Monday, June 09, 2008

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.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice pix KF. Thanks for the story. I tell you wat, if on July 19-20 Pekan having strong wind again, I make no trip to Pekan anymore, and I need to see a bomoh right away...hahaha

Cheers!

ktang

Anonymous said...

Great report and wonderful pics bro. Hopefully july 19 trip will be even more sucksexful.

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