Experience In Chennai – Fishing & Frying By The Sea – Part 1

Chennai is famously known for its “filter-kaapi” (coffee), but the city has many hidden gems to discover. One such gem of an experience is to fish in the sea, but by going deep into the sea by taking a boat, but by just simply being on the shore itself.

Not all beach or sea shore in Chennai has fish in abundance. There are specific spots / areas where you can fish by sitting on the shore.

We will cover one such great fishing spot in this article. We have a huge collection of fishing experience photos to showcase as a photo-story, so for easier reading the article is broken into two parts. This article is part 1, and the part 2 can be read – here.

Reaching the fishing spot

Drive down to Vivanta by Taj – Fishermans Cove, ECR Road, Kovalam, Chennai. You can reach this hotel with the help of Google Maps. From the hotel, drive towards the direction mentioned in the map below, you will reach the end of the road in about 300-400 meters from the hotel. See the route in map below.

The fishing spot is about 1.4 kms from the main ECR road. The road is in good condition for the first half distance, and then it is slightly bumpy. The fishing spot is actually a backwater of Bay of Bengal, this waterbody connects Kovalam, the area that has a lot of fishermen.

In the fishing spot

Once you reach the fishing spot, you can find plenty of place to park your bike / car. This place is less known among people, so you will see a decently clean beach (with small rocks). Few fishermen come to this place regularly, so you will see one or two small motor boats parked along with their fishing nets. During weekend, there are regular set of people who come here for fishing.

Rock areas are best suitable for fishing. From the top of the rocks, you can have enjoy the scenic view of the beach during sunset. The entire fishing spot do not have roof / trees to cover, you will be completely exposed to sun all the time.

En route to this fishing spot, you can find stores that sell all kind of fishing accessories and tools.

The route to the spot is also scenic during evening time. Below picture is straight from camera without ANY editing.

Get into action – fishing

If you are new to fishing, then here are some quick tips:

• Prepare your fishing rod with dead / live prawn. Since its seashore using prawn as fish-prey will give better result instead of earthworms.
• Carry some snacks so that you can munch it during your rest-time. You might have to wait longer to catch your fish.
• Whenever you catch fishes put it in a bucket with little water so that fishes won’t jump out of the bucket.
• Carry spare hooks as it might get cut off between the rocks.

You can purchase (don’t forget to bargain) prawns from Kovalam beach which is very close to the fishing spot.

Usually, small dead prawns are used as prey to catch small fishes. Live prawns are used to catch big fishes.

Minty Alert: Rocks are slippery, so you have to be extremely careful. Wear sandals or shoes while walking on the beach. Beware, there are crabs too.

Depending on the weather condition and your luck, you may catch fishes of all sizes – from small to big. Sometimes, the type of fish you catch will be dangerous. See picture below. When we were fishing, we got a Puffer fish, a fish that pushes out its sharp spines when it gets puffed up (it expands its body and becomes like a balloon). Also, Puffer fishes are poisonous.

Some fish may die slowly even if you put them in a bucket of water. You can store the dead fish in an ice filled container box so that the fish won’t be spoiled until you reach home.

If you are fishing from the rocks, there is a possibility for your thread to break (if the needle gets stuck between rocks).

If you catch a big fish, you have to be careful while pulling it to the shore – because, you may lose your grip of your rod or the thread might cut if you pull hard.

While catching big fish, you have to use big size hook. If you are using small size hook for big size fish, then the hook might break.

Fishing can be done without a prey in the net/hook. Here is a hack – You have to tie 5 to 10 hook in series with fixed distance between them. Spin the thread deep into the sea and then pull the fishing rod quickly, roll the thread, again pull the rod quick and roll the thread, repeat it till the hook(s) reach the rod. In this method, the possibility of catch is more. See picture below, we got five fishes in a single spin (without any prey).

There is also another way to catch fish without a prey. The hack is to use a fake fish! See picture below where we used a fake fish (sold at fishing stores) to catch a big fish.

Minty Tip: The best time for fishing would be after 3 pm. Carry your cap and also use sun screen lotion if fishing in day light.

You have to be lucky to catch a crab. Take it in your hand one and only if you know how to safely unhook a crab. There are various techniques like tying its legs & fingers, breaking its claws, etc. But, try it only if you have experience doing it, else either you or the crab will get hurt.

Below are various pictures taken during our fishing camp. Take a look at the variety and quantity of fishes we could catch in this fishing spot.

That’s a BIG catch.

Large to small, in order.

Look at the packed snacks at the bottom left of the picture.

QUANTITY!

There are over 50 fishes displayed here, most of them are caught with the technique of not using a prey (explained above).

Another set of fishes arranged according to type and size.