Fun Family Fishing at The Lakeshore

As I have posted in August 2009, there will be a fun family fishing for the Tarlac Anglers during the Christmas Holiday dubbed as Christmas Fishing Tourney. It is an exclusive family affair open to members and family members of the Tarlac Anglers. Due to hectic schedules, the supposed to be four (4) leg tournament was converted into just two (2) separate fishing events, one in The Lakeshore in Pampanga for the freshwater fishing and the other one in Bane, Pangasinan for the saltwater angling. Whilst it was held during the Christmas holiday, gathering the members and participants proved to be quite difficult due to varied individual commitments. The most promising site, Laiya, Batangas, where trolling is in season, had to be cancelled out due to conflicts of schedules. :(

In spite that some of the members were not available, the tourney pushed through. This post will cover the freshwater fishing held at the 12 hectares man-made lake of The Lakeshore in Mexico, Pampanga on 30th December 2009. The gorgeous and magnificent lake thrives with healthy aquatic life. Among the different varieties of fish seeded and now roaming the vast waters are milkfish (“bangus”), tilapia, “toman” snakehead, mangrove jack, carps, large-mouth bass and sea bass. Reports of big catch such as more than 10 kilos toman snakehead, more than 3 kilos “bangus” and more than 2 kilos tilapia, being occasionally caught by some lucky anglers, gave us the inspirations, though we have been warned that landing one is pretty difficult.

The view of the lake is not bad, for a lake which is a pure product of engineering in a rather flat area of the great plain of Central Luzon, it can be considered nicely done. With the trees and grass that have now fully grown, the place is now a calm alternative refuge for Filipino anglers.

The participants immediately set up their gears upon arrival, just after a short reconnaissance of the area. Everyone was excited and hopeful that luck will strike and hook a biggy.

It did not take long before everyone is busy wetting their lines, casting and retrieving. We can see a lot of big fishes creating a massive splash in the water, but enticing them for a bite needs patience and creativity as the juvenile fish were the ones busy biting our offerings.

The mammoth catch is quite elusive. We have been casting, waiting, retrieving and casting again for several hours and everyone is still yet to catch their 1st good size fish. Since it is getting late, and everyone is still skunked, my brother wisely decided to change the fishing style and targets the tilapia. He also helped my son to change his set-up to avoid getting bored. And they started catching pan-sized fish, still small by our standard, but good eating. This was noticed by my daughter and wife who followed through and soon, they too, were reaping tilapia as well as small “biya” (a type of freshwater fish) and flowerhorn (cichlid) which we all released.

During the final hours, we are all into tilapia catching mood. But the young ones who changed gear earlier and are probably better angler that day easily took the trophies. My daughter was declared the second placer, winning a nice Lemax GFC Action Rod donated by my brother Bogs.

My son Naven easily bagged the first priced trophy of a nice Abu Garcia Ambassadeur Conventional Reel donated by Bojo. Whilst he originally came to the lake with only a mammoth “toman” or “bangus” bigger than his previous catch (more than 2 kilos in Island Cove) in mind, his decision to change tackle early on and be satisfied with tilapia earned him the championship.

We, adults, may be disappointed that no biggies were bagged, but both young winners were quite happy that they outsmarted us. Sometimes desire for a bigger take will end you with an empty hand. But we are glad though that the young ones were elated. After all, that day was really arranged for their enjoyment.

Over-all, we had a great time. It could be happier should other family members were able to join and should biggies made a bite. But as we always said at the end of every unproductive fishing adventure, there is always a next time. We bid the night good bye with a huge smile as we shifted our mind to the next event which is the Pangasinan saltwater fishing. c“,)