Rod, Life Vest and Other Tackle

I have been living in Sri Lanka for almost 4 years now and yet I still don’t have any knowledge of any tackle shop where I could get my angling supply. Most of the gears and tackles I used in all my fishing adventures here (or misadventures) came from the Philippines and the US. It is only until I stumbled upon a fishing forum in UK discussing about their fishing escapades in Sri Lanka with at least one very active member who is actually living in the Colombo Capital of Sri Lanka and regularly fishing the area that I got the chance to know one.

I immediately sent a post message (PM) to him and kindly ask for the information I need. My queries centered on his recommended fishing sites, boatman/skipper, fishing tips based on his actual experiences and of course tackle shops. He was prompt and very supportive in providing all the information he believes would be helpful which I would later checked out one by one.

First the tackle shop: I learned that there are several small shops around the Pettah area but he particularly recommended the one that carries a wider variety of fishing supplies and accessories located close to the center of Colombo in a place called Slave Island.



So when I broke my 5-pc Okuma rod fighting a Giant Trevalley (GT) in my new Playground, I instantly decided to visit the tackle shop to look for a reliable heavy action rod, have the broken rod repair and hopefully check out their available fishing stuff. I ended up less than 150 US$ poorer but extremely happy with the two (2) rods above and the following:







The rods are Sure Catch Thunder TR 80H model, 2-pc 8 feet length, 20 lbs to 25 lbs line, and heavy action. The owner said it is one of their fast selling rods and has proven to be really strong and performing well. Other stuffs are shallow diving lures, small popper, life vest, short worm rig, frog rig for snakehead, mustad 20lbs and 50 lbs mono lines, sure catch swivels, several mustad hooks, local made floats, etc.

I got the rod for a little less than US$ 33.30 or less than PHP 1,600.00. Surprisingly it is much cheaper than in the Philippines. My last two smaller and shorter rods (medium & medium-heavy action) my brother purchased in Manila from Alex’s both costs more than PHP 2,000.00 each. All other items are relatively cheaper except maybe for the swivel and jig heads. Anyway finding this tackle shop is such a relief. Considering the lower cost of the items plus discounting the difficulties in bringing them during flight then I know this is good, really good.

Now that I have what I believe is the right rod capable of sustaining the strength of big GTs from the Playground, doing actual field testing is already booked….:-)