Rompin #2 - Day 2 - Red and Black

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Rompin day 2 started early with us leaving the jetty at 730am. Our order of 50pcs of live prawn was also on time and put in the live well. First stop was to catch some baitfish at an unjam. Dropped our sabiki rigs but only a few Tamban came up. Next unjam also wasn't that productive. So we decided to head off to the bottom fishing grounds anyway to try with live prawns and micro jigs.

The journey to the spot took almost 1hr and when we finally reached, we could see it was quite a big, shallow coral grounds. There were lots of floating markers around and the boatman said they were bottom fish cages. So I guess there should be a lot of fish here.

Down went our rigs and the first fish that came up was RED! Everyone was excited that it could be a Red Grouper/Coral Trout but it wasn't. There were some red stripes on it and black markings on the dorsal fins. I'm guessing this fish is still a juvenile. A few of these fish were landed, nothing big. All around the 500-700g range, caught on live prawn. There was also a Parrotfish lookalike that made an appearance.

Some guys were jigging as well and caught a few fish with red body and blue spots. After some research, it seems to resemble the Coral Hind (Cephalopholis miniata). They do look pretty awesome, especially the blue dots on the red background!

This coral area was so snaggy that we lost quite a lot of rigs/micro jigs and lures. The boat was drifting pretty fast as well and we just had to be careful not to let the rigs go out too far. My effort at micro-jigging also yielded another of the unidentified fish.

We spent quite some time on the coral area and manage to catch enough for each angler to bring home a few. After lunch, we headed off to an unjam, hoping to target some Tenggiri. At the unjam, we tried to catch some baitfish again and this time there was more and bigger in size. Hooked a few live ones and spread the rods out the back of the boat. Ron was still holding his fishing rod when a fish took the bait. Fish ON! Immediately the fish went airborne and I could see that it was a Dorado! The fish was subdued easily and landed. Not a very big fish but a welcomed addition to the catch.

In the midst of the hookup, a Sailfish actually jumped out near the boat and everyone thought it was hooked up. But all the rods were quiet. We stayed around for a little while before moving off.

Boatman spotted some birds dive-bombing some baitfish and we headed there. At the edge, we began casting lures out and Ron again hooked up. This fish was giving him a good fight and the rest of us began casting at the front of the boat as well. After about 10mins, the fish was brought boat-side and it was a nice Giant Trevally! After a few photographs, the GT was released. We tried to see where the birds were but the baitfish school had dispersed.

Our last stop was to catch squid. We tied our prawn jigs with a light sinker and sent them down. We drifted over the spot and began catching some nice Green-eyed Squid. Some big, some small. Some of the guys were not careful and got inked big time! Full-frontal squirt of black ink! We made about 6-7 drifts over the squid grounds and managed to hook up 17 pieces. I only managed to hook up 2 pieces and then lost the prawn jig due to a snag.

The wind was beginning to blow and we could see a big storm near land. So we decided to call it a day and pack up and head back to the jetty. Stored all the gear and got ready for the bumpy ride back. And then the heavens opened! Rain pelted down and the waves were getting bigger. Boatman slowed down a bit as we made our way back.

Passed through the storm cells and when we finally reached the jetty, it was only a light drizzle. Our driver was already waiting for us and we still had to pack our stuff in the rooms and divide the fish equally. So the fish and squid were divided equally and placed in a styrofoam box for transport back to Singapore.

We made a stop at Mersing for dinner at the usual Mersing Seafood Restaurant for its signature dish, the Squid stuffed with Salted Egg. We scoffed down dinner as we were all super hungry and then had a nice snooze on the way back to Singapore. Got stuck in a jam (as expected) at JB Customs side all the way to Woodlands. Took us 1hr just to clear immigration and customs at Causeway. Then we were individually dropped off at our homes, with me being the last drop-off as the driver had another pickup in Tampines that early morning.

All in all, it was great to return to Rompin to fish. Although I didn't managed to catch any big fish, was still quite a nice 'holiday' for me and meeting new fishing kakis as well.

I guess that's fishing, some good days and some poor days....