Just 15 days back the lion's Lure was viciously attacked and Kidnapped by an Angry & Hungry Giant Barramundi and fighting it was a once in a lifetime experience , Just as the naughty stray dogs of Murud always loved chasing the lion, now even this escaped Barra started to visit me in my dreams and tease me almost every night [ the ungrateful Bassket was ignorant to the fact that I had prayed for his well being] everything has a limit !!! This Lion Forgives but !! Does not Forget !! and teasing the Lion repeatedly in his peaceful dreams MEANS WAR !!!
Something had to be done and that too very Quicky so I called my very trusted lieutenant TONY BRAGANZA { the second in command in my Anglers Army} and told him about my new found fishing spot that houses some Gaints and my plans to ATTACK it, as expected Tony immediately agreed but only for two days as he had guests visiting him from Goa
As agreed we left mumbai very early in the morning and directly reached the fishy place before the crack of dawn , readied our rods and sprung into action Tony opened his account with a dory snapper, now I opened my account with a 3kg mangrove jack then again tony got a good size 2.5kg MJ and another MJ and nothing for me except for that one Mj , as the sun was becoming too hot to handle we decided to have Brunch and rest at home Mrs Braganza had prepared some delicious food for two { GOD Bless Her for that } and two hungry souls wasted no time in finishing it off and slept for a few hours as we had planned to hit the place again at sunset and fish there for the night
We were back again in the evening and started casting and two hours have passed now after a lot of efforts but no bites ,
just after sunset suddenly my Rod Bowed down and my reel started to sing loudly KKKKrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr KKKKrrrrrrrrrr KKKKrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ………….now this long song was not at all music to my ears ,I had a good lure, a long leader on a 30lbs rapala tough line mono but yet I was the most worried person on planet Earth and then suddenly the song ended on a sad note and my rod stood straight again as if it never bowed to anyone in lts life total loss !!! quickly gathering my wits I said to myself " Lion you may have lost the battle, but the war has just begun !!! " Revenge Revenge You have to get Revenge !!!
I now kept aside my Shakespeare reel and took out a cheap chinese reel , it had the cheapest desi mono line which surprisingly had never failed me till date, mounted it on my old berkely rod and started to cast at the same place with a cheap fake of a h***o lure and almost immediately the lure was taken followed by a powerful run , now I was not worried as I held on to the fish and pumping my rod again and again between the runs LOL and after sometime when the fish surfaced close by , after seeing me it was panic striken and restless , not wanting to come near me shaking its head vigorously and saying No !! No !! No !! And then my rod broke with a loud Cracking sound with an angry fish on the line I quickly pushed my broken rod in Tony's hand who was standing by my side ready with the Gaff and I grabbed the line tightly and began pulling the fish slowly and when the fished pulled I had to quickly change hands to stop the cuts getting deeper Lo !! After many years of angling the desi handliner deep inside me was still alive and this fish had forced me to switch from Angling to Handlining in an instant I think Tony was certain that we will lose this one too but I was not !! Come Hell or High Water I will not lose this one !! I said to myself with my two fingers cut , I alone brought the fish close and gaffed it with the other hand All Praises be for the Almighty LORD alone this was the Biggest Mangrove Jack that I seen alive and caught till date in fact this is my PERSONAL BEST CATCH amongst the MJs
Now Tony kindly offered his Tackle at my service { so nice of him } and opted to be the gaff man and many more good size MJs were pulled out that night and three locals handliners who were fishing there without any luck were gifted a two kg MJ each and they instantly became friends giving us more insight to this area and other more potential fish spots in the nearby area and they said even Kokaru or GTs were hitting a particular spot nearby and I knew GTs are found at a very far remote corner of Konkan but never heard of them so close from my place and I had always wanted to hook a GT so requested the local to guide me to that place next day and so the next day we found our self following the local to another good spot here I was armed with a Penn Spinfisher Rod {which Santosh had last year helped me buy from the local market here in mumbai , it’s a fine rod- Thank You for that Santosh and there was 65lbs braid loaded on my new Daiwa reel and I casted a handmade stickbait which had been lying in my tackle box for almost two years but never got me a fish, by now I had started to hate it so wanted to cast it first and after reciting a few holy verses my first cast went out far and something hit my lure two times but failed to get hooked and the second cast did the job and the hook was set as I had already set the drag according to the GTs power {Once in Mumbai my old friend SalmonMani had shown me the drag settings required for GT Thank you ManiRatnamji } and I enjoyed every bit of the fight it was a totally different experience from the other kinds of fish that I have caught and finally I landed my first TREVALLY and according to the power and fight I was expecting a 5-6 kg GT but this bugger was only half the estimated size and yet so power-full fool that hits at anything moving on the surface and gives a tough fight
then immediately after sunset hooked another one and another exciting fight ensued and when the fish was landed I was quite surprised to find a beautiful QUEEN FISH at the end of my line . My First Queenie boy O boy Happy days are here Again three records in two days for me and even Tony got a large mj of above 4kg that will be counted as his personal best till date, together we fished till late night and pulled out many fish , even caught a rabbit fish with a little guidance from the local , the local was rewarded with the queenie as both of us were not interested in keeping the leather jacket
In all 19 fish were caught and Tony alone had caught 8 so now Merwyn the King of Goa be aware !!! you have some serious competition in Goa and very soon you will dethroned and Tony will be the KingFisher of Goa We wanted to capture every fish caught on the camera but the battery was low and we had not time to sit at home and charge the camera or our cell phones and after sharing four fish of around 10kgs with the local friends we left for mumbai with lots of fish and fishy memories
The Battle is Won but the War is far from over and InshaAllah One day I will get the one who disturbed my Sleep
Guys these are some of the Best Happy Fishy Moments of My Life and its my pleasure to share them with you all on this Platform
Life is a Gamble take a Chance says my Tshirt and I always say Fortune Favors the Brave
United we stand Bonded with Brotherly love, Mutual Respect and Understanding
Tony's First Dory Snapper kicked started our succesful trip
My personal Best and the Biggest Mangrove Jack that I have hooked till date
Guys can any one of Guess the weight of this Giant ???
Maybe this one is the big Mama's small sista
Tony's personal best
Nothing is finer than Pumping Your Rod after Dark for a gooood Fiiiiiish LOL { my new signature }
the Above and below picture was taken when me & tony both pulled each of these fish at the same time
My First Trevally
This local handliner wanted a pic of the lion in his cell phone
Armed & Dangerous from Head to Toe
Standing Gaurd : keeping an eye for the naughty ones who break surface
If you are a FISH I Will Catch you Some day
Best of Luck Guys
Somebody Help me ,I need a hand here !!
In Fishing age is no bar you can hook new species whenever you want
Tony also Agrees with me LOL
Lionheart junior-1 took the challenge of holding it still LOL while junior2 couldn't even lift it
Sharing the Booty
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The only fever that I always carry ---> Fishing Fever
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