Dorian from LA, Vitor and Miguel from Brazil joined me on a trip to Kirinda in Sri Lanka to target GT’s.
After the long journey we arrived to Colombo where we got greeted by our driver and off for the 5 hours ride to Kirinda. With the time difference and the long flight, I was beaten up and I literally passed out in the van for a couple of hours with my snoring symphony keeping the guys entertained.
Prior to our arrival I checked the weather and it was at the iffy side in terms of rain but seemed to be ok when we made it to Kirinda.
We met with Captain Nico at night to get a briefing for our trip and as usually we started our first day with some solid action with a lot of fusilier in the general area. It was not too difficult to spot them and to work around the bait school. We all managed to land GT’s on our first day and that took the pressure away.
Nothing really big but the constant wakeup call with those fabulous strikes kept us alert at all time.
On our second and third days we suffered as the rain came down and the quality of water completely changed, Nico went crazy in search of action and tried to find the Blue water with no luck but we still put up the time and effort and made it happen.
On this trip I was testing the El Maestro 74XXH and on the second day I could barely get it out of Dorian’s hand, he fell in love with the rod.
We enjoyed our evening at the pool in the lodge talking fishing and future destination. It was quite an enjoyment to get along with the group. I really enjoyed the company and the good laugh.
For the rest of the trip we had one day of bad fishing and the action started coming back slowly. It had to do a lot with the water clarity and we did not get a decent day with good water visibility around; it was our luck.
The light jigging and the micro jigs is simply awesome in this part of the world. Guys using the lighter gear where getting strikes on every drop, I will make sure to bring a PE2 rods on my next trip. The color of the fish that we’ve been catching were insane.
I had a problem with my camera setting on this trip and the pictures came out not that great per comparison to the past but I figured out the problem and I fixed it
On our last day we pushed North and as usually Darran joined me with Dorian and the action was pretty good in that part with some better water quality.
There was a lot of bait ball with lady fish smashing on them. All what you have to do was to drop a jig and you can imagine that you have a tarpon at the end of your line. I had never experienced their power and acrobatic skills; I have to say wow!
My rod and line were pointing to the right and the fish was jumping to my left – such a powerful fish. With PE10 rods it still managed to put an awesome bend on the rod, Nico suggested to move to a different area to target GT’s and right on the spot we began getting them from the first drift.
Darran had a massive fish on his lure using the El Maestro but for some reason the fish unhooked itself, possibly the biggest fish I saw on this trip, we called it off as the wind was kicking and headed to the port.
On the way to the port and from my previous experience in Socotra I always try to keep my eye open on the smaller boat in this part of the world. From a distance I saw a commercial boat passing a small boat that the guy on board was waiving with his shirt, I turned to Nico and I said the guy must be in trouble.
Nico turned the boat and headed in that direction only to find out that both men on-board were in trouble. He had to change the part but did not have a plier to take it apart, I just couldn’t believe it.
We waited for the guy to do his thing, made sure his engine was running, retrieved the plier and continued to the port with a good feeling. I felt since my incident in Socotra that I have a payback on my shoulder but after today I am set free. It is karma and what goes around comes around.
I want to thank Game Fishing Asia and Nico for their outstanding service, thank you guys will see you in March 2016!
Tackle used:
Rods: Saltywater Tackle Race Point 300, 100, Carpenter Monster Hunter 79XH, Carpenter Wild Violence, Fisherman GT Game TRSH, El Maestro 77H, 710MH and the new El Maestro 74XXH Prototype
Reels: Shimano Stella and Daiwa Saltiga
Lures: Carpenter Gamma, Moutoukenmaru, Shell Shaping, Native Work, Hammerhead.
Line: Power Pro Hollow, Jerry Brown, Varivas
Hooks: BKK hooks, Shout, Owner
Tight lines
Sami
Gamefishing Asia would like to thank Sami for another great trip report & pictures.
The report & addition pictures can be found on Sami’s Facebook page
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