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!

Sport Fishing Explorer Trip #14 - Chinaman!

Joined my regular kakis on Sport Fishing Explorer trip. This trip we were going a bit further East than normal. Apparently some "new" fishing grounds to explore.

Weather wasn't very good on the way out. Light rain until we reached the first spot at night. Then the heavens opened! Rained so hard that didn't feel like fishing. Fish weren't biting as well.

Woke up next morning to fish. Tied my trusty Shimano Lucanus jig in orange and dropped it over. After a while, felt something tugging the jig. I slowly lowered the jig a bit more and the fish grabbed it! Fish ON! 

Used constant reeling to bring the fish up and it was a beautiful Any Kuey aka Crimson Snapper. This fella weighed in at 2kg. So happy!

A few hours later, I was fishing with bait and we happened to come across a school of this unusual fish. It's a Starry Triggerfish or locally known as Ayam. These fish have small but powerful mouths and very thick skin.

As the fish were biting, I decided to start jigging again. Used my Shimano Butterfly jig in Phantom Squid coloration. This jig flutters down like slow fall jigs and I managed to hook up a Kerisi or Gold-band Snapper. This was the fish we were looking for, travelling further east.

Even the Starry Triggerfish got in on the action with the jig!

After this hot bite session, things slowed down pretty much. We moved from spot to spot without any bites. Spent a lot of time traveling between spots.

At night, we anchored up and I started jigging with my lumo jig. Scored this feisty Trevally.

As we moved from spot to spot, we hooked up a variety of fish. But not a lot.

Then on the last night, while I was sleeping, we heard a loud commotion on the deck. Woke up to see that another angler had caught a huge fish! This is the Chinaman fish! First time I'm seeing it and it was a big fella! Very pretty markings too!

According to Australian sources, this fish tends to have high concentrations of ciguatera toxins. We still kept the fish as it was beyond release.

Overall, we felt that this trip wasn't a good one because we traveled too far and moved spots too much to be actually fishing. The quality of fish caught was also below expectations. But it all made up with good company, drinks and food.

Caught too many of these Catfish!

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

Fish ID - Ayam aka Starry Triggerfish (Abalistes stellaris)
            - Ang Kuey aka Crimson Snapper (Lutjanus erythropterus)
            - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)
            - Gold Band Snapper aka Angkoli (Pristipomoides multidens)
         

Miri Marine Harvest #3 - Busted by Barracoutas

Annual trip to Miri on Marine Harvest.

This trip we are heading to Royal Charlotte Reef again. 12 hours of travel time to get to the reef.

Once we reached the spot, we started jigging. I was the 2nd to hookup and it was a small Dogtooth Tuna. Gave a pretty decent fight on light tackle.

We were doing a mix of jigging and bottom fishing. I set up my bottom rig with circle hooks with frozen sardines as bait. Up came a small Flame Snapper. Haven't caught this fish before. Nice coloring and tail.

Re-loaded with bait and dropped down again. At this time, the boat had moved to a deeper spot, around 150m. With the current going, I'm guessing my line went out around 200m! Adding a 500g sinker, the crank back up is going to be a bitch!

Since its so deep, I disregarded all the small nibbles of fish and held on to the rod in free spool. Then suddenly, a fish took the bait and ran! I let the fish take line for about 5secs and then closed the drag lever. Rod loaded up and FISH ON! Fish gave a good fight from deep and I had to switch to low gear drag on my Talica 12II and slowly reeled it up. Fish showed red coloring and was a nice Ruby Snapper! These fish are always so beautiful!

Re-baited and dropped the rig over. As the rig was going down, I suddenly felt a snap and the line became slack...... Darn it! Reeled it back and my main line was cut!

Then another angler hooked up on a big fish. Managed to reeled it up and it was a monster Barracouta!

Then I knew that my line was probably cut by these pesky fish.

After dinner, we moved spot again and began jigging. I managed to hook up a Big-Eye Trevally on lumo jig. These fish are feisty buggers! Wished it was bigger though!

After a while, the razor gang moved in. Other anglers were getting their line cut mid-water by the nuisance Barracoutas. They were not only losing jigs left, right and center but fish too!

At this point, I didn't feel like losing more jigs to the fish and as I was still feeling a bit queasy from the 12hr journey, slept through till the next afternoon.

Afternoon bottom bashing yielded quite a variety of fishes. I managed to hook up this fatty Rusty Jobfish.

Nice sunset on the reef!

Night-time jigging scored this Rainbow Runner!

Next day, moved around the reef to within casting distance.

Caught all sorts of reef fish.

Last day on the reef. Woke up at 5am, hoping to score some fish at sunrise. Tossed out my Halco Twisty 40g on my spinning gear, 2 rips and was hooked up! Fish ON! A quick fight later, the fish was on board. A metre-long Barracuda. What a nice wake-up call!!

Soon everyone was awake and fishing. One angler caught a horse of a Barracuda, putting my fish to shame!

As we were still plagued by the Barracoutas, we moved closer to the reef to fish. I managed to hook up quite a few colorful fish from the reefs.

kk

A variety of fish caught on the whole trip.

khh

Overall, we were quite disappointed with the trip as the Barracouta were wreaking havoc to our fishing. Lost countless jigs, main braided lines and sinkers. The fish that we caught were not as many as we had last year.

Well, that's fishing! There's always next year!

Seven Seas Conqueress #1 - Season starts!

2018 starts and I could only get out on the water in March!

3D2N trip on Seven Seas Conqueress with a new group of kakis. Morning departure and it was 3pm before we could start fishing.

As I was new to this group, I took up my fishing position at the sides of the boat. The deckies were really helpful in setting up my fishing rods. I just passed them my rods and reels and when it was time to start fishing, all were rigged up, ready to go!! Now that's service for ya!

Afternoon action was sporadic and I didn't catch a fish till evening. Caught a 1kg Kaci on Apollo rig with live prawn. Finally, back in the action!

Come night time, we moved off to a location to catch squids as bait for our target, Ang Chor. Again, the deckies rigged up their squid jigs on my fishing rod automatically!  I managed to hook up 4 pieces of XL squid during the session before we headed off to buy some from a local kelong as it wasn't enough for the nights' fishing.

Current was very strong at night, even a size 20 sinker was flying away! After a few hours, I've had enough as it was just unproductive fishing with such a strong current.


Slept till sunrise and came back out to fish. We were still at the Ang Chor spot so I dropped my ranggong rig over with a strip of squid bait. Left the rod in the rod holder with the clicker on. 15mins later, the clicker started to sound slowly. Got the rod out and free-spooled the reel. As I was using a circle hook, I had to let the fish take the bait and run. And so it did.... count to 5 and engaged drag! Fish ON!

Straight on, I knew this was a big fish. It went under the boat and then straight out to the horizon! At first I thought it was a large Queenfish because I could see the line coming up to the surface. But it went further into the horizon. There was temptation to increase the drag but I just held on. When the fish finally stopped, I slowly reeled back. Good thing the fish stayed almost on the surface as it was easier to reel in. Finally managed to see what it was and it was a large Cobia!

Finally got the fish near the boat and the deckies were ready with the gaff shot. Got close but the deckie missed the shot and that spooked the Cobia big time! It circled around the boat, entangling a few lines and out it went into the horizon again!

Had to scramble around the boat to untangle the lines before managing to control the fish again. Slowly worked the fish back near the boat before another deckie managed to gaff it accurately. Phew!

Nice Cobia, weighed in at 7kg! So happy!

That got the adrenaline pumping! Another kaki beside me managed to pull up an XL Ang Chor while I was fighting my Cobia.

The rest of the morning was spent moving from spot to spot; trying to hit some Ebek spots.

Had a good take on my rod and managed to hook fight the fish. But halfway through the fight, the fish fell off. Reeled back to check and it seems that the hook came out. Another angler also lost a fish mid-fight. We both surmised that the hook pulled away the delicate lips of the Ebek.

After lunch at a new spot, I moved to the front of the boat and dropped my rig over. Within 5 mins, I felt a light tapping on the line and I slowly eased the spool. On the next solid tap, I strike. Fish ON!

The fish went on a powerful run but it was under control. Gained some line before it surged again. Reeled back and when I thought I had the fish subdued nearing the surface, the line went limp........

Shitx!! Not again!! As I was reeling back the rig, I could see the fish floating up to the surface due to decompression. It was a large Ebek!

Boat Captain Ricky was kind enough to pull up anchor and went to retrieve the fish! Deckies managed to gaff the fish up. Phew!

Night time action was pretty slow again, although I did catch a few more squids. Current picked up again and I went to sleep.

Just before dawn, the remaining kakis got into a 15min frenzy of Ang Chor. They managed to pull up some nice sized fish. I woke up after that to fish but it all went quiet again.

The deckies managed to scoop up some cute octopus during the night!

We called it a trip just after dawn and headed back to the marina.

I wasn't aware of a pool going on for heaviest fish for this trip. And by luck, I won it with my 7kg Cobia!


It was a fruitful trip, with me catching my target Ebek and bonus Cobia. Most of the fish were XL and of quality. The deckies were really helpful in every way! Great job!

Till the next trip!