Stalking big mama

Regular readers may have noticed one of my earlier tweets about us being humbled by the fishes in a newly discovered fishing spot. Here’s the story.

On one of our weekend fishing jaunt we stumbled upon a lake with clear water fringed by vibrant green vegetation. All 5 of us practically jumped with joy seeing the many Giant Snakeheads (Channa Micropeltes) cruising the clear waters with the occasional surface explosions further from the waters edge obviously the work of respectable sized fishes.

In no time our favorite lures launched through the air and dived into the water. A held our breath as we saw our offerings being chased and followed. But that was it. That was about all those damn fish did! No bites except for one that took Alan’s surface prop which eventually had its hooks spat out by the fish!

We threw everything we had at them short of the tackle box. Poppers, crankbaits, plugs, pencils, soft plastics in all assortment of colors, in all shapes and sizes rained down onto the lake. But nothing and to add to our frustration we could clearly see the fishes just feet away from us cruising in and out, up and down and turning to look at our passing lures only to turn away at the last moment.

What did we do wrong, we thought to ourselves. What will make them bite? Live bait perhaps? Are they educated by all the fishing pressure? Soon the activities died down with less fish spotted and splashes fewer in-between. I later concluded that the Giant Snakeheads, being the aggressive fishes that they are, could have had initially been attracted by all the commotion we created but later retreated back into the depths after finding nothing that interests them.

We packed up and walked away dejected.

We’d soon be back. But not without some serious brain activity to hopefully solve the puzzle of getting the Giant Snakeheads to bite.

The Toman (Giant Snakehead, Channa Micropeltes) is a mean but beautiful fish exhibiting bright emerald green & purplish hues

This time we made the lake our first stop. To hopefully catch them during their breakfast. The big surface splashes were there but far out in the middle of the lake. While the lake edges looked conspicuously quiet. YTL & Lawrence went looking to catch our lunch (Striped Snakeheads) while Alan & I went looking for fun (Giant Snakeheads).

After 30 minutes or so of casting I felt something bit on the soft plastic I had on the end of the line. A few more casts later over the same spot the first fish was on! I have to admit it was kind of a relief! The fish though not exactly a giant gave a good account of itself on my 10lb setup.

A small adult that is ‘changing stripes’

Shortly after, we were interrupted by the arrival of 4 ‘professional’ anglers. These guys are the no nonsense type that believes in real bait and heavy tackle. No fish is safe with their arrival.

We moved to another spot to avoid the ruckus that the professionals were making and it was a good thing that we did. I got all excited seeing a school of deep-red fish fries making intermittent rises not far from us. I could have sworn we were as excited as 3 little boys making a brand new discovery running up and down the lake’s edge. I’ve not witnessed this for many years and it is an amazing sight seeing the bait-ball like boiling fish fries rising to the surface every few minute. The dark red boil would then dive and disappear into the depths only to reappear again nearby.

We knew big mama and papa is around fending off predators. Cast like crazy we did for almost a good hour. We could see papa Giant Snakehead poking its snout out of the surface just next to the fries every now and then but no sign of mama. Until one moment when a huge swell and I kid you not, a wave actually washed ashore just in front of where Alan & I was standing as something big swam by us.

I half couldn’t decide if I wanted to capture the moment in my camera or cast my lure! So I alternated between filming and casting. And then I heard Alan shout the fries rose just in front of YTL and YTL casted his Skitter Pop just beyond the commotion… pop, pop, pop through the swirl and boom! huge explosion of the water erupted on the surface, line tightened resulting in a good bend of the rod and the fight was on!

Apparently big mama gave YTL a good time

After a brief but exciting struggle big mama was quickly landed, photographed, weighted and release back to her fries. Brooding giant snakeheads must be released, as quickly as possible, in order to encourage the survival of the next generation of fish.

One of the earlier said professional angler unfortunately spotted the commotion and ran over and squatted behind us as a spectator. I only realized his presence after we released the fish when he asked in disbelief, with eyeballs wide open, why did we release the fish?!

I told him straight in his face it’s for fun and to ensure the survival of the species and our sport of fishing! He replied “but there’s still papa fish in there to take care of the brood”! Sadly, he shouted over at his three stooges and soon were casting like madmen into the water hoping to catch what I believe is the fish we had just released! Though the chances of the fish biting again is extremely low it was a disturbing sight nonetheless.

I caught and released another two smaller Giant Snakeheads that day but one managed to unhook itself. As with most of our weekend fishing trips, we called it a day just before noon that day. Overall a decent day out except for the sad attitude of those so called professional anglers whom we saw were still casting with determination as we drove off.

Watch out for the video clip soon.