Start ot Season 2009/2010!

After waiting for what seemed like ages for the new season to start, we've managed to head out and get some decent fishing done. Our season here in the Andaman Islands starts with the prevailing monsoon winds blowing from the South West before we reach October when it's slack. This gives us some great fishing conditions for over a month that we make the most of! Come November the wind does a 180 degree spin and starts to blow from the North East, till mid February.


The following report is from a week of fishing from Port Blair and Havelock. The trip started with a bit of rough weather which was a surprise but it soon passed in a couple of days and we were into some nice fish with great conditions. The biggest GT were caught on popper in shallower water than the beginning of last season, which was a change we noticed. May have to do with the water temperatures which were considerably lower at the start of the trip.











A couple of Nice GT caught on popper while en route to Havelock! The second picture shows a GT heading for the reef in a sudden mad rush once it saw the boat, putting a nice bend in Carpenter SP78H :-)





This beautiful specimen of a GT well over the 30 kilo mark was caught by Jean Luc was the fish of the trip for him! The biggest GT he'd caught ever and he was thrilled he managed to hook and land the fish after an awesome strike on the surface. This fish went for a 150 Cono Cono by Orion Lures.




Our Skipper Kantha and Deckie Dilip giving Jean Luc a hand with his big fish he had trouble holding after an intense fight.



Jean Luc with a nice Malabar Grouper taken on popper.




Dilip holding a 'Tiger Grouper' for Jean Luc caught on a Komodo popper.





Marc with another 'thick' GT! Guess his smile says it all!




Marc was rewarded for his hard work popping with another beautiful 30 kilo specimen. This fish was taken on a Craft Bait that proved to be the most effective popper of the trip.




Some afternoons while on our way back from our GT fishing spots we stop off after lunch to do an hour or two of Grouper/Snapper fishing on some shallow fishy reefs. These sessions usually see some great fish caught on stickbaits and small poppers. We stick to our heavy tackle as fights are pretty intense and short with Grouper.









Another great looking specimen.













Jean Luc casting, fighting and proudly holding another GT! This fish was taken on a Cono Cono aswell.

















We had a spectacular day fishing a distant reef to the North of Havelock. It truly makes travelling half way across the world woth it. What we'd previously caught in quality, this time we did in quantity. The largest fish for the day ran at a mere 15 kilos but we caught and released over 40 fish on popper in 4 hours before we called it a day and headed back. Marc and Jean Luc used their light Saltiga/Zenaq set ups, which until then had not been touched to fight their fish. Funnily enough a Blue Fin Trevally on light tackle's just about as tiring as fighting a big GT on Heavy tackle! We also caught the lone Twin Spot Snapper/Red Bass of the trip on this special reef.


To end the trip with a bang Marc caught this 20 kilo Barracuda South of Havelock on his last day fishing with us. He was thrilled as again it was another personal best for him!



The chosen weapons of choice that had no trouble coping with the heavy drag fishing we specialise in. Daiwa Dogfight, Carpenter SP78H combination :-)





Craft Bait! Most definitely one of the most effective lures that can be used in the Andaman Islands. The Craft Bait out fished all the other lures, with only Orion Lures Cono Cono coming a close second.


We hope you like the pictures and more updates to come in the following weeks as we get more fishing done!!

20/7/2009 New Lure video from Patriot Design

For anyone wanting to get an idea of how to work the new poppers and stickbaits for GT & Tuna from Patriot Design as well as improve your own technique. Check out the following youtube video link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNdArdklTLs

Testing Ocean Revolution GT rods with Randy

This March we tested Ocean Revolutions new range of GT popping and jigging rods in the Andaman Islands, Randy from Anglers Pro Shop joined us with Colin Pacitti for 5 days of fishing. I am a fan of Carpenter GT rods but I must say that that when Randy said to try out the OR rods I was game, the initial look of and feel of the rods was just right, there are so many rods out there that though capable of the task of landing big GT's are just not to my personal style in both the looks and actual feel of the rod.

The OR rods look great not too flashy but with enough class, they are very light and the power loads very easily through the rod when casting, always something to look for when you need to cast poppers at least 60 meters out.

Here is me trying one of the lighter models (not exactly light at a PE8 rating)

The tides were not exactly the best but we started off the trip with a number of small to medium sized GT's, of course we got to play with all the rods and try different poppers on them, Colin immediately fell in love with the long cast version and was sending the 130gm GT Mania miles away with each cast.

We racked up the numbers with many double hook ups and Kantha casting tirelessly

Colin landed this nice fish below on a 150 Cubera

We had non stop jigging action as well, lods of smaller GT's, we did raise a big doggie but it lost interest after seeing the boat.

I caught my first ever Maori Sea Perch on jig, I must admit I did not know what the fish was until later on.

And follwed it with a decent GT

We gave Kantha bit of a break from driving and let him do what he enjoys best, catch fish...

Just look at the strain Kantha is putting on the OR GT rod, Randy gave him the go ahead to try and max it and max it he did.

Colin mamaged to get a nice sized black GT, this wieghed in at 26kg and Colin does think they pull harder than the lighter coloured ones.

Kantha then went on to land the biggest fish of the trip

Here is Randy putting the PE12 OR rod through its paces, that rod does not feel like a PE12 rod and makes working big bloopers easy.

The OR jigging rods are very light and easy to use, I really enjoyed using them except for the Rodrigues Special Black Monstro which is a beast of a rod, its meant to be a 1 drop rod when you know your chances of a record sized doggie are very high. The other models you can jig with all day and feel tired which say how light and useable the rods are.

Randy was lucky enough to get a Mirror Trevally which is quite a rare catch on jig

You can also read the full report on www.deepjigging.com at the following link:

APS-Andaman Feb 2009

Darran.

Our video links on you tube

You can also watch some of our videos on youtube under the following links:

1) 20kg GT 2 meters from the boat

2) Andaman big Sailfish

3) Big GT

Scenery - Andaman Islands

The pictures are some of the places we see regularly when we fish in the Andaman Islands

No 7. Beach or Radhanagar Beach, Havelock Island on a warm afternoon

The tropical rainforest trees No.7 Beach, Havelock Island

No.7 Beach, Havelock at high tide on a calm day

India's only active volcano at Barren Island as seen from a distance, it has recently been reported to have erupted full scale.

A sequence of pictures of the volcano at Barren Island as a minor eruption takes place

A closeup of the main cone at Barren Island

Sir Hugh Rose Island Beach

The rocks near Baratang Island

No.5 Beach Havelock Island

The Lighthouse off Havelock Island jetty

No.5 Beach early in the morning

No.5 Beach early morning