South Metro Manila [May 2, 2009]

After Bong's news of a really hot dalag spot south of Metro, we hurriedly organized a dalag "safari". According to Bong, he was only able to try a fifth of the entire spot and was able to get 17 strikes and landed 6 --- that's how productive the spot was.

We left QC 6:30 and met up with Mikko and his brother RC in Manggahan. We arrived at the spot an hour later and hurriedly rigged our gears for some serious frog fishing.



The area is amazing, there are so many spots that seem to be infested by dalags. It's really sad that this area, now owned by a big mall chain, is about to be bulldozed flat to give way to a huge parking lot, a new mall, and/or amusement center. Almost half of the area is now covered with bulldozed earth. This is a sample of what's being destroyed:



Anyway, we visited the spots checked by Bong and the first one to get a taste of the bite is Mikko with a fat one weighing about 800 grams.



I tried my favorite lures and they don't seem to like the color. I have been casting for a good hour or so and not even a false strike. I decided to borrow Bong's and true enough, after casting to the same spot, a hookup and a good sized too, maybe a kilo, but I was'nt able to land it because it dove into to weedbed. After tugging furiously, the hook pulled and all I got was clump of weeds. After cleaning the lure, I decided to cast to the same spot, hookup but this time a couple of smallies.



Bong also got one, but this time, using the trusted spinner bait. You can see from the background the size of one "puddle" lined with duckweed. There are other puddles completely covered with duckweed. When you throw the lure, you can see a snake-like lump under the duckweed stalking your lure and in a wink, the water will explode. I was pure excitement.



Before leaving, RC also got a really good sized dalag, probably 700-800grams. It was one of those one-last-cast catches. Just before leaving, RC decided to cast one more time. True enough, an exploding water and solid hookup. It was amazing because RC was using a 10 mono :clap: . Pretty unusual for dalag fishing over weedbeds.



It was an awesome safari. Half day of very productive fishing. Although we landed around 5, there were countless strikes that did not connect. As Bong said, a good strike is almost the same as a good landing.

In a few weeks, the spot will be gone and in its place would be a parking lot or an amusement center.