July 17-18 - Pekan

Got a fishing trip to Pekan planned on this date.
There gonna be 4 of us; Derrick, Kelvin, Ryan and the humble me going. Counting the getting-less days, start from now.

Update: Well, the trip was over and guys on board had fun, especially on the first day out. I shall wait till fellow boatmates have their catch photos sent to me, and I shall post the catch report.

One of my fishng buddies, Ryan, continue his fishing on Monday and Tuesday after our trip on Friday and Saturday. The 2nd team was rewarded with good size ebek (local name of diamond trevally). Ryan got his catch photos sent to me to be posted here.

Ryan with his 9.6kg diamond trevally

Most of the ebek were caught with live prawn and squid head baiting. Only 1 or 2 were caught on jigging.

Same fish with different posting I guess ...

Catches Display for 2 days

Coral grouper, or Kerapu Minyak as local call it.

Ryan passed few of these to me and it tastes simply awesome, served steam.

The group with their catches

Before the trip day, Derrick called me and saying we shall have another angler, Thum, that will join us. So 4 of us drove to Pekan and arrived around 1am. Ryan who was in Pekan earlier with his wife join us for late supper at the ikan bakar shop. I slept at 3am that night, after the usual angler chat about custom rod, reels and what not.

It was the most hardworking skipper Ah Boy who took us out on the 1st day.

We tried jigging at coral area but yield nothing significant. However, at one time, angler Ryan was rewarded with consecutive catch of emperor fish using prawn and squid slice on jig. I was waiting patiently with my crab bait but nothing came for it.

At that spot, Doctor Kelvin got his most handsome catch, a 1kg++ grouper.

A very nice size of kerapu minyak by Doctor Kelvin

We changed spots for few times and when we reached the spot which we knew will be our last chapter for the first day fishing, it was already late 4pm. The sea condition was not perfectly calm, with south wind rock the boat mildly. After about 30 minutes I worked on my elcheapo jig, something came for it ...

Me with a diamond trevally (ebek) on the other end

Cannot believe the size of this ebek when she was landed ... on steroid

After this ebek, we were hit by ebek about 7 times, on jigs and on live prawn.

It was Thum's turn after mine.

He was under a bit of fear factor as he got about 150m line in his spool, and line been stripped like they will stop only by tomorrow. Eventually he landed it and the whole boat went applause applause...

Thum with his 9++kg ebek ... look at the big grin ... hahaha

Kelvin Fire Tiger with ebek ON !!

Then, Kelvin Fire Tiger's turn, with about 230m of PE3 line, the RUN was stoppable finally.

Doctor Kelvin with his 10kg-ish ebek. Awesome ... awesome ... awesome ...

The most experience angler on the whole boat at Pekan waters, Ryan, hold the ebek and requested for a photo snap. He said it has been 2 years since his last ebek frenzy at Pekan waters.

Total catch on first day out

We went for dinner that night at restaurant sri pekan, and have very nice sea food.

Nyonya style steam trigger fish (or chicken fish as some call it) ... Yummy

Garlic Steam Parrot Fish


Oopps...broken teeth

On the second day uncle ikan masin took us out targeting at parrot fish. The usual spots that were productive did not seems to produce any bite. We changed few spots after that but situation was not improving at all. When the targeted fish did not response to our bait and jigs, we switched to squid and had some fun at unjam.

While fishing for squid, we saw school of trigger fish chased at squid that have been hooked and trigger fish rig then was sinked (4 pieces small and strong hooks tied as sabiki style and small little squid slice as bait). Guys on board had fun with trigger fish but not long after, we have too many trigger fishes who got away and the whole school swam into unjam structure.

When we got back to shore, we were informed that the spots that gave us good result on the day earlier was still productive. However, done is done and we drove back to KL after bath and dinner in Pekan.

Looking at my works schedule, I do not think so I will have time to return to Pekan this year. Until then, hope the ebek in Pekan remained !

Business Trip to Beijing / Harbin / Panjin / Anshan / Shenyang May 5 to 9, 2009

I had a business trip to Northeast cities of China 2 weeks back and took some tens of photos with my camera for dummy photographer; OLYMPUS FE230.

I will upload these photos and will add the comment bit by bit, when I find slot to do so.

The Chinese words on the board can be translated as "Central Main Street".

This is a pedestrian walkway, no vehicle is allowed.

Parkson shopping centre

Chain shopping center originated from Malaysia, is at Harbin.

Memorial monument for Flood Mitigation Project in Harbin.

There were many visitors, young and old, at this area, even on weekday.

Nice boulevard beside the river.

The name ot it is "Stalin Boulevard" if I am not mistaken. Joseph Stalin? I have no idea.

Russian Church in Harbin

The color and design of this church-alike building gave me an impression that it is old, really old. From wikipedia you can get the information how old this church is :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Sophia_Cathedral_in_Harbin

Our early dinner in Harbin.

We had early dinner with end-client before our departure to Panjin. During that, we were served with over 10 types of Chinese dumplings (饺子）, with different stuffings. I was told dumpling is the most favorite food in Northeast. Great meals it was ... yummy!

Harbin

I always got the impression that Harbin is a very cold city, with temperature of probably minus 0 deg. C; and here it is, 28 deg. C, busy and dusty.

My survey comrades; GE & AT, at North Panjin Train Station

Those 4 at the back were local project partners.

My Sleeping place in the train I was in from Harbin to Panjin.

We have traveling schedule of leaving Harbin to Panjin on 7pm and reaching Panjin at 4 30am the next day. Meaning we need to get some sleep on the train. The sleeping was difficult, at least for me, as I think I slept for 2 hrs that night.

Train station in Panjin.

The time this photo was taken is 4 30am, kind of bright for me.

My breakfast in Panjin.

The local people told me this is typical Chinese breakfast; empty steam bread, stuffed steam bread, salted duck egg, salted vege and porridge. I miss a cup of milk tea in my breakfast then.

Petrochina oil terminal of Panjin.

I could only take photo from outside of oil terminals, as camera is not safe to be used in hazardous area.

Restaurant where we were treated by my client's project partner in China
This restaurant is completely roofed with glass or some transparent perspex. With concept of so called "Eco-restaurant", green plants and artificial streams are well kept in it and I would say it was creative.

The room where we had our lunch in Panjin.

It is a spacious room. The hospitality we received from my client's project partner in China was really awesome. Steam Mantis prawn was one of the dishes.

One of the dishes I had in Anshan.

My customer ordered this during our lunch in Anshan. It is obviously silk worms that were deliciously fried. I took few of these and it taste not bad at all, though this was never perceived as food in country I am from.

My room in JW Marriot, Beijing.
My client arranged my accommodation in Beijing in this very nice room, at the cost of RMB 1,600.00/night. I slept on this nice bed for 6 hours; left the hotel at 6 45am to catch my flight back to Kuala Lumpur.

Airport Terminal No. 3, Beijing.

The design of the roof resembles the scale of dragon, icon of China in tradition tales. Practically it serves the function of an opening to light up the huge terminal with nature sun light.

April 4-5 - Rompin

I got an invitation from Derrick to fish at this date ... what can I say?

I got back from Rompin late last night. We had choppy waters during the 2 days fishing and below average fishing catch. Nevertheless, it was good revisit for me to Rompin after approximately 2 years. Will write more later when time allows.

We left KL during peak traffic hours where the going-back-home crowd coupled with some ching-beng crowd I guess, and it was after shower in KL. It was traffic jam everywhere as expected, but Derrick and his girl friend, Dave and myself drove in a car, inch by inch, we move out from KL and had a good dinner at a Chinese restaurant near Bukit Tinggi.

The journey to Rompin was smooth. We stopped by Pekan at ikan masin house as I need to pass some of Ah Boy fishing tools that my fellow collagues have packed his in my bags. Ikan masin asked me to chat for while when we met in his house and we took the chance to get some updates on the sea condition.

We move on from Pekan about 10 20pm, and reached Rompin at around 11 45pm.

Photo of sail fish statue in Rompin town.

We called the boatman Ah Pui and arrange to meet and get something to bite before we finish for the day. The accommodation that has been arranged in Ah Liang "hotel", a private house arranged with facility for anglers that is.

We started off on our fishing on the day after, and Derrick have his good-reading fishing report here:-

http://www.fishing.net.my/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17325&whichpage=1

Photo of around 2 years old new wooden jetty built for fishing charter only.

Restaurant built just next to the jetty. This restaurant supplies everything we need in our daily fishing trip; food, drinking water, even facilitated with fish cleaning table and washing area for fishing gears.

Our dinner after our first day out. We had fresh catch as our dinner and couple of vodka+lemon+tonic. Was refreshing.

This was how heavy the rain at the morning on the second day. I felt this photo was not able to capture the actual situation.

Another photo of the rains when we were on our way out to unjam, last from Rompin. With Derrick mackerel and sail fishes of others, the effort was worth while.

Rainbow in the sky after we passed through the rains.

The fishing in this trip was nothing spectacular for me. I understand from Derrick on his earlier trip there, catch of diamond trevally, or by local name, "ebek" was reported at one of the major coral area. Unfortunately they are not around this time when I was there.

March 21-22 - Pekan

This trip was planned earlier, as I want to bring my colleagues to try what is off-shore fishing. I booked the trip some 3 weeks ago with charter "ikan masin" i.e. salted fish, in Pekan. I have no intention to have a great fishing in this trip, we gonna do mostly some sabiki and squid fishing. Nevertheless, if all of them collapse with sea sickness, I think I will do some jigging, targeting diamond trevally or whathaveu.

As the anglers on board are all newbies, I foresee it will be a "serving" fishing trip for me, helping others to prepare and clear the typical routine works one will need to do when fishing on board.

The day has finally came and we depart from Kuala Lumpur on 7 45pm of Friday. I called the charter during the traveling and we finally arrived in Pekan on 11 55pm.

(I will now upload the photo and the writeup shall follow pretty soon, I hope)

A typical fishing boat in Pekan. Fibre made, with live-bait well, slim hull, good speed reaching 25 knots+, the drawback is a bit rocky with small waves on sea.

Fishing boats are been unloaded on ramp

My colleague Cheong and Ah Fei with their posture. Photo taken while we were heading to fishing spots. This is their first off shore fishing trip.

My colleague Heng with his coral grouper.

Photo of another fishing boat under same charter ikan masin. Boatmen was Ah Boy.

A happy Cheong. The whole boat was hilarious with this catch from him.

Heng with his squid. He loves squid for reason I do not know. March is not an ideal season for squid but we manage to catch few.

Me with my mackerel caught from jigging. Jig used was Sapollo metallic green 40g. I have around 6 nos. of jig casualty while trying for mackerel bites. Will try a new rig with short wire before the jig and wire assist hook line in future. Mackerel bite more frequent on our first day out compared with the second day. Bait fishes will play at bottom of "unjam" during slower current and mackerel bites will be less.

While you say nice size of fish, I would say nice size of 100qt igloo box.

Heng with his emperor fish, chinese name “龙尖“. We use dead prawn as bait on a size 3 hook. This fish exhibited impressive power and causing adrenaline rush on a 16lb light setup。The spot where this fish was hauled is a small coral area, with no sight of fish trap at all (as there is no float on water surface). Seems that this is ikan masin secret spot. 2 parrot fishes were hauled from this spot too.

We drift live bait targeting mackerel on 1st day out and got 2 takes on sailfish. Upon fish strike I asked the boatmen, Mat, to pass the rod to Cheong, Heng and Ah Fei. They were shouting in ecstasy when the braid line been stripped. Nevertheless, after some 10 mins of great fun, the sailfish threw the hook and freed itself. The other sailfish followed a kerisi boatmen managed to get on jig, till boat side and u-turn away.

On the second day we have more takes on our live bait targeted at mackerel, by sailfishes. We hauled the sailfish till boatside, could not helped but noticed its jaw and bill was badly wounded because of wire of our mackerel rig. Nevertheless, Heng, Cheong and Ah Fai had fun with the "sprint" when the sailfish took the bait, not realising the worry me standing at the back, hoping the fish will not strip the whole spool of approximately 150m of 40lb braids. The outfit was brought for parrot fish fishing and I just rig it up drifting for mackerel. At a spot on our first day out, there was one time we saw a school of sailfish, about 7 to 8 of them, swimming around a coral area. I have tried sailfish fishing in Rompin 2 years back on Ah Liang's boat. I was impressed with the speed of the initial run but for some reason I never got hooked on it after that. I will ask the boys if they like it and if they do, probably I will arrange a trip for them.

We had our dinner at a restaurant as recommended by ikan masin. I was made to understand that the restaurant is owned by relatives of his elder son, Rickey. We waited for the food at that restaurant for sometime due to dinner crowd.

1st from right is Ah Boy, our good fishing guide on the 2nd day trip and 4th from right is ikan masin, his father.

Until May 2009, I will come back to Pekan!

Yan Revisit - March 14

While having beer with Derrick last week, he asked me how it sounds like for a trip to Yan on March 14 2009, to finish our unaccomplished mission. I looked at my activity schedule and tell myself then, there is no reason for me to say no.

March 14 then was fix, and both of us gonna join the group from North for Yan revisit.

I am not exception from the global economic hit; my small business has not been easy since mid last year. Like I normally told many others including myself, if one soak himself in stress thinking or been bothered by problems, it is better she/he do something that they love doing, and get out from the square for short period. Yup ... with that thoughts, March 14 seems like a good date.

I received sms from fishing buddy Mahadzir telling me there has been update of mackerel biting in Yan waters, particularly on shipwreck area. That was some 2 weeks old news, but I think the friendly ever fishing group from North will keep us updated.

As much I am looking forward to have that trip take place right when I open my eyes tomorrow morning, I will keep the progress updated here.

Continue on March 17 2009

I travelled to North of peninsular on Friday evening, rushing, as I had a long quotation clarification and negotiation with vendors. I reached Derrick's place at 4 30pm and we shoot off to Sungai Petani (SP) at 5pm.

We reach SP at 8 45pm, meet up with Derrick buddy, Kelvin, and had our dinner followed by overnight in quarter where Kelvin is working.

The second day we leave the quarters as early as 4 50am. By the time we reached Sungai Yan, the sky was still dark and we load our gears and bags onto the boat.

Loading of gears and ice box on boat.

It was around 5 45am when we move out from the river mouth, and I steal a short sleep during that time.

We started jigging at the unjam around 6 30am, and yield no bite till approximately 9am. The boatmen decided to check their fish trap and we were rewarded with squid and "chicken fish" at the second trap. Roslan, the organizer, cook instant noodle with the squid as our lunch, it was simply yummy...

Photo of 1 of the 2 "chicken fish" from fish trap (local name"bubu").

Kelvin with his "kerisi", caught on bottom fishing.

The only mackerel we caught in the whole trip, by Roslan. This fish took dead bait fish (kembong), rigged with 3 hooks on it with 20lb wire leader. At the second half of the day, the boatman took us to an unjam and the bites at this unjam was obviously better. I remember there were about 3 or 4 takes on drifted and casted dead bait fish, but in total only one mackerel was landed.

As the target fish for both Derrick and yours truly who travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Yan is mackerel, obviously the catch of 1 mackerel through out the whole trip was unable to make us happy. On our journey back from North to KL, we were talking more on the great fishing companionship, the dinner we had, but not the bad catch. We did, however, concluded that Yan shall be temporally sealed for our attempt, as the entry barrier for KLers to hunt for Yan's Mackerel is considerable high; both time and cost wise.

The mackerel in Yan waters is highly migratory, with quantity that is reducing sharply and nobody is able to tell which Unjam these teethies going to move to in next week and how long they going to stay there, making each trip of KLers to Yan is more like a bet. This is topped with the fact that each unjam in Yan waters is sort of privately own, if a boatman knows the teethies are at an unjam that not belonged to him, then the anglers on his boat will not able to check that out.

A highly attractive waters for mackerel hunter nevertheless, I will return to Yan waters perhaps later this year. Fishing season in east coast going to start soon, and I predict I am going to pretty occupied with trips there.

As for the northern fishing buddies that I have met this trip; Roslan, Kelvin and Ah Boy, I have to say they are great fishing companion; always sharing information, rigs and offer themselves for the group activities. Would be just great if I can still fish with them in my Yan revisit.

~ End ~