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.
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| 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.
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| Clear Skies welcome Michel |
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| 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.
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| Michel & crew |
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| 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!
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| Action on the surface |
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| 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.
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| Michel in action |
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| 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.
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| Surfacing |
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| Teasing weather |
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| Bunty with another catch |
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| 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!
