Deep Sea Fishing @ Charna Island

Had another exciting fishing trip with Shoaib Ahmed Paracha. He targeted Parrot or Popat and Yellow Fin Bream or Captain fishes this time and was well on target. We left early in the morning at 4:30 am, and after picking up some equipment from a friend and having a breakfast at Nasir Barohi Hotel, we reach Mubarak Village at around 8:00 am.

Shoaib bhai booked Mama’s boat which was the most spacious boat, of this kind (Horra in Urdu), I ever went on to. By 8:30 am we were in the sea heading towards Charna Island.

We used bait prepared from alive Rock Crabs. Shoaib bhai told the boatman to catch these Rock Crabs a day earlier so we can use them as a bait in our trip.

The technique to prepare the bait from Rock Crab is to hold it by its two claws so it can not do any harm to you. And then disjoint the two arms having claws right off the shoulder. Do the same for all remaining legs and remove the hardened top shell. What is left can be cut into sizable pieces good enough to be used as a bait.

We anchored close to Charna Island and the water was so clear that we were easily viewing fishes roaming beneath. There were captains and parrots. Also, there were two huge size parrots of fresh blue color, but we do not have any bait sizeable enough to lure them and ultimately catch them. So, they kept teasing us throughout our stunt

We caught 11 parrots. 2 of them were around 1.65 kg in weight, 5 were around 0.90 kg, and 4 were around 0.5 kg. We also caught 3 captains each weighing around 1.25kg. (And yes… these are not shikari weights otherwise I would’ve mentioned, 3 kg, 1.75kg and 0.75 kg )

What I noticed was that despite the fact that there were lots of parrots and captains underneath which we saw with our bare eyes, we did not end up having a lot of catches. In fact, the fishes were literally playing football with our baits, and most often eating it without getting hooked. Also, numerous times I end up hooking my tackle with the rock or may be the parrot fish drag it back to its coral

We also end up snapping a Shakespeare ® Rod just because of that

Besides that, after searching on how to catch Parrot fish on the internet, I felt we did one thing differently i.e. we placed the weight/sinker at the bottom of the hook, however people suggest that it should sit just above the hook

Also we didn’t used the Beak Hook to be specific.

Any how, our catch count and weight was good enough to cheer us up, after all we are in the process of learning the art

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Deep Sea Fishing at Chota Talaar, near Charna

This Sunday we went for deep sea fishing at Chota Talaar and Anwar Ka Pathar. This was our first such trip with Mujtaba Karim and other senior anglers. We left at 4:00 am in the morning and reach Fisheries at around 5:00 am to buy fresh bait (Louvar and Bangra). We left Fisheries after Fajir prayers at around 6:30 am to reach Nisar Barohi Hotel at around 7:15 am.

Besides angler community, there were a good number of bicyclers out there as well, for some club level bicycling event. Looks quite encouraging from community building perspective and also serve as a sign of a peaceful and positive recreational activity for social uplift.

After doing breakfast of Paratha, Channa and Doodh Patti Tea, we left for Mubarak Village at around 8:45 am.

There were around 8 teams with 3 to 5 anglers on each team. 5 of the teams went to Chota Talaar and 3 of them went to Hayat.

Those of us who went to Chota Talaar didn’t caught much (as per the standards of senior participating anglers, but for us – me, Kashif and Humair, we did quite well ).

We did trolling…

But unfortunately didn’t get any thing via Trolling except a 3 or more kg Grouper (Ghisser). Though, Mackerels did bite the bait twice.

We then go for Taru… Mujtaba Karim is doing chumming, in below image, to lure Mackerels. We used fresh Louvar and Bangra as a chum and bait.

Lastly, we tried manual jigging (without rods)… but to no avail

But Alhamdolilah! Bottom works well for us and I caught a Spotted Grouper (Ghisser) weighing around 3 kg and a number of Rock Cods (Damba) weighing up till 1.5 kg.

It was total 7 kg or more fish that I got as my share…

Those 3 teams who went to Hayat… did remarkable job and caught huge Mackerels . One team caught 22 Mackerels ! other 17 Mackerels and another 11 Mackerels… man! that was a REAL CATCH!!! Great Job Guys you did exceptionally well!

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2012-01-29 Deep Sea Fishing at Power House and Jamna

11 Barracuda or Kund - 0.5kg to 0.75kg
40+ ? or Khapartaan - 0.25kg to 0.75kg
1 Red Snapper or Heera - 0.5kg

Used squid, shrimp and small fish (louver in urdu) as a bait

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2012-01-08 Deep Sea Fishing off Kemari @ Abbasi Ship Wreck and Saka 2

Date – 08 January 2012 
Departure Point – Kemari Port
Departure Time – 8:15 am
Wind Speed – 16 to 18 knots
Water Clarity – 0 to 2 foot
Waves – Moderate Waves 
Fishing Points – Abbasi Ship Wreck & Saka 2 
Fishing Type – Bottom
Fish/Catch Type – Barracuda or Kund, ? or Captain, Bream or Safaid Dandia/Phuggia, ? or Khapartaan, Rock Cod or Damba, Catfish or Khagga
Arrival Time – 8:30 pm

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Hanging Out–Deep Sea Fishing off Kemari @ Saka 1 and Saka 2

Date – 25 December 2011
Departure Point – Kemari Port
Departure Time – 8:00 am
Wind Speed – 5 to 7 knots
Water Clarity – 0 to 2 foot
Waves – Ripple and Calm
Fishing Points – Saka 1 and Saka 2
Fishing Type – Bottom
Fish/Catch Type – Phuggia, Bream or Khapartaan, Rock Cod or Damba, Catfish or Khagga, Eel or Bam
Arrival Time – 8:30 pm

Hanging Out–Deep Sea Fishing at Saka1 and Hara Makaan off Kemari Port, Karachi

We did it at last

Alhamdolilah! we catch almost 60 kg – 70 kg of Fish. It’s one of the best fishing trip I ever had (out of 6 or 7 fishing tours in total).

Special thanks to our Trip Organizer, Asim Siddiqui, who is fishing (as a hobby) for the last 18 years or so. He has all the necessary equipment, Garmin GPS locator, Sonar Fish Finder, Professional Fishing Rods, Tackles, Lures, etc. He guided us to the best fishing spots i.e. Saka1 and Hara Makaan using his Garmin GPS locator which contains all the “Numbers” (Fish colonies or concentration points) that he and others have found for the last 10 years or more using Sonar Fish Finder or practical experiences.

He also educate us with the terminologies, techniques and technicalities of fishing. And for the first time I get to know that all these years I was doing the Bottom Fishing or Legering. In this tour  we did the same although we had plan to experience Trolling as well, but we missed the ideal time i.e. before Sun Rise to do exactly that.

We were around 16 people or so and we left Kemari Port, Karachi at around 8:30 am. We travelled almost an hour and a half to reach Saka1 point. We did fishing for approximately 7 hours at Saka1 and another point called Hara Makaan. Its been an amazing experience, specially for us, because in all of the trips that we did so far, we weren’t able to catch much, but this one turns out to be Jack Pot!

Roughly we form 3 groups, our group of 7 people caught almost 18 kg of fish. Fish types include [ Name > English / Urdu ] Grouper / Ghissar, ?/ Khisi, ?/ Khapartaan, ?/ Dandiya. The biggest fish we caught was just above a Kg and majority of them were around half a kg.

Another first for us in this tour was that, we learned how to prepare fishing wires with reels, different weight sizes, different tackle types and their different arrangements based on different bite types . Soooo much to learn!

During our trip we also heard large explosion sounds of Pak Navy War Exercise/Game in close proximity. We also spotted a Pak Navy Destroyer and a Frigate, others were too far but some of them can be seen as small spots.

All in all this trip was a great learning and entertaining experience for us and we enjoyed it a lot.

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Hanging Out: Deep Sea Fishing at Mubarak Village

This time around, we did make it to the Mubarak Village, but, the sea was so rough that 16 of out of 20 vomit during our deep sea fishing attempt. This was my most dangerous trip so far out in the deep sea because the waves were quite high and we were on small launches. Any how, we did manage to catch some, but as anticipated, didn’t had a big hand this time too. Better luck next time inshaAllah !

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Hanging Out: Deep Sea Fishing @ Abdur Rehman Goth

We were actually going to Mubarak Village, but when we reached Mubarak Village intersection, a small contingent of police deployed there, stopped us from going towards that direction because of security reasons. Further inquiry revealed to us that a couple of tourists were kidnapped a week ago and since then the security is high in this area and visitors have been barred to go that route. Police have also engaged locals @ Mubarak Village to persuade the kidnappers to release the tourists, but no break through up till now.

So, we decided to give Somar Goth or a near by locality a try and we ended up at Abdur Rehman Goth.

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