Andamans - March 2009

[Colin P]

Kanta is next into a fish


The fisherman, the rod, the fish and the popper


We decide to try jigging for the last hour of fishing. Randy has a baby coral trout


Then a mirror trevally


The action gets pretty hectic for a while as three or four GT chase just about any popper that is thrown towards the surf.

Randy brings a GT to the boat


Most of the fish boated are small and this shot shows both the size and variation in coloring of a dozen or more GT caught in the space of half an hour.


It becomes apparent that we can keep on catching small GT by throwing poppers at the surf so we decide to cast away from the obvious feature and Kanta shows why we decide he has b**** of steel (take a close look at the positioning of the rod and note the amount of pressure he is putting on the fish)


But he brings in a decent GT (without personal injury as far as we can tell)


Randy is soon fighting another GT


And brings it quickly to the boat


We begin catching GT regularly on jigs (any jig will do!) and Randy and me get a double


We continue jigging after lunch and continue to catch small to medium sized GT.


Meanwhile, Randy has started popping and hooks into a decent fish


Randy puts the rod through its paces


Closer to the island, areas of quite lush vegetation may be seen


But as we get to the point where the main lava flow ran down to the water, the volcano spews out some ash to welcome us


Fishing looks promising with some Musandam-like cliff faces and drop offs to pop towards.

I get a decent GT quite early on


And the ever reliable Kanta follows up with another


We try jigging but have little reward until Darran catches this fish




Then I hook and boat my biggest GT of the trip (Kanta in background with a smaller fish caught at the same time)


Conclusion
All in all a very enjoyable trip. Randy and me had a lot of fun and Darran & his employees were great hosts in every sense of the word. I thoroughly enjoyed using all the prototype jigging and popping rods and I will undoubtedly find myself having to buy my special favourites when they come into production.

As for The Andamans, I intend to return one day with Marg 'cause it's a delightful part of the World to see and fish.

[Brock Arifovic]

Nice report, & great pictures, looks like a successful trip with good weather, how did the new rod perform? also i notice that alot of trebles were used, what sort are you using?

[Colin P]

Hey Brock,

Weather was perfect - warm and with a gentle breeze every day. I love my 80P/35 - but I will be buying at least one of the new rods when they come into production. We used ST76 4/0 and 5/0 - and the black GT bent one of the hooks during the fight!

Cheers

Colin

[Andy Rowe]

Colin,

excellent report, fishing and a bit of active geology...perfect!

I see some of the rods Randy used look quite long, were they OR GT prototype rods?, they look to be 8' or longer??

[Jordan Hack]

Unreal report Colin. The unidentified fish looks very similar to a Maori Sea Perch that we get here in Australia

[Colin P]

Colin,

I see some of the rods Randy used look quite long, were they OR GT prototype rods?, they look to be 8' or longer??

Hey Andy,

Yes and yes - though a couple are shorter and more powerful. Actually the pics are misleading in a sense - Randy only got his hands on the 8'5" rod once or twice - I kinda stole it for most of the trip but Randy took the pics of me with it in action on his camera (they are in his forum post you know where).

Cheers

Colin

[Colin P]

Unreal report Colin. The unidentified fish looks very similar to a Maori Sea Perch that we get here in Australia

Thanks for that Jordan - I found a pic of a Maori Sea Perch and it looks just like it.

Cheers

Colin

[Jay Burgess]

Unreal report Colin. The unidentified fish looks very similar to a Maori Sea Perch that we get here in Australia

Thanks for that Jordan - I found a pic of a Maori Sea Perch and it looks just like it.

Cheers

Colin

Beat me to it Jordan, definately a Maori Seaperch.

[Nathan Cefai]

Excellent reprt there mate,good work and well done,iv always wanted to have a crack at the andamans..

[Colin P]

Excellent reprt there mate,good work and well done,iv always wanted to have a crack at the andamans..

Hey Nathan,

Well worth a visit IMO - lots of GT so difficult to prevent smaller, faster fish getting to the poppers first - but we raised bigger fish than we hooked on the last session of the last day. So I for one feel I have unfinished business there!

Cheers

Colin

[Matt Harvey]

Great Report Colin,

You certainly did much better than myself when I went over xmas/NY.

I'm still processing my photos of that and will post a report soon as I have.

Matt

[Colin P]

Great Report Colin,

You certainly did much better than myself when I went over xmas/NY.

I'm still processing my photos of that and will post a report soon as I have.

Matt

Cheers Matt,

What was the problem on your trip - weather or just lack of fish?

Colin

[Chanin Puntawong]

Nice report Colin...I see some of us hangs in here...great place!

[Andy Rowe]

Nice report Colin...I see some of us hangs in here...great place!

Topper, welcome to the GT junkie's forum.

[Jon Li]

Nice report Colin...I see some of us hangs in here...great place!

Topper, welcome to the GT junkie's forum.

Hi Andy ,

I look forward to your " blow by blow " account of your upcoming trip !

Jon .