Date: 29th Feb 08 to 1st of Mar 08
Tide:
29/02 0256 2.6m
29/02 1022 0.9m
29/02 1656 1.9m
29/02 2056 1.6m
01/03 0324 2.4m
01/03 1150 1.0m
Chinese Calander: 一月二十三,一月二十四
Ah Fatt's Kelong
Fishing at the month of February with 29 days is indeed a very special and meaningful occasion for the 6 of us as usually, there is only 28 days instead of 29 days in the month of February. After meeting up at the Kranji MRT at 6am, all of us entered Johore straight without going for breakfast in order to get away from the infamous and yet horrible Woodland jam and of cause the thorough check on all vehicles due to the escape of a criminal 2days before out trip. At around 7am after our breakfast at Johore, we set off to Tanjung Leman ferry terminal where we estimated to reach our destination at 9am whereby our boat will be there waiting for us at 10am.
Early Breakfast at JB Pelangi
All the friendly folks
During weekdays, there weren’t many people on the Kelong and therefore, it was the main reason why we preferred to go on Friday. However, we were sort of disappointed when we reached the Kelong as the operator informed us that we would have to wait for some customer to leave after lunch time and by then they will allocated us with the bed. Moreover, for the few hours of waiting time, we would need to keep a look out on our stuff lying on the floor without having a peace of mind while we were doing our fishing. After checking out with the in-charge, then we realized that they were doing some renovation on a section of the Kelong and hence, beds are pretty limited at that point of time. Frankly speaking, I was rather pissed off as they did not informed me of the current situation when I booked the trip few days back. In addition, I was even told that we will be the only guys for that day. Anyway, we were here to enjoy rather than making our trip a miserable one. Therefore, we don’t really want to kick a fuss over it. Thus, we will have to seriously reconsider coming back to this Kelong again for our next Kelong trip. For that few hours of fishing moment, nothing big was landed as we were busy catching bait fish, Tamban. Some guys who are doing their fishing at the Kitchen area managed to land some Ebek and big selar with the Sabiki. There was a particular Uncle, who had stayed for 6 days on this Kelong with his wife landed a few big Tengirri, Jemuduk, Barracuda and some other big fish during their stay which had given all of us some confidence in landing one or maybe two biggy during our stay.
Our stuff at the corner
Enemies upfront!!!... QUICK! Prepare our weapons
Nice Kelong
Our disturbances during the day fishing
During our lunch time, it was another disappointment for us guys as the food was not very appetizing and the chicken leg soup taste awfully salty. The standard of the food had dropped tremendously comparing to my last 2 visit whereby the crowd is approximately 3-4 times more. Seriously, i really hoped that the operator can improve on this. After our lunch, all of us were desperated to catch big fish and without delay, all of us grabbed our gears and headed to the water. As many bait fish is swimming around the Kelong. Many predators are lurking around the Kelong as well.
How i wish i can fish here
Lunch photo...say cheers!
"Kindly release your unnecessary catch"
Our Captain Richard Sparrow’s objective for the day is to target the Garfish, Todak. Within a few minutes, he had already landed a couple of decent size todak where he had given it to the Malay guys at the Kelong since the Malay Uncle requested. Luckily, I have bought my detachable DIY net or else, bring up the fish might be difficult. Tian Siang, Marcus and Lu Cong also join in the fun of Todak fishing as there are many Todak at the surface feeding on the bait fish. While Marcus and Richard was casting out there live bait, suddenly from a few meters away, an almost 4ft black shadow surface the water. Marcus and Richard were shocked to see it and they were able to see the big monster chasing after their bait but was not biting at all. Immediately, I ran over to them to see what that monster is and was shocked to see such a big size black-tailed barracuda coming very close to the Kelong chasing after the bait fish. I took out my 6ft6 Shimano Bassterra and Ryobi Zauber2000 combo to start luring but after a couple of empty cast on my Yozuri minnows, I gave up. There were too many todak attacking my lure and the todak’s teeth marks can be seen cleary on whatever lure I used. Despite of the attack by the todak on my lures, it was quite difficult to hook up the nuisance long-beaked fish. Without failed, our Captain Richard was declared the Todak terminator with his 10 over pieces of todak. However, both Darren and I was getting quite annoyed by him as he was using our live tamban which he took no part in catching it and those live bait fish was to be used for our night fishing.
Todak Frenzy
Lu Cong in the Todak challenge
My useful net in action and it's a MUST
Our Todak terminator....Captain Richard
A very satisfied man indeed..Bravo! to our Captain Richard
After informing Richard to use the fresh dead tambans which I specially catch for him instead of using the live ones on his so called “Todak Reign”, I continued aiming for the biggy but with no avail. Darren at the other side of the Kelong was busy catching some more bait fish which he intended to keep it alive till night time fishing. There will plenty of Selar in the sea as there is this couple who took the same boat with us to the Kelong were targeting the big Selar using his gigantic pole rod which is approximately 15-16ft in length. According to Darren, the couple is using fresh tamban fillet on their single hook setup which seems to be very effective. While Darren had enough of the small bait fish, he used Marcus’s gear and changed to a bigger size hook sabiki hoping to target the bigger selar. Amazingly, he had a good take by a 2ft length Tengirri which had given him a really hard time on fighting it. Moreover, the challenging part was the gear he was using was really damn light resulting him to struggle on holding the rod and praying hard making sure the 8lb mono line on the Tica cetus500 is still holding on. Unfortunately, the fish dived for the stilt and got stuck causing the 8lbs lie to snap and off goes the Tengirri.
What a cute and Small Tica Cetus 500
The one and only Reef squid landed by Darren
Wow, so heavy and slimy...quick it's heavy
In this trip, Darren managed to land his one and only decent size ‘Green eyed’ (Reef squid) and for me I was pretty lucky to land my biggest cuttlefish in my squid jigging history. It was approximately 2kg in weight and it was being caught at around 6pm. Indeed, it has given me a tough time pulling it up when I retrieved my line. It was as if my line got struck at the bottom and only when I managed to reel up my line, then I realized it was a big cuttlefish. Luckily, Lu Cong who was resting on the bed responded when I called out for my "Super Duper" DIY net. Immediately, He jumped out from his bed and came to my rescue by assisting me on landing this big monster. During the night, I got a take from another big cuttlefish or maybe a big reef squid but the hook was not set properly and eventually, it has escaped halfway when I retrieved back my line.
What an alien!
While I was concentrating on my Squid jigging, a biggy took the bait from one of our rod which we had placed on the rod stand. Before it, Marcus and I was standing beside Darren’s lucky rod and out of sudden, the alarm from the buzzer was activated. Initially, I thought it was Marcus who is playing trick on us just to get us excited but I was wronged. I was then shocked to see that the rod tip was bending downwards and the 40lbs braided line was soaring out from the Ryobi Zauber4000 at an amazing speed. I quickly took over the rod from Marcus and trying my very best to stop the unknown monster from peeling off too much line from the reel. While I was fighting the fish, I sensed that something was really wrong and was kind of puzzled when the biggy went towards the Kelong and then followed by making a strong dived underneath. The ultimate pulling from the fish was superbly powerful as I have totally zero control over my unknown opponent. After holding on for a couple of thrilling minutes, my anxious hope in landing the biggy suddenly diminished into the thin air. At that point of time, I was absolutely stunned. How can this happened! Is it the line had snapped due to the abrasion against the Kelong’s structure or the hook had straightens during the fight? After the line was recovered, I check the leader and found that the setup was not damaged and the hook is still in place. Just my luck, as the hook was not securely set on the fish’s mouth. What is this mystery fish anyway? Perhaps, nothing can be done now as this monster had indeed filled me with regret and done me with enough humiliation....I vow that I will take my revenge one day.
Jokes, laughter and tibits...so relaxing
Another Alien landed from outerspace
A spiky puffer scope up with my DIY net
It's cute but do you dare to touch it?
Despite of the disappointment from the unknown monster, LuCong landed a pretty funny catch during the night, a big spiky puffer fish which is a slightly bigger than a basketball. When the fish surfaced, it was bloated like a big balloon. Out came my amazing net and the fish was landed with ease. After a round of picture taking, the cute and spiky fish was released unharmed. We called it a night at roughly at 1am......"Fishless Night".
Our Kelong trip was ended with some other variety of fishes such as a decent sized grouper landed by Lu Cong, a Coral trout and a big Whiting by Tian Siang, a Juvenile Barracuda by Marcus. After our “so-so” lunch, we head back to Tanjung Leman Jetty with joke and laughter and most importantly, a return to Sibu for my revenge which I will never forget in my whole life.
Starfish caught by our Captain Richard
Lu Cong with his decent sized Grouper
Marcus's Barracuda
Bat-fish landed by me
