As I just returned from a flight, I slept in the bunk all the way till the first spot for fishing which was about 6hrs out.
We started fishing and it was a full moon today. I could see a few squids that were coming up to near to the boat because of the lights. So I quickly grabbed my newly-bought Yamashita squid jig and tied it onto my trustworthy Shimano Eclipse Telescopic rod with Shimano Saros 1000 reel. Flicked the squid jig out and as soon as the jig landed near the squid, I could see the squid turn and headed straight for the jig! The squid grabbed the jig and I just gave a little jerk to set the hooks. Slowly reeled back and made sure it squirted all its ink before bringing it onto the boat. They were small Arrow Squids. Nice size for use as bait. Managed to hook a few more squid when they surfaced. I can't believe how effective the Yamashita jig is. Another angler was also using a squid jig but bigger size and green in color but he couldn't get the squids interested in his jig. Mine was pink and pulling in all the squids!
The first few fishing spots weren't yielding much fish so the captain moved a few times. Even when they tried catching squids using the net, there weren't much around. So he decided to head for another spot to catch bigger deep-water squids. Took a quick nap during the journey and when we reached, we were told to rig the squid jigs for deep water. So I took out my Shimano squid jig and tied it Carolina-style with a sinker. Dropped the rig over and began short lifts of the rod. Soon enough, I felt a few small taps and I set the hooks. Slowly reeled it up and the squids were huge! Some were about 1foot! We had a ball catching those big squids.
Then someone shouted that there's a big squid on the surface. I quickly grabbed my Yamashita jig and tossed it near the squid. It was BIG! Straight away it went for the jig and I let it grab the jig long enough so that I can set the hooks firmly. Once I had it hooked, I slowly brought it up. It was a Green-eyed Squid aka Che Bak. This fella was the biggest I've ever seen! Placed the fella into the live tank together with the other XL Arrow squid. After catching enough squid to use as bait for the night, we headed off to the next fishing spot.
Large Che Bak
When we arrived, we started fishing and began catching Bludger Trevally. Most of them were about 1kg and under. And it seems at this spot, all the fishes caught were Trevallies. So the captain moved to another spot. And we hit the Ang Chor aka John's Snapper spot. A few anglers brought up some decent 4-6kg versions and a few 2-4kg versions. I didn't manage to hook up any.
Woke up in the morning and some of the anglers were bringing up some nice Kaci aka Painted Sweetlips, Ang Kuey aka Crimson Snappers and other bottom fish. I caught some small Kaci to add to the haul and then we moved to another spot. This was an Ebek spot and we switched to using live prawns. One angler was hooked up pretty quickly and brought up a very good sized Ebek, about 7kg. I decided to try using my Shimano Coltsniper jig on my jigging outfit. Tied a pink/blue jig and began jigging. After a few casts, I felt a strong weight and my line began to peel out! Woo hoo!!! Fish ON! My drag was screaming as the fish took off and for some reason which I regret now, I went to tighten the drag just a bit. The fish paused for a while and I began to pump and reel. The fish took off again and then my drag stopped........my heart sank........tried to feel if the fish is still on the line......nothing.
Let out a big scream and all the anglers around also felt disappointed! Reeled back and the jig was still attached. Seems that I might have pulled the hook out of the soft mouth of the Ebek. What a letdown! Lesson learnt: whenever a fish is running, let it run on the pre-set drag. Unless you're running out of line, it's better to let the fish run and tire itself out. And then slow pump and reel. Looks like I'm still not experienced enough when handling big fish. Too kan-chiong!! At that spot, we managed to bring up a total of 4 Ebek and a few Queenfish. The captain also put out a live bait and he managed to hook up a Dorado. The fish gave quite an acrobatic display before being brought to the boat. The captain said he wanted the fish alive so he got the deckies to setup a bigger live well at the front of the boat and managed to transfer the fish into the live well alive. Another angler caught a Dorado also but unfortunately, it had swallowed the hook and was unable to be kept alive.
Afternoon and evening catches were pretty slow, with some spots only yielding huge Marine Catfish. Barracuda were also making light work of our setups as their sharp teeth just sliced our lines clean off! However, we managed to land some Barracuda, big and small.
Managed to take some pictures of the Che Bak in the daytime. Beautiful creature and colors.
Jumbo Arrow squid
Took a nap for a few hours in the night and when I woke up, there was some commotion on the deck. I had a look and it seems an angler had hooked up on something big and heavy. Speculation was it was either a big stingray or the elusive Shovelnose ray. About 20mins later, the fish surfaced and it was the Shovelnose ray. Deckies managed to bring the flapping ray on board and was quickly dispatched. This fella was huge, measuring about 6ft and estimated to weigh 25-35kg.
Shawn also hooked up a pretty rare fish in the form of a Jewfish. Pretty decent size too. Both the Jewfish and Shovelnose ray was going to be on the menu tomorrow!
Decided to sleep and wake up before sunrise to fish. As we pulled up at a spot just as the sun rose, I dropped my light overhead setup baited with squid over. As soon as it touched the seabed, a fish grabbed and ran! Fish ON! Reeled up and it was a Grouper. Looks like a Yellowspotted Rock-cod (Epinephelus areolatus). Shawn who was next to me was also hooked up and he brought up a Ang Kuey aka Crimson Snapper. Both of us re-baited and dropped it over. Again, as soon as the sinker hit the seabed, we were both hooked up. I brought mine up and it was the same type of fish, weighing about 1kg and he got another Ang Kuey. We shouted to the other anglers to quickly drop their baits over. 3rd drop and this time, my rod bent down quite a bit! I set the hook and began reeling up. This fish felt heavy and no wonder, I got a double hook-up of Grouper! Both were about the same size. Other anglers were now getting in on the action. Kaci, Ang Kuey, Spanish Flags and other various reef fish were landed The bite slowed down a bit after 20mins but I still managed to bring up another good-sized Kaci. Wow, the morning session was really hot! We spent another hour or so at the spot before moving on.
Lunch time!
By afternoon, we were already running out of live prawn and also live squid. So captain said we will go catch some more squid after sunset. So we proceeded to the squid spot and began netting. This was a very good spot because every haul yielded about 10-20 pieces of squid.
Soon we had our bait tanks filled again. So off we went to fish for Ang Chor. Since we had enough squid as bait now, we decided to sashimi some fresh squid. Sean cleaned and cut the Arrow squids and they tasted like heaven! Crunchy and sweet with the light hit of soya & wasabi. Mmmmmm.........
Dropped my bait over at the spot and waited. Could see a lot of small nibbles so didn't pay much attention to it. Then suddenly the rod tip dipped and sprang back! Grabbed the rod but there was nothing at the end of the line. Reeled back to find my hook missing! Damn Barracudas! Lost about 3 hooks in the next hour to the same situation. Decided to re-rig to a heavier Dupont line and size 8 circle hook. Other anglers were still catching a variety of fish. One angler had a fish on and the fish made a few loud splashes to show itself as a big Queenfish. After it was gaffed onto the boat, we only realized how big it actually was! It was easily around the 1.4m mark and FAT!
Just around 3am, my rod began to tap. Then it bent down hard and sprang back again. Aaargh! Missed the hookup again. This is getting frustrating. Re-baited and tried again. An hour passed and I was dozing off already when someone shouted to alert me. I saw my rod bending again and I quickly removed it from the rod holder and began to reel. Finally, I could feel the fish at the end of the line. This fish was heavy too. Finally it surfaced and it was a very big Kaci! Possibly about 3-4kg.
At around 5am, the captain said we were heading home. The fish were all taken out of the coolers and laid out. Catch rate was pretty ok only. Was expecting more as this was an extended trip. All the fish were cleaned and divided equally between all anglers.
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