INDIANANGLER

Last few days I was struggling with a nagging knee pain and one day late afternoon got a call from my fishing buddy " Mario " whats up Sayed bhai he asked ? and I was quick in blaming my knee for restricting my actions and he said he had called to invite me to fish with him, I instantly acepted leaving him laughing at the other end only moments ago I was complaining about a bad knee { you see it’s the fishing bug inside me that controls Me, my Actions & Reactions }

After hanging up the phone, I popped some painkillers , grabbed a bunch of my select lures & ofcourse my lucky 14 footer rod and drove to the meeting point where Mario & Loyd were already waiting for me and Damian was to join us later , as this was Mario's secret location I blindly followed him , after a long drive we reached the spot by dusk and as I looked around I said to myself " This place although looks promising but can be equally punishing " the huge waves were menacing enough to shake the wits of any angler , Umpire loyd decided to watch out for the odd waves and warn us while Me and Mario started casting in the rough waters , almost immediately we were shaken by two back to back waves and I realised that my multiball bearing reel had tasted saltwater but what the heck ! its not soluble in water I said to myself and Continued casting

After an hour or so got a tug and I was quick to set the hook and Now the fun began KKKrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr sang the reel I called out to Mario who had just taken a break after a long spell of casting ,both Loyd and Mario were by my side cheering me and cautioning me about any high waves that were to be careful of " this time it is something BIG " I said to mario as I held on to my rod there were powerful jerks stripping the line from my reel. As if having a hardtime controlling the fish was not enough for me then came a surprise wave that shook my knee "No no no don't do this to me God !! Please not now !! Let me have this one " I prayed in my heart and finally after 10 minutes of underwater 4play the fish was now willing to come close to me like a shy damsel

I switched on my headlamp and said to Mario " watch out here she comes " and after a few seconds of combing thru the water there she was " What a Beautiful sight !! her eyes shining like two little Diamonds and my headlight gleaming off its silver body " YES it was a Beautiful Big BARRAMUNDI

By now Brother Mario was all charged up ready to gaff her " she is all yours mario " I called out and he gaffed it with ease and expertise " ALL PRAISE BE TO THE ALMIGHTY LORD " suddenly the air was filled with laughter and joy and hurried calls were made to our overjoyed loved ones
Then we moved on to another secret spot , there Damian unfortunately lost another Big Barra after around two minutes of play I guessed it was not hooked properly or its luck was running stronger than ours , we then returned to Mario's Den where we had a photo session

Note: the fish was played with light tackle in total darkness except for the time of gaffing it = Total Time taken from Hook to Gaff was under 15 Minutes
The Barra stood 35 inches tall but only one inch short of three feet from Lip to Tail and was estimated to be not less than 9kg
A task well tackled, This was a collective victory for all four of us Mario, Damain, Lloyd and Lionheart








come on gimme a hand guys I am struggling here





............................................................LlOYD-LION-MARIO

Here we are THE 4 BOLD AND A BEAUTIFUL


This fish has added another feather to my angling cap

Special thanks to Mario for inviting me to fish with him and it was indeed a pleasure fishing with you and hope you come to Murud with me to repeat some successful fishing there too
Also thanks to Dennis & Damian for taking some beautiful pics

great lion,,,, abe tho tum ne kamal kar diya,,,,great going sayed hope u hav another fish like this soon ,,,

i see love for the fish from all three guy;s eyes ,, good team sprit three cherrs for your gang hipp hurray(3 times),,,that is a good sign mario toast of urrack for ya

i see love for the fish from all three guy;s eyes ,, good team sprit three cherrs for your gang hipp hurray(3 times),,,that is a good sign mario toast of urrack for ya

Nice Barra guys.. :)
Congrats, wish you all lots of barra's.

Santosh

what a beast sayedbhai !! my heartiest congratulations to you. . i always look forward to reading your posts. what beautiful narration, it feels i was almost there. thanks for sharing . is it your personal best ?

great fish.hope i can catch one someday. barramundi r more famous from australia.didnt know they're found in india too.i'll get mine someday. cheers.

Well done lionheart,

That is a beautiful barramundi and the equal of any found in
Australia!

Kingfish

wat a sham guys.the barramundi is the ever popular bekti fish in india. also known as giant seaperch.the name barramundi is very aussie for it.i eat bekti all the time but didnt know they are the same.good catch lion heart.

Great catch. Thanks for sharing the pics.

@ Merwyn, Santosh, Dr Aamir, Gautam, Mr Singh and Apoo Thank you all for your compliments and wish you all lots of good catches in your fishing trips
happy fishing & tight lines

Wonderful Narration, feels like am there with you in the spot.

GR8 catch Lionheart.

Multiball bearing or twin bearing?????????????

Wherever LION goes, Barramundi just follows.

Keep it up. I believe your persistence is the secret of your success.

Unfortunately i missed to join the trip.

My best wishes to Mario & Lloyd.

Tight Lines.


Salmonmani

FANTASTIC!

This is a great fish.

Sherdil


No wonders you were into hibernation all these days. You've got urself a silver monster there. Hope you enjoyed the fight thoroughly?? Indeed you have added another big scale (feather) in your cap. Well narrated report and the fish looks truly amazing. Meanwhile I'll make a hole in my cap you know just in case if I have to collect some down feather :)

Cheers and good going. Hope to catch up with you next year insha allah.

DeZZ

Thank you ManiRatnam

Its these encouraging words from friends like you that motivates me and keeps me firm in the rough waters
as for the ballbearings the more of it you have, the stronger your machine don't you agree

why don't you drop in tommorrow evening we are having a rooftop Barra barbecue party followed by Dum Bir.......

Thats a huge catch Sayed. Great going.

Congrats and wish you many more.

I was never into hibernation Desmond I was very much active catching fish even during the rains but just didn't feel like posting every fish I caught as I fear you guys will get bored of watching me every now and then
Enjoyed the fight ?? O man !! I enjoyed every bit of the trip, the funny part was when I had to take the catch up to the vehicle which was far from the spot Mario and Co said its a rule of the gang that he who catches carries the catch and I had to change shoulders very often as the heavy fish was slippery later Mario came 2 my rescue
Insha Allah see you next year

Congrats on the nice Barra.

A very exciting narration and equally great fish to match.

Congratulations.


Regards,

Ali.

Hi lionheart
congrats!...great catch!!!

Fellow Anglers,

I wished to point out something about barramundi.

All barramundi are born as males and after attaining a certain length
they undergo a sex change and turn into breeding females.

In Australia, therefore, all large barramundi are returned unharmed back to the water.

In this way, the angling fraternity here ensures the survival of the species for future generation of anglers.

I would therefore request members of this forum to keep this fact in mind
and think about releasing the larger barramundi.

I know we cannot do anything about the commercial fishermen but we can at least show the way.

Regards,
Kingfish

Thanks Salmonmani and best wishes and fishes to you also

@ Doc my personal best is yet to come Insha Allah, but the more bigger ones caught by me were never captured in the cam as that time was not a member of IA and even today the old anglers of murud prefer to quietly enjoy the fish caught and not display it around

Thank you
Bobby, Alibhai, Raj and Anand
Happy fishing and tight lines to you all

I respect your thought. But how can one angler show the way to commercial Fishermen. I remmemberd an incident was angeling near a reef close to the shore got a decent size fish. The local guys noticed that and next day onwards there were nets allover the place. I suerly showed them way in a sadWay. And as for the bigger barras the 110 cm ones not close to the shore very rare.

Hello Mario,

I agree with what you are saying - it is impossible to stop others despite one's best intentions.

In any case, barramundi under 80 cm. are male and should not be any
cause for concern if taken for the table.

I also appreciate that the larger barramundi are physically out of reach where you fish - thank God for small mercies.

Regards,
Kingfish

Congrats Sher,

well done. Thats a nice specimin that you hooked into & landed.

best regards,
Keyur

Realy thank GOD that the big barras are not easly reacheable.

Thanks Keyur

The likes of this specimen are waiting for you in Murud, hurry up don't be late

well fellas.its a gr8 fish to feel at the end of the line.after all the whole angling experience is about the feel and the satisfaction of landing the big one on rod and reel.so what if the barramundi is the local BEKTI that doesnt change anything.all hotels serve fish and chips made with bekti.but that shouldnt change the angling experience of it.gr8 fish once again.

nice catch...


regards,
pranav...

HI Sayed,
Congratulations !!
Great catch, especially with the rough sea.
Sayed, you should take up to short story writing.
Syd.

Just want to add my 2 cents here. Commercial fishermen need to be educated, there is just no other way.

I am not trying to suggest what fish should be released and what should be kept and I leave it to the discretion of the angler and their level of education.

However, I would like to comment on how can 1 angler make a difference? Well you can, there are 2000 of us on IA, if every one of us make that statement then there will be "0" willing to contribute. This is a very common thing to say, "Why me, what can alone" but if everyone took responsibility there will be a difference. You need not bother about the next guy, you just do your bit. That is good enough.

There is another reason why you should keep your catches discrete, especially when taking them home, to avoid commercial fishermen seeing you catch and netting the place the next day. And as some of us are so concerned about commercial fishermen seeing what you have and netting the place, what better way to keep your catches discrete than to simply release the fish after a few pictures.? ...Food For Thought.

Wow...gr8 catch

Thanks Pranav, Mohit and Mr Sydney

@ Mr Sydney I will do that only for you Sir




@ King Fisher
F Y I Barramundi is called by different names in different parts of India listed here are atleast a dozen of the names :---- from Mumbai to Goa ---> Jitada, khajura, Khajari, khajara, Komat , Kanai, : Ghur , Chaunkul , Chonak , Down in the south its called Kuduva and Bhetki in bengali and may be many more else where

so the next time you order some Fish Tikka try remembering some of these names

Great Catch Sayed,

Congrats

Bobby,

You have put it beautifully.

Kingfish

Hi Bobby,
How very very true,you hit the nail on the head.
Exactly what I've being telling fellow anglers.
Syd.

Hi Bobby

your 2 cents are actualy not that expensive.
I never spoke about not releasing a catch. The whole discussion was about big barras . And its a bit confusing were you trying to comment or advice or educate other anglers or only me because there was a lot of use of the word "YOU" about catch and release. In order to do what ever you were trying to do you even made a full effort of gaugeing my level of education I'll tell you im not ha ha ha!!!!! .

And about some of you who are conerned about locals seeing my catch couldnt help it was in their backyard lucky those concerned people im atleast not spelling out the name of such places like a few others do it . And you yourself are saying "You need not bother about the next guy, you just do your bit. That is good enough."

God alone knows how many anglers specialy the salties are willing to Catch and Release specialy if its thier first or only catch of their trip.

And in the whole event the way of teaching commercial fishmen what, how not to earn thier livelyhood Please try it.One Genral suggestion we all anglers stop buying fish from the local fish market as a mark of protest againts Over fishing by commercial fishermen.
The bigger picture is different we need to have No Fishing Zones AKA Marine resevers or Catch size limts only such things can properly secure the future not only for anglers but also commercial fishing. ITs followed by other countries even economicly Backward countries if compared to India.
TELL ME BOBBY ONCE A LOCAL HAS SEEN ME GAFFING MY FIRSTH CATCH WHAT SHOULD I DO . AND THIS TIME PLEASE NAIL IT VERY RIGHT AND BEAUTIFULLY.

My First & second Catla (only two caught till date ) one was 36 LB and the 2nd was 22 LB both are swimming happily..





Nothing wrong in taking a specimen or some of your catch home, honestly speaking over a period of time every angler will feel the need or see merits in C&R and I believe that is angling Education . On my last trip I and Abhi (spoon) were discussing the same thing.

It is better if one can avoid commercial fishermen seeing the fish caught.
Trust me it helps.. you will catch lot more fish. Mario tula Nazaar nahi lagnar .. (Abhi, remember something? )

Guy's the season has started.. tight lines to everyone..

Santosh

.

Mario,

I think that the comments made in the forum are not aimed specifically at anyone and are aimed at our fraternity as a whole - please do not take it
personally.

With regard to Marine Parks - we have found these to be a curse in Australia
as the Greens Party wants to close more and more areas to fishing by the
general public.

The angling groups had banded together with the Shooters Party in the recent elections here in an effort to stem the Greens, without any
success.

We are now extremely worried what the Greens (with their strength in the
Parliament) will now do to fishing and other outdoor activities.

So it seems to be a no win situation.

Kind regards,
Kingfish

Mario,

How should I put it? 2 cents never are, nor are they ever meant to be, that is why they are just that.

The only comment in that entire post to YOU, was the first sentence, and I was talking about commercial fishermen, the rest was generic.

The term "You" in the rest of the post was generic, I did not comment about your level of education, frankly I give a toss if you are or you are not. But you sure did not get my post!?

Regarding taking Barra home, mate I do take them home too and I enjoy eating them, males, females and the ones in transmission and I don’t care what name you call them.

For the last 30 years I have fished our entire coast, in people’s backyards, front yards, gaffed several fish over the years including one Bahiya. I even had Eunuch who told me how much they made that day, not that it mattered but was entertaining while waiting for the fish to feed.

So there you go….you freeze it, fry it, curry it, salt it, dry it or release it. I don’t really care what you do with your fish.

Bobby

Great catch Sayed Bhai. You've started the season with a 'silver' lining, literally. May you have many more..

Thank you ---> Dilip & Freddie, I wish you both many big hook ups and also successfull landings

That's a nice "collegie"(that's what they call it in Mangalore area)
Congrats.

Ravi

guys... with no offence to anyone.. and a genuine desire to understand ... could those who have some practical ideas on how to educate local fishermen please spell them out.. coz this whole " tu tu mai mai .. on angler education n commercial fishermen education has gone on every now n then .. in quite a few posts..

personally if there have been locals willing to listen ... i have been willing to talk.. infact i remember at on spot some time recent... i got talking with a few elderly local netters .. seeing that the younger chaps joined in to see what was going on.. all of them were surprised to know that barra , grouper etc are hermaphrodite.. they understood that pulling out big ones would mean pulling out the mommas .. therefore less, barra for them n their sons in the future.. they understood it all.. but unfortunately.. paapi pet ka sawaal... + they went on to talk about how inept the fisheries dept can be, in educating them .. saying they themselves know jack.. then the stories of how the big barracudas who own 8 n 10 boats dont give them a fighting chance..

so really its a sad scene...

as in all problems indian.. this too is systemic.. and unless someone.. yes even one .. has the gumption .. persevering conviction ... farsightedness ...balanced knowledge ... and does not look at it purely from the angling motive .. but the need to truly do something .. even if it means trying and failing .. but trying nontheless things will be as they are.. and we will continue to bicker... so once again dear gents and brothers of the angle.. lets talk doable n practical... n then PRACTICE what we preach. once again no offence..

hey Lion wish you many more catches like this.

Thanks Buddy lets go Barra Hunting again
My fish stock is near to zero as you know I EAT FISH 2 LIVE & LIVE 2 FISH

Hi Hamour,

While on the topic of educating commercial fishermen, I understand what you are saying but educating them about certain fish being hermaphrodite is one thing, perhaps in chapter 5 – 6, however a lot of seasoned anglers are of the belief that the sea is an endless resource, I have had a few arguments with these guys about this without making so much as a dent, most of these guys come from a generation that is a little before ours or mine, these guys are well read and all, so how do you explain this to fisher-folk who have not been to school. Conservation should be something thought in schools. It is difficult to explain it to a person who has spent years on a boat making a living out of fishing and believes he knows more than you. These guys have a completely condescending attitude towards you when it comes to fish and fishing.

You get to these guys when they see the fish you catch, but I recall some of the earlier blue water trips we made where the locals were really laughing under their breath at us “fools” thinking we could catch fish with all our large reels and fancy gimbals and harnesses, by trolling plastic/rubber fish and things that did not look even remotely like a squid (jet heads). It was only when we took some large fish that they started believe and even worry if their boats will stand up to something really large that we might hook and spoke of the previous evening when planning the trip. Some of the boats we took from Bandra had a clearance of just over a foot and we were about 25 Miles offshore.

With most of these offshore guys from Bandra, it was a blessing that they were not really that switched on, otherwise they would really take a toll on the fishing grounds, their methods are so haphazard that they catch perhaps only 20-30% of what they could if they knew more. That is why, perhaps, we still have a lot of offshore game and fishing boats from other countries try to get into our waters to harvest. Even their navigation methods were messed up, while going in, they followed the coast line till it was in sight and then followed returning boats, on the return journey they looked to the skys for guidance, not the stars, but the airplanes that took off from Santa Cruz and Sahar Airport, that’s how they found their way back till the coast was in view again. After the initial trips we cut down the journeys by more than 50% using GPS’s and asking them to follow the arrow while we took a nap till we reached the trolling grounds. The Fishermen down South – Alibag and further onwards were much more Savvy they were a lot better. You may be surprised to note that most of these boats even the ones down south rarely carry any safety and rescue equipment because they believe it will bring them bad luck and others will laugh at them for being “chicken”.

As far as the guys who net inshore from boats, sometimes it really sucks to find these guys just leaving their nets there and not coming to harvest them, they sometimes arrive a day or so late only to take out mangled fish from these nets and chuck them away, what a waste, they believe in a completely different form of catch and release. At least harvest the nets on time…after all as they probably believe, the sea is an infinite resource.


Bobby