Hi All,
After months of trying different lures and methods I finally landed my first fish on a lure, and what a fish it was :)
Now that I'm done with my sem exams I'm in Goa for a 2 week fishing trip. After a hectic ride from Bombay I cooled my heels before heading to a local tackle shop to buy a new rod. I purchased a 9 foot Shimano FX S90. While at the shop I happened to meet Merwyn (aka Tiger on IA). We chatted up and decided on a spontaneous fishing trip.
We drove for a couple of hours till we crossed the Goan borders into a beautiful coastal village in Maharashtra. At first we thought of spinning at some rocks off the beach but found the terrain a bit unsafe. So after a short trek up and down the hills we decided to change our location and headed to the local jetty.
Once there, we found quite a few local anglers fishing with hand lines and bamboo sticks. We tried our luck with bait but did not get any bites. We then decided to switch to lures. I started with a shad but it got snagged and the hook broke. I then switched to a Rapala. So did Merwyn.
At around the same time the moon began to show herself in all her glory and she lit up the water. At my seventh cast I was reeling in slowly when it happened. Bang! before I could say 'Jack Robinson' my Penn 6000 Graph reel was screaming like Robert Plant doing an angler version of 'Stairway to Heaven'. Oh that sound! Music to my heavy metal loving ears. And then she showed herself splashing about in the distance - A feisty Barramundi. The fight was on. Merwyn helped me reel her in and there she was, Beautiful!
I was over the moon. But that wasn't the last we heard of the Barramundi's. Around 30 minutes later Merwyn's reel starting singing too, and again the game was on. Within a few minutes we reeled in the second Barramundi for the night. After a few more casts we called it a day and headed home.
The Barramundi I caught weighed in at 3.5 kgs. Took a few pics and then I was off to bed, still thrilled to bits.
I was particularly happy with this trip for many reasons. This was my first catch with a lure, my first Barramundi and my first catch with my new rod. Still have another week and a half to go and I'm sure I will have more stories to tell.
Till then
Tight Lines
Danny
P.S.: I have a commercial fishing chart which refers to Barramundi as 'Sea Bass'. Same species?