Date:14-06-2008
Destination: Pahang-Pekan
Type of fishing: Jigging and Bottom fishing
No of people: 8
Set off location: Kranji MRT station
Set off Timing: 0130am on 14th Jun 08
"Yah....its no joke!!!" This trip is indeed a 24hrs trip where every minute is fully utilised. The Journey to Pekan is roughly 4.5 hours from Johore bahru and luckily we are not driving up there as after the fishing trip and after a dinner at Pekan, we got to return back to Singapore and its sure to be a hectic and tiring trip for all of us.
1am at Kranji MRT station
3am drinking my teh-halia with the folks
Early morning at Pekan Kopi-shop
Our transportation to Pekan
So many things to choose for breakfast
Its coffee time!!!
Boatman also came for a cup of coffee
How i wish i had this in Singapore
Pekan is a nice and lovely fishing village which one can really feel relaxing and certainly feeling less stressful compare to living in a fast pace city like Singapore. Frankly speaking, Singapore is a fast developing country and many Fishing Spot in Singapore has already give way for commercial buildings or places mend for tourist more than for locals to enjoy. Without much place left for doing our hobbies, we Singaporeans tends to find other places in our neighbouring countries. "Hmmm.....so sad for us"
Time to wet our line
Its jigging time...too bad no fish
Arthur with his first snapper on died prawn
My 1st catch of the day using died prawn
Ricky's rod is bending
A big parrot
At roughly 6am in the morning, we reached Pekan. After a breakfast at a local Coffeeshop, we headed off to the Boatman's house to have some freshening up, and soon the 8 of us were on the way to the Jetty to board the fishing boat. This time round, the old boatman will not accompany us but has informed has son, Ricky, to bring us out for this trip.
At roughly 6am in the morning, we reached Pekan. After a breakfast at a local Coffeeshop, we headed off to the Boatman's house to have some freshening up, and soon the 8 of us were on the way to the Jetty to board the fishing boat. This time round, the old boatman will not accompany us but has informed has son, Ricky, to bring us out for this trip.
A good fight for Ricky
Squid jigging session
Shortly, we were all speeding out from the estuary into the big sea and it was a hell of a bumpy ride for Arthur, Trick and me. The 3 of us were sitting at the bow and the impact was really fantastic......or maybe painful to be more precise. Seriously, Pekan seems not really an ideal place for fishing as i can see that Bubus were scattered all over the sea and there are many local fishing boats around. Fishing at such high fishing pressure area doesn't seems to be promising at all. Our liveprawns which we brought over from Singapore for targetting the Ebeks had failed its mission as all prawns were found dead when we wanna use it. Really miserable...as no live prawns means no ebek for us.
Jigging was simply pathetic for most of us as nothing took out jigs after jigging for many hours. After the long jigging, most of us decided to change into bottom-fishing. Ricky uses crab as bait and managed to land a 3.5kg Parrot fish. As for us, only small groupers and small snapper was caught using died prawns.
Shortly, we were all speeding out from the estuary into the big sea and it was a hell of a bumpy ride for Arthur, Trick and me. The 3 of us were sitting at the bow and the impact was really fantastic......or maybe painful to be more precise. Seriously, Pekan seems not really an ideal place for fishing as i can see that Bubus were scattered all over the sea and there are many local fishing boats around. Fishing at such high fishing pressure area doesn't seems to be promising at all. Our liveprawns which we brought over from Singapore for targetting the Ebeks had failed its mission as all prawns were found dead when we wanna use it. Really miserable...as no live prawns means no ebek for us.
Jigging was simply pathetic for most of us as nothing took out jigs after jigging for many hours. After the long jigging, most of us decided to change into bottom-fishing. Ricky uses crab as bait and managed to land a 3.5kg Parrot fish. As for us, only small groupers and small snapper was caught using died prawns.
Sean caught something big
The cobia finally landed
Sean with his 8kg cobia
The biggest catch of the trip is from Sean who uses live bait fish. A Cobia took his bait and it certainly gave Sean a good workout. Initially, all of us thought that the fish was way too easy to counter as within a shortwhile, the cobia surfaced and all of us are able to see the fish swimming near to the boat. However, the real fight begins when it suddenly made a dash into the deep and i can hear Sean's Accurate reel screaming for help with his line peeling off meters by meters into the water. After much struggle, the fish finally gave in and a clear victory for our tiring Sean.
The biggest catch of the trip is from Sean who uses live bait fish. A Cobia took his bait and it certainly gave Sean a good workout. Initially, all of us thought that the fish was way too easy to counter as within a shortwhile, the cobia surfaced and all of us are able to see the fish swimming near to the boat. However, the real fight begins when it suddenly made a dash into the deep and i can hear Sean's Accurate reel screaming for help with his line peeling off meters by meters into the water. After much struggle, the fish finally gave in and a clear victory for our tiring Sean.
Arthur caught a Sakai
Squid on my Yamashita
Bottom fishing was not doing fine as well. However, what really interest me is the jigging of Green-eye reef squid from the boat and it's my first time doing it. I managed to catch 3 squid whereby i have the intention to bring it home for cooking but then came to realise that it was taken away by the boatman from the Icebox without my knowing. The squid ended up as baits for the guys fishing at the stern.
Bottom fishing was not doing fine as well. However, what really interest me is the jigging of Green-eye reef squid from the boat and it's my first time doing it. I managed to catch 3 squid whereby i have the intention to bring it home for cooking but then came to realise that it was taken away by the boatman from the Icebox without my knowing. The squid ended up as baits for the guys fishing at the stern.
The Fusiliers pair (Potato Fish)
Double combo using sabiki
Sadly, my Majorcraft offblow jigging rod and my Daiwa Caldia Kix4000 reel had no chance to perform due to the poor jigging result for the whole day. In the end, this 500 over bucks equipment was used with the Sabiki jigs to jig for small fish...and i really meant it. Hahahahaaa.....when one's really damn boring, he will likely to do all kind of funny stuff.
Sadly, my Majorcraft offblow jigging rod and my Daiwa Caldia Kix4000 reel had no chance to perform due to the poor jigging result for the whole day. In the end, this 500 over bucks equipment was used with the Sabiki jigs to jig for small fish...and i really meant it. Hahahahaaa.....when one's really damn boring, he will likely to do all kind of funny stuff.
Icebox too small for the cobia
Say cheers!!!
Who owe the Loanshark $$$!!!
A long waiting dinner at the Pekan
The fishing came to an end at around 6pm and i really glad it finally ends. After unloading our stuff from the boat, we went to a nearby shop for a drink waiting for our driver to fetch us back to the boatmans house for a much needed shower. At around 7:30pm, we headed to a nearby chinese restaurant for our dinner. The Parrotfish which was caught in this trip was included as one of the main dishes in our menu. All of us had a great meal and its pretty cheap as well. The long drive back was really tiring. At roughly 2am, we finally reached Johore.......and thats what i meant for a 24hrs fishing trip.
The fishing came to an end at around 6pm and i really glad it finally ends. After unloading our stuff from the boat, we went to a nearby shop for a drink waiting for our driver to fetch us back to the boatmans house for a much needed shower. At around 7:30pm, we headed to a nearby chinese restaurant for our dinner. The Parrotfish which was caught in this trip was included as one of the main dishes in our menu. All of us had a great meal and its pretty cheap as well. The long drive back was really tiring. At roughly 2am, we finally reached Johore.......and thats what i meant for a 24hrs fishing trip.
