Numa missed a very big Barramundi fishing close to the old prawn traps, charging inside the trap and wrapping itself around the bamboo sticks the hook lost its grip. These fish are smart!
On the 4th day Ryusuke, finally landed his first Featherback, just in the corner of an old prawn trap where they usually are seen in high numbers when the salt content is lower in Bolgoda. Numa was also able to manage a bite of a Featherback, using the Drop Shot technique, which is probably a first in Sri Lanka.
On the last day of their stay Numa had a great day, catching several “Barras” between 4- 5kg and finishing the day on top with a good size of 8-10kg.
Both Numa and Ryusuke were very happy with the trip and recommend the destination highly. Especially when they realized that Bolgoda Lake not only offers great fishing, it also offers a great variety of wildlife with the diverse birdlife, big monitor lizards, monkeys and last but not least the huge Saltwater Crocodiles whom are plentiful in the lake.
Sportfishing Lanka Team
