Bluewater Fishing Expedition

22-04-2006, 09:59 AM

Hello to all fellow fishos.

I promised Team Singapore to produce this Catch Report for the Grand Prix Joran 2006 Tournament, but I was unavailable due to a sudden downfall of viral fever that left me weak and extremely uncomfortable. Although not fully recovered, I’m well enough to work and of course; complete what I had promised to Team Singapore and DayDay aka Encik Fendi, sorry for the delay.

15th April 2006

Mr. G picked me up from my JB apartment, and it’s the 1st trip for the year, due to the monsoon season. Nonetheless, the weather was extremely foggy but we reached Sedili in one piece.

DayDay was just nearby the entrance of Sedili Fishery Port and we wasted no time to check on where we could leave our equipment for the time being. Within minutes, offloaded all our gear and waited for time to pass quickly; too bad it didn’t.

0800 hrs, once the registration table opens, DayDay, Stryke and all boat representatives went forward for registration, collection of the boat numbers and goody bags for all 39 anglers of Team Singapore.

After a quick introduction with Team Singapore, there were discussions and past experiences shared on land, and I helped Sailfish87 with his bimini-twists and line joints (you owe me a favor bro…), when time has arrived for the guys to move off. However, saw one of the Johor contingent participants with a flag number 109. Damn. Lucky we were under flag 9….! We were the first few to arrived, early morning, hoping to get the best boats,,, ( kiasu Singaporean) as normal….

There were also live bands from the Kampung Boys N Girls, and throughout the day, there were also a stall selling last minute tackle (over-priced), even food stalls appeared out of nowhere, not to mention a stall selling plastic flowers, home-made belachan and the eye-raising Kopi Jantan (woah, Tongkat Ali – anyone? Hmmm?)

At 1045hrs, speech from the organizer and safety briefing from Malaysian Marine Police finally broke the mundane , also not to forget the kind gentleman who was reading Islamic prayers over us (baca doa) to ensure safety at sea.

Team Singapore Of 39 anglers, equipped with Full Battle Order, sets off from Sedili Johor - for GP Joran Challenge. Lugging each other’s gear, we moved quickly to our respective boats and managed to settle down quickly for it was running late, and there were still a truckload of participants at the jetty.

1115 hrs, we were dispatched to our boats, 1200hrs the VIPs are on board a huge Marine police boat escorted all 100+ boats to the starting point (not bad, not bad). Once the air horn sounded, every boats speeds off to their best fishing spots, all the way! Full gear forward; here we go!

Boat 9.
Mr. G had a knack for trolling while moving towards the 1st fishing ground, so I helped him out in rigging his new Williamson’s Bonito Mackeral. Since he wanted to hold on to the rod while chatting with one of the team-members, I left him for a deserved rest – till something came and hammered it, almost catching him off-guard. Nonetheless, that sudden take failed to connect, leaving a few scratches on its rear end. ‘Big Barracuda, Tenuk’ is what the boatman said when he looked at the scars.

Around 2 hours later, reached our spot. Water’s very calm, barely any current. Boatman’s saying we are above a coral area (forgive me guys, I can’t remember what name it was…) and generally we gave it a try. Spanish mackerel weighing around 3.5kg landed within the 1st hour, following a barracuda around 2.1kg within the next hour. 2 table sized groupers and around 6-7 wrasse and were landed but unfortunately, not exceeding 800grams.

Then we were struck with a problem. Barely any live bait caught! The boatmen are aware of the current situation, so they started fishing with their hand-lines, and managed to provide sufficient live-bait. You guys rock the boat! Weather was good till about 1600hrs there was this sudden heavy rain ,and strong winds howled throughout the remainder of the evening till morning, almost everyone got seasick.

I felt like everyone is praying for a fair change in weather Unfortunately, the blue waters got more unstable and there’s no more live-bait, rain’s pouring. I went into the cabin for a short nap, knowing the swells will make me puke, even if I had motion-sickness pills well in advance. Time check: 1800hrs.

2200hrs, woke up for a moment to see the situation. Everyone, including Stryke, Tommy, Mr. G, Uncle, and the remaining others (I can’t remember everyone’s names, sorry!) were still fishing in the endless bouts of waves and the never ending rain. No action, barely any bites! Sleep.

16th April 2006. 0200hrs.

Trying to get some rest but it’s hell; with all that rocking going about. Something sour was in the air, some poor chap must have threw up from all the 4 feet waves hitting the boat. However, I was pleasantly surprised with 2 catches- from Tommy (a Golden Lobster : 1.5kg at least!) and Stryke (solid hooked on freshly-caught squid : 10 kg Cobia!), well done people! Boatman gave the signal; storm’s approaching – better head back to land, time check 0300hrs. All agreed to head back from all the rocking and we reached land at 0500hrs, opposite the Sedili Jetty.

0700hrs.
Next morning, boats starts heading to shore with their catch, was expecting the giants to be un-caught, due to the foul weather, who would know… Boat 1 came back first with a massive Spanish Mackeral weighing 12.06kg! Stryke’s cobia tilted the scales around 10kg, but at that moment, not more than 10 boats returned, and in 1 hour’s time I realized that although many boats returned to Sedili, a high percentage came back with nothing! Very sorry for the fellow fishos who didn’t get anything, but as saying goes… ‘you win some, you lose some’…

All the major catches goes to the weighing table, where the judges will be approving and disapproving the types of fish caught.The scores are based on class and points rewarded per kg. Cobia, stingray, barracuda earns 5 points per kg, whereas grouper, Spanish mackerel, barramundi ect ect earns 15 points per kg. For the 10 pointers, I can’t remember, sorry…

0900hrs, the return of Boat 7 – Team Singapore. Massive take on DayDay’s 30-80lb Penn Tuna Stick, only to have the rod and 50lb line SNAP on a last minute surge when the fish gave up fighting! After examining the rod, there’s no fault in the blank! As much as I have to admit that it’s not meant to be used for bottom-fishing, it takes more than just a brute to have that Penn destroyed! Immediately spoke to the native nelayans (fishermen) on this matter, and all came with one unanimous answer – big BIG shovelnose.

0950hrs, everyone were so sleepy and I was about to go for breakfast with Mr. G and Ah Soon (boat 7) when we heard a commotion going on. 4 men carrying something that vaguely looked like a fish scuttled by the ‘oohs’ and ‘waahs’ to the weighing section. The mother of all cobias, and the heaviest of all catches has arrived.

25kg Cobia! What a monstrosity it was, and what a shame it was too. Reason : It didn’t qualify for the 15 point category, so for it’s weight, it has an average score of 125, whereas the 12.06kg Spanish easily won with an average score of 181! Nonetheless, well done!

1030hrs.
The judges are moving the finalists’ catches to Desaru, and Stryke’s 10 kg Cobia seems to be in the top 30 along with Mr. G’s 3.5kg Spanish mackeral! More than an hour of driving, it was exhausting. Reaching Desaru at 1215hrs, had to wait till 1500hrs for the final results! Took some time to go down the beach, where more than a few hundred rods were along the beach – it’s the surfcasting category! Only thing I saw was the proximity of lines crossing each other, almost everywhere. Still more than 2 hours to go… Argh! Waste time, ended up i slept at the parking lot till 1445hrs.

1500hrs, still no-start, the datuk for the event is watching the dances on stage, his speeches, his other counter-part gave speeches, 1 hour flew by slowly. Finally results…

13th Place, Golden Snapper 4.80Kg -Esa Omar Al Khatib !

29th Place, Cobia, 10.58Kg - Ching Kim Yeon ( Stryke) !

Congratulations!

Finally it’s 1700hrs, and time to collect the respective catches from the judges. Many contact numbers were exchanged between boatmen and anglers alike, many old and new friends met and known, good experiences, and all things good and bad played a part in this enriching experience.

Prize Catch...

13th Place, Golden Snapper 4.80Kg By Esa Omar Al Khatib

29th Place, Cobia, 10.58Kg By Ching Kim Yeon ( Stryke)

Overall catch by Team Singapore…

Spanish Mackeral : 2Kg To 3.5Kg
Golden Snapper : 1Kg To 4.8Kg
Lobster : 2Kg
Grouper : 0.8Kg To 2Kg
Cobia : 3Kg To 10.58Kg
Barracuda : 2.5Kg To 5Kg
Kaci : 1Kg To 2Kg
Duri / Ah-Sengs / Johnson, 2Kg To 3Kg
3 Full 100 Quarts Colemans from Awang Team and lots of mixed quality fish

Last but not least, heard there’s photos of the Singapore Contingent in Berita Harian Malaysia! Will be getting the photos soon with all the other shots out at sea, hopefully… so stay tuned!

Regards,
Foong.

PS : For the pictures are from the newspaper, the quality isn't up to par, sorry about that. However, for those who were at the GP (you know who you are!!) go ahead and post the pics you took in the event! Cheers to all!

22-04-2006, 10:22 AM

These pics are from Berita Harian, sorry if not clear enough (wat to do, Newspapers ma...) enjoy!

dayday · 22-04-2006, 10:36 AM

Great Catch Report Foong,,, Sad Pic Very Blur,,, Foong, Wait Till U See Mine In A3, Size,,, Was Edited By Photo Shop By A Pro,,,

22-04-2006, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dayday

Great Catch Report Foong,,, Sad Pic Very Blur,,, Foong, Wait Till U See Mine In A3, Size,,, Was Edited By Photo Shop By A Pro,,,

wah~ must show us all leh...

AmmarHaziq · 23-04-2006, 04:32 PM

Foong,

Great Catch Report bro. To all the competitor well done.....

Regards
Zaini

edylie · 25-04-2006, 04:01 PM

Well done guys.

Good Job on Dayday for organizing this trip!

Cheers,
-e

22-04-2006, 09:59 AM	#1
foong Posts: n/a	Catch Report : GP Joran 2006 - Round 1. Hello to all fellow fishos. I promised Team Singapore to produce this Catch Report for the Grand Prix Joran 2006 Tournament, but I was unavailable due to a sudden downfall of viral fever that left me weak and extremely uncomfortable. Although not fully recovered, I’m well enough to work and of course; complete what I had promised to Team Singapore and DayDay aka Encik Fendi, sorry for the delay. 15th April 2006 Mr. G picked me up from my JB apartment, and it’s the 1st trip for the year, due to the monsoon season. Nonetheless, the weather was extremely foggy but we reached Sedili in one piece. DayDay was just nearby the entrance of Sedili Fishery Port and we wasted no time to check on where we could leave our equipment for the time being. Within minutes, offloaded all our gear and waited for time to pass quickly; too bad it didn’t. 0800 hrs, once the registration table opens, DayDay, Stryke and all boat representatives went forward for registration, collection of the boat numbers and goody bags for all 39 anglers of Team Singapore. After a quick introduction with Team Singapore, there were discussions and past experiences shared on land, and I helped Sailfish87 with his bimini-twists and line joints (you owe me a favor bro…), when time has arrived for the guys to move off. However, saw one of the Johor contingent participants with a flag number 109. Damn. Lucky we were under flag 9….! We were the first few to arrived, early morning, hoping to get the best boats,,, ( kiasu Singaporean) as normal…. There were also live bands from the Kampung Boys N Girls, and throughout the day, there were also a stall selling last minute tackle (over-priced), even food stalls appeared out of nowhere, not to mention a stall selling plastic flowers, home-made belachan and the eye-raising Kopi Jantan (woah, Tongkat Ali – anyone? Hmmm?) At 1045hrs, speech from the organizer and safety briefing from Malaysian Marine Police finally broke the mundane , also not to forget the kind gentleman who was reading Islamic prayers over us (baca doa) to ensure safety at sea. Team Singapore Of 39 anglers, equipped with Full Battle Order, sets off from Sedili Johor - for GP Joran Challenge. Lugging each other’s gear, we moved quickly to our respective boats and managed to settle down quickly for it was running late, and there were still a truckload of participants at the jetty. 1115 hrs, we were dispatched to our boats, 1200hrs the VIPs are on board a huge Marine police boat escorted all 100+ boats to the starting point (not bad, not bad). Once the air horn sounded, every boats speeds off to their best fishing spots, all the way! Full gear forward; here we go! Boat 9. Mr. G had a knack for trolling while moving towards the 1st fishing ground, so I helped him out in rigging his new Williamson’s Bonito Mackeral. Since he wanted to hold on to the rod while chatting with one of the team-members, I left him for a deserved rest – till something came and hammered it, almost catching him off-guard. Nonetheless, that sudden take failed to connect, leaving a few scratches on its rear end. ‘Big Barracuda, Tenuk’ is what the boatman said when he looked at the scars. Around 2 hours later, reached our spot. Water’s very calm, barely any current. Boatman’s saying we are above a coral area (forgive me guys, I can’t remember what name it was…) and generally we gave it a try. Spanish mackerel weighing around 3.5kg landed within the 1st hour, following a barracuda around 2.1kg within the next hour. 2 table sized groupers and around 6-7 wrasse and were landed but unfortunately, not exceeding 800grams. Then we were struck with a problem. Barely any live bait caught! The boatmen are aware of the current situation, so they started fishing with their hand-lines, and managed to provide sufficient live-bait. You guys rock the boat! Weather was good till about 1600hrs there was this sudden heavy rain ,and strong winds howled throughout the remainder of the evening till morning, almost everyone got seasick. I felt like everyone is praying for a fair change in weather Unfortunately, the blue waters got more unstable and there’s no more live-bait, rain’s pouring. I went into the cabin for a short nap, knowing the swells will make me puke, even if I had motion-sickness pills well in advance. Time check: 1800hrs. 2200hrs, woke up for a moment to see the situation. Everyone, including Stryke, Tommy, Mr. G, Uncle, and the remaining others (I can’t remember everyone’s names, sorry!) were still fishing in the endless bouts of waves and the never ending rain. No action, barely any bites! Sleep. 16th April 2006. 0200hrs. Trying to get some rest but it’s hell; with all that rocking going about. Something sour was in the air, some poor chap must have threw up from all the 4 feet waves hitting the boat. However, I was pleasantly surprised with 2 catches- from Tommy (a Golden Lobster : 1.5kg at least!) and Stryke (solid hooked on freshly-caught squid : 10 kg Cobia!), well done people! Boatman gave the signal; storm’s approaching – better head back to land, time check 0300hrs. All agreed to head back from all the rocking and we reached land at 0500hrs, opposite the Sedili Jetty. 0700hrs. Next morning, boats starts heading to shore with their catch, was expecting the giants to be un-caught, due to the foul weather, who would know… Boat 1 came back first with a massive Spanish Mackeral weighing 12.06kg! Stryke’s cobia tilted the scales around 10kg, but at that moment, not more than 10 boats returned, and in 1 hour’s time I realized that although many boats returned to Sedili, a high percentage came back with nothing! Very sorry for the fellow fishos who didn’t get anything, but as saying goes… ‘you win some, you lose some’… All the major catches goes to the weighing table, where the judges will be approving and disapproving the types of fish caught.The scores are based on class and points rewarded per kg. Cobia, stingray, barracuda earns 5 points per kg, whereas grouper, Spanish mackerel, barramundi ect ect earns 15 points per kg. For the 10 pointers, I can’t remember, sorry… 0900hrs, the return of Boat 7 – Team Singapore. Massive take on DayDay’s 30-80lb Penn Tuna Stick, only to have the rod and 50lb line SNAP on a last minute surge when the fish gave up fighting! After examining the rod, there’s no fault in the blank! As much as I have to admit that it’s not meant to be used for bottom-fishing, it takes more than just a brute to have that Penn destroyed! Immediately spoke to the native nelayans (fishermen) on this matter, and all came with one unanimous answer – big BIG shovelnose. 0950hrs, everyone were so sleepy and I was about to go for breakfast with Mr. G and Ah Soon (boat 7) when we heard a commotion going on. 4 men carrying something that vaguely looked like a fish scuttled by the ‘oohs’ and ‘waahs’ to the weighing section. The mother of all cobias, and the heaviest of all catches has arrived. 25kg Cobia! What a monstrosity it was, and what a shame it was too. Reason : It didn’t qualify for the 15 point category, so for it’s weight, it has an average score of 125, whereas the 12.06kg Spanish easily won with an average score of 181! Nonetheless, well done! 1030hrs. The judges are moving the finalists’ catches to Desaru, and Stryke’s 10 kg Cobia seems to be in the top 30 along with Mr. G’s 3.5kg Spanish mackeral! More than an hour of driving, it was exhausting. Reaching Desaru at 1215hrs, had to wait till 1500hrs for the final results! Took some time to go down the beach, where more than a few hundred rods were along the beach – it’s the surfcasting category! Only thing I saw was the proximity of lines crossing each other, almost everywhere. Still more than 2 hours to go… Argh! Waste time, ended up i slept at the parking lot till 1445hrs. 1500hrs, still no-start, the datuk for the event is watching the dances on stage, his speeches, his other counter-part gave speeches, 1 hour flew by slowly. Finally results… 13th Place, Golden Snapper 4.80Kg -Esa Omar Al Khatib ! 29th Place, Cobia, 10.58Kg - Ching Kim Yeon ( Stryke) ! Congratulations! Finally it’s 1700hrs, and time to collect the respective catches from the judges. Many contact numbers were exchanged between boatmen and anglers alike, many old and new friends met and known, good experiences, and all things good and bad played a part in this enriching experience. Prize Catch... 13th Place, Golden Snapper 4.80Kg By Esa Omar Al Khatib 29th Place, Cobia, 10.58Kg By Ching Kim Yeon ( Stryke) Overall catch by Team Singapore… Spanish Mackeral : 2Kg To 3.5Kg Golden Snapper : 1Kg To 4.8Kg Lobster : 2Kg Grouper : 0.8Kg To 2Kg Cobia : 3Kg To 10.58Kg Barracuda : 2.5Kg To 5Kg Kaci : 1Kg To 2Kg Duri / Ah-Sengs / Johnson, 2Kg To 3Kg 3 Full 100 Quarts Colemans from Awang Team and lots of mixed quality fish Last but not least, heard there’s photos of the Singapore Contingent in Berita Harian Malaysia! Will be getting the photos soon with all the other shots out at sea, hopefully… so stay tuned! Regards, Foong. PS : For the pictures are from the newspaper, the quality isn't up to par, sorry about that. However, for those who were at the GP (you know who you are!!) go ahead and post the pics you took in the event! Cheers to all!

22-04-2006, 10:36 AM	#3
dayday Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: singapore Posts: 198 My Mood: Rep Power: 4	Great Catch Report Foong,,, Sad Pic Very Blur,,, Foong, Wait Till U See Mine In A3, Size,,, Was Edited By Photo Shop By A Pro,,, __________________

23-04-2006, 04:32 PM	#5
AmmarHaziq Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: UpNorth Singapore Posts: 82 Rep Power: 3	Foong, Great Catch Report bro. To all the competitor well done..... Regards Zaini __________________ EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

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25-04-2006, 04:01 PM	#6
edylie Administrator Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,000,037 My Mood: Rep Power: 10	Well done guys. Good Job on Dayday for organizing this trip! Cheers, -e

Bluewater Fishing Expedition

Catch Report : GP Joran 2006 - Round 1.

Catch Report : GP Joran 2006 - Round 1.