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)