Monday, July 6, 2009

Zambales (July 5, 2009)

Last saturday, I tried casting for jacks using poppers, spoons, and skip bunny in the mouth of a river in the northern part of Zambales. There were small jacks and torsilyo (Cudas) that struck my trailer but no hookups. The fishes were just too small for my lure.

I also tried casting along the banks of a salt water lagoon in Masinloc town using the skip bunny and squid jigs. No takers on the bunnies and jigs. But I got confirmation that the area was full of really big squids. One of the fisherfolks showed me their catch in the morning. It was a big more-than-a-kilo squid. According to him, the big ones are in deeper water during daytime. At night, they come to the banks to feed. "If you want to catch them big ones, cast the jigs during a full moon on the banks."

Not wanting to waste the weekend without a catch, I went back yesterday to my favorite freshwater spot. Unfortunately, the dalags were ultra cautious. A lot of local fishermen are wading the area and laying down nets intended for tilapia and gurame. After they lay the net on an area, they start hitting the water with paddles to scare the fishes into their nets. Because of the commotion, dalags do not dare feed on the surface. Unfortunately for me, no strikes in the morning.

I went back at around lunch, when the fishermen are out on their break. Luckily, the dalags are hungry and I was rewarded with three nice fishes.

According to locals, you can easily determine the sex of dalags when they mature --- a long and slender dalag with big head is a male while the stout and fat dalag is a female.

This one is a she.



The one on the bottom is a more-than-a-kilo male and it gave me a really hard time. I was casting on top of a reed island when it struck on the opposite end of the bank. It peeled my line and dove under the lotus roots. No matter how I pulled, it just didn't move. I was forced to go down into the water to retrieve it. When I went down from the reed island, i sank into the water up to my neck. I didn't realize that the water was that deep. I had to crawl back into the island and wade around the deeper area to get to it.

No comments:

Post a Comment