Back on board with my usual set of fishing kakis. Set off early with nice weather but the weather forecast weren't that great for the next few days. Due to delays at Bintan immigration, we could only set off to fishing grounds after lunch.
Had just bought a new fishing set; Storm Gomoku Kodachi PE4 spinning rod & Shimano Biomaster 4000.
Reached our 1st spot and I started jigging with my Kurau 40g jig. After about 5mins of jigging, I got a ferocious hit on the jig! Fish ON! Fish was peeling out line from my new setup nicely. Slowly played with the fish until it was close to the net. It was a large Golden Trevally! What a great way to pop the cherry on my new fishing rod and reel!
Now got the incentive to jig! Tried for another hour or so but no more hits. Other anglers were doing some bottom fishing but very poor bite rate.
Woke up early next morning to jig again. Deckie advised to use lumo jigs during darkness so I tied on my trusty lumo jig and started jigging. Within 2mins, I was hooked up. Good fight on the fish and it was a nice .... Gold-Spotted Trevally.
Was told the deckies were working hard catching squids for us last night. And here they are!
Later in the afternoon, the captain anchored at a spot the was firing! Almost everybody got into the action. The fish being brought up was the seldom seen Unicorn Leatherjacket. These fish have very small mouths but very sharp teeth. Initially, I was getting hookups but halfway through the fight, the fish would drop off! It happened 3 times! So my friend suggested using a long shank hook with small gape. True enough, I managed to land 2 of the fish subsequently. They were good fight on light tackle.
We scored quite a lot of these fish, all about the 2kg mark.
Later at night, I went back to jigging using my lumo jig and hooked up with this Pennantfish. Probably still a juvenile but still was great fun on my light jigging setup.
Next afternoon, we stopped by a place to gather some bait fish in case we run out of squids at night. Out came the sabiki rigs and my trusty telescopic rod!
A full house on the hooks!
As this was the last night of fishing, I was going to stay up all night till it was time to up anchor and go home.
An angler caught this pretty flounder. Very unique skull markings!
Baited my modified ranggong rig with a squid and waited. Fish took a nibble and was hooked up. Didn't give much of a fight. Brought the fish up and it looks like a small dogfish. Unhooked and released back into the water.
Re-baited and down went a live squid. Sat waiting for the bites when I noticed my rod tip twitching. Very gently, I took the rod out from the rod holder and free-spooled. Slowly the fish was taking out line and still I waited. Thinking that the fish had truly taken the squid, I engaged the drag and strike! FISH ON! Quickly reeled it up but the fish was giving a bit of a fight. When it approached the surface, it looked like a Barramundi. Unusual to catch a Barramundi out in open waters. Just about when it was netted, I realized that it was a large Jewfish! OMG! I've never caught this fish before and finally its on deck!
After the Jewfish, the fishing went quiet. Then only left 5 rods as the others had packed up. We were due to leave back to port at 6am.
4:00am: My rod bent over and I quickly grabbed it and started reeling. Fish was taking a bit of line but no match for my Talica 8 overhead reel. Up came a nice 2kg Kaci aka Painted Sweetlip.
Re-baited with a 20cm live squid. Waited....
4:30am : Light tapping on the rod. Held my rod in hand, free-spooled and waited. Fish running! Engage drag! Fish ON! Whoa... this fish is giving a good fight, taking out some line. Managed to subdue it and up it came. My first Ang Chor aka , for this trip. Nice 2.5kg fish!
5:30am : My rod bent over again! Quickly reeled and this time it felt lighter. Fish was coming up quickly and it turned out to be a small shark. Unhooked and released back into the water.
That was the last action of the trip.
Overall, the catch rate was pretty decent. Not many Ang Chor but made up with lots of Trevally and the Leatherjackets.
Gear used:
Rod - Blackmarket Slow Jig PE3-5// Storm Kodachi PE4
Reel - Shimano Talica 8 II // Shimano Biomaster 4000
Line - Sufix 832 50lb // J-Braid X8 35lb
Bait - live squid
Fish ID - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)
- Ang Chor aka John's Snapper (Lutjanus johnii)
- Pennantfish (Alectis ciliaris)
- Gold-spotted Trevally (Carangoides fulvoguttatus)
- Unicorn Leatherjacket, (Aluterus monoceros)
