All Soul's Fishing

It has been a while since our last visit to Zambales. I was longing to use my kayak and visit my old Dalag spot. Once my kids had their school break, I also filed for vacation so I can take some time off from work. It was a perfect opportunity because there was no work on election day and also on the following Monday because it was All Soul's day.

On our way, we spent the night in Olongapo to meet up with the in-laws. It was still dark when I sneaked out for some quick fish just before we start our drive to Zamba. Somewhere in the shallows in Malawaan, I noticed a big shool of fish. It appeared like a school of travallies chasing baitfish. I casted a shallow diver onto the shool and cranked. After a few casts, It was fish on. It really felt like a trevally when it pulled line. When I landed it, it wasn't a trevally but a milkfish which was fould hooked on its back. It wasn't really sporting, but heck, it's still a fish and they were nice sized too. I repeated casting into the school and managed to catch 2 more until the school swam to deeper water.

When we got to Zamba, It was already late in the afternoon. No fishing yet but I managed to scout my old Haruan spot. I was hoping that after the rains, the marsh would have recovered from the drought last summer. Unfortunately, it was still dry in most places. The marsh that was previously waist deep in water, still is practically dry with some areas where water has accumulated. I went around the spot to check if Haruans started populating the place. They have but, unfortunately, they were just still too small for my lures. I was able to hook up one about five inches. I guess that I still need another year before they mature. I hope more rains would come and submerge the marsh some more.

The next day, I went out with my kayak and did some top water fishing. It was a really relaxing trip just before daylight. Nobody around but you, your kayak, and birds of different colors and sizes. I wasn't really expecting anything to catch something because the it wasn't the right tide. Still a mangrove jack managed to snatch my lure.

Last Sunday, I went to Masinloc and kayaked near the powerplant. It has a really nice potential but it appears to be heavily fished. When I got there, there were many motorized bancas fishing the area. The bay was also littered with floating fish cages. Not wanting to spoil the trip, I decided to hug the breakwaters and try my luck on squids using squid jigs from master bong. No luck on the squids so I decided to try my trusted top water lures. Fortunately, I managed to catch a familiar quary -- another mangrove jack.