the ITCH!!!

the grass carp safely in the net!!! look at the bend on the net ring, it was pretty heavy

the length of the grass carp as compare to my adidas shoe which measures 30cm

the POND!!!

zero action on my float. :-(

the pond is really weedy. was planning to use some surface lures but i changed my mind

all anglers would identify with me when i say “THE ITCH”. it is basically the primal urge to go fishing. TO WET THE LINE.

anyway, over the weekend, i had that URGE. i tried to resist the temptation on Saturday but came Sunday, i couldn’t help myself anymore. by 7.30am, i was already awake, unassisted by my alarm, and by 8.15am, i was ready for some action. it was either fishing at ah kiong’s or at the bako coastway. i chose the former mainly because it was closer and also it was safer.

safer in a way because i would be fishing alone as my regular fishing buddies were unavailable. john was away on business and noel & chen were at sematan, paying a visit to the arons, which will remain as another story.

around 8.40am, i arrived at ah kiong to find him just getting up from bed. after a brief chat with him and also getting his permission, i headed to the pond, prepared all my rig and started fishing. second thing i did was to catch some bait. a couple of scoops near the weedy bank resulted in a few live shrimp to be used as bait for float fishing. after rigging the float tackle, i cast it to a fishy looking spot and proceeded with lure casting using my trusty Berkley blade dancer.

some time passed without any action. then kiong came with a couple of pieces of. With one piece of the bread, he berley the surrounding area. my float rig and my BBD were still fishless after half an hour. however, huge grass carps could be seen cruising around the bread berley area and munching on them, as if i was invinsible to them.

feeling GERAM, i rigged a bread bait and offered to the unwary grass carp. one big fella took the bait almost immediately. i waited for a few seconds before I gave a good strike with my rod. it was then that all hell broke loose. my Shimano Slade 2500 sang the sweetest tune to any angler’s ear, “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!!!”. and my Ryobi Silver Stik rod bent double. thankfully, i had adjusted the drag of my Slade. the fish fought dirty and swam into the weeds. i risk breaking my 12lb mono, if i chose to play tug of war with the big fella., but it was a chance i had to take. luckily, kiong was around and he helped me clear most of the weeds and when the tired fish was close to the bank, he also help netted it.

yahoo!!! it was a good catch indeed. by my estimate, the grass carp was at least 5kg in weight and it was 3ft long. after taking a couple of pictures with the grass carp, it was released safely back into the pond. later, it could be seen cruising around in the centre of the pond. i could easily identify the fella because it has a slightly darker color as compared to the other grass carps in the pond.

after that, all was quiet. the fishes must have been spooked. no matter what i tried, it didn’t work. actually, i had another take on one of my float rig, but i lost the fish because i struck too early. around 12 noon, i decided to call it a day. to Kiong’s pond inhabitants, “I’ll be back!!!”