INDIANANGLER

Hi Guys,

A few days before new year we took off in the kayak and headed up the river Karli/tarkali creek with the aim to reach the top after a few days. It was a great trip and some good fish were landed including this beautiful barramundi early on new years day.



We made it up and back down the river in six days and all in all it was a great trip...Rather than going into details here you can read more on my blog at .

There has been some other great fishing lately on the Konkan with the usual suspects hitting the lures including barramundi, some big mangrove jacks and some good trevally...I've included some pics below





















Any questions on targetting any of these species just give me a shout,

All the best, Scott
worldbiker.blogspot

WORLDBIKER.BLOGSPOT

Fantastic

Hey .The young angler again . Imma going to konkan in march. Any tips on catching gt's and mj's ??? (Hey have you tried the mouth of the creek ? I know the creek but never seen this place . Is it on the inner part ??)

Awesome catches and enchanting pics btw

Nice catches... :)

Thanks guys,

Nick send me a Pm and if you like you can join me when you are here.

All the best, Scott

worldbiker.blogspot

Hi guys,

Recently there has been some pretty good fishing around the southern konkan region. usually after the new year sport tails off a bit but choose your spots carefully and some great fishing is still on the cards.

With the increasing interest in sea fishing I have written a new blog post sharing a few of my views for the future of angling on the coast of India and it would be great if anyone reading this could read it and share their own views here.

We've had some great mangrove jacks lately and a few good barramundi too.

One barramundi of note had an old net embedded in it's flesh so had obviously been lucky once before. unfortunately I couldn't get a photo as I was stood waist deep in water and it was dark. lucky fish though...and again it swims free :)

my fly fishing friend joined Gian joined me from mumbai and the target was for him to get a barra on the fly outfit! He came close and had some good bites but didn't land a barra so the challenge is still on for him!

A few photos below and a few more coming. hope you enjoy,

all the best, Scott
worldbiker.blogspot

A hard fighting mangrove jack that smashed a soft plastic shad and then fought like a demon :)



Good jack on bait when the water wasn't suitable for lure fishing



Clean and pristine rock pools



Bomber long a munching jack




Anenomes and soft coral in the rock pools




Aurelie and her pb barramundi

worldbiker.blogspot

Great pics Scott!

And thumbs up for the release....

I have a hard time releasing fish from the rocks where I fish I think it is about time I invest in a boga grip.

Almost forgot to mention. I tried jointed bomber lures last time in Konkan and got a couple of strikes from MJs, but never hooked up. What is the strike/hook up ratio with jointed bombers you are having?

Maruthu

Treat to the eyes.
Great fishing.
Thanks for sharing.

Ravi.

Some nice fish here Scott. TFS

Thanks guys,

Marathu, usually I just use standard bomber but that is not to say jointed models don't work. I have caught fish with them in the past and we have had good success with the rapala jointed j12 when worked between the rocks.

But regarding hook-ups...usually not a problem with the jacks. The strike to hook-up ratio is very good. But make sure your hooks are very very sharp as this will make all the difference. And don't be shy to strike as sometimes the lure will be gripped tight in the mouth and it appears to be hooked. The lure will simply fall out should the fish open it's mouth.

A boga grip is a good idea but at the end of the day if you are fishing from the rocks you will often still have to bring the fish out of the water before you grip it. Of course it depends on the condition of the water and how rough it is.

The second and best option is to use a net but of course this is not always convenient.

The third option is to use a gaff which in the right hands can be the best way to catch and release from the rocks. Of course you need to know the technique which is as follows. Only attempt to land the fish when it is tired and wallowing in the water below... use a large smooth blunt hook that can be inserted into the gill slot. It must be placed at the front so no damage is caused to the actual gills. once hooked the fish can be lifted from the water but must not be left hanging from the hook for longer than is needed, but should be transferred to the ground immediately, preferably onto a plastic sheet to avoid scale loss on the rocks. at this point make sure the fish doesn't jump around as this might cause damage to internal organs...

If you want to release fish from the rocks a little preparation is needed to do it properly but it is worth the extra effort....

I hope this helps...any more questions just ask..

all the best, Scott

.

I haven't been out fishing for a while for a couple of reasons but finally managed last night and luckily for me the fish were in the mood to feed.
Because I was standing in the water i was casting rubber shads with single hooks so fish could easily be released with out the danger of two trebles swinging around.

Almost from the start the mangrove jacks were onto the lures and by the 4th fish my shad was destroyed and a new one was called for. It was super fishing with eight jacks landed. The highlight was a barramundi that came along just before the fish went off the bite. It fought superbly on the light tackle and took an amazing first run. Shame really that I had to stop fishing

Great pic Scott!

Thanks for the info! Let me wear korkers and try to get as close to the fish as possible and see what I can do about the release. I personally would gaff the fish in the lip than slide the gaff on the thrashing fish's gill plate as I generally bring them in while they still have a lot left to fight. But will keep you posted on how it goes though!

I see that you are using weighted soft plastics. One of my favourite ways to fish is to drift the lure in the current. It's been a while since I've fished that way, but let me see what I can do in my up coming trip. I prefer bucktail jigs even better between 3/4 oz to 1 1/4 oz with a pork rind trailer when there is white water and a nice drift

Maruthu

BTW, I got my leaves approved for April.
Looking forward to camp out and fish some remote places

Yeah Maruthu.. I bet you are looking forward to it! I must say the west India coast is one of the best places to get out and camp. I enjoy it so much :)

Yeah the lip is also good for gaffing if you have a small barbless hook on the gaff. I'm always a little reluctant to recommend either technique as a gaff in the wrong hands can do a lot of damage but at the same time I guess guys need to get experience somehow.

The bucktail jigs are a lure that i don't use enough so thanks for reminding me :) we have had some good fish on them in the past and I know how well they work from using them in South Africa and of course seeing the American reports. And the beauty is they are indestructible and one can be knocked up pretty quickly before fishing.

keep me posted on your movements mate,

all the best, Scott

Scott,

I just booked my tickets for fishing the other place a few miles south of where you are I will be there Thursday morning and will be leaving Sunday night. A couple of my friends that were supposed to join me on this trip dropped in the last minute, so I'm just there by myself. I just want to pull a couple of groupers out of the water before I get my butt to Goa

I understand that this is a short notice, but let me know if you want to meet up....

Hi Maruthu. All best with the groupers.. they are a bloody pain in the arse.. r u going to use bait, plugs or bucktails? hope you'd be carrying a heavy set up.. 9 or 10 ft heavy rod. 8000 reel 50lb braid, 80 lb fluro.. 1 1/2 oz bucktails or curly tails or jerkshads. with strong hooks.. sheesh .. i just hate them.. the groupers that is.. hahaha.. lost so much tackle to them.. they are in pest proportions
here in oman, where i fish from rock headlands.

I'm planing to use a heavy 7' fiberglass rod with a Penn Jigmaster loaded with 30# mono main line. I will be tossing plugs and see if they take just like the other times. They are really cool looking, smart, strong and very tasty fish and I love them. I'll keep you posted. But, let's not hijack this thread and I'll post a report when I'm back....

I might well come down mate.
i'll pm you my number...sms when and where you will exactly be :)

all the best, Scott

Hi Guys,

Since I last posted we have had some great fishing on the Konkan coast. We've been targeting the usual suspects; barramundi and mangrove jacks and although we have blanked on a few session we have had some very memorable fishing.

Some sessions the fish have been been crawling up the lines, particularly the mangrove jacks. It goes to show that there is still some great fishing to be had on the coast of India even towards the end of the season.



Aurelie landed this superb mangrove jack on a small hardbody minnow. The fish put up a great fight and really tested Aurelie's skills!



My lure got smashed by this solid mangrove jack before I even started reeling my lure in. I had chosen a very buoyant soft plastic which would ride the current which obviously it was doing when the jack intercepted it..:)



I have been doing a little more fly fishing and the first fish to take the fly was this little barra. Not a huge fish but a very welcome fish because getting fish on the fly on the konkan is not too easy.



Next attempt on the fly and I got this slightly bigger barramundi. The fight was great on the fly rod and slowly I can start to see the huge appeal of fly fishing!



We have been exploring the Konkan as much as possible and there are some stunning places for anglers to visit. here from the cliff top we saw turtles and fish in the water below.



We saw this huge GT freshly netted from the beach. Imagine getting this beauty on a lure from the sand :)

All the best, Scott

Great post and pics Scott!

I will be fishing somewhere south of where you are in one one of my usual spots tomorrow :)
I was there a couple of weeks back and caught 4 MJs in short span of time. Lost a couple of fish as well.

That place with the cliff looks awesome.

I discovered some rocky coast line near where I fish, but the water is at least like 30' deep right at your foot step.
I prefer to fish slightly shallow water with rocks and some sand with occational drop offs mixed in, just like the pic you posted....

I love white water and rips, and the rocks make it even better
That spot you posted should be a killer for barracudas. Slowly retrieved popper during twilight hours....

Maruthu

Hey Maruthu,

Thanks mate and good luck tomorrow. I'm back in UK for a bit and am already missing the fishing. Hopefully we can meet up next time I'm out. I would like to fish that deep water spot :) have really been meaning to get down that way for a while now.

A few more snaps



Aurelie and a beautiful barra. It took a small hard body sebile shad and decided to jump around the place before finally getting tired :)



Good barra and jack brace. Unfortunately for these two they ended up in the fire! But they were very tasty :)



Average sized jack on the ultralight tackle which made it seem like a very big jack!! :)



Fisherman on Tarkali beach preparing for Rapan fishing



Sunset On the Konkan :)

Oh and guys here's a link to a short off Malvan,

I headed out one day in my kayak and tried to film a few fish coming aboard. The sea got pretty rough by sunset but a few small trevally were obliging and took the lure before I had to head back in to the beach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If6ElwqMZjI

Tightlines, Scott

Lovely post,pics,video and Catch.
wishing you many more,

Shamip

Thanks! Great pics with some nice fish there Scott!

For some reason I'm not comfortable fishing deep water with little current as I'm not used to it (A nice drift would be nice for jigging bucktails and soft plastics on a jig head though), but hopefully will figure it out soon. I prefer shallow water with some wash where I can find the cuts/rips and eventually find the fish.

I was there only for the weekend and stuck to fishing a couple of spots shallow water with rocky reef on the bottom. Conditions were not that good with choppy water and big waves However managed 2 MJs (each on each session) Will try to head back there for an entire week in May and see how things are, but not keeping my hopes up based on the water condition this time....

Hope you make it back here soon and we can meet up and fish that stretch of rocks that you've been having in your mind :)

BTW, I just posted the report/pics from this trip in the shore fishing forum....

Awesome video! there's some funny creature that pops up for a fraction of a second at 6;20, viewed it a few times but still can't tell what it is.... Man I wish someday I can get to tenting and camping the konkan coast.... You do it all and also carry your Kayak! Awesome!

Thanks Omesh,

I hope you can join us one day, so next time I'm on the Konkan I will try and arrange a get together :) And congratulations you are the first to spot the frog I put in the video!

And thanks for your comment Shamip. Appreciated!

all the best, Scott

Well done mate…your posts are a pleasure to read ….I have never done much fishing in my home land and most of my fishing has been in Australia…..hopefully will get to fish the indian waters soon.

Congratulation to that beautiful trip. As well as to the pictures they look amazing ... kind of get jealous seeing that :)

Hey guys, thanks for the comments,

Viper, hope soon you get to fish more in India soon and Razon glad you enjoy the post but don't be jealous... get out there and catch some fish :)

all the best, Scott
.

Hi Guys,

Just finished this video showing some of the highlights from this season on the west coast of India. Some good footage of jacks and barra and some of the Konkan scenery :)

hope you enjoy,

Scott
.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgxoX2S7aCM

Amazing video!

I enjoyed a lot watching it. Thanks for sharing!

The place @ 11:35 looks like a grouper paradise

Amazing video Scott!! Loved every bit of it :)!!

Hey Maruthu and Venky, glad you enjoyed the video. some good memories there :)

Guys, here's a link to a new blog post covering this season on the west coast

http://worldbiker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/0 ... 01314.html

All the best, Scott

worldbiker.blogspot

Hi Scott!

thank you for inviting us to read your adventure's accord on your blog, however it is unfortunate that posting links on the forum are not allowed. Kindly delete the link to your blog, I'm not sure but I'm guessing you can mention the name of your blog and people interested can go ahead and google and find. Apologies if this sounds harsh, however it is a rule and must be followed by all.

Regards,
Omesh

Hi Omesh,

Yes it does sound a bit harsh. Why exactly can't we post links on this forum?

All the best, Scott

Like I said earlier I apologize if it did and do so once again since it did. Well there can be many reasons I'd imagine, however would leave it for the site admin to answer.

Tight lines,
Omesh

Hi Omesh,

Well thanks for the apologies. As you can imagine I'm wondering why I should remove the link considering I have been posting on this forum for many years and that my blog has no commercial links/benefits for myself or anyone else. It is purely for me to record my experiences. I hope I can share these with other people and hopefully inspire some other anglers over time. I imagine I could copy all the content onto the forum without breaking any of the forum rules. But as that would be very time consuming I choose to leave it where it is and give people the choice to see the 'extended version'.

So I will leave it up to the administrators.

All the best, Scott