Fishing Reports - Andaman Islands

Mandarin Sportfishing Club
at the Andaman Islands.
By Andy Bright.

Gecko's last group in March comprised Ralf, Carmine, Vergil and Andy
from the Hong Kong Mandarin Sportfishing Club.

After a memorable trip from Hong Kong the group were dying to get fishing.
With a 6 hour wait in Bangkok which turned out to be nearly 8,
and then a 5 hour wait in Kolkata which turned out to be 7,
it was capped off by being enveloped in fumigation smoke
as a guy decided at 4:00 AM in Kolkata airport to fire up his fumigator
which sounded like a tractor, and belched white smoke everywhere.

Vergil & Carmine decided to take a walk outside, only to then find
that they had to pay to get back inside the terminal!

On the basis of the previous successes in the cooler water
around Narcondam Island, Jonas again headed "Gecko" the 140 miles that way.

Just beyond Havelock Island, a Marlin struck one of Ralf's new lures,
but after a few seconds of screaming reel with Ralf hanging on,
a big jump, a shake of the head and the lure was thrown.

Losing the first fish of the day is bad luck, said Jonas!

And so it was that the journey to Narcondam was relatively quiet trolling,
although a couple of good Wahoo were taken.

Arriving at Narcondam early next morning, the Dogtooth Tuna action soon began,
with a pair of around 10 Kg each for Carmine, two of 20 Kg and 30 Kg for Ralf,
and a beauty of 39 Kg for Vergil plus a good 20 Kg Wahoo for Andy.

The action slowed as the day progressed, but evening time,
the bottom fishing was good, with a nice 25 Kg Yellowfin Tuna for Vergil
and two Silvertip Shark of around 70 – 80 Kg each
for Carmine & Vergil as the "dogtooth chum" did its work.

Next day, the trolling was slow as the wind strengthened,
with only a Yellowfin Tuna of around 22 Kg for Carmine of note.
But once anchored after dark in the lee of the island,
the bottom fishing became red–hot.

With Ralf poorly in bed and Vergil catching up on his sleep,
the non–stop action was left to Carmine & Andy.

In around 40 meters of water, with prime Yellowfin and Dogtooth Tuna as chum and bait,
it was a fish every drop, with too many Mangrove Jacks to count,
several good Giant Trevally's and several Sharks of all sizes,
the biggest estimated at around 100 Kg.

Both Carmine and Andy were smashed up too many times to count
by huge fish that just tore off. One memorable one of Carmine's
unusually came up to the surface and headed for the rocks
and kept going, and nothing could stop it, least of all Carmine!

The downside of this frenetic pace was that the crew just couldn't make up the rigs
fast enough to keep up with the rate that they were getting smashed!!

Day 4 the trolling was again slower than earlier trips –
full moon, strong tides and a brisk wind.

Four or five Wahoo were taken, but no "dawgs" or Yellowfin Tuna.

Mid morning, Jonas headed "Gecko" out the undersea mount.
Drifting across the top in around 120 meters of water, the action was fast
and furious, with Vergil taking 2 big Groupers of around 10
and 12 Kg and Carmine a smaller one around 5 Kg.

There were Rainbow Runners, Snappers and, of course,
then there were the Sharks.........
and more Sharks!

Copper Shark of over 100 Kg kept both Carmine
and Andy busy for a while as did a Silvertip of around 70 Kg for Vergil.

Andy thought some jigging might turn up good results,
but first drop, yes, it was chomped by a big Silvertip Shark
which took an eternity to get to the boat before it was cut loose,
and that was the end of Andy's new jig!

By late afternoon it was time to head back towards Port Blair.
Just one Wahoo was taken on the return trip as water temperatures rose
from around 28 degrees at Narcondam Island
to just over 30 degrees at Port Blair.

Thank you all for a nice trip,
and hope to see you again.

Tight Lines!

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