Fred's
Adventures in India by Frederick Divecha
June 2006
It was the fourth day of my fishing trip to Vijaydurg at the beautiful
"Mango Jungle " Lodge situated high above the Vijay Durg
Bay. I had not caught anything of note save for some Trevally and
red snapper in the 12lb range and some reef cod and grouper in the
10- 15lb range .
I call Danny Moses, a dear friend and asked him 'where do we fish
tomorrow' and his recommendation, since its low tide - fish the outer
reef with large lures. Vishwas, my Man-Friday and boatman comes to
the room at 04.30 am and wakes me up. I have Ringo Starr doing a drum
solo in my head and all I want to do is just curl up and go to sleep
again. But again comes the dreaded knock on the door and the voice
says " It is time "
So I reluctantly pull myself out of bed and struggle to the bathroom
and get under a cold shower. Some breakfast and a few aspirin later
I’m ready to get on to the boat ...and do what I wanted to do
in bed … sleep till we run to the fishing ground.
An hour later I wake up like Cinderella… all fresh and eager
to get into some fish. The guys on the boat that day was Gary, my
friend from Ottawa and Robert his brother-in-law from Austria.
We
trolled that day from 06.00 to 10.00 hrs without a nibble or a strike
and it was hot, humid and the water was like glass. My friend in my
head Ringo Starr was beginning to start warming up with a few drum
rolls. I asked Vishwas to get back to the reef so we took the lines
and lures out of the water and took off . The increased boat speed
gave us some respite from the heat with some cool breeze . To make
things worse the other two guys had fallen asleep on the boat. Just
as we neared the reef I asked Vishwas to slow down and I put the rods
out in the holders and lures into the water.
Five seconds into the run - the rod on the right jerks violently in
the rod holder and I’m up in a flash and take it up. I take
up some slack and then yank back to set the hook and this huge, huge
thing just comes out of the water 10 feet from the boat so close that
you can see the lure across its cavernous mouth.
I shout aloud " record fish " and everyone on the boat is
up and awake.
First run is a slow 150 metres of line stripped out and fighting deep.
I’m down to the backing on the
reel. I ask Vishwas to start backing the boat towards the fish to
get some line back. A good 15 minutes later I have got back around
a 100 metres of line. She starts circling the boat deep and I’m
able to get back most of my line. Its 25 minutes into the fight and
my back muscles are aching .
She surfaces near the boat, takes one look at my contorted face and
then this time goes of like an express train. Another 200 metres of
line out. She then rises and fights on the surface circling the boat
till I bring her in close. It’s now around 45 minutes into the
fight and she is now below the boat. I try to lift her up by lightly
holding the drum of the reel and bang! The rod tip breaks. I’m
fighting the fish with ¾ of a rod.
Vishwas the boat-hand jumps next to me with a leather glove on and
waits for me to bring up the leader wire. Once I do that Vishwas grabs
the leader wire, I take the gaff and gaff the fish in the first go
and then try to pull the fish into the boat, but the fight has left
me with no strength in my arms. With some help from Gary and Robert
on the gaff we finally manage to pull the fish into the boat. In all
the excitement I have forgotten to put on the fighting belt and have
fought the fish all of 45 minutes with the rod tucked into my hip.
We then immediately pack up and start heading back to the rest of
the drunkards at the lodge to start the celebrations once again.
Rod
: Captain Harry's .. Florida
Reel : Penn Spinfisher 8500 SS
Line : Power Pro Braid 50 lbs test
Leader : Berkeley 60 Lb test
Fish : Black King Fish (Cobia)
Weight : 92 Lbs (42 kgs)
Date : 1st April 2006 (April Fools day)
Time 10:05 am
Angler : Freddie Divecha
Place : Mango Jungle (Vijay Durg)
Boatman Vishwas
For more information regarding fishing in India -
please e-mail Fred on FrederickD@kuoniindia.com
Fred's
Adventures in India
We
trolled that day from 06.00 to 10.00 hrs without a nibble or a strike
and it was hot, humid and the water was like glass. My friend in my
head Ringo Starr was beginning to start warming up with a few drum
rolls. I asked Vishwas to get back to the reef so we took the lines
and lures out of the water and took off . The increased boat speed
gave us some respite from the heat with some cool breeze . To make
things worse the other two guys had fallen asleep on the boat. Just
as we neared the reef I asked Vishwas to slow down and I put the rods
out in the holders and lures into the water. 
the
reel. I ask Vishwas to start backing the boat towards the fish to
get some line back. A good 15 minutes later I have got back around
a 100 metres of line. She starts circling the boat deep and I’m
able to get back most of my line. Its 25 minutes into the fight and
my back muscles are aching . 
Rod
: Captain Harry's .. Florida 