Relax Fishing At Rakit Atan

Nothing to shout about for this trip to the Rakit. But this was the first time for KT and Zul as well as two of their friends that came along.

The morning started rather abruptly with a call from Zul in the morning. We were all woken up by the ringing phone. Then we realized that we had past the meeting time and they were all waiting at our block downstairs.

The night before, we had just returned from JB, Endau Rompin and were dead exhausted. Hence, when the alarm rang at 5am, none of us woke up. We quickly scrambled to don our clothes and made our way down in 10 minutes.

Good thing though, the traffic wasn't jammed and we sailed across the checkpoint effortlessly. From there, I routed them to the eatery near to Kong Kong. We settled down for the first meal of the day. There, we introduced ourselves proper to KT's friends and found to our surprise, that we have common friends that we know. Small world indeed.

Driving the country road


They were indeed surprised that I cuold discover a place like this, that had them driving through rugged terrain and ending up in a world hidden from the mainstream traffic. When we arrived, the "carpark" area was filled with cars, and I decided to park outside instead. The way in seemed to have degraded from all the rain and some parts looked quite dangerous for our wheels to get stuck in. KT managed to find a slot nearer to the entrance. The place was quite packed due to the people doing overniters at the rakit.

Crowded Carpark


True enough, when we were returning, the place was much quieter.

Medusa going to Rakit


Tiram Sports Fishing Team Member


Hey, they got moustache! (strap of my camera)


A quick call to Atan, and the boat arrived. Reaching the Rakit, there were quite alot of people. But already, some of them were packing up. We found a spot near the comfy hammocks and starting to go about fishing.

J's first fish


G's first sizeable Tamban


Double hookup of Glassfish


Fighting with a jumping fish on the other end


We got you, Mr todak!


Seeing that the two new friends were first timer, we started them on tamban jigs to get some smallies. I wasn't sure if the todaks were around today. But after drifting some live baits, we confirmed they were. I managed to set the hook on one of them, and passed the rod to Zul and Jasmine to have a taste of the powerful of a jumping fish. Jasmine finished it off by landing the thrashing long fish successfully. Although Mr Todak was quite a small one, it was photo time, and a shot worthy on the family album.

KT's string of four


Backyard fishing


Zul biggest Grouper


As the tide was coming up, the fishes started to arrived. Zul and Jasmine were fishing at the back of the Rakit when Zul caught hold of a personal sized Grouper. Quite an achievement for a newbie fishing. Grouper was packed into the icebox and to be brought home to brag to Mom and Dad.

Anyone wants to buy my "Salmon strips"?


I was trying to help Garlan land a Todak. There were numerous strikes but unfortunately, they would always throw out the hook. Just 10 minutes when we were decided that we were going, we had a last strike but even though I was doing it, todak managed to slipped off again leaving us the mangled prawn. Alas, his todak would have to be another day.

Writings on the Wall


From there, it was straight to Bukit Indah Jusco for our dinner and some shopping. Rain came rather heavily near the Perling stretch. I was checking out if the cinemas were already up, but seems like Bukit Indah Jusco would not have any cinemas. We made our way back around 8pm and got caught in a little Jam. But the traffic was moving and we cleared it in half an hour.

Rakit trouble

It had been a long long while since I had gone in Malaysia for anything, not to mention fishing. But there was a sudden window of opportunity this labour day, and it was timely for some rest and relaxation.

Jess and Shawn had asked me a few times to go Rakit, since Shawn's sudden craze for fishing. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be free that day. So some quick coordination, and off we went for the Rakit.

We met at the usual Danga and after a hearty breakfast, left for Rakit around 8am. Shawn brought along a friend, Alvin, who just started out fishing as well. This hobby is indeed contagious. :).

Hole that Jess's car got stuck on


We had to park here


Reaching there, we were shocked to find the entire parking grounds, jammed packed with cars. We made the mistake of driving down the undulating narrow and sloping sandy road full of potholes. Some other cars needed to get out, and the only way for us to allow that was to reverse our 2 cars back up the difficult terrain. Jess ran into some problems when her wheels got stuck in one of the many potholes. Some folks came over to help push the car to enable it to come unstuck. I too had to manoveur the car carefully to avoid doing the same mistake. It was certainly an advanced driving challenge. We finally managed to come out of the messy spot and decided to just park along the main road.

Jess draw first blood


This fellow was a good fisherman too


Too much flying can be tiring. Need a rest here


Is this a prawn or a lobster?


The rakit we were going to was the most comfortable one at Salleh. D was excited to be seeing her cats again. Reaching there, we setup and started fishing. From the water surface, we could see many glassfish, and we went on to collect them for baits.

Playful cat


That's the way to hold a cat


Alvin with his biggest catch


But other than glassfish, the fishing was very disappointing. No todaks, no tambans. But Alvin was having a good time, as even catching glass fish was something for a newbie. He got lucky and somehow managed to catch a Scat without using any bait.

My small tengirri


Shawn with his not easy to catch Selar


I did toss out some drifting rig with glassfish, with which we had such great success with Eric in some previous trip. But for this trip, it was totally useless. I did some bottom as well with glassfish, but it didn't help too. Desperate, I rigged up an apollo with small hooks and used prawn meat. Even that wasn't too effective. The best I did was to score a smaller Scat, and then a tiny tenggiri. Shawn was doing rather well with some good catches of Selar and Mackerals. He certainly has a good fishing touch. The afternoon was burning hot, and we were all drained and sapped of our energy under the scorching sun.

Sudden commotion!


A child had fallen through this hole


He is alive and gurgling out water


Safe in mother's arms


Around 2pm, there was a sudden commotion. At the far end, there was suddenly a lot of shouting, and people running around. All curious, we walked over to see what it was all about. To our horrors, we found that a little boy (around 2) had fallen into the water under a small opening. The trouble is, once under water, the entire stretch was covered up by some structure, and it wasn't accessible. The mother was wailing and crying away, while some boys were frantically trying to find where the boy was drifting to under the strong current. Some of them jumped into the water to try to get hold of the boy. After some 1 or 2 minute, they finally found the boy and pulled him out of the water. He was clearly alive and conscious. Thank God that all turned out alright. The owner of the rakit was also visibly relieved that the boy was ok.

That certainly taught D a valuable lesson as she was always running around and being out of sight. One should learn to be careful with children around the water.

Rakit Reiza - Woah!

Original plan was to head for Rakit today with Jess as hubby wanted to get a rod and reel combo. RT said to come along with family. Coincidentally, TC also called me to do a return to Rakit. So, all the stars were aligned with the plan.

But came Sat, and I was the blur head that didn't set my alarm properly. I woke up at 6.50am, and saw a missed message from RT. Looking at my phone clock, I realized that I had overslept. There was no way that I could make it over before 7, so no choice and had to put a OPC coupon. Luckily for me, I had 1 left. Crossing the singapore custom at 7.20am, the police asked to look at my displayed coupon and made a thorough check. He was all eager to fine me $10k for not displaying OPC coupon. So this OPC coupon matter, don't play play.

I regrouped with the rest at Danga coffeeshop, just slightly further up from the usual meeting place at the food court. Not a bad place to gather, and it shall be our meeting point in future. There we met Elyn's mother and P2. This trip shall be the first to the Rakit for them.

The fishing kakis


Promising spot beside the jetty


Where are we going again?


This is fun! Wooo...


We reached the Rakit around 9+am and waited a while for the boat to settle the logistic of getting us over. P2 was all eager and excited to be taking his first boat ride. We headed for Reiza since the facilities were better, and more child safe, in our opinion.

First "big" fish of the day


Die todak die!


Wah, so heavy


Soon to be hero of the day


Since I no more rods, resort to handlining for bait fish




Wah, this fish bigger than my hand! Yay!


Father and son and fish


First hour of fishing, we quickly realized that this was yet another tambanless trip. Nothing we were catching with our feathered jigs. We sent out bottom rigs and from that, some action. I was first to break the egg with a surprise catch of a puffer. There were some small fishes on baited hooks. P2 got his first feel of a rod and line with a fish. However he didn't seemed to understand much about the thrill of fishing yet.

I tried out luring for a while, but nothing was biting. There were some todaks doing the usual follow closely but don't bite routine. Behind the Rakit, the water was full of bait fishes (glass fish mainly) and surface action. But nothing. I gave up and went back to park the rods. I finally caught a small todak. Lately, I had been finding them trickly to get at the Rakit. They would bite, and throw the hook most times.

Papa, your grouper very big hor!


P2 feet


RT broke my "biggest" fish catch of the day, when he hauled out a good size grouper from the inner well. That showed some promise for quite a not so good fishing day. And then it was my turn. I saw my bottom rod twitching and held it for a while. I felt some bites and decided to open the bail for whatever to take my prawn and run. And ran it did. Good thing that I had tighten the drag and when I closed the bail, fish was struck and hooked for good.

Got my "difficult" to catch todak


Alamak, stuck!


Can see the fish stucked on the rope 5 ft away


Operation "recover Kurau"


My biggest kurau (actually, only one)


This is my day!


What Mr Kurau did to my lines (apollo rig)


The fish fought quite well, although it wasn't big enough to spool my lines. But it ran under a rope on my left and I realized that I was running the risk of being snagged. In the commotion, I took a risk and tried to guide the fish under the rope. But instead it went too close the rope and made a few turns, snagging it for good. By then, it was already near the surface and we could see that it was a Kurau! I finally got my Kurau but I couldn't bring it up.

Curly hair Rakit indian man came to the rescue and offered to dive into the water to recover my prize catch. And luckily for him, Kurau landed on my feet, to a delighted me. I was a happy man and tipped him handsomely for taking the initiative to get my Kurau.

Thereafter, Andrew landed another grouper. An equally good sized one. He was getting to be the grouper man for the trip. TC was quite fishless until he managed a todak finally on his famous giant bomb weight. Wife Jessie was quite unable to get any fish since tambans and all their friends not around that day.

Beauty and the beast


What sharp teeth you have


Thank you heaven for this fish!


The tide came up around 12pm, and I saw quite a few big splashes in the water. Switching back to luring again, I took out my unused redhead crystal minnow and toss a few times. To my utter delight, I got a very fierce strike and fish was a good fighter. I spent a minute of two trying to guide the fish away from the ropes. At first I thot it a todak, but from the way it fought, not quite. It didn't do the signature acrobatic jump and mostly went deep. When it got near to the surface, it was a beautiful bullet shape fish. I then thot queenie, but when I lifted it out of the water, what landed on my deck was a thing of beauty, a Tengerri! WAhoo! I finally broke my tengerri-less fishing history. For that matter, as well as my Kurau-less fishing history. :))

One of TC few todaks


So finally, TC was now convinced that "fish do eat plastics". Thereafter, he took out his lure and started luring too. But less than five cast later, he gave up. Luring was hard work and he went back to his todak fishing. After my tengerri, I didn't get any more hits despite trying out most of the lures in my lure box.

The afternoon came and the current got quite strong. Fishing wasn't that good and all were mostly restless by then. We decided to pack around 4pm, and then made our way back to the city for some air conditioning cum shopping.

RT catches. It's grouper for dinner


When I grow up, I want to drive a boat!


This is long lining, said RT


Lots of things to think about after a hard day of fishing


When we returned, the custom was usually smooth at around 8.30pm. Might be due to the assessment period for schooling students.