We boarded the boat under the Penjuru flyover
Unfortunately the coffee shop with the favorite scallop noodle shop had closed down. I was so looking forward to it. After a quick breakfast at Ayer Rajah market, we top up on some fishing stuff from the tackle-shop; like $2 per piece weights; and proceeded along to the boating pickup point.
Once out at sea, we started fishing at the first spot. The sea was rather deep but the current was manageable. I had setup 2 tackles, my Jigwrex PE2-4 and my lighter tackle, blackrose. ZW did likewise and we alternate between the 2 rods depending on the current. ZW was using his recently purchased set and during the trip; TLD15 and a rather pricey Expert Graphite Ares which he found it very much to his liking.
While I was taking his photo and holding my rod under my arm, I also got a take. Another T-Boon
First fishes were by us. ZW and I scored a double hookup of T-Boons (Spanish Flag Snapper). After that, the rest started getting fishes like Kaci, more T-Boons and the regular groupers. However, after the first T-Boon, ZW was quite fishless for the rest of the day. Despite the advise by others, I stuck mainly to my light blackrose. Due to that, I scored mainly small fishes. I think I might have caught the most fishes, but all smallies. My score was:
2 T-Boon, 2 aramugum (small grouper), 1 KBL (small), 1 wrasse (small mouth and yet attack my prawn!), I had also plenty of sangkot, some of which started out promising.
Patrick with his first, a nice Kaci(Sweetlips)
The morning started rather hot, but it kind of cooled down in the afternoon. Luckily we were quite well covered up and didn't suffer too much from the burning sun. I was trying out my seahawk hat, which worked rather well.
But the star of the trip was from a simple man, John who was Bernard's friend. John wasn't a very technical fishingman, and we could tell from his gear. While the rest were all using expensive stuff like Saltiga, Accurate, Jigging Master, Expert Graphite, Calstar etc...he was just using a Surecatch rod and a cheap combo of an overhead. His first catch was good, a nice Kaci to my envy. Around 3pm in the afternoon, he hooked on something very big. We could all see him struggling to lift the fellow up. When it surfaced, we all gasped at the fish. It was a prize catch of a 2kg Coral Trout. It was not every Sunday that one could see such a nice fish. From the market, this fish could be sold for around $32 per kg. It was indeed his lucky day, and we could see him smiling away and feeling satisfied. Bernard was feeling rather unhappy as his seemingly less experienced friend was getting all the good catches. He turned out to have a duck egg this trip.
After that, the fishing all quieten down. Chew was the last to score a nice leatherjacket which he mistook for a puffer. Everyone told him that it was a chicken fish and good to eat. After that, he probably felt happier. Around 4.30pm the boat headed back and stop at one or two more places for us to try our luck a few more times. We reached back to the land at around 5+pm.
This trip, a mixed bag of catches. Good trip for some, and not so good for the others. But seeing the coral trout, one can only hope that it would soon be their turn to get something that good. It literally took John 40 years to get that. Fishing is certainly a life-long adventure.
If you see people wearing this, you are in the midst of experts.
ZW using his virgin rod set
Petrol station in the sea
ZW got his first fish, a T-Boon
Decent table size
This special T-joint knot. Very useful to spread the line out from the sinker
The deckhand Tonni teaching us how to do it
Nice grouper (not sure from who)
Another grouper from "Ah Fat"
Woot. My KBL. It had taken me 4 years to land a true blue wild KBL
Pose pose with it
Chew got a surprise visit from a Sotong who was trying to attack a "aramugum" that he caught on the way up. It squirt at him on the surface to all of our surprise. Tonni got it up using net
Another small catch by me
Chew's grouper
Something BIG
Wah. Man of the trip showing a V sign
Beautiful closeup pose of the Man and the Beast
This is the way to gang-hook the prawn with 2 hooks
Chew rare catch of a leatherjacket
Believe me, these people all got "Performance" gears
People fishing under the bridge
On the way out, a drowned mouse sighted in a pail