Batu Pahat Tony Trip #1 - Hello Mr Kurau!

First time joining a 2D1N trip to Batu Pahat, courtesy of organizer David Ho on boat Kurau Haven. Boat captain is Capt Tony.

Target fish is Kurau aka .. It's a fish that I've not caught before.

Set off early via MPV pickup with 5 other anglers and we were at the jetty around 8am. Was told the fishing grounds were only 15-20mins away. So got my jigging setup done with a Kurau 40g jig.

Capt Tony was instructing us the method to jig for the Kurau. Let the jig hit the seabed and then do 2 short lifts and free-spool down again. When the jig hits the seabed, it should create a "puff" of sand and that should attract the Kurau to come investigate. Surely enough, during his demo, a fish took the jig! He slowly worked the fish up to the boat but when the fish saw the net, it bolted like mad! So his advise was to be ready for that final run and keep pressure until the fish is in the net.

Soon other anglers were hooking up. Most of the fish were under 1kg but still decent. I didn't get a hit all morning..... soon the bite stopped and we moved to a lighthouse in the Straits of Malacca.

Here we were going to be jigging for Spanish Mackerel. The technique here is different.

++++++++++++++ TIPS +++++++++++++++

According to Capt Tony, the Tenggiri at Batu Pahat tend to feed nearer the bottom of the water column. We were told to add a treble to the end of the Kurau jig and let it drop to the bottom. Once at the seabed, we are supposed to rip it fast all the way to mid-water and free-spool back to the bottom. Repeat.

++++++++++++++ TIPS +++++++++++++++

As the current wasn't really strong, the 40g Kurau jig I was using was good enough. Once the jig was on the seabed, I lifted the rod once and felt like I was snagged. Gave it a pull and it came free but felt heavy. I thought I had snagged a piece of coral and slowly reeled back. Then I felt some light head shakes and thought maybe its a small fish snagged on a plastic bag. Continued to reel in and as it reached the boat, I saw that it was actually a Spanish Mackerel! The fish reached the side of the boat and bolted to the horizon! The next thing I felt was limp line......... Damn! Reeled back and the fish had spat out the jig. I didn't do a proper hook-set as I thought it was a piece of rubbish!

Went back to jigging and this time I got a solid hookup! Decent fish gave a good fight. How I missed the sound of a screaming drag!! Slowly played the fish close enough to gaff.

The other anglers were also hooking up, with a few scoring the rarer Tenggiri papan aka    .

Among 5 of us, we managed to catch a few more Tenggiri before ending the day. It was a slow day for me but made up with the fun from the Tenggiri.

The 1st day catch

Next morning, we headed out again with Kurau 1st on the list. I need to catch one!!

Reached the fishing spot and began jigging with the Kurau jig. After about 20mins, I had a take. Didn't feel heavy but when it came close to the boat, it bolted as expected! Slowly worked it back to the boat and netted!. Finally, my first Kurau! Less than 1kg specimen but I'm still happy!

Dropped my jig over again and within 5mins, I was onto another fish! Same fight and up came another Kurau. This time take a wefie with the fish!

Capt Tony managed to hookup a much bigger Kurau, in the 2kg range. Boy the fish can run!

In amongst the Kurau, we here also hooking up small Croakers like this one. This fish aren't shy in hitting a jig too big for its mouth!

Just before lunch, the bite quieten down so we moved to the Tenggiri spot. Tied on a 40g Kurau jig Chrome and began jigging. Managed to score another Tenggiri on the Kurau jig.

As I had lost a few Kurau jigs by this time due to snags, I switched to a White Rabbit MJ-3000 jig and started jigging. After about 10mins of casting around the structure, I hooked up on something. It started to speed off in the horizon! Fish ON! I thought it was another Tenggiri but this time it fought differently. After some careful reeling, the fish came near the boat and I saw I had foul-hooked it at the rear. Still managed to gaff it up!

Continued jigging but things had quieten down.

Later in the afternoon, we moved back to the Kurau spot and tried to catch them. But they weren't around so we called it a day.

This was a pretty good introductory trip to Batu Pahat. The fishing here requires a different technique and as always, its best to listen to what information the boat captain has to offer in order for you to catch fish.

But always listen with a large dose of salt!!

Gear used:
Rod - Shimano TCurve Tropical PE1-2
Reel - Shimano Stradic Ci4 3000
Line - Sunlin Siglon 30lb
Lure - Kurau jig
       
Fish ID - Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson)
             - Kurau aka Blue Threadfin (Eleutheronema tetradactylum)

FishStalker Charters Trip #1 - New charter

Found a local Southern waters fishing charter who offers individual bookings. 10pax max to the boat.

This suits me as I can just hop on a day charter whenever my schedule permits.

Boarded the boat at Marina South Pier. The boat seems comfortable with adequate rod holders on all sides. Live prawns were provided. The boat operates by drifting along the channels near the anchorage. They drift about 1km then motor back to the same area.

Morning started pretty good, some anglers started catching Groupers.

I used my 200g Shimano Lucanus orange jig, baited with a prawn. As we were drifting, I felt a tug. Lowered the rod a bit and the fish jumped on. Fish ON! I slowly reeled the fish up, without the pumping motion. Soon, the fish came up and it was a nice sized Grouper. 1.5kg!

+++++++++++++++TIPS++++++++++++++++

I was told that when you use madai style fishing, you should just reel without pumping. This is because when the rod is at the top of the 'lift' and you bring the rod down, the 'head' of the madai will drop faster than the hooks. This may cause the hook to dislodge from the fish if the hookset is weak.

If you just keep reeling, there's constant pressure on the hookset with less chance of the hook dislodging.

+++++++++++++++TIPS++++++++++++++++

After lunch, I switched to a sliding sinker rig. Baited up and dropped down. As soon as it touched bottom, I felt a tug. I thought I was snagged but then the fish started running. Quickly set the hook and Fish ON! Reeled back and it was another Grouper.

After 3pm, the bites reduced drastically. Only 2 more fish were brought up. Whatever fish that was caught, was given a colored zip tie and tied on the fish. The boat captain and deckie was helpful in fishing as well. They caught about 5 fish and distributed some of it to those that didn't catch a lot of fish. That was pretty admirable in my book!

Our total catch for the day.

I'm pretty satisfied fishing for the first time on FishStalker charters. Although their fishing spots may be limited, it makes up for it by catching fish in decent numbers, ease of joining the charters and the service provided on board. Thumbs up!

Changi Ah Fong Trip #7 - First fish of 2017

After scoring 0 fish on 2 boat trips in Jan, it was high time I caught a fish!

Boarded Ah Fong's boat with the usual kakis and began fishing. As I've been a zero-fighter for the last 2 trips using madai & tenya, I decided to go back to basics with a running sinker rig.
Hooked a live prawn and down it went.

A few anglers were already starting to catch some fish. Waited a little while longer and finally felt some nibbles. I let the fish take the whole bait and then slowly reeled back. Hookup! Wasn't a big fish but a fish nonetheless! Came up to be a table-sized Grouper. This fella had quite a big crab in its mouth!

First fish of 2017!

All the other anglers were also hooking up Groupers of various sizes.

30mins later, I got my 2nd Grouper. I was using a Tainawa hook which is similar to a circle hook which doesn't require a strike to set the hook. Just a gentle lift of the rod while reeling back would usually set the hook nicely at the corner of the fish's mouth.

I must admit that the Tainawa hook does look a bit obtrusive when used with a live prawn. It'll probably be best used with bigger baits. A thought for next time.

Just after lunch, I felt my bait flicking and so I was ready to free spool a bit. Sure enough, the fish took the bait and swam off. Free spooled for 3secs and then tightened the drag. Fish ON! This fella felt heavier and slowly it was brought to the surface. A nice +1kg Grouper!

2 other anglers were having much better luck with 2 Groupers around 4kg each and another one at 2kg.

 Foul-hooked up a coral with some marine worms.....

As our live prawns finished almost after the catch of the big Groupers, we decided to call it a day early. Headed back at 4pm!


Final catch of the day!

Gear used:
Rod - Eupro Salty Fighter PE0.8-2.0
Reel - Shimano Talica 8 II
Line - YGK JigMan X8 Ultra 50lb
Bait - Live prawn on 2/0 Tainawa hook
Rig -  Running sinker

Fish ID - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)

Rompin #3 - Sailfish Madness again! - Day 2

Day 2 didn't start off too well. As soon as we were out of the river mouth, the waters became choppy. It was choppy all the way to the fishing grounds and the winds were quite strong as well.

After collecting our baitfish, we went to the Sailfish grounds.

Looking at the sea conditions, I told the guys I'll be more than happy to stay and fish on the boat today!

So all 3 kayaks launched and drifted out. I put out 2 baits again on the boat. 45 mins later, my Talica 8II clicker went off! Grabbed the rod and counted to 10. Engaged the drag and rod loaded up.

FISH ON!

Sailfish tail-walked across the back of the boat and I was frantically reeling to regain line and tension. Finally the rod bent and I gave it a good pull to ensure the hook set properly.

As I was now fishing from the boat, I had to ease off the drag a bit so that the fish stays connected. Slowly but surely, I kept reeling the Sailfish in. The fish even had me go one round in the boat!

Right side front

Right side back 

Left side back

Left side front 

Front left

Finally the fish came close to the boat and the deckie grabbed the leader. Success!!

Circle hook at the corner of the mouth

After some photos, the fish was released in good health.

The guys on the kayak weren't having much luck on the Sailfish. By this time, they had drifted quite far due to the strong wind and we moved the boat closer to them.

Just before lunch, there was still no action so the guys decided to get on the boat. Loaded the kayaks and we decided to go catch some squids. Mat Rompin obliged and off we went to an unjam.

Brought out the squid jigs and soon we had some takes. Some decent sized squids was caught. Mat Rompin recommended jigs in orange and true enough, the squids were liking that colour that day.

After we had caught about 10 medium/large pieces, we decided to try for Sailfish again. Headed to the Sailfish grounds and launched the kayaks.

Out went my 2 baits on various depths. Sea continued to be choppy and we had a few misses on the boat where the bait was either sliced or completely severed, leaving only the head!

While drifting, I tried bottom fishing with sabiki and we managed to catch some decent bottom fish. Good fun on light tackle. Deckie even managed to catch 2 Coral Trouts!

Ian managed to catch a small Sailfish and that was the only other action for the afternoon.

Fished till 5pm with no other action and the kayaks were then loaded back onto the boat. Still a choppy 1 hour ride back to the jetty.

My trusty Blackmarket Slow jig rod proved the winner this trip, with 3 Sailfish caught and released! Even after one of the rod guides broke, it still withstood the punishment from the Sailfish.

An awesome 1st day on kayak followed by a not so great 2nd day. But all in all, we all had good fun fishing for the fastest fish in the sea!


+++++++TIPS+++++++

Have a minimum of 4m length of leader. First, it's a form of protection when the fish jumps/tailwalks all over the place and second, it'll help when you/deckie needs to bring the fish closer to the boat/kayak.

Remember not to strike the rod when using circle hooks.

Wear full gloves when handling the Sailfish bill as they are very rough!

Try setting your baits at various water depths to see where the Sailfish are holding on that day.

+++++++TIPS++++++++

Gear used:
Rod - Blackmarket Slow Jig PE3-5
Reel - Shimano Talica 8 II
Line - Sufix 832 50lb
Bait - live kembong bridled with rubber band
Rig - 40lb FC leader to 6/0 VMC ringed circle hook

Fish ID - Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus)
             - Yellow Tail Fusilier (Caesio teres)

Rompin #3 - Sailfish Madness again! - Day 1

After missing out on last year's Sailfish Madness in Rompin, I finally managed to arrange to be off for this year's trip. And it was only 4 anglers this time; Merv, Ian, Paul and me.

So we were going to drive from Singapore to Rompin with 2 kayaks on top of the car. We met up with Ian at Rompin and was all set for the next day's fishing.

The next morning, we loaded up 3 kayaks onto Mat Rompin's boat and set off. The weather looked good with a light breeze. After about 1 hour ride, we reached our first spot to catch our baitfish for the day's fishing. Out came the sabikis and within 20mins, we had enough bait for the day.

Reached the Sailfish grounds a short while later. Launched all 3 kayaks and off the guys went. I was happy to stay on the boat to fish. I set up 2 rods, both with 6/0 ringed circle hooks. My heavy jigging rod with Shimano Slade 4000 reel was rigged up with a balloon and live bait. Other rod was Blackmarket jigging rod with Shimano Talica 8II reel rigged with a small weight to put the bait in mid-water.

10 mins later, the balloon was moving erratically and Mat Rompin picked up the rod. Reel was free-spooled and after 10secs, he engaged the drag and the fish was ON! Fish jumped up and skipped on the surface across the back of the boat! He handed me the rod and I just held on. Line was still peeling off so I just waited. The fish slowed down and I began to slowly reel in. A few cranks and the fish went on another blistering run and then "PING!!!" The fish was off.........I thought the line/leader broke but when I reel back, everything was still intact. Looks like the circle hook didn't set properly. What a bummer!!

Soon, Ian had a hookup. He managed to catch a Tenggiri on a lure. Looks like we have our dinner settled!

Then Merv hooked up on a Sailfish. We moved near to take some pictures and it was a beauty! Ian also hooked up and we moved to him as well. Just after lunchtime, we had already 3 catch & released Sailfish. So Merv offered to let me use his kayak for my turn at catching the Sailfish.

Decided to put 2 rods out with baits in mid-water. After about 20 mins, my Talica 8II clicker went off. Counted to 10 before engaging the drag and rod loaded up. FISH ON! Fish did some acrobatics and swam around the kayak. The line became crossed with my other line but I managed to untangle the lines before any damage was done. The Sailfish then settled in deep water, dragging the kayak.

After about 10 mins, I finally had the fish close to the kayak.

Grabbed the leader and pulled the Sailfish alongside.

 Quickly grabbed the beak to control the fish.

Woo hoo!!! Finally caught a Sailfish on a kayak!

The circle hook was nicely pinned at the corner of the mouth.

Removed the hook and hoisted it up for some pictures. YES!!!!!!

After the pictures, put the fish back into the water to swim it for healthy release.

After about 5 mins, the fella was 'kicking' and was released safely!

Having experienced the crossing of fishing lines, I decided to let out a shorter line on the rod behind me while the other would have a longer line out.

Put the bridled baits out again and waited. Suddenly I felt a sharp jolt from the rod behind. Turned behind to see the line on the Slade reel peeling out and then another jolt caused the bail arm to close. Then the hook pulled....... Damn! Lost the fish.

Re-baited and tried again. Then the clicker on my Talica 8II went off! Reeled in the other rod and waited. Engaged the drag, rod loaded up and the Sailfish went airborne! Tail-walked 3 times and on the 4th time, it threw the hook out. Didn't even have the chance to gain line or tension. Damn! 2 missed hookup in a row!

Re-baited and put the baits back in the water. 20 mins passed by and my Talica 8II clicker started to click slowly. Reeled in the 2nd rod and waited for the continuous run. Sure enough, the fish took the bait and sped off! Counted to 10 and engaged the drag. Rod loaded up and FISH ON! The Sailfish jumped up about 20m in front of the kayak and began tail-walking towards me! Oh crap! Luckily the fish tail-walked till about 3m in front of the kayak and splashed down and went under the kayak! Reeled like mad to regain tension and the fish was still speeding off behind me now. Turned the kayak around and gave chase.

Finally was fighting the fish in front and slowly regaining line. I realised that I was quite a distance away from the motherboat and radioed in that I'm hooked up. But apparently, Paul has also hooked up and the motherboat was supporting him. So I decided to keep the fish hooked at a manageable distance of 20-30m away and wait for the motherboat to come over.

20 mins later then the motherboat came over and I began reeling the fish closer to the kayak. Tried as I might, every time I got close to the leader, the fish would power off again.

After about another 10 mins, I finally grabbed the leader and tried to pull the fish closer.

The fish was still strong and was only 2m more from my hands when the inevitable happened....... SNAP!!!!!

The FC leader gave way and I could see the Sailfish slowly swimming away......... It was a good fight.

That was my last catch of the day but totally satisfying! In total, we had 16 Sailfish hookups and 6 landed.

This was a souvenir from the Sailfish from today. Heavy abrasion on the fingers from holding the Sailfish's sandpaper-like bill.

Kuching Sea Wonder Trip #1 - Tenggiri Jackpot!

This is a rather delayed post due to work commitments.

Back in Kuching again after missing out on the Tenggiri the last trip. Seems that we were too early in the Tenggiri season.

This time we were taking Sea Wonder, sister boat to Ocean Shadow. Sea Wonder is a smaller boat, max 10 anglers.

As luck would have it, when we arrived at the jetty, it was super low tide and the boat could not berth at the jetty. So we had to take a smaller sampan to get onto the boat.











After that, it was a 6hr journey to the fishing grounds. Everybody was excited because we heard from previous trip that the Tenggiris were being caught in large numbers.


Reached the spot around 1am and began fishing. We were using ranggong rig as the previous fishing reports were that the Tenggiris were feeding close to the bottom. Every angler deployed their rigs with frozen sardine as bait.

Waited and waited............... the only fish that were caught were Ah Sengs! Not a good beginning to the trip!

Some other creatures came for a visit!

A few more hours passed by with no signs of the Tenggiri so went to sleep.

Woke up in the morning and we set off to another spot for bottom drift fishing. Changed to my trusty 2-circle hook Apollo rig. Reached the spot and I saw on the fish finder very nice arches. Quickly dropped my rig baited with frozen squid down and as soon as it hit bottom, BAM! FISH ON! Nice fight and up came a big Ang Kuey.

Re-baited and dropped the rig over. Reached bottom, did one crank up and BAM! Fish ON again! Another nice Ang Kuey!

Other anglers were also getting Ang Kuey and a few Groupers as well.

Circle hook at the corner of the fish's mouth, every time!

+++++TIPS+++++

I'm quite happy to use circle hooks now for bottom fishing. One has to resist the temptation to strike when you feel the fish taking the bait. Free-spool and let the fish take out some line without tension. Count to 5, engage the drag and sweep the rod up. Once the rod loads up, reel up as per normal.

+++++TIPS+++++









We moved a few spots during the day and continued catching various types of fish, including this prized catch!! Emperor Snapper aka Ang Sai.

Another species, Red Spot Emperor aka Leng Chiam

Larger version!

After sunset, we moved to the next Tenggiri spot for the night. I was still doing bottom fishing with my Apollo rig and caught this juvenile version of Leng Chiam. Fish released to grow bigger.

Re-baited and dropped the rig over again. Put the rod in the rod holder and waited. Suddenly my rod bent over hard and sprang back up! Grabbed the rod but nothing there any more. Put on another squid bait and down it went. This time I was holding the rod. 2 cranks up from the bottom and a fish took the bait hard! Fish was taking out line on my Talica 8 II. Slowly reeled the fish up and I could tell it was no bottom-dwelling fish. It's the fish we've been waiting for! Fish surfaced and it was a whopper Tenggiri! Fish gaffed and boated. Awesome!!

With that first fish on deck, all anglers began switching out to ranggong rigs with wire traces. I was rather surprised that my circle hook held on to the fish nicely. On closer inspection, the circle hook was nicely pinned at the corner of the mouth, therefore sparing the FC leader from the nasty fangs! A bit lucky I guess!

So the first bite that I missed was most likely a Tenggiri too, just that the hook failed to set.

Soon we were getting hit left, right, centre with multiple hookups all around the boat. Sometimes with a bit of manoeuvring, we could avoid the crossed lines but sometimes the fish plays dirty and gets a few anglers lines all tangled up.

The best move I find is that whenever an angler near me hooks up, I'll watch how the fish is swimming. If the fish is strong and zig-zagging all over the place, I'll quickly reel up my line and wait till the fish is on deck or find another spot on the boat that is free. Tangled braid is a bitch to unravel!

My next hit was rather different. The fish took the bait and ran, peeling line out. Managed to turn it and began reeling back. Then suddenly the fish stopped fighting! I just reeled back without any fuss and this is what greeted me.....

Half a Mackerel Tuna! Obviously the Tenggiri had the other half!

Another angler also had his prize stolen!

As the night wore on, Tenggiri after Tenggiri hit the deck and into the icebox. Quite a few times, while I was in the middle of tying new wire rigs, the fish took the bait. Had to throw down the wire rigs, grabbed the rod and strike and pumped the fish up. Talk about bad timing!!

The hot action started from about 9pm till about 1am. The bite slowed down after that with some occasional hookups. Total Tenggiri I caught for the night was 14! Majority of the Tenggiris were in the 5-8kg range with a few in the 10kg range.

Morning drifting started pretty slowly as we headed out to a wreck. A few 1kg Groupers were landed and I caught this pretty fish. Looks like a Spanish Flag but it's a Five-Lined Snapper (Lutjanus quinquelineatus).

And then another colourful fish was hooked. When I saw the blue spots, I had high hopes it was the infamous Coral Trout (Plectopomus leopardus) but it turned out to be a Coral Hind (Cephalopholis miniata)

We drifted and changed a few spots during the day, catching bottom dwellers in the range of 1-2kg.
I took the time to tie about 10 sets of wire rigs for the Tenggiri tonight.

Everybody was waiting for sunset, wanting a repeat of the action we had last night. We headed off back to the area last night and waited.

Like a switch, the Tenggiris began feeding. They were feeding pretty close to the bottom, which was rather unusual for the species. Soon, rod bends and screeching drags were heard again! Even a huge Cobia decided to join the party! As always, Cobias tend to tangled up everybody's line but I was lucky to have reeled up before the ultimate braid "char bee hoon"!

 Medium version on top VS XL version at bottom!

Catching the Mackerel Tuna was actually quite fun. They are quite powerful for their size. Their scorching runs actually made me think I had hooked up to a >10kg Tenggiri! But when they come near the boat, you realise that it's only half the size of a Tenggiri! Awesome fun!

The bites were slower tonight but I still managed to land another 7 Tenggiris. Had a few bust-offs where my FC leader was cut. 30 mins before the boat was due to head back, I was getting hit after hit. But each time, the hook failed to set. Either I was too slow or didn't get a clean hookup. Happened 5 times and I failed to add to my Tenggiri tally.

Finally the boat horn sounded and we began the 6hr journey back to the jetty.

Back at the packing facility, we could finally see our trip's haul.

Total Tenggiri count - 105 pcs!  Full ice boxes to bring home! Yeah!!!

All the hardworking anglers that managed to achieve such a great haul!

The jigging anglers on this trip were kind of disappointed as bait outfished the jigs by quite a margin. The jigs that worked were the heavy sinking pencil type. I guess this was because the Tenggiris were feeding rather close to the bottom with a rather strong current. So the usual jigs can't get down fast enough and was night fishing too.

From the solunar chart above, we can see that the Tenggiri feeding started just after the 4th tide (low) and lasted about 2-3hrs on 4th and 5th May. Our first night was a bust because we reached the spot only at around 1am, which was already approaching the top of high tide.

From my observation, it seems like the fish starts to feed for 1-2hrs on both sides of the top or bottom of the tides. Will see how true this theory is on my next fishing trip.

Gear used:
Rod - Blackmarket Slow Jig PE3-5
Reel - Shimano Talica 8 II
Line - Sufix 832 50lb
Bait - Frozen squid, frozen sardines
Rig - Apollo style (day), Ranggong style (night)


Fish ID  - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)
               - Ang Kuey aka Crimson Snapper (Lutjanus erythropterus)
               - Spanish Mackerel aka Tenggiri (Scomberomorus commerson)
               - Coral Hind (Cephalopholis miniata)

               - Five-Lined Snapper (Lutjanus quinquelineatus)

               - Mackerel Tuna (Euthynnus affinis)
               - Emperor Snapper aka Ang Sai (Lutjanus sebae)
               - Red Spot Emperor aka Leng Chiam (Lethrinus lentjan)