Sarawak 20-24th May 07

[stickbom!]

Left for Kuching last Sunday with a team of anglers consisting of Anthony, David, Michael, Alvin, Eugene, Jordan, Hafeez, Mano and Wongsy. This trip was planned by Wongsy sometime last year after his own visit there. For some of the guys mentioned above, this was their FIRST ever overseas boat fishing trip and its easy to imagine how excited they were. Anyway, we were fishing on the Blue Lagoon with Raymond Lim and his crew. We were supposed to catch Mackerels but I guess it was kinda late in the season by the time we got there. Total number of Macks landed was less than 20pcs but the bottom fishing action more than made up for the lack of Macks. To be honest, this was probably the hottest bottom fishing I've ever experienced myself . I'm still feeling kinda zonked from the lack of sleep so I'll upload the photos and put in more details/highlights in a day or two.

[stickbom!]

Day 1
Touched down in Kuching around noon. Was picked up at the airport by Raymond Lim and his crew. Stopped by at a supermarket and picked up some extra snacks & drinks before boarding the Blue Lagoon. Reached our first spot at 11.30pm and started jigging for macks. Not sure if the rest got any bites but my 9" of 65lb wire was chewed through twice #$$!%$%&@#!! (never going to use Technic wire leaders again!!) Highlight for the fist night was when Michael hooked AND LANDED a Chinaman fish around 10kgs with a "pond" class spinning outfit that was rigged with bait. Michael was targeting Macks but I guessed he got a little more than he wished for! The Chinaman was one tough SOB and gave both the angler and his tackle a fantastic workout. Luckily for me, a Mackerel came along and nailed my Ofmer lumo jig after several hours of jigging. Can't really recall if the others caught anything that night but I know some of them crawled into the bunk and caught some shut eye before dawn.

Day 2
No point jigging when the Macks were not around/biting so off came the jig and on
went my 2-circle hook apollo rig around 4 in the morning. My rod buckled
over at the crack of dawn and a trevally was hauled on board before long.
After breakfast, we pulled up our anchor and set sail for a new fishing
spot. Upon reaching our fishing spot, the Captain shouted "DROP!" and all
of us lowered our baited hooks. The minute my sinker hit the sea bed, I
felt a strong jerk on my bait and my cicle hook latched onto something big.
The fish was strong and gave a good account of itself but it was not a
match for my gear. Before long, a big Sweetlips was at boatside and gaffed
by the boatman. There was red hot action for the next few hours and we were
all pulling up 2-3 fishes at a time! Everyone had a great time and we
landed snappers (several species), groupers (several species), sweetlips,
cobia and trevally. The night jigging session for Macks was disappointing
just like the first night and only a handful of Macks were landed. I
managed to land two more on jigs (one on a Bluefox another on a Raider)
and a few other blokes caught some on bait/lures too.

Day 3
Something told me not to miss the dawn bite so I stayed up to watch the sunrise. Was rewarded with a decent golden trevally for my efforts. Later that day, the Captain brought us to a deeper spot. A few smaller specimens were landed before Alucard, Wongsy and me decided to use fish meat as bait. That's when Wong and myself landed a decent grouper each. Final spot for day 3 is a "must visit" place for blokes with ACK fetish. I kid you not!! When the sky got dark, all of us baited up with freshly caught squid and almost everyone started catching ACK. Wongsy was the first to get hit and his ACK was the largest that night too! I hit 2 smaller ACK and a bigger specimen just before dawn.

Here's a photo of the jigs that got bit by macks and a hook that was deformed by a trevally!

[Jordan72]

It was an eye opening trip for me...My first oversea fishing trip...enjoy myself alot...cant wait for another trip....attached are the "chinaman" pic that Michael caught. It was the biggest catch for this trip. Hell fight man!!!

[DaFrogman]

Mikey and the crew,

Looks like you guys had fun....

Pics, more pics pls, I wanna see Ma Man Wong (Not Fei Hong) in pain with Mr 7"+ Hafeez screaming...

Saimee

[physlo]

Good work Michael.

Regards
physlo

[Makaira]

There's still hope to make a baitsoaker out of you huh? Pity about the wire. Personally, I always use American Wire "coffee colour" single strand when I target macks. Seems to work better for both bait & irons.

Any red emperor? When there are chinaman fish ard, there should be the red stuff as well because they prowl the same bottom features. Post the photos quick please!!!

[stickbom!]

Yo Mak... yeah we had red chickens, red emperors, MJ & something else they call "sulin" over there.

I didn't bring my camera... so the photos might take a little longer.

I'm totally sold on apollos/ranggongs rigged with Owner circle hooks man... almost one bite one kill

[layman]

yo mike, should we let mr salty stay at home, and bring along mr apollos and encik ranggongs on our next ah cheng trip

photos plsss.....

[hdmcgatha]

Nice Nice Catch Report. I know you guys had a Great time on your trip... Way to Gooooo !!!

[stickbom!]

Yes it was a truly enjoyable trip . Service from the crew was top notch and the spots where we fished at mostly productive. The only minor complain, for me at least, would be the price factor. Due to increasing fuel/airfare, the cost of fishing at Sarawak has more than double since the day anglers started flocking there for the annual Mackerel run. Was told that the prices will rise yet again next year and personally I don't see myself returning for a second year.

[alvindiana]

Michael's height really doesn't do justice to the size of his chinaman... (he was the tallest one there so it makes the chinaman look small).... He had great fun bringing up the chinaman and he did it using a light rod and reel.

During the red fish frenzy on Monday afternoon, actually took short 5 min breaks to recover intermittently after I brought the fish(es) up. The bite rate was such that you don't get much rest while waiting for the red fish to bite and getting two fishes at a time were not uncommon. A few of us also had three fishes at a time. Had my line actually go slack several times bcos the fish took the bait and swam with the 400g sinker). Could hear the others still catching after I went to the bunk to get some sleep. I don't think my safari and southern cross stick has had such a workout in my previous yearly trips.

At an earlier spot, had a large grouper and cobia on the same line but the cobia got away at boat side when the young deckhand tried to gaff it and missed while another deckhand got the grouper using the net. Mike caught a cobia shortly as well. Wong and Mike also brought up large groupers the next day.

Also heard there was a kamikaze tenggiri that jumped into the boat and just missed Michael by a few inches the 2nd night while some of us were sleeping.

Thanks to Wong for doing all the legwork and organizing this (and to Mikey and Wong for allowing me to join the group on this trip). The deckhands(ah seng, the malay guy and the young guy) and the owner uncle lim were really helpful whenever newbies like me needed help. Auntie Lim also ensured we were well fed and entertained us with her stories of past catches. Porridge on Monday was really good. Chicken wings the next day was superb. Great meeting up with Eugene, Hafeez and Mano again and good to meet new fishing kaki like Jordan, Michael, David and Anthony.

Attached 4 pictures (only took pictures at the end so what I have is limited). The first, 3rd and 4th is the fish parade on the boat (3rd shows the chinaman, my MJ, the cobias and Barracudas. The Chinaman really makes my MJ look small. The 4th shows the GT catches mainly by Mikey. Not sure why GTs follow him wherever he goes. There were a few large Kacis behind the GTs and the red spotted groupers in front of the GTs). The 2nd picture is my own personal collection to remind me of some of my bigger catches during the Sarawak trip (green tea can was used to illustrate size of fish. Large Angchor and one of the tenggiri were donations from the rest since there were enough to go around. Left the bulk of my share of the red fish back with the boat folks.).

Everyone brought back their unique catches and we split the rest equally with some catches passed to the boat folks. (Jordon, Mike and Michael's iceboxes were weighed in at the heaviest 3)

[rc311]

Wow... What a great catch for the year!

[Strikes]

Hi Mike,

Luckly you decided to go for this trip. Seems that you got someone to admire your catch. The other way round this time.

[stickbom!]

hahaha... ya lor... otherwise ALWAYS read about other ppl's good catch...

[Strikes]

That's right. I bet you must be enjoying every minute of the "engagements".

Good catch. Get some tiger......

[stickbom!]

Originally Posted by alvindiana

(Jordon, Mike and Michael's iceboxes were weighed in at the heaviest 3)

Wah laoz... this quote of yours just turned us into Ice Box specialist liao StickBom! turns da bao king!

[alvindiana]

yah.... ta-pao king and bait king (never seen stickbom use so much sotong and fish bait in previous trips... always stick to lures and jigs... this time, duel salty rubber didn't even touch water....lol)

[Jordan72]

here r some of our catchs taken on my cam! enjoy!!!!

[edylie]

Wah Mikey and Gang!!!

Nice fishing from Sarawak. I am surprised when there is a red bass in one of the pictures!

Thank you for sharing guys.

Best Regards,
Edy

[alucard]

it was a good trip.great company.thanks wongsy for organizing the trip. it was happening!!!!great food and service by the crew.the captain was pretty hardworking and shifted spots a few times when bites died down.and also ode to all who were there on the blue lagoon!!!!i certainly hope they won't raise the prices if not i rather go bali for some jigging and pops ping.

[stickbom!]

Yo HaFish! can't wait for another round of non stop laughter in December with you guys. hahaha!

[Jordan72]

wish i can join u all in december....sob...sob..got $ constraint..heard it cost a bomb$$$...summore its hardcore heavy gear fishing...i dun think i can handle it...anyway guys enjoy the trip...juz call me for any light tackle trip!!!

[Din]

Mikey!!!!!!!!solid catches man!
Red carpet fallin in line with the rest of the cathes..not a single
blank file.

Rgds,
Din.