After quite a few days of abstinence, the itch got unbearable. Last night (11th Dec) I inflated the banana boat to full pressure and got all the gear together so I can launch early before the sun got too high.
Over here in lower NE Isaan, the mornings and nights have been rather chilly for the past 3 weeks or so. I don't think it has gotten quite so 'chilly' here before far as I can recall. The previous 'winters' I had no need for jumpers (that's cardigan or sweater). Climate change is real! Yup, first time I am out on the water with a jumper on.
Arriving at the reservoir boat launch site just before 7am, I noticed a layer of light fog covering almost the entire lake. The far shore was hardly visible because of it. This is rather unusual here and worthy of mention. I don't know what to make of it and wondered if the fish would be more or less willing to hit lures, so off I set to find out.
Target far shore is roughly 600m away and I pointed the bow to it with motor at idle to allow it to warm up nicely.
At first stop, I let the boat drift with the light breeze and chucked my favourite Rapala Shad Rap about a dozen times close to drowned vegetation without result.
For me this has been my most productive lure.
Because of the light breeze, the boat kept drifting towards the bankside vegetation and I had to quit casting to reposition the boat. I took this break from casting to mount the sonar to look around as well as the depth I was in. It showed 19ft and the side sonar showed fish activity. With renewed optimism, I resumed casting and hung around for another half hour without a single a bite. I thought to myself; well, this is going to be a birding day instead.
Got sonar stowed, started the motor and headed to a spot where I last saw a Tickell's-blue Flycatcher. This birding spot is about 4km ahead and I was in no hurry so I dropped the lure into the water and let out about 50 meters of line. 20 minutes passed without any takers other than a couple of false alarms when the lure briefly snagged something underwater but broke clean saving me having to stop to remove debris from the lure which happens inevitably with trolling.
Moments after I rounded a rocky outcrop, I got a hit; the rod bent jerkily at 90 degrees while the reel screamed and a very startled me clumsily fumbled to reach the motor kill switch but I was just a little too slow; the fish had pulled free of the lure. Lost another one. Again! The entire scenario played out in under 5 seconds.
I can't figure out how fish can break free of treble hooks; unless only one point of a treble has penetrated a relatively soft part of its mouth.
What happened was likely this; with the forward motion of the boat and the fish swimming sideways, the drag created was enough to forcibly yank the hook off.
This has happened several times now, perhaps I should reduce the drag on the reel which imho wasn't set too high. Too low a setting will compromise hook set with the same annoying result.
Cursing my bad luck, I retrieved the lure for inspection and was pleased it was still intact, tossed it back into the water and let out a couple of meters of line to verify it still tracks true which should be a routine one needs to establish. A lure that tracks sideways just won't cut it.
With the lure again trailing behind, I scanned the shrubs and trees for birds but nothing of interest save for a rather large bird possibly a bit larger than an Indian Roller perched high on a dead tree but couldn't tell or even guess what it was. I let it pass. A few LBJs fluttered into undergrowth as the boat neared them-all remain unidentified.
With about 200 meters more to go before the boat traverses open water I got my second strike and I was very quick to kill the motor this time. The forward momentum of the boat kept pressure on the fish as I leant forward to pick up the rod from its holder. A few cranks of the reel confirmed fish still on and heading for bankside cover but my pumping and reeling hard got the better of it. Before long I had it hauled into the boat and it was a decent sized fish-all of 15" long. Quickly got it through the wire keeper and just as quickly got the lure back in the water and checked tracking.
Encouraged by this capture, I decided then to make a U-turn and troll this area. All thoughts of birds took flight; there are fish to be caught. Meanwhile, the sun has lifted the fog and I could feel the air and myself heating up rapidly. The jumper was discarded and my farmer's hat quickly donned with face shield up.
Over the next 45 minutes I lost another fish and that got me thinking even harder trying to figure out how the fish got away. I still have no clear answers to that.
As the morning progressed the heat got worse by the minute. I told myself I'll do one more pass and then call it a day. Glad I did, on my final pass, the lure got hammered and the somewhat loosened drag may have ensured the hook did not pull out. I was lucky I managed to bag it because the looser drag had let the fish dive into underwater vegetation. Somehow I managed to steer it back out as evidenced by the fouled lip of the lure.
The question here then is how much drag to set without compromising too much. I guess it will be up to trial and error.
Till next...tight lines!
Today's catch: Smaller is the 1st caught.
Over here in lower NE Isaan, the mornings and nights have been rather chilly for the past 3 weeks or so. I don't think it has gotten quite so 'chilly' here before far as I can recall. The previous 'winters' I had no need for jumpers (that's cardigan or sweater). Climate change is real! Yup, first time I am out on the water with a jumper on.
Arriving at the reservoir boat launch site just before 7am, I noticed a layer of light fog covering almost the entire lake. The far shore was hardly visible because of it. This is rather unusual here and worthy of mention. I don't know what to make of it and wondered if the fish would be more or less willing to hit lures, so off I set to find out.
Target far shore is roughly 600m away and I pointed the bow to it with motor at idle to allow it to warm up nicely.
At first stop, I let the boat drift with the light breeze and chucked my favourite Rapala Shad Rap about a dozen times close to drowned vegetation without result.
Because of the light breeze, the boat kept drifting towards the bankside vegetation and I had to quit casting to reposition the boat. I took this break from casting to mount the sonar to look around as well as the depth I was in. It showed 19ft and the side sonar showed fish activity. With renewed optimism, I resumed casting and hung around for another half hour without a single a bite. I thought to myself; well, this is going to be a birding day instead.
Got sonar stowed, started the motor and headed to a spot where I last saw a Tickell's-blue Flycatcher. This birding spot is about 4km ahead and I was in no hurry so I dropped the lure into the water and let out about 50 meters of line. 20 minutes passed without any takers other than a couple of false alarms when the lure briefly snagged something underwater but broke clean saving me having to stop to remove debris from the lure which happens inevitably with trolling.
Moments after I rounded a rocky outcrop, I got a hit; the rod bent jerkily at 90 degrees while the reel screamed and a very startled me clumsily fumbled to reach the motor kill switch but I was just a little too slow; the fish had pulled free of the lure. Lost another one. Again! The entire scenario played out in under 5 seconds.
I can't figure out how fish can break free of treble hooks; unless only one point of a treble has penetrated a relatively soft part of its mouth.
What happened was likely this; with the forward motion of the boat and the fish swimming sideways, the drag created was enough to forcibly yank the hook off.
This has happened several times now, perhaps I should reduce the drag on the reel which imho wasn't set too high. Too low a setting will compromise hook set with the same annoying result.
Cursing my bad luck, I retrieved the lure for inspection and was pleased it was still intact, tossed it back into the water and let out a couple of meters of line to verify it still tracks true which should be a routine one needs to establish. A lure that tracks sideways just won't cut it.
With the lure again trailing behind, I scanned the shrubs and trees for birds but nothing of interest save for a rather large bird possibly a bit larger than an Indian Roller perched high on a dead tree but couldn't tell or even guess what it was. I let it pass. A few LBJs fluttered into undergrowth as the boat neared them-all remain unidentified.
With about 200 meters more to go before the boat traverses open water I got my second strike and I was very quick to kill the motor this time. The forward momentum of the boat kept pressure on the fish as I leant forward to pick up the rod from its holder. A few cranks of the reel confirmed fish still on and heading for bankside cover but my pumping and reeling hard got the better of it. Before long I had it hauled into the boat and it was a decent sized fish-all of 15" long. Quickly got it through the wire keeper and just as quickly got the lure back in the water and checked tracking.
Encouraged by this capture, I decided then to make a U-turn and troll this area. All thoughts of birds took flight; there are fish to be caught. Meanwhile, the sun has lifted the fog and I could feel the air and myself heating up rapidly. The jumper was discarded and my farmer's hat quickly donned with face shield up.
Over the next 45 minutes I lost another fish and that got me thinking even harder trying to figure out how the fish got away. I still have no clear answers to that.
As the morning progressed the heat got worse by the minute. I told myself I'll do one more pass and then call it a day. Glad I did, on my final pass, the lure got hammered and the somewhat loosened drag may have ensured the hook did not pull out. I was lucky I managed to bag it because the looser drag had let the fish dive into underwater vegetation. Somehow I managed to steer it back out as evidenced by the fouled lip of the lure.
The question here then is how much drag to set without compromising too much. I guess it will be up to trial and error.
Till next...tight lines!
Today's catch: Smaller is the 1st caught.
