Our agency from Poland – Eventur – regularly sends us a couple of groups a year. This group was from Belarus and consisted of father and son team Yuri and Anatoli, with Aliaksandr and Andrei joining them. The guys had been in touch with us on their tackle requirements and were keen to get the variety of species that the Andaman islands are known for, as well as some nice trophy sized fish. The group arrived two days earlier than their scheduled trip start date as they wanted to get over the jet lag as well as pack in a small holiday on the island of Havelock.
Captain Rama had briefed them and sorted them out with rigging up their tackle. We also had to give Anatoli one of our Racepoint 200 combos as his rod reel combo did not look like it could do the job, which was just as well as you will read about in a bit.
The first day out fishing and we were immediately into the action. There were lots of strikes and small GT’s landed when suddenly there was a big take on Anatoli’s Hammer Head popper on the Racepoint 200 and after a great fight and a bit of panting on the angler’s side we put a really nice 35 kg Giant Trevally on deck. The action continued through the day and we had a happy bunch of anglers return back to the guesthouse, which is always good on day 1 of the trip.
Running to the south the next day, Captain Rama decided to fish a combination of deep and shallow spots and was immediately able to put the group onto fish. There followed a really insane session of fishing with lots of species, triple hook ups and even two groupers on a single lure. Andrei got his first Greater Barracuda and although we really do not think much of them, he was ecstatic and really happy with the size of the fish. The guys had their share of bad luck as well, as we managed to raise some monster GT’s, with one beast clearing the water completely to smash the popper, only for it to come off during the fight and a smaller one to immediately hook onto the lure, leaving the angler surprised as to what had happened to the big fish we had all seen. The were some more big fish raised with all coming off, unluckily for the guys, but they had so much action that they were sated for the day.
Last season we really looked for the Yellowfin tuna and were unable to find them save for one day when they were really in close to shore. This year has not been much different. For some inexplicable reason the Yellowfin tuna are not coming into the Andaman waters in the numbers they used to. So, running out to our fishing grounds, when we came upon feeding dolphins and birds, (the local fishing boats run around the tuna schools when they find them, so we have noticed the schools being very skittish when approached and sounding immediately) we got the clients to cast out their topwater lures. This time with no local fishing boats about we got our chance and Yuri connected with a really nice sized 40kilo YFT as the first good sized one we boated this season. This adds a different dimension to the trip as run and gun fishing for tuna is something else altogether. It was a great bonus for us as, with the insane top water GT bite we have had this season, our clients have really not wanted to try anything else. Continuing with the fishing day we got back into the topwater action which was again smoking hot. Andrei got a big hit which he converted and landed a GT just under 40 kilos, Yuri was again really happy when he landed his first shark to topwater again using the Racepoint 200. We had bust offs on two really good fish that parted PE 10 and got into the un-stopables category. The guys decided to try out their Inchiku jigs on some smaller species and again were not disappointed with the variety of species landed.
Heading to an offshore spot, we saw a single bird and some feeding dolphins. Captain Rama made a good call to stop the boat for a while and got the guys to cast once the dolphins were in range. Anatoli’s Yo-zuri popper was crashed a number of times by a big yellowfin tuna that came up from beneath the dolphin and finally hooked itself. Then the fight started – a brutal 40 minutes tug of war that was for a long period at a stalemate. However, the lifting power of the Racepoint 200 finally won and a really big, estimated 70 kilo, Yellowfin tuna was boated. This was really the highlight of the trip both for us and the clients.
With big fish landed, lost lures, Dogtooth on topwater, multi species on Inchiku jig and chasing big Yellowfin, this really was a great trip both for us and the clients and a complete opposite to the week we had in March during the same moon period. The guys have promised to be back as soon as they can and we will be happy to have them back with us.
Till next time,
Tight lines.
Tackle Used
Popping Rods: Ripple Fisher, Saltywater Tackle Racepoint 200
Popping Reels: Shimano Stella
Popping Lures: Hammer Head, Carpenter, Yo-Zuri, El Toro, FC Labo, Shimano
Jigging Rods: Ripple Fisher
Jigging Reels: Shimano Stella
Jigs: Shout, Seven Seas, Inchiku
Species Caught: Giant Trevally, Barracuda, Dogtooth Tuna, Bluefin Trevally, Grouper, Bohar Snapper, Green Jobfish, Yellowfin Tuna, Coronation Trout, Black Tip Reef Shark
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