A trip for Indian barramundi

After being in India for a couple of weeks I arrived on the west coast and was greeted by the arabian sea and its fresh white breakers. I had been looking forward to this this day since arriving as it meant at last there was a chance of catching some fish. After stashing my things in the tent I took a walk down the beach to asses the potential to land a couple of fish. I hadn't gone far when I saw a large sand shark/guitar fish scoot out of the shallows and into the froth of the surf. I continued to see more of these and counted around twelve before I reached a small river that had formed a large area of flat sand at its mouth. This place was frequented with the sand sharks, patrolling in ones and twos, searching for crabs and other tasty morsels.

Seagulls leave the beach on the Konkan coast, Maharashtra.

I was back at the river mouth early next day and saw more sharks as well a many fish of between 1-2kg sitting far out in the breakers. I waded around the shallow area in water 2-3ft deep at the river mouth trying to spot fish and tempt a variety of lures. For the first half an hour all that showed was the sharks as I spooked them from their resting places. I then saw what I thought was a fish but turned out to be some guys' underpants that had floated down from the river mouth. A minute later I could see his trousers approaching through the water and wondered to myself what sort of accident he must have had to discard these too! I pulled my lure out the way and went for a closer inspection. I was shocked to see a barramundi of around 25kg peering back at me with her big ruby eyes. In a second the fish was gone. And this was to be the last time i saw a barra for a couple of weeks.

Casualty of a fishing net?

The next day I had planned to move further south down the coast. I spent the rest of the day walking and admiring the beach. I spotted numerous different species of birds and even a camel wandering aimlessly around. An olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) was washed up dead on the sand, probably a casulty of one of the many fishing boats out as sea. While I was passing a pack of dogs arrived and sniffed the corpse before proceeding to go for a swim.

Dogs out on beach patrol

On the Train I travelled 150km south and once again arrived at a glorious beach. I planned to stay here for a few weeks over christmas so would have a chance to get to grips with the fishing and maybe bag myself a barramundi! After a couple of days of sussing the place out I met another fishing nut, Ken. After a few days talking fish, we planned a trip to the local river mouth targetting the barramundi. Ken had caught a few barra before and seemed to be on the ball when it came to lures and technique. He was friends with a couple of local fisherman, Agnelo and Asok, who would join us on the beach for the evening session.

Ganpatipule beach, Maharashtra

The first trip saw only Ken hook a fish out of seven people fishing. The fish took a silver bomber with 3x strength trebles fitted. I walked over to see what he had and the fishing was taking lots of line and not seeming to slow at all despite a fairly solid drag setting. Ken asked me to fetch the scales and camera from up the beach and on my return thirty seconds later line was still being torn off the spool. After a few more heart stopping seconds the line appeared to snap. On retrival we found the line hadn't broken but two of the treble hoohs had been straightened. Of course we were both gutted to lose such a big fish and as it turned out that was the only bite of the evening.

Fishing for barramundi, North Goa

The next day we were back and fished with sardines. Within ten mintutes my rod wrenched over and I struck into a solid fish which proceeded to tear off  70-80 metres of line, before stopping dead. we all agreeded it was a big ray and tryed to handline it up but the line gave way before it would move. I went on to catch two small catfish anda local landed a beautiful 7kg barramundi on a lure. I had quickly started to feel unwell after drinking some pretty suspect water, which led to me spending a couple of days resting up and drinking funny medicinal potions concocted by the family that I was staying with.

After some good rest I felt ready for another go at the barramundi and by now I was itching to catch one after seeing the one caught during the previous trip. Ken and I arranged to go to a small estuary with Agnelo and Asok that was 40 minutes drive up the coast. Agnelo is a taxi triver sowe all piled into his little maruti van and set off just before dusk. Ken had been to this estuary on a previous trip and described it to me as we drove through the evening. He told me how last time his light spinning rod had been snapped clean in half by a savage take on the plastic prawn he was fishing. The excitment was growing as we neared the beach, agnelo stopped for bananas to offer in puja for good fishing and asok had brought sugar along for the same reason.

Agnelo and a big barra caught while I was on sick leave, North Goa.

We parked the van and made our way for around 1km down the moonlit beach over sand that creaked underfoot until we at the river mouth. We planned to rest for a while until the tide was at a suitable stage and the moon had reached high enough in the sky to allow the fish to pick out our lures. it was a beauitful clear and bright night without a man made light in view. occasionally a fruit bat passed silently above our heads and dissapeared over the silver trees.

Coconut sellers, Konkan coast

After an hour or so we started to work our lures across the river through an incoming tide. We all used wire traces apart from ken who had a clear mono leader and needless to say he landed the first barramundi of around 3kg. It turned out be a short window when the fish were biting and seven were landed in total to 5kg, four to ken and one to the rest of us. I had finally caught my first barra which had taken a jointed pink bomber. It was only small at around 2kg but made me one very happy angler. I took a long while to admire the beautiful bronze and pink light being reflected form her scales and her big ruby coloured eyes. The results that evening showed these big eyes must be pretty sensitve to the leader material so for future trips clear mono would be the choice.

My first Indian Barramundi that nailed a jointed bomber.

As we headed back Agnelo instructed us to be silent when we reached the van. If we were heard, the police man that lived in the only house in the area which happened to be where we had to park would be out and demand baksheesh in the form of the fish we had caught! we went quietly like a bunch of  kids sneaking out of school and took off up the road before stopping after some distance to shut the boot and close the doors. You have to love india! Just after one in the morning we reached the large river where a ferry was needed to carry us across. Of course it was resting on the far bank with not a light to be seen. After much vigorouis use of the Agnelo's horn, the boat slowly came to life and crawled across the river to pick us up. There were some very bleary eyed crew aboard that didn't look too happy, but after a few rupees were passed over, we made our way across the river and back home.

Our next attempt to catch a barramundi turned out to be the most exciting yet. Ken and I drove with Agnelo up to the large estuary just before dusk. On arrival Agnelo stopped at a small restaurant to get some food, while Ken and I carried on down to the mouth of the river. On arrival we were a little dissapointed to see around ten locals casting lures from the sand spit. The local guys have caught on to this sort of fishing after seeing the tourists using it to good effect. Unfortunately they cannot usually afford lighter gear like we use and often end up casting lures with a heavy beach rod for hours on end. They must be admired for this, as even casting for ten minutes with a rod like this is enough to tire anyone out. Also they are afraid of losing fish on a lighter rod and will also not be convinced to use a mono trace as they fear the fish will bite through it.

As most of the spit was taken up by fishermen, Ken and I decided to fish in the slack water behind the sand where there was a bit room to manoeuvre. We were pleased to see one guy had landed a barramundi of around 4kg, although for ten people who had probably fished for a couple of hours, this was not such a good result.

My first big barramundi in India..11kg of silver muscle!

After only a few casts we had both had touches from fish. we looked at each other both wondering what might happen in the coming hours. On my ninth or tenth cast I felt a slight tap before my rod arched over so I struck into a big fish that quickly started taking of lots of line. Within ten seconds we both saw a big barramundi launch itself out of the water around 50-60 yards from the spit. She flew three or four feet into the air, shaking her head with much anger. It was quite a sight in the early eveing moonlight; her flanks shone brilliant silver. By this time my heart was in my mouth and I was shaking, willing the hook to hold and the fish not to abrade the mono leader. Most of the other fishermen had now stopped fishing and were watching while ken readied himself to land the fish if I was lucky enough to get it in. After four more spectacular jumps I brought the barramundi to the waves and Ken pushed her up the beach as a wave helped. After a very speedy photo and weighing we resumed fishing. The baramundi weighed 11kg, a new personal best by a long way!

Within a minute of throwing our lures back out, Ken struck into a good fish that took some line before throwing the hooks. He was however in luck, for after only a few more casts Ken had a savage take and lost lots of line in a few seconds. The fish was at considerable range upstream and did not seem too pleased at having a hook in it's mouth. After one jump the line went slack and that was that. It was a good fish and could also have been a new personal best for Ken. It was a shame as it was Ken's birthday and he deserved to land that one.

By now the group of locals seemed to be paying more attenion to our exploits than their own. A couple of guys were still fishing but most were muttering amongst themselves and looking mystified. No other fish had been hooked on their side of the spit and we were soon fighting for space in the calm water. Shortly after Ken lost his big fish I had another rod arching take. It stayed deep and felt like another good fish but was not jumping like the first one. Near to the end of a spirited fight it jumped close to the beach and came down with an almighty splash, but luckily the hook held. After this last attempt at freedom I was able to bring her close enough for Ken to get hold and bring her up the beach. This fish weighted 9kg. ! was over the moon as I had just caught the two most beautiful fish of my life.

Ken and his five kilo barra

Again before we knew it Ken was into a fish, but again his luck was out and this fish threw the hooks too. Luckily Ken managed to land the next fish he hooked, after a good fight. It weighed it at 5kg. By now all the indians had stopped fishing and were standing in two groups behind us busily chatting to each other. They couldn't believe we had just had six fish on in under 15 minutes and landed three of these. We couldn't belive it either! Just then Agnelo arrived and was equally shocked and dissapointed he had missed the feeding spell.

We fished a while longer, but caught no more. I had a lure destroyed by a fish but didn't hook up and by now it was hard to change lures as every guy still on the spit wanted to have a play with my lure box. The last fish of the night was caught by a very friendly indian whom I had chatted to earlier; he had stayed on while most of the other guys left. He was rewarded with a lovely 10kg barra which made him smile from ear to ear for the rest of the evening!

Sunset in Goa