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.

Makassar, South Sulawesi Indonesia 22-27 October 2008 - Part 1

This trip was initiated from Jason who had kept in contact with the organizer who organized his trip to Padang earlier this year. We were told that this trip, we'll be heading to Takarewataya Reef and Jailamu island at the southern waters of Makassar onboard a dive boat converted to fishing boat, Theodoras on a 4 days 3 nights expedition.

As the date for the trip was getting nearer, I was informed by Jason that there were more slots available for this trip. So, after thinking for some time, I hurried to get the necessary bank procedures done and rushed home to book my airtickets. In the lapse of 5 hours, I was a confirmed angler for this trip together with Jason, Kelvin, Darren-Y and Darren-C.

Kelvin and Darren-Y monkeying at the gate anxious to get there

Daniel from Ipoh, good to go with Darren-C

AK 1026 to Ujung Pandang, Makassar. Yup thats our flight. Air Asia, Now everyone can fish !

On the evening of arrival, we were greeted at the airport by our organizer's friend who transported our equipments and luggages to the hotel while their owners were escorted away to do some groceries shopping for the next 4 day's supplies of our kretek cigarretes, Coke, Pocari, rootbeer and junk food.

Touchdown at Makassar !!

Our little pickup truck. Trust me this old junk aint a junk ! Anyway, its our luggage and equipment's ride :)

Right after that, we were chauffered to the Hotel Pantai Gapura to meet up with Wiwied, our organizer and guide for this trip and check into our rooms. Once everyone was done with their luggage, we were brought to this BBQ seafood restaurant Apong, supposingly to be one of the best in Makassar town.

The reception areaMeeting up with Wiwied Apong BBQ Restaurant !!..Finally some REAL food.Kelvin and Darren-Y monkeying with Fanta botol infront of the lense Thats what i call SOLID seafood !Another view of everybody at the restaurant

After a hearty meal of Makassar local seafood dinner and a good chat, we adjourned back to our hotel rooms to cat nap and wash up ourselves. What impress us the most was this hotel have their own jetty and we'll be boarding the boat at the hotel's jetty itself at 2.am ! This could buy us more time to cat nap as by the time we reached the hotel, it was already 11pm !

The walkway leading to our rooms...Good night for now...to be continued in Part 2

To be continued ....