An Unusual Catch

It was one of those days when I really wanted to go fishing. But on the last minute, I was having second thoughts. Upon waking up, I was not really excited. I was supposed to leave early but ended up leaving almost 9am and the sun was really up. So much for the early bird. The chances of getting a bite was not really high at that time of day.

Anyway, I still left and drove to the fishing spot. To make matters worse, it started to rain. Oh well, I said to myself, this trip might end early. But then, just as quickly as it started, the rain stopped and the fishes started biting. Not just ordinary fishes ... judging from the splashes, they are really big ones. A fellow angler lost one while trying to land it. Lady Fish! Big ones! Since then, everything got really interesting.

Unfortunately, the bites were short. Just a few minutes and they stopped all of a sudden. You can see some of their fins breaking the surface. I decided to wait for one to swim within casting distance. After a while, one broke surface around 30 yards from me,  I made a cast about a yard ahead of it and then cranked my Shad Rap. Hook up! The fish went berserk! It sprinted like there's not tomorrow. My reel had a hard time stopping it as it dashed straight to the piles of bamboos. When almost 60 yards of line was taken, I tightened the drag to prevent it from spooling me. Because of the tightened drag, the fish took to the air. Unfortunately, the line got caught on a floating bamboo and the fish was able to break free. It's a good thing I didn't lose the lure. Oh man!  the run was so exciting. It was like a milk fish on steroids!

After lunch, one of the guys who was with us caught one. His line wrapped around the fish's head. After a long time trying to land it, the fish was netted. A 2.5kg. Awesome!

I waited once more for something to break surface. Then I saw one surfaced on the other side. I hurriedly ran to that direction and readied my Shad Rap. When I got to the spot, it was gone. I just stood there and waited. Then just around 10 yards from me, it again broke surface. I hurriedly casted just a few feet from its head. Pow! Fish on! It was the most exciting run that I have ever endured. An 8kg Barra is no match to this freight train. Good thing I set my drag a little higher. The fish jumped a couple of times and then it lost steam. Thank god for Carbontex!

I called for one of the guys for a net. But just before the net arrived, I got so worried that I will lose the fish because I saw that my Shad Rap wasn't hooked to the fish at all! My lure snagged the double-lined heavy mono which was hooked into the fish! It was incredible! The hook held even when the fish jumped twice and sprinted for around 50 yards.

I grabbed my leader and heaved the fish into land. But before it touched land, the hook came off. I was lucky the fish was so tired. I grabbed its gills and heaved it into the bank.

A 3.8kg Lady Fish caught on lure even when it wasn't biting.

Revisiting Irving's Pond

We revisited Irving's pond this weekend. We had a small bet on who can catch the biggest Haruan from 7am-11am. Winner take's all. The initial pot was 200 per person. Unfortunately, only 5 of us was able to join.

Anyway, even though there were only 5 of us, we went on and fished for half a day. The bite was really slow that day. Obet, Alan, and Irving decided to go for Tilapia's instead. Me and Gil went on fishing. Just a couple of minutes before 11am, Gil landed the winning Haruan -- actually the only fish caught during the contest period. It was a 2.15kg beauty. It could be one of the fishes caught during the previous tournament.

After some photos and a few minutes of fishing, we had lunch and tried out some fly fishing.

I really had a hard time with the fly. The line keeps getting tangled on some brush on the ground. I should have gotten myself a stripping basket or a pail. After countless snags on the ground, I decided to quit and go back to BC fishing for Haruan. But despite the snags, I really enjoyed casting the fly rod. It must be the sound of the fly line zipping back and forth that's really captivating.

At around 3pm, I finally was able to catch a Haruan. It was a 1.8kg.

All fishes were released.

As always, Irving was a generous host. He had his staff prepare our lunch and drinks. He even gave me a lip grip as a gift. That's the floating lip grip that we are using in the photos. Those things are really awesome. Very light and doesn't have parts that will rust. Plus, it floats. The grip is 10x better than those metal grips that I have tried. The "teeth" doesn't injure the fish. I highly recommend it. Thanks again, Irving.

Another Quickie in Coloong

At around 8am, I went to Aling Nene's Pond to try my luck on their Haruans and Barras. No luck on either one. I wanted to stay but there were not enough casting areas because there were a lot of anglers fishing for bangus.

It was still early (10am) and I still wanted to fish so I decided to transfer to Kapitan Larry's to try the lawak once more.

After getting off the ferry, I immediately casted and got a nice reward on my first spot. It's a fat 1.3kg Haruan. It made a hard strike on my Ayu swimbait with blade.

I went on and casted around the banks using the same lure. I got another one. This time it was a smaller specimen. Less than a kilo, give or take. I really wanted a Barra but I was distracted by the Haruans. Maybe on my next trip, I will focus on the Barra. Now I know for sure that there are still barras there because one of the anglers that morning got a hookup on an estimated 5kg barra. Before they were able to net it, it snapped their line. Sayang!

Just before 1pm, I decided to call it a day.