Irving's Secret Pond, Bulacan (6-5-2010)

We received an invitation to try out a private pond in Bulacan owned by Irving, through Matt of Alex Tackle. It was an untouched (never been fished by Haruan anglers) and we were so excited to try it out. Past 7am we picked up Matt and he showed us a couple of Haruans given by our host. The two were huge. Both of them can easily go beyond 1.5kg. The sight of these haruans added to the excitement. We met up with Richard, Obet, Bong, and Matt and met up with Irving at NLEX.

When we exited NLEX, it started drizzling then just before arriving to the pond, it became a real rain. We hoped that the Haruans would cooperate and take a bite from our lures.

I started with my favorite lures, pogy on Haruan Hunter spinners. No takers. I switched to frogs, nada. IT's was probably too cold. I decided to use the original Haruan Hunter spinner. IT was one of the original spinners given by bong himself. I made one pass on one side of the really big pond. No takers. I then decided to backtrack. After a hundred meters or so of backtracking, I started chatting with one of Irving's crew. He was saying that the spot I am on has large tilapia. I politely said, I am aiming for dalag. Puzzled, he stared at the little "earing-like" contraption dangling on the end of the line and asked, "Haruan's would eat that?"

Just after saying yes, I made a side-arm cast and let the lure sink. Then a big strike --- a really fast strike. The fish ran to the middle of the pond and I held on tightly on my rod and let the Abu SX's drag do its thing. The fish ran a couple more and peeled some more drag. I just let it. Then, it showed its big head! Oh men, its big! And I don't have my lip grip! And, I don't have  a net!

I called out to Bong and shouted that I cannot land this one. I think it's over 2kg. Bong was on the other side of the pond and it took some more minutes before he got to my spot. By that time, the other guys are with me. After some more minutes, Bong grabbed the leader and dragged the fish to land.

Although we were only able to get one because of the weather, there is no doubt that there are bigger haruans on that pond. The pond crew stated that this fish was about normal size and there are bigger. About 20% bigger! Can't wait till the next trip.

Irving was a great host, free drinks while fishing and even treated us to an awesome lunch! Thanks so much, Irving.