Good day all, here is the long overdued catch report from one of the very successful nights my friend and i spent out there testing the Ima Sasuke 120 (裂波) & Ima Sasuke 140 (裂波).
It was one of those nights when the Barramundi Bug bit. Furthermore, it didn't help when news of big, mean and angry Barramundi were raging actively. I received a call from my friend and we decided to head down for a short 2 hour session.
Armed with beefed up trebles and spilt rings on our Ima Sasuke 120 (裂波) & Ima Sasuke 140 (裂波), we did a final check on the tide before deciding to approach them at the steepest decline of the outgoing tide.
I chose the Ima Sasuke 140 (裂波) over the 120 as i prefer larger lures. I am a firm believer of bigger lures equate to bigger fish.
As usual, the Barramundi love to hang around sunken structure and drop-offs which are abundant in the area.
They poise themselves against the flow of the current and wait for unsuspecting baitfish to drift pass before engaging in short but aggressive chases to hit the baitfish hard.
"Poof ! Poof !" was the audio in the air on that cold and chilly night - they are around and feeding actively.
The excitement was too much to bear, i started making selective casts only targetting the boils created by surface feeding barramundi.
"ZZZzzzzzZZZ" Wee Lee's drag went off as his Sasuke 120 (裂波) was attacked. The fish hit on a slow retrieve with light twitches & pauses in-between.
After a short duel, the fish was landed and registered 7 pounds on the boga.
I resumed casting after the customary pho-taking and release of the fish.
Almost instantly, i felt a strong tug and an angry Barramundi was jumping right infront of me. I had hooked-up another as well !
This fish was slightly larger and harder to tame as it made deep runs, occasionally surfacing for that trademark aerial display and headshakes.
After a gruelling battle of 3 miniutes, i had the fish on it's side and totally exhausted, ready for landing.
It registered 12 pounds on the boga.
After releasing my fish, the Barramundi school seemed to be spooked and disappeared.
"ZZzzZZ" Wee Lee's drag was pouring out line suddenly and his rod was doubled over. I reeled up my line and went over to see if i could help. It was a good fish but there was no trademark aerial display. Instead, the fish was diving for the depths, trying to cut him off at the sunken structure.
Luckily, the drag on his Stella SW4000PG proved too much for the unknown fish. However, the fish still battled to the very last second and soon it revealed itself to be a good sized Malabar Grouper.
Suprise suprise, the Ima Sasuke 120 (裂波) is a shallow diving lure and again it proved to be irresistable to the bottom-dwelling Malabar Grouper.
After releasing the grouper, we were unable to register any hits on our lures.
Working the area and covering ground quickly, we reached the last sunken structure along the beach strip.
Making a diagonal cast over the sunken ruins of what used to be a jetty, i retrieved the lure quickly to draw reaction strikes out of holding fish.
As expected, i felt a tug and reacted with double strikes to secure the hook-up. The fish was smart, diving instinctively for the sunken ruins in an attempt to cut me off. I had no choice but to palm my spool and hope for the best.
Lucikly the fish stopped in it's tracks and decided to treat me to it's spectacular aerial displays. I knew it was over as the fish will tire out quickly.
Wee Lee landed the fish for me and it registered 10 pounds on the boga.
It was released unharmed to fight another day.
Repeated casts over the sunken structure proved fruitless and we decided to call it a night after our short and successful trip.
Daniel Thian
ima Singapore
