Catching blue sea chub (in our dialect, we call it kerandiemaha) is difficult as their strikes and hits are similar to some other reef fish, such as blue surgeon, white-spotted surgeonfish, lined surgeonfish, convict surgeonfish, five-banded surgeon-major, and elegant unicornfish.
They hit the bait but may not swallow it at the first instance. They often pull the bait without swallowing it. This is the tricky part, and we have to be mentally sharp to hook them during their pulls. This is the reason why some people are not very skilled in hooking this fish.
Skilled individuals understand when to pull the fishing line and rig the hook on the chub’s jaw. The hooks that are used to catch the chubs are also very small. The bait will cover the entire hook. Therefore, it is very difficult to hook the fish through the jaw or mouth. My best friend Shujau is one of the most skilled fishermen at landing these tricky fish. He would land four or five fish, but many days we end up empty-handed. We call Basthaa for the big chubs we catch.
To catch an even smaller chub is also exhilarating. We release several meters of monofilament line to counter the fish’s pull. We pull the fishing line for a few seconds, and we also allow them to move through the reef. Their free runs exhaust them, enabling us to pull the line without exerting intense pressure. This maneuvering will last for five to 10 minutes for small blue sea chub, and for the big fish, it takes around 5 to 15 minutes to land.
