Expedition Spratlys 2009

At 3.20AM, I've just finished packing for the Spratlys trip tomorrow. I am so going to pay for excess baggage. The culprit, clothings as this is a 9 days trip, and since we'll be out at sea for almost 8 days, I dare not imagine what if ALL my jigs are all sunk to the seabed. Bringing less jigs is a risky move. So all in all, I have 27kgs worth of check in luggages ! Hopefully MAS will be able to grant me 25kg allowance.

Will be back on 4th April and stay tune for the trip report !

Rod tube, Shout Expedition box, Baju bag and backpack ...HERE I COME SPRATLYS !

My Fishy Tales is on MalayMail 24 March 2009

Received this message on my Facebook a few days before My Fishy Tales was published in Malay Mail on 24th March 2009, featured under their Cyberspot section.

"dude, can we feature your blog in Malay Mail? my colleague Gabey will send over some questions.ok ok ok?can i have your blog add and also email? i'll pass it to her.thanks!"

And the outcome ? ...

As I couldn't get a clearer scan of the papers, the article is readable here. Thanks to Gabey and Angie for your effort :)

Garyukobo - Black Force

Finally, I've some new toys to be posted in here. This is one of the latest lure to hit the market, and according to its manufacturer, its supposed to be a Tuna killer ! More information could be found here if you could read Japanese and also here, for the translated version via Google.

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Some facts n figures of the lures

Black Force 195

Length: 195 mm

Weight: 85 gm

Recommended hook sizes: 3/0 - 4/0

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Black Force 160

Length: 160mm

Weight: 45 gm

Recommended hook size: 2/0

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These babes are handcrafted and the finishings are so cool, you dont feel like putting them into the air and water at all! Bought them at my regular tackle haunt, and since it is soo limited, i bought myself TWO of them. A Black Force 190 and a Black Force 160 !! Right now, I am still contemplating to bring one of them to Spratly to see some action as these little babes are extremely the pricey.

Top to bottom: BlackForce 195, BlackForce160

Serial number of Black Force 195 - #0152 Black Force head in detail Black Force 195 standing by
Black Force 160 - reporting for duty
Front perspective
Black Force 160 #0169

Pulau Jarak February 2009

Okay peeps, IM BACK !! Its been quite some time since I've logged into blogger hahaha. Apologize for missing from the scene. Been busy with changes in the office and whatmore, with the worsening economy situation, I was not at my 100% during this trip.

Anyways, there will not be any report for this trip on my blog as I seriously couldn't find time to publish a longer post. However, Daniel of Team Rapala Singapore had posted an awesome write up of the trip on his blog. It was a fun fishing with the folks from Team Rapala and they're a bunch of nice fellas. The trip report is seperated into Part 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Hope to fish again with you guys again.

Pulau Jarak Grouper Galore

On the first day out towards Pulau Jarak, the boatman will usually stop by at one of the sea mount or pinnacles en route to Pulau Jarak to anchor down for the night or some late evening popping.

As I've mentioned in the earlier posting, the wind and waves were pretty strong, pushed back everybody's confidence a little for the day. Little that everyone know, we were in for some awesome time for the trip ! The boatman have indicated that the Golden Snappers are really biting at this spot but our expectations was overthrown with a big surprise.

Boon Cheng started the day off with a young fella looking for lunch on IMA RO

Trophy catch of the trip, Khoon hit a 11kg scaled on Boga grip using Duel Tamentai jig
Mister Beginner's luck only manage to land an `Arumugam` after losing 2 battles with the groupersGT King first good table sized grouper on Sevenseas HookerWeighing in at 6.5kg on Boga, My grouper taken on Bassday Quicker 250gm, Tenryu Jigzam and Stella 8000FA setupKevin's first grouper on his maiden jigging trip !! A 4kg`ish specimen. Good jobDecomposed fish which came out from Kevin's groupers guts ..big eater !!Another 6.5kg grumpy grouper specimen hauled up by Jason using Duel Ailemetal TBBoon Cheng had his fair share of the grouper fiesta by landing a 2kg`ish grumpy grouperGT King's second grouper, a good table sized grouper landed with an Inchiku jig

Pulau Jarak January 10th-12th 2009

Yes, the first offshore trip for the year of 2009! I've been laying low since the Makassar trip in end October and I think any other hardcore fisherman would understand how the itch level is like being grounded for 2 months.

Lets cut the pathetic story short and get to the point. Although my previous catch results at Pulau Jarak was average most of the time, but I couldn't think of a place to fish while waiting for east coast season to start. When I was on the trip in September to Pulau Jarak, I've managed to secure a booking in January, 2 weeks before Chinese New Year to try to buy my luck at hitting a good catch for Chinese New year dinner.

4 hardcore jiggernauts and 3 newbie jiggers was on this trip. Darren, Marcus, Jason, Khoon, Kevin, Boon Cheng and myself were enduring a rough sea on the first day, a calmy current on the second day and a crazy strong current on the last day. We were very skeptical whether we were able to reach Pulau Jarak on the morning we board as the wind was blowing strong and chilly but our captain said its harmless and it would die down by noon. Let the pictures roll.

GT Chaser logo infront of the cabin

First blood of the trip, 4kg`ish Spanish Mackerel

Rod: Tenryu Jigzam PE3-5

Reel: Shimano Stella 8000FA

Jig: Bassday Quicker 250gm

Darren hits a 2kg`ish Sagai

Rod: Evergreen Poseidon Slow Jerker Pe3

Reel: Shimano Ocea Jigger 1500NR

Jig; Bassday Quicker 180gm

Marcus getting the 1st big hookup in his jigging careerUp comes a 8kg Spanish Mackerel weighed on Boga

Rod: Evergreen Poseidon Slow Jerker PE3

Reel: Shimano Ocea Jigger 1500P

Jig: Evergreen Javeline JetJigging at sunset time, the biting hourGT by Darren

Rod: Evergreen Poseidon Slow Jerker Pe3
Reel: Shimano Ocea Jigger 1500NR
Jig; Sevenseas Hooker 160gm Boon Cheng's share of Giant Trevally

Marcus holding on dearly to his rod for his first GT on jig A very happy owner of a good size GT Last call of the day from the bottom, Golden Snapper landed by Jason on IMA RO 120gm People say `The early bird catches the worm`. It sure did for being the first person to pop in the morning to land a 10kg Giant Trevally Later in the morning, another sizeable GTRod: Poseidon Spin Jerker PE4

Reel: Shimano Stella 08 SW8000PG

Jig: Fisherman Andaman

GT King's 80% taxed Golden SnapperKevin also with his first Trevally on jig, IMA RO 120gmDarren a.k.a GT King hits another GT

Rod: Poseidon Spin Jerker PE4
Reel: Shimano Stella 08 SW8000PG
Jig: Evergreen Caprice

Kevin hitting his 2nd trevally an hour afterA Golden Snapper landed by ME !

Rod: Tenryu Jigzam PE3-5
Reel: Shimano Stella 8000FA
Jig: Sevenseas Revolver 200gm Double hookup of Golden Snapper with Boon Cheng 8kg`ish Blacktip shark taken my jig on the sea bed meant for the Golden Snappers :( Landed with Sevenseas Revolver 200gm. Noticing a school of boiling skipjacks just meters beside the boat, Darren casted a small jig and landed one of them Marcus with his 3rd Giant Trevally ..this guy really have all the beginners luck he needs Baby grouper on Evergreen Spin Jerker Pe2.5, Shimano Stella 5000FA and Sevenseas Revolver 150gm I caught a ribbonfish in Malaysian waters !!! on Sevenseas Revolver 150gm All hell breaks loose when 7 anglers get too bored. 2 angchors on bait :P

On the last day, we woke up beside White Rock Island, one of the islands of Pulau Sembilan archipelago. Sadly the current for the day was too strong for us to do anything be it jigging, casting or bottom. Letting 100gram jigs down into 90 feet of waters resulted flying the jig like a kite, watching them drift far far ahead.

Darren's cencaru landed on his Sabel Dance Pe1 and customed Abu reel

Boon Cheng landed a baby QueenfishLast fish landed on the trip using Inchiku jigs

Shopping list 2009 - Lures

FIRST POST FOR 2009 ! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY

During the long holidays, I made a visit to my local haunt place and the place was stocked in with some new stuff. Some interesting lures came in from Mangrove Studios and Megabass. Hopefully I'll be getting the Megabass Or Poi in time for my Pulau Jarak trip next coming weekend !

There were also new weights in for Fisherman Andaman as well as Sevenseas Revolver. Will also be stocking up more of 250gram Andaman jigs as I've been waiting for ages for them to arrive. So far I've only got 1 for myself.

As for Mangrove studios, I was looking forward for the new colours of their stickbait `Searoom` to add into my Mangrove Studio stickbait collection. I have tested out the `Flying fish` model of `Searoom` on the Luconia trip and had a good time learning to work the lure . The owner only brought in the 2 lighter colours though I would love to own the one with the darkest colour. To cure my dissapointment, the boss introduced me to Awaumi chuggers also from Mangrove Studio. It would be good to add this model into my collection of popping lures. But for now, I would be looking for stickbaits/chuggers in the range of 70-100gms to go with my new Gipang :P

Mangrove Studio Searoom

Length:190mm

Weight: 115gm +-5gm

Mangrove Studio Awaumi

Length: 200mm

Weight: 130gm +-5gmMegabass Or Poi

Length: 148.5mm

Weight: 56gramSevenseas Revolver, can some one please prove they're useless so i can save money :PFisherman Andaman

Fumio Suzuki's face telling you it works :D

Christmas & New year shopping 2008

As the year comes to an end, I've topped up my jig and lure armory and also bought a new popping rod to replace my broken Shimano Caranx Kaibutsu which broke as a result of striking too hard on a sailfish.

I've decided to stock in more of the Sevenseas Revolver as this jig was a proven performer on the Makassar trip. Personally, I did not hit any fishes as I only have a 300gram version of it as part of my heavy jigging setup which earned me a off hooked hit. This jig will also put up to the test on next coming weekend's trip to Pulau Jarak. I hope it'll do what it did back in Makassar 2 months ago ! The Revolver flutters very naturally on the drop and if you like fluttering action jigs, this is the thing you should be looking at.

Also new in addition are Fisherman Longpen 100 which I bought it for the sake of getting an accompanying lure to match and try it out with my new popping rod :) On top of that, I've also bought a Fisherman Andaman 250gm jig. Been waiting for quite sometime for this weight to come in. I think it wouldn't be too much to stock 2 or 3 more pieces of this weight as its the ideal weight to use for jigging waters of 100-160meters :)

HOTS Gipang Tide Lez.78 MH - Kei Hiramatsu

Very plainly designed rod, but who cares when its a performer :P

Stands at 7 Feet 8 inches, Max Lure weight 120gm, PE 4-6

My new rod's partner in crime, which i did not blogged about it when it was bought, Shimano Stella SW10000XG

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New jigs in da house, Sevenseas Revolver 160gm and 200gm, checkout the sleeky profile and the beautiful hologram effect

More awesome holographic effect.

Fisherman Andaman 250gm

Fisherman Long Pen 100

Till then, Happy New Year 2009, May more trophy catches come your way !

Makassar, South Sulawesi Indonesia - Part 3 Jailamu Islands

After a dissapointing 1.5 day at Takarewataya reef, we moved to another spot further down south where Jailamu Islands are.

A view of Jailamu Island

Everyone tried popping at the calm surrounding but with strong winds, i had trouble standing to cast

The deckie taking a break

Jason landed a handsome Coral trout on Sevenseas Hooker

Followed by Darren with a GT on Sevenseas Revolver jig

Darren Yuen hits another GT .... this is a good GT spot

Jason also hit another one at the same spot on hooker

Dogtooth by DarrenC

Coral trout on Revolver...this is hell of a jig

Emperor..I wonder why the fish sizes here are so standardized

Coronation trout on Hooker

Some weird fish, unidentified species

Coral trout on Sevenseas hooker by DarrenC

Kelvin's Jobfish on Shout Stay

Little doggie brought up ..felt so heavy suddenly it came up so light...tail was bitten and broke

Kerisi on Hooker - 1

Approx 8kg Kerisi on Hooker -2

Darren-C amberjack-1 10kg on Fisherman Andaman

Darren-C amberjack no 2 10kg also on Andaman

All in all, this trip came up with quantity but not size. Also the boatride was kinda long. It took us 7 hours from Makassar jetty to Tarakewataya and from Takarewataya to Jailamu Islands another 4 hours. The major pain in the ass was the journey from Jailamuk back to Makassar which took us a whopping 13 hours !! With the rough sea conditions and strong winds, it made matters worse when the deck's ceiling was leaking from the rainwater from the top deck.

It was quite an experience for me, but sad to see that most of the fishing grounds reef has been ripped apart by commercial fisherman by bombing the reefs :(. Hopefully one day, there will be better charter boats operating in Makassar as most fishing boats in Makassar are converts from diving boats.

Makassar, South Sulawesi Indonesia - Part 2 Takarewataya

Waking up from the nap was kinda dreadful as we only have less than 3 hours for it. Thinking I was late, I ran helter skelter enroute to the reception only to find out the rest are still in dreamland ! After waking up everybody, we proceed to the reception to wait for Wiwied's arrival. We were ready to board Theodoras after 1/2 an hour's wait at the jetty as they'd to pickup another 2 participants on this trip at the docks where she is berthed.

Length: 47 feet x 12 feet

Engine: Single Yanmar Marine 120HP Turbo max @ 8 knots

Electronics : GPS & Echo sounder

Cabin : 4 x aircond, 4 x open air The sleeping space on the deck

The boat also lacks of rod holders which the sleeping space was turned into rod table !

Our first destination was to head to the reef called Takarewataya about 70 miles away from Makkasar which took us nearly 8 hours to reach. One significant landmark on this reef is the lighthouse that caught my attention. Its design explains that its a very old light house and we were told that it was built by the Dutch during the Dutch occupation days in Sulawesi. Surprisingly, its still functioning today and its smacked right in the middle of the reef.

The lighthouse from far

First blood of the day, Bluefin Trevally

Rod: Seed Custom

Reel: Ryobi Safari

Jig: HOTS Kten

Coronation Trout

Reel: Evergreen Poseidon Slowjerker PE3

Reel: Shimano OceaJigger 1500P

Jig: Sevenseas Revolver

Dogtooth Tuna

Rod: Evergreen Poseidon Spinjerker PE 3

Reel: Shimano Stella 6000FA

Jig: IMA RODogtooth Tuna

Rod: Evergreen Poseidon Spinjerker Pe2.5

Reel: Shimano Stella 5000FA

Jig: Sevenseas HookerGrouper from 160meters

Rod: Tenryu Jigzam PE 3-5

Reel: Shimano Stella 8000FA

Jig: Sevenseas Hooker

As little as the picture shows of the catches, the spot was indeed very unproductive on the first 2 days there. From our observation, it seems that there are alot of small boats out there anchored on the shallower portion of the reef. According to our guide, the locals bomb the reefs for fishes for a living due to price of fuel is expensive in this part of the world, it would be more worthwhile to bomb the reefs than netting. Quite a sad sight infact. After spending the 2nd morning without much bites, we've decided to move on to the next spot which is 5 hrs away further south of Takarewataya.