José Delgado Group – Kirinda - 19th to 24th November 2014

Day 1: GT Popping after a 12 month break is always hard especially from a boat rocking in choppy seas but our 5 fishermen manage a very respectable 2 GTs and 1 King Mackrel on Popper from 12 bites. Gerard’s trip gets off to a good start with a powerful GT estimated at about 35kg (127cm/100cm) caught on a Halco Roosta Popper 195 with a homemade full pink colour.

Day 2: Rain, wind and discoloured water make for slow fishing with only 2 small GT’s from 7 bites

Day 3: It’s raining but there’s no wind and we manage to find spots with better water colour where the fish are active. 14 fish are caught from 28 bites on popper with some nice 20kg GT and a couple of Blue Trevally and Malabar Trevally.

Day 4: Our fishermen want to try some jigging but the fish don’t want to play. We finish the day popping and Lionel catches a nice 30kg GT with the pink coloured Gerard Roosta. It was the only fish of the day from 4 bites and had a remora on the side of her belly like the GT Gerard caught the first day…we’re seriously thinking that GT’s are pelagic.

Day 5: We return to the spots with good water colour and fish activity from day 3. It’s a good decision, there are plenty of fish about and plenty of action on board. Bait schools hovering on the reef and predators all around. 46 bites lead to 12 fish being brought on board. Most of them are GT’s between 10 & 15kg. José loses a really big one but catches a really nice Red Bass. Lionel get a very acrobatic bite from a King Mackrel close to the boat but it’s impossible to set the hook properly and the fish doesn’t make it on board. The lure of the day is a Carpenter Maguro Kattobi.

Day 6: Another full day of popping and the guys have some good action in deep water spots. They land 10 fish from 16 bites. GT’s averaging 10-15kg. Jean Marie misses a monster on the Homemade Pink Gerard Rooster Popper and another nice fish that smashes his Bertox sinking stick bait very close to the boat and is gone in a flash without a chance for a proper strike.

Strength, skill and endurance are all required in equal measure at our destinations in Sri Lanka. Every catch requires an effort directly proportional to the reward at the end of the line. 

Jerome Lenagard Group – Kirinda - 9th to 13th November and 15th to 20th November 2014

Day 1 – Gets off to an amazing start! First drift, first drop and Guillaume catches a decent Doggie. The rest of the day continues to be amazing with a jigging score of 37 bites and 26 fish landed. There are plenty of Gold Spot Trevally, Bludger Trevally, Doggies and GT.

Day 2 – A repeat of day 1 with 33 bites and 16 fish landed on Jig. Some of the big fish are unstoppable breaking line on the reef.

Day 3 – If day 1 was amazing, day 3 is unbelievable! The most incredible day since the start of the season in Kirinda. We start fishing on jig and the guys have 33 bites and land 20 fish. Then in 3 hours popping they manage another 29 bites but with only 6 fish landed weighing in at an average of 15-20kg. By the end of the day our 3 fisherman are understandably tired and miss 2 big ones and quite a few more fish manage a getaway.

Day 4 – The plan for a morning of jigging and an afternoon of popping is named <<El Classico>> by the guys and it’s scheduled for Day 4 but with more popping. The jigging comes up trumps with 29 bites and 20 fish landed but the popping is a bit disappointing with only 5 bites and 1 GT landed.

Day 5 – Is another <<El Classico>> day with 18 bites and 16 fish landed on jig and 8 bites and 2 GT on popper. Guillaume has a monster GT bite, which takes out a lot of line on the first rush and continues being absolutely unstoppable after breaking his PE-10 braided line on the reef.

Day 6: After 2 days off to rest, our fishermen are ready to fish again and decide to just do popping. They land 4 nice GT’s between 15 – 20kg from 13 bites and miss 2 big GT’s. One of the GT’s that got away, smashed a Hammer Head I-Cup in a 25m depth spot and ran so fast that there wasn’t enough time to set the hook.

Days 7 to 10: The weather decides to play rough with wind and rain and a change in the water colour. There’s a marked decline in the fish activity and this coupled with an intense first few days has tired our anglers out. They still manage 8 fish from 16 bites on Jig and 5 GT from 14 bites on popper.

Hauling GT & Doggies out of the water in such number is hard work and pretty exhausting even for the fittest anglers. It’s a shame the trip didn’t end on a high but the amazing first few days they had is always going to be hard to match. Well done guys!