Kirinda Sri Lanka March 2016

Chris Hot’s field tester along Eduard and Seth joined me on my recent trip to Sri Lanka.
we landed in Colombo and took the 5 hours ride to Kirinda to be greeted by the guys at the lodge and after with a quick briefing with our Captain Nicolas.

The first day started very slow and we soon start dawning for the lighter tackle, the action was unstoppable with such a variety that made Chris so much aware of his dinner and how we are going to prepare the fish we caught for the dinner table.
we fished late and Nicolas tried his best to put us on the fish, the majority of the GT we caught were ranging from 15kg to the 22kg mark with some occasional fish close to the 30kg mark.
the bite was a bit slow but we notice right away and after the first day that it was more of an afternoon bite with countless opportunity and multiple hook up, the fish responded to both poppers and stickbait and the long drift paid-off to cover wider area.

jigging wise was slightly slow but with all honestly we did not put the effort into it and we preferred the topwater action and the light jigging at the reef.

Chris was testing the New Hot’s Gipang 79XH on this trip and we all agreed that the blanks went into some major changing, it is not the same as the previous blank, the new Hot’s rod has more softness into it but yet the power to stop the fish, I get the chance to fish with the new rod and I really liked it a lot.

The highlight of the trip came in on the last day and it was the day that Captain Nicolas said that we will get the chance to encounter big fish, he was right on the money.

I pursued my goal on pushing my luck to see what the El Maestro 82M is capable on landing and I was lucky enough to get a GT’s close to the 40kg mark in 5 meter of water, the fish took a Hammerhead Cherry Asymmetry 200 SUS stickbait and the explosion on the lure was to be noticed as descent size fish.

The shouting and yelling started on board with Nicolas demanding more pressure on the fish, all what I heard is come on man we are in 5 meter and the fish is heading toward the shallow ledge, I found myself with so much pressure that I precisely cranked up the drag and took the chance, the fish surfaced with it is glory and I was delighted to see a descent fish on board, a big thank you for Nicolas for his maneuverability and skills to make it happen in shallow water using a lighter rod.

That fish pumped all the guys on board and made them put the effort to keep casting, things where working as a clock on the boat, the guy that catch a fish take a break or head to the shade of the T-top to drop a jig.

I get another shot with a bigger class fish that came in on my popper and missed it, while I screamed to get the guys attention the fish charged me again but this time with such a vigorousness open jaw.
unfortunately, it came in a bit short on the popper but felt the take for a few second.

Toward the evening we had countless fish boated and the vibe and spirit on board was great.

it was a pleasure to fish on board with you guys, I had a great time and can’t wait to do it again.
Thank you to Game Fishing Asia to their professional service but specifically to Captain Nicolas Jamin for his effort and knowledge!

   

 Tackle used:

Rod: Hot’s, Carpenter, Ripple Fisher, Race Point and El Maestro
Reel: Shimano & Daiwa
Line: Jerry Brown Hollow, Sunline.
Leader: Saltywater Tackle Twisted Leader
Hooks: BKK and Shout
Lures: Hammerhead, Craft Bait, Shell Shaping, Carpenter

   Tight lines
        Sami