Numa Marengo & Ryusuke at Bolgoda

French journalist, wildlife enthusiast and chief editor of the famous, French angling magazine “Predator”, Numa Marengo and Japanese price winning Daiwa angler, Ryusuke, Joined “GFA” Fishing guide Nico for six action filled days at Bolgoda Lake.

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Another great inshore session with Nic Han

Our regular inshore fishing customer Nicholas Han decided to make another trip in early July with some friends to try out some inshore fishing for the Barramundi and Mangrove Jacks again.

With perfect weather right up to a the week before their arrival we were optimistic, however just before they got in the rainy came down and the water level was high and water discoloured. We decided to concentrate our efforts on another part of the lake which we thought looked better.

Day 1 :In the morning session boat Barra 2 chose to fish a bay where Dr Fred and Iskandar caught some decent mangrove jack and a nice barramundi. While boat Barra 1 with Nicholas Han fished around prawn trap and Nicholas caught a 6 lb feather back on his third cast and some mangrove jack.

After a nice lunch and a bit of a break break we went out on the afternoon fishing session around 2 pm. We start to fish the mouth of small river, where the barramundi wait in ambush and Iskandar on Barra 1 caught a nice barramundi. On the tide change we fished around prawn trap and Nicholas on Barra 2 caught some nice Mangrove Jacks and Iskandar missed 3 nice Feather back, Dr Fred caught some nice Mangrove Jacks and ladyfish. Nicholas landed some more Mangrove Jacks and ladyfish.

Another view of the same fish

Day 2 : The mission of the day was for Dr Fred to catch his first feather back on lure. We decided to fish around a prawn trap. After 4 misses in the morning session Dr Fred finally hooked a nice feather back, this fish give a good fight in the current and jumped a lot. Dr Fred was very happy and impressed by the power of the fish. At the same time on Barra 2 fishing Iskandar and Nicholas had a great session with many Mangrove Jacks landed between 4 lb and 6 lb.

Afternoon : Nicholas decided to go with his family on Barra 2 on a tour of Bolgoda lake and bird watching, which his young son loves. Dr Fred and Iskandar fishing Barra 1 went after the barramundi again but the Barramundi were elusive again, but they did land a couple of Mangrove Jacks, Feather back and ladyfish.

Day 3 : Morning Session, we decided to follow the same game plan as yesterday hitting the prawn traps, Iskandar fishing alone on Barra 2 had a great fishing session where he caught many nice Mangrove Jacks,a couple of Feather backs, a nice ladyfish and missed a very nice barramundi just before landing. While on Barra 1 Nicholas and Dr Fred landed more feather back and mangrove jack.

Afternoon Session : Nicholas stayed in guest house to have some family time with his son in the swimming pool. Iskandar on Barra 2 decided only to go after barramundi, after trying few spots he has a big one follow, but the fish smashed his lure close to the boat just as Iskandar was taking the lure out of the water, unlucky again with the barramundi... while Dr Fred wanted to concentrate his last fishing session on feather back and mangrove jack around prawn trap. He succeeded in catching another good feather back and more Mangrove Jacks.

Till our next report

Tight lines…

Sri Lanka a PE 10 Destination for sure

Gamefishing Asia has just completed our first full season in Sri Lanka and we have operated in the South and East of the Island nation and it has been an exhilarating experience, along with a learning curve where we have had to test our knowledge and put our fishing experience to good use.

What we have now reconfirmed is that it is a destination for big fish, our initial exploration trips showed numerous 40 to 50 kg GT’s and the season opened with many big GT’s being caught including the monster 163 cm fish that is one of the largest GT ever landed. There is a genuine chance here to land a 50 kg fish every week here and you just cannot come unprepared.

We had a lot of customers this season who chose to fish lighter line classes but this just did not work, instantaneous bust offs are the order of the day, the same goes with using lighter and smaller hooks like the ST 66, this is pointless if you are chasing big fish, yes you can land a fish now and again on ST 66 hooks but not regularly and also remember big GT’s are apex predators who are smart, to say again once they miss or get off the hook they will not be back too soon. Next season we will be enforcing only Barbless hooks which are safer for both the anglers around you and well as enabling the GT to survive better if it busts off.

Like all the big fish destinations we have it all here, deep drop offs close by, oceanic up-wellings, bait and structure. Is there an abundance of big fish and can the location take the fishing pressure? We think so! Careful management of the fishing spots and our local knowledge of the fish movements seem to have proved this as we fished almost continuously for 4 months without our catch rates falling and the sizes of the fish landed becoming smaller, ample resting of the area for long periods in between will give it plenty of time to regenerate and given that the GT’s move around quite a bit there will be plenty of big fish waiting for you in 2015.

So get ready with those heavy chuggers, big hooks, xx heavy leaders and a spool with some brand new PE 10 !!! Some arm wrenching action in Sri Lanka awaits you this season.

Enjoy the pictures

Tight Lines

Team GFA

Customer Update Request Sri Lanka

In response to recent media reports of violence directed against certain minority groups in Sri Lanka, that occurred mid-June, we would like to inform our customers that we are monitoring the situation closely. Current consular advice is to exercise caution and avoid demonstrations. We do not see this as posing a significant risk to the safety of our clients which is of utmost importance to us. In the unlikely event of the situation escalating to a point where there is any possibility of problems making running of trips unsafe, we will advise you and offer you a refund or an alternative destination.
In the meantime we look forward to hosting your expedition with us.

Tight lines.

Jason and Nick in round 2 at Trincomalee

Our friends from Singapore Jason and Nick had organized another group to come and fish Trincomalee with us and to say the least it was a good trip which slowed down towards the last day when the wind really picked up but in-between we had some unbelievable fishing with an estimated 30 kg plus GT landed on jig on a genuine PE 2 setup with 50 lb leader and the usual suspects, of hook pulls, bust offs and and no hook up!! All in all a very interesting week with some of the guys again breaking their personal bests’…. again!!!

Mark with a nice specimen one of the first of many GT’s landed on this trip

A rare model GT for Mark with dorsal fin missing possible from being attacked when younger, none for the worse and as tenacious as ever, safely released to fight again another day.

Nick with a very nice GT his first of the trip which topped the tape at 134 cm and a PB

Anothe side on view of the GT

Tan Lee with his first popper caught GT in Trincomalee

Nick with another GT model around the 28 kg mark

Sam putting the pressure on a nice GT

And here is the result and absolute slab of GT

With the popper action action tapering off with the increasing winds we decided to try jigging on one of the boats and had some amazing sessions with one session producing 21 GT’s on the boat not counting missed one or other species the tally for the day was and incredible 47 strikes and one fabled 30+ kg on PE 2.

Nick holding on and doing battle with a foul hooked GT which at 25 kgs nearly finished him for the day but he held on well to finish the fight in tough conditions.

Here he is all smiles and pain at the end of the fight.

Jason with a surprise catch a YFT on popper when we were looking for the GT's, anyone with a YFT flavour popper to cast for the Big Mama!!

Multiple hook ups on jig were the order of the day during that incredible session.

Nico getting the hooks out of a big GT that slammed and swallowed a 190 GT3 Craftbiat popper carefully.

Jason now poses with the fish another GT in the 30 plus kg model range.

Jason with one of the species caught on jig a coral trout.

Sam is ecstatic and strikes a pose alongside his big GT on PE 2.

Strike a pose Sam after that great fight skilfully done!!

Here is the fish for all to see.

Jason with another species caught on jig this time Red Bass.

As the wind picked up over the last day and a half the top-water bite went off this one last popper caught fish of the trip.

Back to jigging and another double header with GT and Mangrove jack this time.

Nick with another of his GT’s the smallest he caught on the trip.

Jigging master Sam poses with another GT on his PE 2 setup.

Spectacular scenery and big fish to choose from, more to come as the season winds to a close.
Tight lines till the next report.