Kapitan Larry's Pond (July 12, 2009)

We went to Kap's Lawak yesterday. My cousin JB was there to settle a score with a 3+kg Apahap that broke his leader and ran off with his swimbait. I was there to try out my new Abu BC rod that Purefishing sent me. A few months ago I got a lemon Berkley lightning rod that broke from an unlikely spot. Since I was not able to claim warranty from the local shop where I got it, I wrote to Purefishing Malaysia. Purefishing immediately agreed to replace the broken section. But upon checking their inventory, they no longer have the Berkley rod on stock. Instead, they decided to send me a new rod -- An Abu Garcia MH rod free of charge. Many thanks to Ho and his team from Purefishing Malaysia.


Anyway, the bangus and tilapia were not biting so I shifted to dalag using one of Bong's spinner bait. I was casting parallel to the banks and after half an hour of casting. I got a really hard strike. I thought it was a record-breaker dalag as it ran really hard and pulled my line even when my reel has a drag of 5lbs. The fish ran towards the middle of the pond and when i tried to re-gain line, the fish jumped ---- IT was not a dalag but a huge Apahap! It struck the tiny spinner bait. My estimate would be 8 to 9 kilos as it was definitely bigger than the one I caught from Aling Nene's pond.

I tried to gain line by pumping the rod. All my braid was out on its first run and my 12lb Mono backing is already showing. (I'm only using 125 yards of braid on my BC reel for dalag. The rest is mono backing). On my second attempt to gain line, the fish ran another 30 yards or so and then jumped again. After two runs and a couple of jumps, the fish may have tired (or so I thought) as I was able to gain a lot of line. When it was just about 3 yards away, and my cousin was about to net it, the fish again ran and made a third jump. On the last jump, the spinner's tiny hook did not hold. :envy: Sayang! It could have been another record for Bong's spinner bait.

I called up Mikko and he went to Bong's place before heading to the pond. Bong sent some heavy duty spinners and a gaff! When Mikko and RC arrived at Kap's past 2pm, the wind started to pick up and casting against the wind was extremely difficult so we decided to transfer to the main pond near Kap's entrance.

We casted for the rest of the day using swimbaits, spinners and soft plastics. JB got a strike later in the afternoon. The fish broke his large swimbait in two just missing the hook section. Now its 2 for the apahap and 0 for JB :) .

I shifted to 5-inch Kalin's Swimbait using the Abu rod. After an hour casting, something struck and I quickly set the hook. Somehow something is hooked but it is not fighting. To my surprice, it was a crate (water snake). It tried to taste the 5-inch Kalin:

RC unhooked and released the crate.

Just after 6pm, we went home with egos busted. Next time, we will get even ]:)

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.

Subic (June 14, 2009)

We went to Subic for a full day of fishing. Unlike other times when I fish Subic, I joined four fellow angler on a fully equipped fishing boat. We shared the boat rent, gas, and oil, the toll fees and other land trip costs. It was kind of pricey all in all but I really wanted to try fishing from really nice boat.

I had second thoughts in joining the trip. The charter was being criticized because there were claims that it was fishing inside a marine sanctuary and not practicing C & R. I made a few calls and checked if the area was indeed a sanctuary. Luckily, I got confirmation that the marine sanctuary was not the area that the charter fished. With that out of the way, I decided to go.

When we arrived in the wharf, we were disappointed because the rain that we were really hoping for did not materialize. Instead, it was really hot and sunny. Not very ideal for our target fish --Jacks, GTs, and Queenfish. Aside from a less than ideal weather, we were having engine problems for the first half of the day as well. The main engine was choking and was impossible to start. We were crippled and was not able to chase after the fish. We had only a 15hp tiller for power.

Fortunately, after lunch, the engine all of a sudden decided to cooperate. Just in time when the Queenfish and Jacks started on their feeding frenzy. The water boiling because of the frenzy was an amazing sight. As soon as you approach it and cast once or twice, they quickly disappear and move on to another spot. It was a high speed game of watch and chase. On the boat, it was pure chaos. AS soon as the boat stops into the boils, lures were flying all over the place and tangles were unavoidable.

I think I lost all my jigs and a couple of bunnies. Most are taken by large toothy fishes. That's what I got for using using 24lb mono and not buying fluoro leaders in the 30 to 40lbs test.

The trip was relatively expensive but it was worth it. I caught and brought home two Jacks. C & R purists may throw a tantrum when they read about this but I am not apologetic.

1.88kgs each. These were caught using Abu Garcia 5601SSC3 mounted on a Lemax Platinum 8ft rod. I was using 10lb Fireline. The drag was flawless and the rod curve and casting ability was superb. IT was the first time that this combo caught something and I was very satisfied with its performance.

Our total haul. We agreed on 3 fish per specie bag limit. Me, Mikko, Dowie, and Rechelle. Captain Catch (Cholo) was the skipper, photographer, gaffer, and fishing guide.