Public Service Announcement

To all visitors of Crazyfisherman,

I would like to apologize for the lack of update in this blog. I can see from the site tracker that there is a steady stream of visitors daily. I am very sorry to disappoint all of you who come visiting hoping or an update. Workload is quite heavy here and I just can't seem to find the time to go fishing. Plus, all my fishing gears are still back in KL.

From the looks of it, I might only start fishing again next year. I will try to find some material to post in my blog in the near future.

:::... Hopefully I don't end up like this ...:::

Anyway, I will try to post some updates every now and then, any if any of you out there wants to share your catch report or anything on fishing on my blog, you are free to do so. Just drop me an e-mail (send to my yahoo mail if possible, address can be found on the sidebar) with a brief report and some pictures. I will then post it up here with proper reference to the contributor.

Until next time, Krazie Fishie signing off......

p.s. Please visit my other blogs.

• My photography blog
• My life in Sabah

Updates from Sabah

I have been receiving lots of e-mails, text messages and also instant messages for the past one month or so. Glad to know that there are many loyal readers to my humble blog. The reason for the decline in posting has been explained in previous posting. I think I owe it all to you to at least give a short update on what has been happening with me.

As some of you are aware, I got engaged last month, 23 August 2008 to be exact. Here is a picture taken right after we were engaged.

:::... Me with my fiancee ...:::

With regards to fishing, I find it highly unlikely that I would be doing anymore fishing this year. I am still getting used to the work routine here in Sabah and most of my stuffs (fishing tackle included) is still back in KL.

Anyway, I will try to post some updates every now and then, any if any of you out there wants to share your catch report or anything on fishing on my blog, you are free to do so. Just drop me an e-mail (send to my yahoo mail if possible, address can be found on the sidebar) with a brief report and some pictures. I will then post it up here with proper reference to the contributor.

Until next time, Krazie Fishie signing off......

Relocating back to Sabah

I have tendered my resignation fro my present company here in KL. I have taken up a job offer back in my hometown in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. With that in mind, I would be relocating permanently (I hope) to Kota Kinabalu.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite any anglers based in Kota Kinabalu to drop me a line. My contact details can be found on the left sidebar of this blog.

My new job would require me to travel extensively thorough out the state of Sabah. I will bee mainly based in Kota Kinabalu but I would be traveling quite often. I am still not sure how my work in Sabah would be like, I will be leaving my fishing equipments in KL for the time being. I will be coming to KL off and on so during one of my trips back to KL I will bring down my fishing equipments.

Seeing that I would be joining a new company, I doubt there I would be doing much fishing till the end of the year. Maybe I would do some freshwater fishing once I get my tackle down to Sabah, but sea fishing is a big doubt.

I am also planning to consolidate my photography blog and my fishing blog in a new domain. This would take some time but hopefully it can be done by the end of this year. The reason for consolidation is because both my hobbies are somewhat related to each other. By having them in one domain, it would be easier to make constant updates and also makes it possible for me to blog about other subjects.

Krazie Fishie Goes On A Sabbatical

Good day to all my fellow anglers and visitors to my humble blog. I am sure some of you might notice that I have not gone for many trips in the last few months. Some of my regular fishing kakis know the reason behind the lack of fishing on my side.

The reason for this drastic drop in fishing activity is because I will be getting engaged on 23 August 2008. So, as a preparation for the engagement, I had to cut down on my fishing. Nevertheless, I will be back full swing (hopefully) after my engagement is done. I already have a few trips lined up and will blog about them once the trips are confirmed.

In the mean time, please do visit my blog every now and then as I would be posting some other fishing related stories to keep all of you entertained while I am away.

I would also like to invite any anglers out there who would like to have their fishing report published on my blog to drop me an email. Please send your catch report with photos to my e-mail. My e-mail address can be found on the side bar.

I also have another blog on my photography exploits. Please spend some time to visit my photography blog.

Speaking about photography, lately I found some of my fishing pictures were published elsewhere. Usually in public forums. I do not mind sharing the pictures to others, but PLEASE drop me an e-mail before using them. And also PLEASE acknowledge and link back the photos to my blog. At the moment, I do not put any watermark on my fishing photos, but I matters get out of hand, I will have to post less photos on my blogs and heavily watermark the photos.

Karang Luas Catch Report : 7 - 8 June 2008

After the failure of our first trip to Pekan, Tang took the initiative to organize another trip to Pekan. This time, we would be using a different boatman and we would be spending one night at sea. The location this time would be at Karang Luas.

Initially there 8 participants for this trip, but due to unforeseen circumstances, CK had to pull out. In the end, only 7 of us went for this trip.

:::... (L-R : Alex, Mahadzir, Jimmy, Steven, Pak Baha the Boatman (seated), Boatman's assistant, Neoh and Tang ...:::

We departed from KL on Friday night at about 9.30 pm. We arrived at Pekan at about 1.00 am in the morning. We met up with Pak Baha at a stall and ordered some drinks. We had a short chat with him and asked about the kind of fishing that we would be expecting in the next 2 days to come. After chatting with him for some time, we decided to adjourn to the boat. We would be spending the night on the boat before heading out in the morning.

The next day, we all woke up early in anticipation of a great fishing day ahead. After a quick shower and breakfast at the stalls nearby, we proceeded to load out tackle from the car onto the boat.

:::... The Boat ...:::

:::... Back Portion ...:::

:::... Walk way ...:::

:::... Front portion ...:::

:::... Air Conditioner ...:::

:::... Kitchen area ...:::

:::... Sleeping quarters ...:::

Once we have loaded our tackle onto the boat, we wasted no time to rig our rods and reels. All of us were hyped up and ready to start fishing.

:::... Me getting ready my tackle ...:::

:::... Mahadzir getting ready ...:::

:::... Alex, Jimmy and Steven ...:::

About 30 minutes into the trip, the boat developed some problem. We had to slow down to a crawl and it was clear that the boat had developed some mechanical problem. According to the boatman, the belt for the water pump had snapped and he had to replace the belting. He had some spare parts with him, but unfortunately, the belt was too big. We had no choice but to turn around and head back to shore to get the necessary spare parts for the boat. This wasted precious fishing time. But on the bright side, at least we didn't develop any engine problem when we are out on the open sea. That would have been really dangerous.

Once the boat was fixed, we were on our way towards the first unjam (FAD) to get some live bait. This would be used later to do drifting for spanish mackerel (tengirri). Before I forget, for this trip we had 2 sponsors. On of them was from Pure Fishing Malaysia. Phil who works for Pure Fishing Malaysia had generously gave a few packets of Berkeley Soft Plastic products to try on on this trip. Thank you Phil for your generosity. The other sponsor was the Kerajaan Barisan Nasional. To those who are not aware, Malaysia had their General Election last March. I will leave it to all of you out there to come up with your own conclusion on this sponsor that we received by the Barisan National. Please refer to the picture below on the sponsor by the Barisan National.

:::... Unjam ...:::

:::... Proudly sponsored by Pure Fishing Malaysia ...:::

:::... Thank you to Phil from Pure Fishing Malaysia for your generosity ...:::

:::... Courtesy of Barisan National ...:::

:::... Up to you to interpret the rational behind this ...:::

Once we had collected enough livebait from the unjam, we proceeded to Karang Luas to do some jigging. We were all jigging but no hits were registered. Mahadzir was casting and managed to get a bite, but as he was setting the hook, his main line gave way, he lost the fish and his lure as well. We jigged for more than an hour, but experienced no bite. The boatman then suggested that we head to one unjam to try for squids. We all unanimously agreed to it.

As we were headed towards the unjam, Jimmy had his lure in the water. He was doing some trolling. Suddenly there was excitement. His line started to peel out. He thought his lure was stuck to something. He shouted to the boatman to stop. As he was reeling in his line, he felt a tug. He had fish on his line...!!! What an unexpected surprise. After a brief fight, a 13 kg barracuda was safely landed.

:::... Jimmy in deep concentration ...:::

:::... Easy does it ...:::

:::... I can see you now ...:::

:::... Jimmy started the fight ...:::

:::... Tang finished the fight ...:::

:::... The open treble hook as a result of the fight ...:::

Once we arrive at the unjam, Jimmy and Steven wasted no time and immediately dropped their squid rig. Almost intantly, they were rewarded with a sizeable squid. We all wasted no time and dropped our squid jigs a well. We had a great time hauling up one squid after another.

:::... Jimmy with his squid ...:::

:::... Steven with his squid ...:::

:::... Me with my squid ...:::

:::... Our total squid catch ...:::

That night, the winds started to pick up. The sea condition was getting rougher and waves were getting high. The winds started to get stronger at about 11.00 pm. We had difficulties in standing. Even when were were seated, we would be rolling all over the place. I decided to take a rest in the cabin.

It was during this time that Jimmy hit his jackpot. He managed to hook on to a leopard ray. I was not around when he landed the fish. Luckily Steven had his camera as well. The ray is estimated to be about 25 kg. Must be Jimmy's lucky day.

:::... Jimmy with his 25kg leopard ray ...:::

The next day, we woke up to high waves and rocking boat. We tried out best to fish but the sea condition was very bad. We did try to head to the nearest unjam, hoping to do some fishing, but the boat was unable to anchor properly. The waves were just to high.

At about 12.00 noon, we all decided to head back to land as the conditions are not conducive for fishing. Better to be safe than sorry.

We arrived back on shore at about 3.30 pm. Once we had unloaded our stuff from the boat, we divided our catch equally among us.

:::... Tang dividing the catches equally ...:::

Although we went to this with high hopes, I would say that result was bad. Although we didn't get any fish on jig or any spanish mackerel, we were lucky to be able to get squids that night. I personally feel that the squid saved the day for us. It was a great bunch of people to fish with and I am looking forward for the next trip with them.

Pulau 9 - Revisit - 17th &18th May 08

This report is written by CK from MFN. For more details, please got to the link below.

Pulau 9 - Revisit - 17th &18th May 08

Thank you CK for allowing me to post your report here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The past 17th and 18th of May mark some very important dates for me (No, it got nothing to do with pre-planning for Wesak celebration). I have been constantly checking my electronic calendars (both laptop outlook and on my PDA – when I’m away from my PC) counting down to the much anticipated trip planned.

The desire to ‘catch something’ has been driven more so by the recent P.Jarak trip which was a ZERO TAKE HOME trip, not by choice.

My wishes for this trip (of which I think, have been fulfilled): -
- Catch my first ever fish on jig
- Pop the cherry of my new jigging set.
- Getting myself jigging-fit for the upcoming Karang Luas trip.

While browsing through the forum admiring some of the successful trips, I quickly notice a topic: Pulau 9 1st Mei 2008. A very well written article which what I would categorize as a successful fishing trip to P9. So without further a due, a request for the boatman number was made on the 5th May 2007 to akashah_6lb , the original poster of the above-mentioned topic. Akashah_6lb replied almost immediately (a Big Thank you here!) and calls were made for the necessary arrangement.

Now that I have the boatman, what about the participants? After shooting out a few SMS’es, 2 more participants confirmed (my brother - CS and his friend – Ah Wah). The next 2 weeks prior to the trip, we ensure that all “necessary” preparations were made which includes multiple trips to tackle shop, countless number of jigs, poppers, kevlar, jigs again, jigging hooks, jigs again (the Sykt.Kepong sales girl upon seeing me after x number of earlier trip said: “Wah, you lagi kah? Mahu beli berapa jig oh???”)… purchased not to mentioned another new set of rod and reel. (Hmm..).

We left Subang at around 11pm or so and reached Lumut at around 2.00am (with a short stop over at Sekinchan for supper). We were quickly greeted with a friendly smile and a salam handshake from the cabin-keeper, Pak Adi (I think, couldn’t really recall, we are already groggy and tired). We asked Pak Adi: “Pak, esok pukul berapa keluar?”. He replied with a smile “Ohh.. korang bangun la pukul 6, pegi kat gerai sana tu, makan bekfest dulu, tapau nasi tengah hari, pastu boatman datang 6.30”.




We quickly unpack and prepare our arsenals while the clock is ticking away. Double, triple check on the inventories again, making sure we bring enough hooks, poppers and jigs to last us a whole year on board..

Even the rods and reels have a comfortable good-night rest on the upper double decker-bed!





“Damn, its almost 3.30am.. hmm.. 2 ½ hours of sleep, where got enough lor….”. We quickly settle in and dozed-off, in the comfortable super cold air-conditioned cabin. What felt like a mere 5 minutes eye-shut was abruptly disrupted with a loud bang on the door. Half asleep, I woke up and look at my phone.. “Huh.. only 5am, who is outside at this hour??”. Dragging myself to the door, I open and saw the boatman; Mr.Rosli already fully dressed and has started the boat engine waiting for us. “Aiks, belum bangun? cepat oh.. air mahu turun dah…5-10 minit kita kena keluar!”.. I press the panic button (a loud shout waking up the rest, including myself =) ) dashing to the toilet and emptying last night supper.. ahem.. I swear some of us even forgot to brush their teeth that morning.

The first popper was chug to a suspected-hideout of GTs and was quickly rewarded with a fiercely taken bite! Hook-on! The fight however was short and intense as Ah Wah’s popping set I suspect was meant for a much much larger specimen. The 2-3kg’ish (sorry, we didn’t bring any weighing EQs) was quickly tamed and brought on-board.

The all time favorite ‘Hung Tau Peng’ translates to ‘Red Head Army’. A must have for all jiggers and poppers.

Being curious of how a GT taste like, we vowed only to keep 1 and C&R the rest. We kept to our word and somehow regretted. We should have C&R even the first fish because it tasted funny – even on TIGA RASA.

What we kept for Day 1 of our trip. Since we are short of sleep the day before, the first day was very much spent resting on beach-island and sleeping in-between spots changing by the rest of the fishos. I was the only one going strong though I can feel the effect late in the afternoon.




The second day was more productive as we were ‘rested’ and much more prepared both mentally and physically. The second day was spent mostly on jigging as we were not really a fan of sea-popping.

A few of those spots we visited for the entire day, some of those were very very productive with constant strikes, albeit not always a solid hook-up.

This pink White Rabbit is their favorite. A back-to-back 3 hook-ups on the same spot.

One of the many Talang. This one strikes the green version of White Rabbit!

Here are the catch results of Day 2. We could have added another few more if not for some silly mistake and one cut-off Kevlar (by a tenggiri / barracuda).







Look at the size of the biggest Talang we tapau. It sure put up a good fight but was no match for a PE3 rod. =) And those mini-groupers – mostly caught on apollo. It tasted superb, however you cook it. =)

The boat we use. Good for 4-5 pax max.





Pardon me for the randomly snapped blurred picture and sub-standard analysis as this is
my first ever fishing report. Keeping a steady hand on a rocking boat while emphasizing on the quality of shots taken (angle, lighting, clarity…etc) takes more than a ‘man with a camera’ to do it. Bravos to KK, Krazie Fishie and the likes for the often entertaining and professionally-captured shots.


Verdict: -

1. Get enough of rest prior to boarding. Else, you will end up falling asleep (or worst still, sea-sick = vomiting) on the boat. That defeats the purpose of going fishing in the first place.
2. Hardwork pays! Jig jig and jig. (Ok, for those jiggers only) Don’t stop even if your arms felt like dropping-off and your scalp start scalding under the sun.
3. Keep changing the color of jig and rhythm of jigging. I notice that takes are more frequent on fast-pace jigging @ P9.
4. Boatman – This boatman of ours is super-hardworking. Changing spots every 5 minutes or so if no-take. A hardworking boatman and a hardworking jigger is the recipe for a successful trip; catch-wise.
5. Grouper. This very much sought after price-catch demand a special attention in this post. When the boatman said “Ok, turun.. sini ada kerapu, drag kasi ketat sikit, kalau kena, kasi pump kuat-kuat naik sebelum dia masuk dalam lobang”, take his word for it. We anticipated at least 2 groupers was lost because we let it race back to the hideout.
6. Ok, confession. ALL our (3 of us) takes (talang, GT, groupers, barracuda/tenggiri) are on White Rabbit jigs – pink, purple and green. CapriceKids, IMA, Jazz of various colours doesn’t seem to entice any strikes. Seems like they prefer “mamak food” than Ah Yat Abalone!
   

- CK NG -