Desaru on Badol boat #3 - Mad weather and madder anglers!

Another Tenggiri hunting trip on Badol boat at Desaru. 4 of us made our way in 2 cars and cleared immigration and customs. Was taking Sang's car and we were chatting until we missed a turn to the highway to Desaru. After a U-turn, we were back on the right road towards Desaru.

Usual breakfast and began loading up the boat. All this while, the skies weren't looking too good for fishing. Dark clouds and thunder can can be heard at a distance. This time, it was only boatman Zam and another deckie as Badol was doing another charter on freshwater. We motored out about 5 mins when we reached an unjam. Zam suggested we try for baitfish at this spot. We drifted around and dropped our sabiki but no baitfish to be found. All this while, Zam was checking his phone for weather updates.

Since the weather wasn't too favourable, he asked us whether we want to stay close and do bottom fishing or continue further out to Tenggiri spot and risk getting caught in some bad weather. After a brief discussion, we anglers decided we came here for Tenggiri, so lets go hunt them. So off we sped into the sea with the swells picking up. Was really a bumpy ride for about 45mins till we reached our fishing spots.

At the spot, I could already see 2-3 other boats fishing there and their boats were rocking pretty hard! I could tell it's going to be a hard days fishing! We jigged for baitfish and started to put the live baits out the back of the boat. At this time, Sang was already out cold from seasickness. After 30mins or so, one rod started to twitch. Boatman Zam took the rod getting ready for the strike but the fish pulled away last minute. Sensing the miss, Zam slowly reeled the line back and WHACK! The fish took the bait! Fish ON! Woke Sang up to fight the fish as it was his rod that was hooked up. Groggily he grabbed the rod and fought the fish. I think the adrenaline must've overcome the seasickness! After about 20mins going around the boat's engine, finally the fish gave up. One gaff and the fish was up! Tenggiri! Weighed in at 9.5kg! A monster!

While jigging for baitfish, the deckie also had a bite. Took a while to bring the fish up as the gear used was very light. After much coaxing, the fish finally came up and it was a Tenggiri! On sabiki! Zam had also hooked up a Tenggiri on handline and it was a decent sized one as well! 3 in the cooler before the storm! Awesome!

Come lunchtime, the heavens opened and the winds picked up significantly. We hunkered down under the roof and waited for the storm to pass. It was really rocking and even I threw up. My seasick pills usually keeps me from throwing up but the rocking was that bad that I couldn't stop it.

The storm passed and we continued to fish. Calvin was jigging with a metal jig and scored a  medium-sized Tenggiri. He was quite happy as it was his first Tenggiri on jig. He even managed to catch a big-ass Squid on the metal jig!

I tried jigging again and at one point I tossed my Shimano Butterfly jig near the ship's anchor line. As my jig was falling, immediately I felt a tug and a fish was on. Wasn't big and I quickly reeled it in. Turned out to be a Bonito! Next cast was towards the same point. Again as my jig was falling, another hit! This time it turned out to be a XL-sized Cencaru! Subsequent casts yielded nothing so it was back to jigging for baitfish and waiting on the live-baited rods.


As I was using my sabiki, I could feel that the baitfish were hooked up and slowly reeled it back up. Felt a bump and slack line. reeled up to find the sabiki has been busted off! Looks like the Tenggiris were 'snacking' on the baitfish on the sabiki. This happened to me twice!

A short while later, the live-bait rod screamed! Fish ON! This time, I took the rod and played the fish. Not too bad, just that the fish kept going under the boat's engine threatening to bust me off on the props. After careful manoeuvring, managed to bring the fish boatside for a gaff shot! Up it came and another decent sized Tenggiri.







With 5 Tenggiri in the cooler and quite a bit of Cencaru, Kembung and Selar, we called it a day. Thunderstorms, lightning, rough seas, crazy winds, seasickness...etc. The things we do the cure our fishing itch!

Gear used:
Rod - Eupro Salty Fighter PE0.8-2.0
Reel - Shimano Saros 2500F
Line - Spiderwire Invisibraid 20lb
Bait - live Kembung; Shimano Butterfly jig (Phantom Squid colour)
Rig - leader to wire-traced double hook