Saturday 22 February 2014

Fun-Tasty-ikka February K2K









Before I begin my trip report I guess some of you are here only to get some news about the intruders who crossed  the Lion's line of Tolerance , Now I can only say that they will not do any such things in future and all allegations have been put to rest   Very Happy  Twisted Evil  
 






Fun-Tasty-ikka   February K2K  ( Karnataka  to Korlai )




I did not  even get enough time to relax and enjoy my prize grouper  which was caught in Jackpot January  , again it was  time to leave home sweet home for a preplanned  vacation , a few days of fun filled relaxing somewhere out of Maharashtra , of course by the sea and of course I took my rod with me  Razz
in the dead of the night at  3am  I get down at a railway station somewhere in Karnataka, its cold  and only a handful  people get down with me and they quickly disappear in the pitch black darkness out side the station then  I notice a young European  couple trying to communicate  with a rickshaw driver  who seem quite determined to overcharge them , I could hear all their conversation and couldn't  stop myself from jumping in, I introduced my self to the couple and got to know that our destination was same , all three of us were heading for the same place so we decided to share the fare of one vehicle and three persons with 6 bags in a rickshaw ride for 18kms wouldn't be comforting at all !  I tell my young friends to wait till the crack of dawn so that we have more different vehicles to choose from and I also did not want to be chased by the stray dogs in the dark after I reach my destination (lol) certainly not by new ones in a new place :P   you all know very well about the evil  presence of strays dogs in the lions life  Bad Grin
I reach my hotel, freshen up and have a nice Brunch and I am still waiting for " Maruthu " an angler friend  from bangalore who had fished with me previously in Kanyakumari , I decide to take a stroll on the beach which is bustling with a beautiful crowd of all shapes and sizes ,  many are also in the water swimming like a fish Razz well I was more interested in catching a beautiful fish with fins giggle   my stroll is over and I can see maruthu at the restaurant waiting for me , we immediately grab our rods and leave as soon as maruthu  finishes his breakfast , we  go to explore some nice potential spots for fishing , by now the tide has already gone out and its getting hot so  after a few cast we decide to head back to hotel and relax till evening , as I am sipping my Lemonana under the cool shade of thatched palm roof on the beach  I get a call from  a friend who happens to be travelling somewhere by state transport bus and he visited the stinky passenger  terminal  restroom and he found a cross-breed pup carrying a name tag of Pinnochio  Ghan  who was , barking, growling and rolling all over in the filth trying to maul an imaginary lion , should  I kick him ??  asked my friend and I said  " why on Earth do you want to kick a feeble young stray pup who has no sane guardian looking after him ?? Just leave him alone with a few dry biscuits , he will definitely stop barking when his mouth runs dry Razz  

The Beautiful overview from the mountain



                                                         Our Rooms on the Beach
In the evening  its too windy and  with no bites or visible feeding signs we decide to head back to base , I am walking back  thinking that maruthu is following me  when suddenly I hear  him calling out loudly " Sayed bring the gaff !! Bring the gaff "  I realise that I am too far to assist him with the gaff ! And the bend of his rod has given me the estimated size of his catch  and that’s  something he can handle it alone ! So I remain quiet ! Very quiet ! Not to distract him while he is beautifully playing the fish amongst the many rocks that lie ahead of him and he finally lands it and I am more happy than maruthu Razz who looks kinda relieved ,  this is one of those time when it doesn't matter to real anglers who caught the fish as long as they see the action of a fish being caught in front of them ,Tonight Maruthu is the star ! With a decent size Mangrove jack  of 2.67kg measuring  on the digital scale )  he declares  " it's FISH TIKKA for dinner "  marthu takes the fish to one of the restaurant manager and orders him to make Fish tikka   out of it, he had done it before also ! of course we are paying 400 bucks for preparing our fish said maruthu , Guys !!  the Fish Tikkas  were the best Tikkas I have had since the  start of this year  Very Happy and also the curry  was FUN-TASTY-K    both the hungry Anglers attacked the food  till there was no space left for more Razz



Day-2 we go to another potential  place which may hold some good fish but are disappointed by the sight of  dolphins swimming so close to the shore that they can mistake our lures for fish and end up ruining our tackle !!  Maruthu has come only for two days and today is the second day , he will be leaving in the evening before sunset ,but not before casting a few spells of rapala in the water Razz   just before sunset  he gets a powerful strike and a run , this action is totally out of his control as he was fighting a big fish on a weak surf rod with a short mono leader on braid, the result was predictable   Wink a lure is kidnapped mercilessly  and we both stood  watching haplessly  Razz   the  visibly upset maruthu  repeats in his American accent   " O man !! The Groupers !  they always cut me on the rocks !  man !! Next time I will come with a more heavier tackle "  he said  and I instantly realize that " The Bloody Fish have been ignoring my lure " (British accent ) do they  know that the Lion who mercilessly hunted a jumbo grouper in Konkan last month is here to do the same ???   I was better equipped to handle them , why don't they pick someone  who can take up their challenge  ??  It will really be a shame for lion to come this far and have no catch !!  I said to myself. but !!  in an instant I glorified the LORD  for all the bounties  he has bestowed upon  me till date ! I shall  never think negative as there is no place for negativity in my life  Very Happy  now it was time for maruthu to take leave for Bangalore and I bid him goodbye and Thanked him for sparing two days and travelling thru the night only to fish with me ,  I also returned back to my hotel  after a few casts

 The next morning  I woke up like royal at 10am, had a continental breakfast  and  decided to trek  to a place which maruthu  said is very promising, but alas !!  to my dismay the place did not keep its promise  Sad  at one place I saw a huge Russian guy  bait fishing with a small rod and a tiny reel ,  another  hundred yards further I find this  Israeli young man called LUKA  also fishing with the same kind of tackle like the Russian, I had already met Luka yesterday   I am now invited  to join him and he offers me small hooks and a piece of line , in minutes my line is in the water waiting and wanting to hook something  at least to pass the time, Luka certainly seemed to be  new to fishing LOL it was hilarious to see him jump up on every nibble of the fish   shouting  happydance  " OOPA !! OOPA !! Did you see that ?? "   happydance Luka used to ask me every time lol , suddenly  I hear a female voice behind me  " Have you caught my lunch ? There is a beautiful  young lady sunbathing behind us on a big  rock, she had the likes of Julia Roberts  from the movie  Erin Brockovich   " No ! Darrling ! But  I am trying " says the smiling Luka  and whispers in my ears " she is my wife "  after a while  even the  nibbles of small fish  have  now  stopped  and I am getting bored !! I look around me and everywhere in the water  I see dozens  of femme fatales swimming around like mermaids , too much of distraction for men and no attraction for fish ??  Maybe the Mermaids are scaring the fish away!!  I decide to leave  Luka for the shade of my restaurant here  after lunch I have a long chat with two Swiss ladies who are my neighbors,  they are sharing their three months  experience in India and I  am killing time waiting  for the clock to strike 5pm so that I can go casting again at sunset Very Happy  and this time  I did get two Mangrove Jacks ( 2 kg each ) in the evening from another place  I kept one for dinner and released the other asking it to put on some  weight and come back on my lure at my Konkan  address   Wink
You guys must be bored of seeing me with my catches  , now lets see  someone else pose with my Fish
  My Swedish friends Andreas sjokvist and Amanda  were happy to pose  with the Mangrove Jack  

Andreas sjokvist 


Amanda

The Jack that paused for a pose and swam back happy


Last time Maruthu had  given the fish + 400 rupees to the restaurant for cooking the fish , but this time the Lion strikes a different deal at a different restaurant and it is :  make Fish Tikka and meal for one person and keep rest of the fish again as expected the food was dam good !  the next morning was also just a casting exercise and I check out in the evening  with a driver to pick my luggage and escort me to a waiting car and by sunset  I am on the train back to Mumbai ,
 

I reach home the next morning its Thursday and by evening I get a call from an Indian Angler  Tathagatha   everybody calls him Tats  he is planning to go to Korlai Fort  for fishing on Saturday and I am invited to fish in a place which happens to be in the Lion's kingdom  lol  I remember fishing there some 6-7 years back,  this place is now  dead, over fished and highly netted place, but  was once a very productive spot giving me lots of barras and mjs , then the commercial fishermen began laying nets after  they saw my fellow angler from murud who stupidly  paraded his barras  in front of the entire village !
So  we both left Navi mumbai  at noon and reached there at 3pm and we met two other anglers from navi-mumbai by the name JoJo and Jacob  they were fishing since morning and were yet to register any catches, I was pretty annoyed as the whole place was covered in dam nets  !! Tats and me , both are left high n dry wanting some action on our rods   Sad  I persuaded Tats that we spend  the night at a local friend's place and go fishing to one of my hidden spots to try our Fishy luck and the next day I stick to my lure fishing and Tats plays the Baiting and waiting game . In short I will say that Tats got more than the action he was looking to have on his rod for a long long time , his rod was sweating !!  Giants were caught, booked for indecent behavior  and released with a warning  Razz  Tats and I returned by sunset  , hence I conclude my two trip reports from Karnataka to Korlai Very Happy 


My apologies for less pics from Murud as we hadn't planned to stay overnight so none of us carried any extra clothes or mobile chargers ,   Sad sadly my cell batteries conked off just when I was capturing Tats in a Rod bending position

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