Thursday, November 29, 2012

Michel Rijnberg's Mission Andaman


We have just finished fishing with Michel from the Netherlands who made his first trip to the Andaman Islands. Michel was in India on business and decided to visit the Andaman Islands for a couple of days to fish with us and of course catch some GT.  This was Michel’s first trip for GT and he was keen to catch his first specimen on popper.

Michel arrived early in the morning and had the day free to explore the South Andaman Island where Port Blair is located. He was soon off on an adventure in a taxi and went about Port Blair for a few hours.  After lunch and a rest the staff helped him tackle up for the next day’s fishing.  The weather forecast was good with little or no wind, most of it from the North East, which is perfect for this time of year.

Downtown Port Blair

The following morning after breakfast we headed south from Port Blair for our first day’s fishing. We primarily fished shallow reefs off the South Andaman region. The sea was flat & calm with excellent visibility and we could spot distant bait-schools.

Clear Skies welcome Michel

There is certainly something in angling that tends to produce a serenity of the mind.
- Washington Irving

Not all bait-schools were being harassed by GT and the large amount of bait in the area meant we were going to have to work for our GT. A short while later we had Michel into his first fish that came up off a shallow reef and walloped a nimble Yo Zuri Surface Bull GT. 

Michel & crew

Michel's first GT of the day

We moved on to fish a long set of rocks surrounded by reef that are another hangout for fish. We were fishing a dropping tide and the current among the rocks was strong creating rips that had the bait right up close to them. The GT were hanging in shallow water and the one who cast further was sure of a strike as the popper hit the water. It’s always interesting fishing such kind of structure as they hold numerous species of popper taking fish!

Action on the surface

Bunty with a GT

Having caught our share of GT we headed back for Port Blair an hour away. The run back to the port was uneventful and upon arrival Michel headed off to the Guesthouse as the boys refueled and cleaned the boat for the next days fishing.

We headed off after an early breakfast this time heading east of Port Blair. Some of the largest GT in the Ritchie’s Archipelago area are caught here. Most spots for big fish are deep reefs coming up from the drop off that’s a couple of miles away. This area has always been abundant with fish especially GT on the reefs and Dog Tooth Tuna on the drop-offs for those who fancy a bit of jigging. We were out there with a single agenda that day which was to land a big GT on popper. As Michel was on his first GT fishing trip he’d stocked up on ‘easy to use’ poppers. 

Poppers like the Yo Zuri Bull GT, Halco Haymaker and the River 2 Sea Dumbell popper are easily available, are cheap and are good entry level poppers. We found them a bit small for the area we were fishing as we needed big poppers. Bigger poppers raise big fish especially while fishing deeper reefs. 

We got away this time given the sea was pretty flat except where there was a ripping current. We also had some much welcomed rain pass through the area which brought the temperature down and made it easier to chuck poppers the whole day.

Michel was soon huffing and puffing from the bow of the boat as he reeled in GT’s which were readily taking poppers. 

Michel in action

Admiring his catch

We had some interesting fishing that morning as the GT were taking poppers as soon as they hit the water or at the very last second when they literally struck poppers right at the boat. Given the fact we had a strong current that day all our drifts were pretty quick which is a great thing as we cover a larger area and didn’t have to have the engines running. This approach seemed to work pretty well as many of our strikes were from up close.

Surfacing

with another GT

On our first drift at a new reef Michel had a big strike that had him pinned against the railings. By the sound of his reel we knew he was into a respectable fish. He worked his way to the stern of the boat from where he fought the fish all the way up to the boat. The fish was landed quick and a couple of photographs later it was released back to the reef it came from.

Big GT Strike!!

We changed locations and headed off to shallower reefs to look for some more action. Many GT later and with our goal accomplished we decided to call it a day and headed back to Port Blair. On our way back we dodged a couple of squalls and made it back home dry!

Teasing weather

Bunty with another catch

Mission accomplished
Over dinner Michel discussed the possibility of paying us another visit later next year, what tackle he would need on his next trip if he wanted to target bigger GT and also the possibility of catching GT on jig, apart from the Doggies we’ve already promised him. We hope to see him back soon and for a full week of popping for GT and jigging for Dog Tooth Tuna.

We have a couple of days off to get some much needed work done in the office and all the other exciting stuff that goes along with running a fishing charter, but can’t wait for the arrival of our next group of fishermen from France. 

We will have more up on this blog as soon as we’re out again doing what we do best!