INDIANANGLER

Instead of opening a new thread every time, I will use this thread to post my stories...

2015 has been a great year for me, did lot of fishing, purchased lot of gear and most importantly I have started fishing from the shore.

My new avatar as a Surf angler...


Couple of weeks back I was in my native and here is the report.

Southern tip of India has plenty of beautiful beaches and this time I was able to visit few of them and had a blast in fishing.
Here are the photographs of few of the beaches..








I was walking along one of the beaches and found a hole and started casting. I was into my fifth cast of so, the lure got hit and I saw a huge splash. It was like I hooked a freight train and I immediately realized it as a GT. For the next 10 minutes it was a epic fight and this GT had put a very tough fight. In fact I estimated it to be triple the size until I saw it in the wash. My cousin was with me and he had clicked very memorable photos. Here are the photos of the fight and the GT.







After the GT, I could not fish for a couple of days and I decided to try a jetty. I noticed the peculiar bait movement and I know I have a good chance of catching a Barramundi.
After a few casts the lure got hit and boom there was a big flash and I saw a big barramundi on the other end. I expected it to do and arial display, but instead it started pulling the line.
I fish was very near to the rocks and was trying to pull into the rocks. I know if I give any chance I am going to loose the fish and it was a very challenging battle with rocks on either side.
It did put up a very good fight and after sometime it came up and I am thrilled to see the fish. It is a huge barra. It weighed 29 pounds and is more than a meter long. Here are the pics..





Other than the GT and Barra I got few MJ and couple of small groupers.




Here are few bird photographs I took..






Happy Fishing,
Venkatesan.

Great pictures and report !! Congratulations on that Barramundi !! That's a beast. I am jealous :)
I think you are putting that Saragosa to good use !! Good job .

Regards
Binu

Hello Venkat,

What a glorious end to 2015 !

The pictures are superb and I cannot imagine such beautiful beaches in India, they match the one's in Australia. It must be a joy to discover these and then to catch such large fish from them!

Looking forward to more such reports from you in 2016!

Kingfish

Super stuff Venky.. Congrats and Happy New year

Great report and fantastic pics!

Congrats and keep them coming Venkat....

Maruthu

Nice pics and great catch!

Congrats Venky
Supperrrr Pics

congrats venky nice catch

REgards
Vijay

Venky...Some fantastic catches and nice photos (Y)

Awesome Venky, great photos

Fantastic report Venky

That is a monster Barra and a nice GT. Cheers !

It is quite some time since I did fishing in the sea and recently we went for a fishing trip in west coast for a couple of days..
We heard the weather was good but to our surprise on reaching there it become gloomy and started raining.
Till on the evening when we were packing for returning it rained cats and dogs and as we were leaving it was sunny again .
But this is part of the game We were able to fish for 2 sessions when it was raining a little...
Overall it was a little letdown as we were expecting to do a lot..

Recently I got a new casting setup (200 curado I and AbuGarcia vendata rod) for snakehead fishing and I thought I will try this for Mangrove Jacks.
This is the first time ever I am fishing a casting setup and I am very much liking it except of the drag on the light reel...I asking too much..



Generally I use a long leader with FG knot on rocks and this time some home I got a crazy idea of not using a long leader.
I paid the price ultimately.. Lost 4 fishes on the fight.. One was a very good sized MJ.
The first fish has dragged the braid over the rocks and in the heat of the battle i failed to notice and missed the next three..
I am not going to fish without a long leader from the rocks!!

In the next session I used my trusted Saragosa with a old spinning rod. Within a couple of cast I got a heavy strike, but unfortunately it missed the hooks.
The MJ pulled heavily for about 2 seconds and let it of. Again I missed a very good sized MJ.
After some time I managed to land this MJ. It was no match for the Gosa..





This time we thought of doing jigging as well and I have got these jigs..
But rain played havoc..



Here is a pic of the terrain...



Regards,
H.Venkatesan

Nice action there, Venkat.

Stay away from baitcaster reels for sea fishing!

Kingfish

Congrats Venkat!

Why is the handle on the wrong side of the reel

Maruthu

It is a lefty!! I prefer left handed for the lighter setup.

During Diwali I went to my native and was able to fish few sessions.
I was very desperate to fish my new bait casting light setup and prove that it will be good for light sea fishing.
Last time in west-coast I used the light setup a I hooked up few fishes but I lost all of them in the fight and I learnt to valuable lesson to use a leader always in a rocky terrain.
Here is my first fish caught on the casting setup. It gave a nice fight on the light tackle.



After this fish I lost one good sized GT on my regular setup. To evade a big swell I had to loose the drag and run for life. GT seized the opportunity and spit the hook.

Here are couple of fishes I caught afterwards. I caught few more but did not click photos..






This is the first MJ caught on the casting setup.


This GT also I caught on the lighter casting setup and put up a very good fight. I caught few more GT on the light tackle but did not click photos.


Regards,
H.Venkatesan

Nice catches on the light setup.

Done any jigging?

Kingfish

I had plans of all sorts and planned to explore couple of other spots as well. But unfortunately my uncle died (father's bro) and I couldn't fish much. He was 83 yrs old and it was a natural death.

Congrats Venkat! Nice fish there and cool pics.

Glad you are starting to like the baitcaster.
Hope we could hit the west coast sometime soon in 2017.

Maruthu

Superb Catch Venkat. There is fishing news all around the coast.

Venkat good job. Just curious what lures were you using on the lighter baitcaster for the smaller GT's?

Ezekial, how is fishing in Chennai?

Binu,

I'm curious about what you've been catching these days! Pics on IA please....

Binu, I am using small soft plastics with the baitcaster.

Thats great. I like soft plastics. I usually fish the 6" and 7" versions, haven't fished the smaller soft plastics in a long time.

Maruthu,
Thanksgiving is coming up this week, and I may make one or two last trip to the shore, before winding up for the season. Will definitely post a report!

Good luck!

Looking forward to the report

Maruthu

Interesting colours those MJs, nice deep colours, coincidently, I caught a few MJs last month and I was particularly interested in their coloring but not as deep as the ones in your pictures, October/November must be special :) for MJs

Yes, sometimes they are colored very bright. I think it depends on what they eat.
In Fish market I have seen very brightly colored big ones.

Normally with fish, the more shrimp and prawns they eat the redder they get, it comes from the shell of the shrimp and prawns. Incidentally this is how I believe Flamingoes develop their orange colour, and for those of you who keep Arowana and want that red colour in those Malaysians Shrimp is the way to go.

Hope everyone is doing fine! It is a long time since I updated. This year I have not done much of fishing but I have few info to share.
Last month we got our second princesses.



The next new member to our family is an XUV, a dream came true and is my first car. This will take me to all sorts of places to do fishing.
Already proved its worth when we went to fishing. I had a friend accompanied in his Xylo and it got stuck in the sand.
Xylo is rear wheel driven and the rear wheel was less than a feet from the road but still we could not get it out on the road.
We had to take the help of the local people to get the car out. My car being a all wheel drive came out of much deeper sand without a fuss.



When I was there in the native, after the birth of my baby, I got few chances to wet the line.
The terrain is not friendly with harsh waves rolling the sand, combined with no rain in the last year have made things difficult.
More over many places were crazily netted. I managed to catch few small fishes..







This is by far the smallest GT I ever caught. Could you imagine it swallowed a 4 inch lure



I have got a new Saragosa 6000 SW. Reel is in my native and I don't have a pic to post.
Hopefully in the coming trips I will make a use of it.

Regards,
Venkatesan

Hello Venkat,

Congratulations on the new addition to the family.

Having your own transport will open up new opportunities for you in angling.... especially if it is a 4 wheel drive.

Does not matter about the size of the fish, it must have been fun. Did you not have a Saragossa 6000SW
a while back?

Regards,
Kingfish

The current Saragossa I have is the 8000 size one. Always felt it is a little larger for most of the time unless big GT are around. So I got the 6000 size.

Venkatesan.

Congrats Venkat!
Wish you a happy time with family and safe rides in the future!

Nice report and thank you for sharing!
Now that you have an action camera, I can't wait for the videos :)

Cheers!
Maruthu

From the next trip onwards, I will try to make video and will share.

Congratulations on your new born !! She is a doll. The XUV looks great, I am hoping to hear many reports from new unexplored angling locations!! I wouldn't drive it much in the sand though
What rod do you have the Saragossa 6k parired with?

Congratulations on the new born..... Nice report and keep on exploring.

Cheers....

Me either, All wheel drive is just for light stuff.
Planning to get a 9 footer. Currently paired with my 10 foot rod and it balances well.

Cool, I thought you were planning to drive on the beach, when you mentioned sand. Not that your vehicle is not capable, but because its a new Vehicle. Keep us updated on the rod that you buy.

Regards,
Binu

Many congratulations Venkat for the new member in the family.


tight lines & happy fishing

fish4fun

Ah it's almost a year since I updated this thread. Last year fishing was very slow for me or rather I did not do fishing that involved.
Few months back I was in my native for around 10 days, but the sea was so rough that the local administration put up police men in the beaches to prevent people getting near to the sea.
Heck they did not even allow my kid to play in the beach far away from the sea and really the waves were so rough that I put off my fishing idea.
Just before that trip Me, Maruthu and Duruvesh went of another fishing trip where I had to take my car through the sandy beach by clearing of all the thorny bushes without having a proper knife.
In the end we all had bloody hands. So I used the time to prepare a knife. This is the Knife I hand forged.








Last week I was in my native for a ceremony to my younger daughter and in spite of the very tight schedule, I got 1 session for fishing.
I went to one of my favorite spots and as soon as I reached there, it is evident that I am not going to get any bites today as the sea was very rough with strong winds blowing across.
The winds were so strong and steady that I had to keep up my balance many times. I have never witnessed such a steady winds flow for hours together without a gap.
More over I had forgot to take my lure bag and I was left with only one laser pro. But for GT who needs more than a laser pro..
Finally went to wind shadow part of a jetty where I was protected from the ferocious wind. Casted for sometime just for the shake and I waited on the rock for the right time keeping an eye on the water.
I know if i had a chance it is only during the golden time period and waited for the sun to go into the horizon. As I expected I saw an action on the water surface and immediately recognized it.
On the second cast or so, i got hit and recognized the familiar GT pull. After a brief fight I landed this GT. It weighed little less than 3 kg.



This is the bait which the GT had just before taking my lure..




This is my first fish on the Penn Battalion rod i got. The rod handled the GT nicely, but this rod is not for a jetty.

Regards,
H.Venkatesan

Nice to hear from you after a long time Venkat!

Glad you managed to get that little window to fish. Let's plan some trips in the near future....

Maruthu

Nice report after a long time, Venkat.

That knife looks like a khukri...... nice looking sheath.

Persistence on a windy day paid off, a lesson to anglers young and old.

Can you identify the bait fish in the picture?

Kingfish

Thanks Kingfish. I could not identify the English name for the bait fish, but my mother told some tamil name which I forgot now and she informed
it will grow to a little bigger size and has a very soft flesh.

Regards,
H.Venkatesan

Nice reporting there Venky, awesome GT's, I'm jealous. Looks eerily similar to the rocks I fished from in December of 2017. Didn't catch but sights of humongous Barracudas jumping out of the water and chasing giant mullets.

I've seen a bunch of guys using baitcaster setup from the rocks over here though. They cast soft plastics, mostly shrimp/shrimp tail patterns with 1/8-3/8 oz jig head. Some of the most experienced (older gentlemen) use straight up mono, mostly 12-15#. Not sure if it's the rod/reel/lure or the angler, I think there is something about the baitcasting setup which makes fishing from the rocks a better experience. So much so that I bought myself a baitcasting rod for pennies in Malaysia few weeks ago during a work trip.

Some guys use braid and not sure of the knot they use, but might be FG if it's supposed to pass through the really tiny guides on the baitcasting rods. I use a blood knot between the 12# mono and the 20# FC, but there still seems to be lingering sensation of knot passing through the guides. Also I understand about the reel, I made the mistake of buying one with right hand reel position, which I've absolutely learned to hate.

But all in all looks like you're scoring some nice fish every time you're hitting the water. Great job!

Cheers....

Yes for a lighter setup bait casting setup is fun to use. Though I hate left hand retrieve in a spinning set-up, the left hand setup in the tiny bait caster feels natural. With the left hand retrieve and the light setup it is a breeze to use the bait caster as i don't have to switch hands between casts.

I am right handed and have all my reels including bait casters on a left hand set up, only my Big game reels are right hand wind. While it is a matter of personal preference, there is a lot of logic to the wind set up. In case of bait casters and spinning reels, you use your dominant/strong hand to hold the rod with which fight the fish, the flow is very smooth when you use this set up, you do not need to switch hands and you can use your weak hand to support your strong hand where required. With these set-ups you wind and not winch.

In case of Big Game reels, being large and heavy they are mostly locked into a kidney harness and the base is set into a gimbal holder, so all the weight of the rod is distributed over the body or the chair, you have both hands free and you use your legs and a bit of back/shoulders to fight the fish. Your dominant hand is used to wind as winding is really hard when you are fighting big game so at times you have to winching when winding. Your weak hand is used to guide the rod and lay the line when winding.

Finally I caught the Cudda which I was desperately chasing for the last few years, that too from the surf!! Catching a Cudda was my priority for the past couple of years as I was unable to set the hook during the numerous strikes they gave. Many times the strikes were lighting fast that I failed to notice it and only on the next day when washing the lure I have noticed the bite marks. Last time when I did successfully set the hook on a Cudda, it jumped and bit my leader line just few feet in front of me and got away. After few failed trips did on purpose to catch Cudda, the Cudda sickness had set in me.

To get rid of the sickness made a trip to east coast last week. I was doing surf fishing and saw action well beyond the last bar and in no way I was able to cast near to it. I was following the action for some distance and after some time it occurred along the edge of the casting range. I did managed to cast a popper near to it and a GT nailed the popper. When I reeled in, I was taken away by surprise that, how come this GT was able to swallow this big hook. The GT was just about my palm size and it swallowed a 3/0 3x treble. Still wondering how the hook went inside the mouth. It was not hurt at all and I did released the GT. This is the first fish I released. I did not took a photo of the GT as I wanted to release it quickly. It is a great feeling to see a fish action follow it and catch one with your feet on wet sand.

Within minutes fishermen arrived in traditional wooden log boat and put net all over the place, but I am not going anywhere without catching a Cudda. I just sat on the shore keeping an eye on the water and taking a sunbath. I know Cuddas are there as I saw them chasing fish well beyond my casting range. After an hour or so the fisherman came back and removed the net. Soon after they took the net and went, the action resumed and on my third cast I got a hit and could not believe what I saw. I have hooked a Cudda properly. It was a brief fight and landed the fish quickly. The fish was very aggressive and was snapping every now and then. It was a little Cudda and weighed a little more than 2 kg. Finally I got rid of my sickness and had a grin from ear to ear for the entire day. Here are the photos, cheers..

Nice to get a report from you, Venkat. You were finally able to go fishing!

Barracuda seem to be a prized catch in India and, from personal experience in Chennai, they are difficult to catch.

That Halco Laser Pro lure seems to be quite effective, seeing that it caught you a GT in your earlier report and a barracuda this time.

Looking forward to more reports.

Kingfish

Thanks Kingfish. I got the Barracuda with the Diawa SP Minnow. Generally I do not use laserpro for the surf unless wind is from my back.