Fishing Reports
and News
Here is our first news of the year and it's for our japanese anglers : this is the last cover of the japanese magazine Salt World, where you can read a nice article about fishing with us in Sri Lanka for popping & jigging.
Thanks to the chef editor Moto san for this article with beautiful pictures.
We were very busy guiding clients all these last days and we are late with our fishing reports, but that will come soon.
Stay tuned
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
Just before Christmas, I have guided Zac from Sweden, Mark & his girlfriend Meagan from US, for a day charter to target GT's on popping. It was their first time popping and they were very excited, Zac is a good pike angler and Mark fished a lot at sea, mainly on big game and flyfishing in Alaska for salmon.
I started the day on the spot where Gary caught is long tail tuna and hoped they were still there. On the first cast of the day, the Cubera 150 of Mark was smashed by big fish and I was thinking about another tuna, but quickly, I recognised the way GT fight and this fish look nice. After an epic fight Mark landed a solid and fat GT. What a fish for a first Gt ever, the day could not started better !!!
We fished some others popping spots, Zac missed 2 fish. Around noon, activity stopped due to flat tide and I decided to do a bit of trolling to catch some wahoo or a sailfish as friends caught some the last days, but sadly not so much activity, we just have a strike but the fish don't hooked up. In the afternoon we back to the popping spots. On the first spot, Zac have a nice bite, but the fish hooked off. Later Mark wanted Meagan to have a try on popping. As she can't cast enough far with this heavy tackle, I was casting for her and she was retrieving the popper. Next spot, I spotted a school of baits in surface and I told Zac to cast in their direction. I also cast but on the side of the bait school and gave the rod to Meagan. On the second pop, we all saw a big Gt coming and smashed the popper, the fish missed the lure, but came back and grab it. Unfortunately Meagan can't set the hook properly and missed the fish. As the wind started to blow we decided to get back.
All in all was a good day, not a crazy activity, but some big Gt's were there. Congratulation to Zac who don't give up casting his popper all day long, just an unlucky fishing day for him and Mark congratulation for this first GT, that was a solid fish, many GT anglers dreamed to catch a fish like that one. I wish you a Happy New Year and safe flight back at home.
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
Ollie & Gary from UK have decided to spend Christmas in the sunny Sri Lanka and booked some days fishing with us. The 20th December was their first day fishing and they have great day.
First fish of the day was caught by Gary. This fish came on the surface as a bullet, smashed the Cubera 150 and gone in an amazing rush. At the beginning, we though of a big GT but the way the fish fought was definitely not the same as a GT. I was thinking at a very big King Mackerel as we were fishing on a reef of 15 meters depth and only 1 nautical mile from the harbour. But it's finally an absolute unexpected Long Tail Tuna who came a long side the boat. Last April, I have spotted some nice tunas near that reef, but we never have the opportunity to catch one. Congratulations to Gary for this insane catch !!!
We continued to fish some popping spots, Ollie has a bite but missed the GT. On the other spots, despite lot of baits around, the activity was slow and I decided to reach the drop off to do some jigging. Ollie and Gary don't have any bite on the first drift, but on the third drift Ollie had a serious bite. Nothing fast, but an heavy and powerful fish going slowly but surely. He intensively fought this heavy fish for 30 minutes before the line broke.
After this, I decided to troll a bit on the way back to the popping spots and give a bit of rest to Ollie and Gary. Few nautical miles before to reach the popping spots I spotted some birds turning around an area and we have a double strike of wahoo they landed.
These fish woke up the guys and they were ready to pop again. First spots were empty, then we move to the spots we fished the morning where I have spotted baits. After a while Gary took a rest due to some pain in his shoulder and offer me the opportunity to do some cast. On the second cast I missed a nice fish and on the third cast my Hammer Head E-Cup was smashed by a decent fish. After an epic fight as no captain driving the boat I finally managed to landed a big GT.
After that fish Ollie, but especially Gary were motivated to cast. Gary has a bite of king mackerel, but sadly the fish missed the lure. After that, Ollie hooked a GT but the fish came off just before to land it. End of the day Ollie has another GT bite, but missed the fish.
All in all it was a great day fishing with two really nice fish landed and the uk guys are ready for the next round, which is in a couple of days. Stay tuned for the next report.
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
That's what happened last week when customers gave Capt. Nico the opportunity to cast a popper.
All Sportfishing Lanka team wishes you a Merry Christmas and hope to see you soon to go fishing and catch a nice fish like this one.
Sportfishing Lanka Team
Few days ago, I have guided Ross from England, who was travelling in Sri Lanka.
Ross is a great fly fisherman for salmon in UK and wanted to have a try on popping for Gt's during his holidays.
He landed his first Gt's and he enjoyed !!!
Another happy angler who fished with us
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
Last week, I guided Jesse and his friend Fred, for a popping day to target GT's.
Despite some windy conditions, the guys don't give up and they have 5 bites and caught 2 Gt's, their first ever GT on popping.
Congratulations guys !!
Nice to meeting you and to have you onboard of Diviya.
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
Every season, I have the pleasure to guide Dave from Umpqa company for a fly fishing day. At the beginning, we have planned to have a go at sea, but sadly this day was too windy to fly fish. Then we decided to have a go at Bolgoda Lake.
Morning was quite slow, Dave caught only an oxeye tarpon.
In the afternoon the fish were more keen to play with Dave. After catching a small mangrove jack, Dave focus of catching a featherback on fly as they were well active in the evening time. After he dropped one on the first jump, he finally caught a nice one.
Dave was so happy, to tick one of the fish he had in his bucket list.
Congratulations Dave !!!
I know I will see you next season for another fly fishing day.
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
Beginning of the month, we have received Yunus, Roy and uncle John from Singapore for a 4 days sea fishing trip.
The guys were quite experienced, well equipped and ready to catch the sri lankan fishs. First two days popping was a bit slow, then we focus to fish on jig and they had some great action with sometimes double hook up on Gt's.
Roy caught a nice dogtooth tuna, Yunus a malabar grouper and uncle John a strong Diamon Trevally, plus plenty of Gt's.
The last two days, we mainly focus on popping. The third day the guys have 11 bites but sadly caught only 2 Gt's.
Last day, we been to the drop off to jig, Gt's where there and the guys had a good time. Yunus caught an amberjack and uncle John a nice black tip trevally (also named malabar trevally). On the last drift of their jigging session, Roy lost a big fish after a serious rush.
End of the day and the trip, we spent the last couple of hours on popping and Yunus after he missed some fish, finally caught a decent Gt's with his Hammer Head E cup popper.
But it's Roy, tired to pop, he was fishing on light jigging on the popping spots and caught the last fish of the trip, an absolute beautiful coral trout.
I had a great time guiding Yunus, Roy and uncle John, they told me they enjoyed their trip and will come back to fish in Sri Lanka. Waiting for you guys !!!
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
A week ago, I have fished in Bolgoda Lake with my son Paul and one of his classmate for a short afternoon session.
I have put the boys on some good spots and they have a blast with mangrove jacks. The last 30 minutes of fishing I joined them and I was lucky enough to caught a nice barramundi. Paul was so proud of his dad
Lure of the day : Rapala Shadow Rap Deep in Fire Tiger Color (now this lure is in Paul's lure box )
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
Next day after fishing with Shane, I have guided Damith, his friends Saliya and Sajan. It was a fantastic day fishing.
Please read Damith report :
"Once again with our wonderful Capt Nico who put us on the spots and we had an epic day with Sajan and Saliya. It was fun and full of enthusiasm by the "Boy" Sajan whom I have fished with since a kid. He had a wonderful spell with a number of GT's, dogtooth tuna and a sizeable GT to "Cap it off". Saliya my old buddy was content with a pompano and cooling off with beers chilled to the Max!!!!."
Sajan dreamed to catch a GT on popping and for his first time, he caught 3 Gt's with a decent 30 kg !!
Congratulations !!!
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
We gone mainly for popping, it was the first GT popping experience for Shane.
He had 8 strikes and he caught 2 GT's, with a solid fish of 20kg+. He missed 2 big fish in the afternoon but he was happy to caught these first GT's ever on popping.
Congratulations Shane ! It was nice to have you onboard Diviya and thanks for the tips regarding marlin fishing, I will have a try soon and let you know how it work in Sri Lanka
Tight lines
Capt. Nico
Last week-end, I was guiding the lovely Claudia from Germany, which is also a famous carp fishing girl in Europe, with close to 70k followers on Instagram. It was her first ever GT popping experience.
After, loosing a nice fish who reef her, she finally caught a powerful GT and she enjoyed !!!
Stay tuned for the full report of Claudia.
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
Last week, I have guided Leroy from Shimano Australia and his girlfriend Rose at Bolgoda Lake and they had a great fishing day.
They had blast with some nice MJ's, Leroy caught also a nice featherback and Rose caught a decent Golden Barramundi, who give her a insane fight on light tackle.
Another great day fishing in our light tackle heaven : Bolgoda Lake !!!
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
First GT popping experience for Chris and his sister.
After they missed a couple of fish, she caught her first GT ever on popping, congratulations !!
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
Last week end, I was fishing at sea with some good fishing buddies. Here's the report of Pershy from the Facebook group Awesome Foursome :
"Good day dear friends.. would like update you on a wonderful outing today with sportfishinglanka.com, Damith Wicks, Eraj Fernando, Nicolas Jamin and Junior Ryan Fernando.
Weather was just right and the day started with high speed trolling to the drop off on their wonderful power catamaran hull “Divya”. It was the most comfortable ride you can ask for with sheer speed and stability in high sea. The onboard technology is immense and is captained by the highly knowledgeable Nicolas Jamin. Though the trolling episode was not showing good results, Capt Nico’s decision to drop the jig were very productive to the core. All the fish caught on jigging were RELEASED with the guidance of the capt. Total catch was 1 Pompano Trevaly, 7 Giant Trevaly and 2 Amberjacks."
Another great day fishing in Sri Lanka with you guys, till the next
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
What a nice fishing day at Bolgoda Lake last week guiding Ryuji san from Dehli.
Total of the catch : 3 barramundi, 1 big featherback, couple of nice mangrove jack and a nice river GT !
It was nice to met you Ryuji san and I know you will come again soon at Bolgoda Lake for another great fishing day
Tight Lines
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
Last week, we started our sea fishing season with our first group of angler. This group was composed of Yamada san our travel agent in Japan, Omoto san from Salt World Magazine, Otsuka san the CEO of Studio Ocean Mark and Sano san, field tester for CB One and SOM.
During these 4 days fishing, they had an insane jigging session the first day, where Sano san caught a nice dogtooth tuna and Otsuka san a 30 kg GT. Mainly the catches were GT's, I have try some deeper spots to look for amberjack but sadly without success, anyway our guest were happy with the powerful GT's.
Popping was a bit slow at the beginning, but the last two days the reef and our different popping spots were on fire !
They caught some nice Gt's and nice king mackerels. Average size of Gt's was around 15-18 kg.
The biggest fish was caught by Yamada san with a decent 20-25 kg fish and sadly Sano san lost the 2 biggest fish, who broke the line on the reef.
A very nice trip to start our sea fishing season. A report of this trip will be publish soon in Salt World Magazine.
It was nice to met you and guiding you guys.
Tight lines
Few days before the sea fishing trip with our VIP Japanese anglers, I have guided Stefan and his girlfriend Hindra for a day fishing at Bolgoda Lake.
Despite the horrible weather condition due to some unusual rain at this time of the season, they had a great day fishing.
Stefan caught 2 featherback and Hindra a nice barramundi after she loose a big one in the morning.
Wet day but mission accomplished !
Nico - Head Fishing Guide
I had our first sea fishing trip of the season on our new boat Diviya and fishing was good !!!
Just finished a nice trip with in guest star Japanese angler Sano san, field tester for SOM and CB one, who caught this nice dogtooth tuna on jig.
Otsuka san, CEO of Studio Ocean Mark was also part of the trip and he was lucky to caught the biggest GT of the trip, an estimated over 30 kg fish also caught on jig.
This fishing trip will be publish in the famous Japanese magazine Salt World.
We had also some good action on popping, stay tuned the full report will come soon.
Tight Lines
Capt. Nico
Finally we have received our new sea fishing boat named DIVIYA. Last week end, we gone fishing with some friends and we took time to take some shots of the boat with a drone.
Diviya is a 30ft power catamaran hull powered with twin 150hp Yamaha four stroke engines. We have all equipment onboard as 2 Garmin chart plotter and sonar with 2 CHIRP transducer 1Kw, radar and VHF radio. For fishing the boat has live bait tank, tuna tube, outriggers and down rigger.
This boat is custom made, he is perfect for all kind of fishing as popping, jigging and trolling, the perfect weapon to fish the sri lankan waters.
This catamaran hull is from an Australian design and give a very smooth ride. The luxury option is a toilet, then if you plan to bring your wife or girlfriend, now no excuse to come fishing with us !!!
We will keep you update soon with our first sea fishing report.
Tight Line
Capt. Nico
