Krinda first trip 2013

Early March saw us fishing with a group of Italian friends, the weather has been pretty unsettled this part of the world for most of the season and to be honest we did not have ideal conditions to make a spectacular trip, with windy conditions and rough seas expected for most of the week.

Anyway the anglers arrived, eager as usual and off we went on day one.

It did not take long for us to raise fish and Giovanni was hooked onto a GT within the first 20 minutes.

A moment to be documented, the first GT caught by Sea Fishing India in Sri Lanka on a guided trip.

Giacomo was next into a fish and landed it as well, now we are rocking…

Angelo was not to be left out and got a GT as well, its still the first hour we are fishing!!

More fish follow for the group, the tension has lifted a bit and we can concentrate on hooking and landing the GT’s we know are about.

Big chuggers worked well raising fish regularly

Angelo poses with s really nice Bluefin trevally a really spectacular fish. You can see the weather picking up in the background and we had to leave a little earlier than planned as the conditions got worse. We went 6/16 on Day ! Not bad for a start.

Day 2 and the forecast is not good, wind blowing through the night had left the water green, we did manage a few GT’s this day as well, choppy conditions making it impossible to get out further or ji, so we had to move closer inshore where again the water was green….

A few small GT’s for Giacomo

Note the water colour inshore, to make matters worse we had an engine issue this day which meant we could not use the boat for the remainder of the trip.

Squalls approaching time to head for cover…

We fished s local boats the next days, not ideal, scary in rough weather and they hammer you to bits, you come back feeling like having been in a washing machine, all except the boat river who looks completely at ease perched near the engine.

In between the squalls we did start to land some decent fish, regularly.

Giovanni poses with another GT caught on popper

A smiling Damith and Giovanni pose with a Lankan GT.

Big waves coming through on the reefs, you do have a few moments wen you look over your shoulder riding back home with following seas.

Great action whenever the sun decided to come out

Giacomo poses with another nice fish.

Finally a big one.. on

A very decent GT for Giacomo

Reviving before the release

I pose with a 20kg GT caught just before closing day 4 of the fishing.

Sri Lanka is all about GT’s so far……

Grilled fish done at the hotel, another plus point for fishing in Lanka the food is great!!

Day five started with a bang, run and gun on GT’s can you believe what came out of the chase???

A happy Giacomo who did the number on an absolute cracker GT, check out the size of this fish.

Giovanni is not to be left out..

This mean looking fish fought like it was much much larger but still a great fish we put it in the upper thirties in terms of weight.

Darth Vader look alike, you need all the protection from the sun and salt you can get in an open boat.

Action on Alessandro’s “Pato” lure, this took all good fish this day including the big ones.

The Craft Bait GT2 also worked wonderfully as it does all over

Sunshine between the rain…..

and GT’s

nice ones too..

The last fish of the trip before the weather picked up again suddenly and we had to return early to port.

The battered lures after numerous GT confrontations.

Till next time.

Operation Singhala GT… what is coming…

I am sure all our followers are eagerly awaiting this report …..

With the boat at its destination in Krinda, we set up our gear to see what fish were about waiting to take our lures. The idea was to explore the area find potential spots and see if we could hook a few geets…

The weather was perfect, the boat is all set up and off we go, do I have expectations… I always do and that is why I keep fishing!!!, its a new area for us and exploring can pay off sometimes and sometimes it does not, I am looking for areas that have the potential to hold fish

One of the areas we came to had all the characteristics required and after a few short strikes we were immediately rewarded with a bust off for Damith, I hooked up one on 80lb braid and was bricked a few seconds later… game on!! Time for pe 10 heavy drag and the big lures so I can pull back too…..

Damith with a nice GT the first one we landed on one of the new spots

I was itching to try my new Rocket after I broke the last one in the Andaman Islands, so armed with PE10 line I cast to be rewarded after 3 pops with this nice 40 kg Singhala GT, this is my first GT on day 1 of exploring and its a very positive sign, that fish are a good size

More action followed as we found new spots and great news, most of the fish are in the 20kg range average size, they pull real hard as this is probably due to the proximity of the open ocean

Some of the reefs are quite shallow and getting the GT’s out means you have to pull too.

We found GT’s in most of the spots we tried which is great as we now have a good knowledge of where to find them.

I could not resist a cast near the light house and had an immediate hook up, it makes a great picture in a wonderful location.

Now to answer the question is there anything big around, well the answer is er… YES Yes Yes

Damith poses with the big boy that nearly broke his back, no he is not smiling…. it is 53.8 kg

A regular Lankan GT comes in

I hook up with a big boy that came up like a torpedo and smacked the popper, no messing about for sure with this fish

And getting ready for the pose after a hard fight

Decoy treble opened, one of many are these fish strong or what.

Its very good fun when big fish are around as you often wonder if you will be able to handle the next one given the way they pull.

Did we catch more? Were they big? Are there many? Well you need to watch this space to know the answers to those questions.

Tight lines till next time.

The Leopards of Yala

I had to make a trip to Yala National park its only a 45 minute drive to the Sanctuary from where base is in Krinda, having heard about the Leopard population there I was keen to try and sight one, it gives a great break from the fishing and something different to see, I love being out in the open and a break from throwing big poppers was welcome.

There is something about the road the instantly makes you feel like you are getting out of civilization, its bumpy and cut up and you have drive slowly, but the 12 km drive gives you plenty of scenery to take in, peacocks and sounders of wild boar, hare and iguanas, a sanctuary must be nearby.

Once you get there you pick up your guide and pay the entry fees, and your off. Foreigners pay a different entry fee, you wonder why but then it is a developing country and you need funds to conserve and protect, tourism is one way and are they doing a good job? In my view yes.

Ever had a feeling you were being watched, or wondered how an elephant can conceal itself, the picture above gives you an idea, they just blend with their surroundings.

A heard of cows, calves and adolescents frolicking by a waterhole, do they love the mud in the heat or what.

I love this picture it has Elephant Rock in the background and a huge tusk less male elephant in focus, I learnt something that day thanks to a friend, in Sri Lanka 90% of male elephants are tusk less and only 10% have tusks, evolution or depletion of the gene pool?? Unlike the Indian elephant in which 90% males have tusks, the island pachyderms are supposedly the largest among the Asian Elephant.

20 minutes into our drive we cam upon this big male Leopard he was relaxing under a tree in the afternoon heat, conserving energy for later I suppose, he was in no hurry to get up and knowing that we could not get any closer to about seventy yards from him he just stayed put, till we moved on.

Spotted deer or Axis Axis probably the main prey for Yala’s leopards. Our guide was keen to show us a leopard close up and was taking us through some super country, rocky terrain with vantage points, big trees which could be the perfect spot for a leopard to keep a look out from and then plan an ambush.

We had just rounded a corner and were driving by when I saw something move that broke the silhouette of the undergrowth, stop, stop, stop quick…. and then there was spots coming through the undergrowth.

 

This young male leopard put on a display for us as he gave us photo opportunity after photo opportunity before he decided to do some more posing by climbing up a tree for us.

Amazing how the cat can just melt into any surrounding, see how his rosettes blend with the bark of the tree.

 

And finally found a comfortable branch from where he could keep a look out, totally relaxed, it was a surreal experience with the apex predator of Sri Lanka.

With the exhilaration of the leopard sighting still very much present and just when I though I could not get any luckier we run into a very rare tusker, what a super way to end the evening of taking in the fauna.

Till next time.