BAM

I can't seem to upload the photos to Holiday-truths.

When I hit the "Upload them by Clicking Here" bit the page just seems to refresh and that's all.

Anyone got any ideas?

Also, do you mean the big bridge over the river or the little one right near The Prazeres.

I'm not sure about the big bridge on the Candolim/ Panjim road but I've had a look at the little one and the water doesn't look too clean, particularly as you get behind the Prazeres. I've seen lots of bugs skipping the surface there but never seen any fish.

I assume there are fish in the big river though and maybe you can get down to the river bank on the Coco Beach side. Not too sure about on the Candolim side.

Fritz
I think the mod is working on the upload album just now. I would try again tomorrow.

Ok, will do Fiona, Thank you for the info

Have just got back from Goa and had a wonderful time. The main purpose was a fishing holiday....it was so good that a bunch of us want to return next year in early October when the fishing is at it's best. Can anyone advise me of the best time to book a charter flight as they don't appear to be on sale at present.

Incidentally....if anyone wants details of the fishing I would be pleased to oblige

Post away......we love fishing......Coastal?, Deep sea?, Fresh water?

What baits did you use and what did you catch

Oh, by the way you'l be able to book from about May/ June onwards but the prices are very erratic. You'll pay a bit more than you could but then you'll have no problem booking exactly what you want

We went Goa last jan 05 and booked our flight only for jan 06 in march 05, with travelpack £415 per person for 3 weeks which gives you enough time to find your own holiday home /hotel /apt /hut ,and im sure now like us once youve been there you know exactly the hoiliday you want so you should be quids in doing it flight only way
Anyway this year were taking our son 15 and his grandad (both keen anglers ) along with myself husband and motherinlaw so id really like to know how the fishing went >my son is taking his own tellyscopic rod >anygood or can you rent or buy better?
sharon

Went over 20 oct this year ,flight was 1/2 full going and less than 1/3 full returning. Booked mine 7 days before going for £229. If you wait you can get some good prices . Its whether you want to risk it!!!

Ok...it seems like there's a few of you that want some info on fishing. I must confess it was my first trip to Goa & I had difficulty finding anything out prior to my trip. I was fortunate though in that I joined up with a mate of mine who has been working in Bangalore for a year, and as a fellow fishing fanatic, he often flew to Goa for a long weekends fishing and had made a few contacts that could provide a day's fishing.

The fishing holiday was a DIY 10 day affair and started with 3 days in a jungle camp at Galibore on the Cauvery river fishing for Mahseer....a wonderful experience with breathtaking scenery & wildlife - more of that to come if anyone's interested. The Goa element was for 5 days and was always going to be wall to wall fishing with little time for the usual holiday stuff! We stayed in Calangute at "Bernards Place", a little B&B with 11 rooms & a great bar/restaurant. Before I get onto the fishing a quick few words about Bernards.....a brilliant place with really friendly helpful staff & wonderful food & as cheap as you like!

Anyway...the fishing. It was all boat fishing so I'm afraid that I can't provide any info on shore fishing although we did see a number of guys fishing from the rocks near the Fort Aguada. The boat that we had planned to use for the 5 days was based at Coco Beach and was skippered by a young guy called Jack who runs a shack with his brother. The boat is a typical local design....perhaps 23 feet with a very narrow beam & is primarilly used for dolphin watching trips. The fishing is best early in the morning & late afternoon & also a lot more comfortable away from the fierce heat...so each day was arranged to start fishing at 5 30 to 6 am 'till about 10 am & again from 4 pm 'till 7ish. The fishing was entirely trolling "rapala" style lures around the coast of the estuary mouth in very shallow water & the quarry was the Barramundi, which any anglers who watch the Aussie fishing programmes on Sky tv will know all about. After 4 sessions we had hooked up with just 1 Barra, a fish of about 20lbs which did several airborne leaps before sadly taking us into the rocks (talk about the one that got away!) but we had Mangrove Jacks to 3lbs & Groupers to about 6lbs. It seems that all the fish, irrespective of size fight like hell in the warm water so even catching fairly small fish is great sport on the right tackle. The only drawback was that whilst Jack is a smashing lad, he is mainly a dolphin watching skipper & the fishing is very much secondary...at times we almost felt that we had a better idea of where to fish than he did & the fishing began to get a little one-dimensional. It sounds harsh & I don't mean it to but we had set our sights fairly high! For anyone who fancies a spot of really enjoyable fishing at a fairly modest cost, then Jack's your man. He now has rods & reels on the boat plus end tackle sio you can just turn up & fish! The boat can fish 3 or 4 anglers comfotably & the whole boat costs 750 rs per hour which, believe me, is dirt cheap! I don't have Jacks mobile number at present but can get it if anyone's interested.

Tackle losses were high & we had to go into Panjim to get some more...a really modern shop with a good range at reasonable prices. Whilst there we saw a flyer for another fishing boat which seemed to offer some different types of fishing. To cut a long story short we decided to book a couple of trips. Tony, the skipper, was an altogether different proposition & was clearly very experienced. We fished from a small 18 foot boat in the waters around Grande Island & caught some amazing fish including Barracuda, Jack Crevelle, & several huge Threadfin Salmon to 20 lbs. Truly wonderful sport! We were so impressed that we're booking him for week next year when we're hoping to do some offshore trips 30 miles out.

I have contact details for Tony & will release these when our booking is confirmed. As you would expect, the cost of Tony is much higher than Jack but in my view, well worth the money!

Well, that pretty much sums it up & I hope you would-be anglers find it useful. Any other questions....fire away

about the mahseer did you catch any of those monsters for anyone who does'nt know about them they are carp like but huge in comparison
would be interested in phone numbers dave please understand you want to book yours first but i go next thursday
thanks for inf mike

Great stuff Dave, I had the idea of taking a spinning rod and some dexter wedges, red gill lures and some rapalla`s to spin in the estuary at Baga from the shore, what you reckon my chances on these lures ?definately like the idea of the second trip you mentioned, sounds like a blast, I will be there in March/April next year if your around then i would love to join you

i have got a telescopic spinning rod and lure's +some sea rigs and a pike rig with wire trace i am takin only problem ive given my baitrunner reels to my nephew as have bought new ones and 2 big pit reels but there a bit expensive to take so gonna av to buy a cheapy

Try here mate very cheap and good enough for what you want https://prossl.co.uk/dragoncarpdirect.com/acatalog/dragon_carp_reels.html

got there brochure in a magazine somewhere i am thinking of getting one of these maybe the beachcaster
http://www.nwac.co.uk/acatalog/Telescopic_Rod_and_Reel_Deal.html i already have the top rod but not from here so didnt get the reel with it but am a member now so get an extra 10% off price
thanks for info

Mike...Unless you plan on fishing from the shore, I wouldn't bother taking gear with you. We lugged rods in tubes & God knows how much tackle with us when all we really needed were a few rapalas & swivels. Both Jack & Tony have rods & reels which you can use.

Feelthevibe...Make sure that you're fishing over rock...there's plenty about! Dexters will be no good as you will lose them in the rocks. Small storm shads & No.4 Mepps would be fine & of course rapalas although you will need to get bigguns to be able to cast any distance. I would be tempted to use proper bait float fished although you will need to use wire traces as they are toothy critters out there

Guys,

We are taking at least two telescopic rods (cheap and cheerful), at least two baitrunner reels, a lot of mixed lures & spoons, wire traces, floats, shot and leads, and hooks all of which we intend leaving out there.

We will probably leave them at Ice & Spice in Candolim so don't be too concerned if you can't fit your gear in your case.

The only problem is I'm unlikely to be out there until March this season.

Other places to try are (some of you already know these) at the river mouth just before you get to Morjim Beach; Baga river; around the bay from Coco Beach underneath Forst Reiss, the very North end of Vagator Beach (NOT little Vagator) and of course, trolling off Coco Beach.

Big Dave, I've uploaded a photo of a Barramundi I caught off Coco Beach, you should find it in the upload section at the moment. They make very good eating.

yes dave was gonna fish from shore while she sun bathes it will keep me sober

Some great advice Dave, thank you very much, gonna try the float fished bait and probably a bit of everything else too. Much nicer than wrasse fishing on a cold dark day on the anglesey rocks

Great info Dave - and a nice looking pic of the fish you caught (the one i caught was 'bait' compared to that !!)

hi bigdave what was the name of the tackle shop in panjim and do they do the wire trace in there and lures sounds as if you had good trip thanks for the other info m8