Desaru on Badol boat Trip #2 - Success!

After returning from Desaru, I felt a bit disappointed that I didn't catch a Tenggiri on my own. So I called Badol and arranged for another boat trip. As it was a rather impromptu decision, I was open to any other kaki to join the trip. In the end, we managed to get a total of 5.

We wanted to start early as some of us needed to return to S'pore early. Tried to arrange with Badol to launch at 0700 but the best he could do was 0730. So we were at the beach on time and launched.

At the first unjam, we started jigging for baitfish. Another angler was casting out pintails for Tenggiri and he was duly rewarded with a decent-sized fish. With enough baitfish, we proceeded to the Tenggiri spot. Deckie Zam helped rig up my terminal tackle with wire trace for the hook and sent it out with a nice, fatty Kembung as bait. While waiting, we continued to jig for baitfish.

We were hauling up Cencaru almost on every sabiki drop. In the mix, we would get some Kembung or Selar. I even managed to catch a Bonito on the sabiki after the hooks all wrapped around the fish! Boatman Badol in the meantime was hand-lining for Tenggiri. It may seem old school but he hooked up another Tenggiri just before lunchtime!

After lunch, my rod bent over and the reel screamed! Fish ON! Zam set the hook and handed the rod to me. I fought the fish and it was a fighter! As soon as it approached the boat, it turned around and fired its afterburners! So after about 5mins, I managed to bring it closer to the boat and with a accurate gaff-shot, the fish was hauled up on board. So happy to have caught my first Tenggiri!

With that catch, I was a happy man! Gladly went back to catching more Cencaru! Another angler had her bait in the water and when she brought it back up to check, what's left was this:

Cleanly sliced off! Missing the hook completely. Fish are smart too!

Later in the afternoon, we didn't get anymore bites from Tenggiris so we headed back early. Back on shore by 3pm and we split all the Cencaru, Selar and Kembung equally. The Tenggiri was cut into sections and each person took back an equal share.

On the drive back, we were caught in a heavy downpour which flooded certain parts of JB. We managed to get through the M'sian side of Customs/Immigration pretty quickly but then got stuck on the S'pore side for close to 1.5hrs! All the booths were open but all the cars were channelled into 2 lanes only at the exit. Ridiculous!

Gear used:
Rod - Eupro Giant King Jigging rod PE0.8-2.0
Reel - Shimano Saros 2500F
Line - Spiderwire Invisibraid 15lb
Bait - live Selar
Rig - leader to wire-traced hook.

Fish ID - Tenggiri aka Spanish Mackeral (Scomberomorus commerson)

Wanna fish there??

I had the opportunity to fly over this beautiful coastline! The fishing must be awesome too!

Shark Bay/Monkey Mia, Western Australia

Very pretty Grouper

Launched from Pasir Ris Park with the intention of fishing near the kelongs outside the blue barrels. I pedalled to a spot that I previously found on the fish finder. I had brought a smaller anchor, 750g to use for the kayak. But today the current was pretty strong and I couldn't set the anchor firmly on the seabed. It was too light. Tried 4-5 times before it finally took hold and I started fishing.

Using dead prawn, I cast the bait towards the edge of the structure. Slowly reeling it back with a few twitches in between. After the 5th cast, I felt a light bump. Hmmm... maybe hit a snag. I lifted the rod tip hoping that the bait would clear the 'snag', but instead something pulled back! I quickly lowered the rod again and straight away I felt weight on the end of the line. Fish ON! I pulled the rod sideways as the fish was taking me into the snags and reeled fast. Soon, I managed to bring it to the surface and it was a Malabar Grouper. The black dots were on a rather pale base. Very unique design. It weighed under 1kg so after the pictures, it was released.

That was the only action of the day.









Gear used:
Rod - Shimano TCurve Tropical PE1-2
Reel - Shimano Saros 1000F
Line - Fireline Crystal 10lb
Bait - Mussels
Rig - Apollo style

Fish ID - Malabar Grouper (Epinephelus malabaricus)

Desaru on Badol boat Trip #1

As I was surfing FK website, I came across a posting by another kaki looking to go fishing in Desaru. As I've never fished there before, I decided to take up the offer. I've met the kaki, Isaiah before when I was fishing at FW1 fishing ponds. He said he's now working with a local tackle company now and is organizing this trip. Since it's going to be my first time there, I decided to go ahead and pay $180/person for the trip. It includes 2-way transfer from S'pore to Desaru plus lunch and drinks.

Pickup time at 0530 at Hougang and we loaded up the MPV with our gear. Did another 2 pickups at Yishun before we made our way to Desaru. Cleared Customs/Immigration pretty easily and soon we were passing thru the oil palm plantations of Johor towards Desaru.

We arrived at the meeting point with the boatman, Badol which turned out to be the Desaru Fruit Farm shophouses. Had a quick breakfast before proceeding to the beach where the boat is launched. At the beach, it was low tide and I was wondering how the boat is going to be launched as it was still tied to the trailer. We waited another 30mins for the tide to come in a bit before the boatman launched at the end of the beach where the water was a bit deeper.

We sped off on pretty calm waters, even as we eyed some black clouds a distance away. After about 30mins, we reached the first unjam (FAD). Could see the boatman had spray-painted the markers with his name! We fished for baitfish that we will use eventually to target Tenggiris (Spanish Mackerels). Using sabiki jigs, we managed to hook up quite a number of baitfish, mostly Cencaru (Hardtail Scads) and our target baitfish, Kembung and Selar. After we caught enough baitfish for the day, we made our way to the Tenggiri spots.

We reached our spot and anchored up. Badol said we can try using 60-80g jigs to tempt the Tenggiris while he sets up 2 rods out back using live bait. As it was my first time jigging, Isaiah gave me a few pointers on how best to hold the rod and getting a rhythm to jigging. After about 10mins of jigging, I suddenly felt a resistance on the line. Something pulled, so I pulled harder. Fish ON! It wasn't long before the fish surfaced and it turned out to be a small Cobia! As it was rather small, we released it to grow bigger. Feeling stoked on catching my first fish on jig, I continued jigging. Did it for another 15mins before taking a break.

While waiting for the Tenggiri, I continued to catch Cencaru. It is fun on light tackle, especially if you are trying to get the 'Full-House', ie a fish on every sabiki hook. The best I could manage was 4 out of 6 hooks.

Later in the day, one of the rods with live bait sprang into action. Line peeling out and everybody pulled in their lines. Isaiah quickly grabbed the rod and began fighting the fish. This fish made quite a few runs, each time it came near the boat, it would shoot out again! Finally it was subdued and deckie Zam gaffed the fish. Boy, it was a monster! Weighed in at about 10kgs! Another angler caught a smaller Tenggiri while Badol himself caught a Queenfish. We had loads of Cencaru, Kembung and Selar as well.

All in all, an eye-opening experience for Tenggiri fishing and I'll be back for more!

Gear used:
Rod - Eupro Giant King Jigging rod PE0.8-2.0
Reel - Shimano Slade 4000
Line - Spiderwire Invisibraid 20lb with 30lb Black Magic Fluorocarbon leader
Bait - Bakau Ka Jig 80g
Rig - Leader to jig

Fish ID - Cobia (Rachycentron canadum)

Jumbo Grouper on Sure Heng

Joined a charter on Sure Heng. I've heard many good stories about this charter so when the opportunity arose, I quickly grabbed it.

Met up with 6 other anglers at RSYC West Coast. Brought my Shimano T-Curve Revolution Overhead Travel Rod to try out with the Talica II reel. Reached the pier but we had to wait another 30mins for the live prawn to be delivered.

Finally it arrived and off we went. First spot we were drifting somewhere between the Southern Islands. I started out using my ranggong rig with the live prawn. Made sure my sinker wasn't at the bottom as we were drifting. After 15mins or so, boatman said no need to use ranggong as the current wasn't that strong. So I decided to change to madai.

First time trying out madai so I tied my NZ-purchased Shimano Lucanus 100g madai and dropped it over. Touched the bottom and gave a 2 cranks on the reel. Then I slowly jigged it, just like what the video instruction says. Then the boatman said madai must jig faster, to imitate the action of squid/octopus. Ok.... I tried his method. Still nothing. Another angler was lucky to bring up a Coral Trout.

At the next spot, I tossed the madai over and let it sink to the bottom. Ok, decided to try timing. 4 jigs up, then lower the rod tip. 2 jigs up, then down. On the 3rd jig up, I hooked up solid! I could feel that the fish was taking a bit of drag, trying to get back to its hidey hole so I lifted the rod up. I continued to lift and reel, lift and reel and finally the monster fish surfaced. It was a big Orange-Spotted Grouper! Boatman lip-gripped it and hauled it onboard. Woo hoo! A solid 4kg specimen! My biggest fish to date!

Took a few pictures and went back fishing. After another 10mins, as I was letting the madai drop down, I felt some tension on the line. So I lifted the rod up and started reeling a bit. It felt like there was a fish on but I just couldn't tell. After a few lift and reels, I felt the weight gone. Reeled back the madai and had a look. Darn it, there was a fish on. One of the madai hooks actually opened up! And the boatman said I should NOT lift and reel. This is because when you lower the rod down to reel, the madai would drop down a bit and therefore giving some slack line to the fish. Which in my case caused it to 'unhook' itself. So I should just hold the rod and reel. No lifting or pumping the rod required.


One angler managed to hook up a Grouper that weighed in at around 8kg. It took him about 10mins to bring the fish up. That was the biggest fish of the trip! I would say this was a good trip even though I only caught 1 fish only as most other fishes landed were XL size fish.

Thumbs UP for Sure Heng!

Gear used:
Rod - Shimano TCurve Revolution Overhead Travel PE2.2-3.3 (10-15kg)
Reel - Shimano Talica 8 II
Line - Fireline Tracer 40lb
Bait - Shimano Lucanus 100g Orange
Rig - Leader to jig.

Fish ID - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)