It was with great pleasure that I welcomed back Michael, Per and Per, plus one of their friends who joined them for this 2nd trip in Kirinda. Their previous trip was a success. Only Michael didn’t enjoy the first trip fully, due to a pain in the shoulder. But for this trip, Michael was ready; no more problems with his shoulder, a new rod and a large range of GT lures.
The first two days, the fishing was tough. The fish weren’t keen on biting, but all the same, the guys took some fish. On the 3rd day, by the end of the afternoon, the fish woke up and the guys caught several GTs with multiple hook ups. From my experience, I knew that at any time a big one would come. This is exactly what happened when Per hooked a big GT with his Master Bomb Patriot Design popper. The fish took the current and put up a strong fight for Per. And this was finally a monster GT that Per landed, his biggest GT ever. After a quick picture, we released the fish and went back to the reef. On the next drift, I spotted a school of baits, just on the edge of the reef and I asked Michael to cast his Hammer Head G-cup close to them. On the 3rd pop, a huge GT came up but missed the lure. On the same drift, a big Spanish mackerel jumped on Per’s popper but missed it. The reef was on fire! I made a new drift and Per had his revenge and hooked another big GT. The fish tried to reach the rocks. I helped Per drive the boat. The pressure on his Ripple Fisher rod was huge but Per didn’t give up and landed a solid GT. We continued to fish the reef till the sunset and the guy caught other GTs.
By then we understood that the fish were active from late afternoon to early evening. Our plan for the next day was revised to jigging in the morning and back to popping in the afternoon. The next day, we started by jigging but sadly the current was too strong to fish properly. We went back on the reef for popping just before lunch and like the previous day, we didn’t have bites before 4 pm. However, the guys tried light jigging and they had good fun. Around 4pm, we started to spot some big school of baits on the reef and it was time to go popping. The sea was extremely calm and we could see the line of current which delimited where the current was upwelling on the reef. We caught a lot of GT and Blue Trevallies, just at the limit of the current, where the baits were. We didn’t have bites of big GTs but we saw some Yellow Fin Tunas busting the baits on the reef. It was, however, very difficult to cast on because they were moving so fast. It was a proper run and gun. I advised Michael to change his popper to a floating stickbait. On the next cast, a decent Yellow Fin Tuna bit his lure but Michael missed it on the strike. When we had no more tuna, we came back for GTs and caught some before nightfall. Another good day in Kirinda.
The last day, We planned to troll to look for some billfishes in the morning and early afternoon, before heading back to the reef for GTs. We caught a lot of activity on the sea with some flying fishes, birds and bonitos. We saw some sailfish jumping and a marlin chasing a school of bonitos but sadly we didn’t have any bites. We did manage to catch a Mahi Mahi and a small tuna though. We went back to the reef and had great action on top water with GTs and Blue Trevallys until sunset, just like the previous day. Per missed a big one on his Cubera 180.
The Vikings had a good trip on top water with some multiple hook up and big GTs. As usual, big guns like Hammer Head G-cup and Cubera 180 make the difference in catching the biggest fish. I immensely enjoyed guiding the Vikings and I hope to see them again in Kirinda.
Nico
Tackle using during this trip
Rod: Ripple Fisher, Daiwa, Jigging Master, Shimano
Reels: Stella 18000sw & 14000w.
Lures: Hammer Head G-Cup, Cubera 180, Patriot Design Master Bomb, Halco Roosta Popper, River2Sea Dumbell Pop 200, TailWalk Gunz.
Species Caught: Giant Trevally, Bluefin Trevally, Maori Perch, Mahi Mahi, Tuna
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