Indian Angler
22-04-2006, 10:21
Its been sometime since I returned from those fantastic Islands, but my whole holiday in my mind has become one long day spent fishing. The way all holidays should be.:)
We were based on Havelock island, which is a couple hours from Port Blair (the capital) by boat. Our first day was spent unpacking the tackle and setting up. We spent the whole afternoon fabricating outriggers, so we could fish 4 rods from the back of the boat.
What worked really well for us in terms of fish caught was trolling. We had a spread of 4 rods to play with so we had plugs fished from the flatlines and jets/skirted lures from the outriggers. Over the duration of our trip we found the plugs were getting hit at all distances. Rapala Magnums CD 11, CD 14, CD 18, Halcos, Yo Zuri etc.. To be honest practically every plug worked. So if it was a plug..... it was my favourite.
While trolling we landed Spanish Mackerel, tuna, blue fin trevally, GT, Coarl Trout, Grouper, Barracuda, Grouper, garfish, jew fish and a bit of coarl off the reef:)
Spotted pods of dolphin, pilot whales, manta rays, balls of baitfish on the surface and alot of bird life.
Boats seen were some really fancy yauchts, the daily ferries that transport people and goods to the islands, local fishing boats, some navy boats and a couple of forest department boats. We also saw a couple of choppers flying around and a couple of spotter planes. Boats in the Andamans are basically meant to get from point A to point B. So they're really basic. In a local boat you can expect a top speed of 7 knots in calm conditions.:boat: So one can't get anywhere in a hurry. This is a major problem if one plans to go far and get there when the tide is favourable. Being Indian its possible for us to stay nights on islands by organising permission or talking our way into doing it with the local authorities. This cuts down time spent in the boat travelling.
We were blessed with pleasent weather through most of the trip. A couple of days the wind did pick up, but it wasn't bad. A thunderstorm on the day we left, along with heavy rain.
Can't wait to go back!
We were based on Havelock island, which is a couple hours from Port Blair (the capital) by boat. Our first day was spent unpacking the tackle and setting up. We spent the whole afternoon fabricating outriggers, so we could fish 4 rods from the back of the boat.
What worked really well for us in terms of fish caught was trolling. We had a spread of 4 rods to play with so we had plugs fished from the flatlines and jets/skirted lures from the outriggers. Over the duration of our trip we found the plugs were getting hit at all distances. Rapala Magnums CD 11, CD 14, CD 18, Halcos, Yo Zuri etc.. To be honest practically every plug worked. So if it was a plug..... it was my favourite.
While trolling we landed Spanish Mackerel, tuna, blue fin trevally, GT, Coarl Trout, Grouper, Barracuda, Grouper, garfish, jew fish and a bit of coarl off the reef:)
Spotted pods of dolphin, pilot whales, manta rays, balls of baitfish on the surface and alot of bird life.
Boats seen were some really fancy yauchts, the daily ferries that transport people and goods to the islands, local fishing boats, some navy boats and a couple of forest department boats. We also saw a couple of choppers flying around and a couple of spotter planes. Boats in the Andamans are basically meant to get from point A to point B. So they're really basic. In a local boat you can expect a top speed of 7 knots in calm conditions.:boat: So one can't get anywhere in a hurry. This is a major problem if one plans to go far and get there when the tide is favourable. Being Indian its possible for us to stay nights on islands by organising permission or talking our way into doing it with the local authorities. This cuts down time spent in the boat travelling.
We were blessed with pleasent weather through most of the trip. A couple of days the wind did pick up, but it wasn't bad. A thunderstorm on the day we left, along with heavy rain.
Can't wait to go back!