After a long dry spell....

Thanks to the mother nature for this special Christmas gift..:)
After about 2-3 months of zero catch of giant snake head,this morning,around 8 am,we both caught one each in between of about 10 minutes time.
At one stage,i was almost give up on lure casting.
Started at about 6am with X-rap walk the dog..i changed to popper,and then big skitter by French champion, Sebile...before i changed again to X-rap 'walk the dog'...while thinking,if this doesn't work,next time i'll 'walk the cat'!
Ernesto lost his brand new Yozuri popper to the grass...second time in 3 days time,last 2 days he lost his Yozuri pencil bait.So,he changed to Spinner Bait.
It was this X-rap 'walk the dog' and spinner bait that make our day.

When i was at the brink of giving up,i squatted by the lake side,stop casting and just watching the surface of the lake.And there,about 30m a bit to the left, i saw a small ripple of water.I though,this will be just another cast...and i cast a bit further and reel it in passing by the ripple about 2m away to the right.
And 'Pop!'...a big splash and my lure disappeared from my sight...for a while,the fish was fighting around the area,before it made a torpedo speed run to the right...and i can see its beautiful stripe in the water....

'my heart stop beating for a while...my system stop pumping oxygen to my brain..and for a while,i saw stars,maybe due to the lack of oxygen in the head'..
it was such an adrenalin rush.

When the fish starts to give up..it used its typical dirty tactic by rushing to the grass,the way it did last year to escape from my popper.
I shouted for help from Ernesto which was about 100m away behind the trees.
He was holding the rod while i was jumping to the lake to get my trophy that stuck in the grass...which i didn't do last year.This time,i must land you and take picture.

And it was so sweet...the moment.

About 10 minutes later,when i was smoking trying to calm down and do random casting (and rewarding myself)...Ernesto shouted for help.God...this can't be real...we broke the taboo this morning.
From far i can see him fighting the fish.
And i jump again,the fish using the same dirty tactic again.
Again,the beautiful purplish stripy python look alike scale fish,in my hand again,still struggling proving its reputation as the best fighter of the region's freshwater fish.

It was a great day...
thanks to Shimano long cast rods,Ryobi Fokamo reel,Abu Garcia Cardinal reel,Spiderwyre braided line,Rapala X-rap Extreme Walk,Spinner Bait...
'to the brands mentioned above,we don't mind to do product endorsement for you' :)
thanks to mother nature,thanks to the spirit of the lake,thanks to Lewis for proving that lure still works here,thanks to Ernesto for the early morning plan around 2am text message,and thanks to all our supporters and critics..:)

Spinner bait did the job.

Worth the wait...

It's the moment!

And yes...we did catch and release..fight another day..grow bigger,fight better!