A Grandish Finale

[DaFrogman]

Well its been quite a while since my last Catch Report so heres probably the last for this year...

October is usually the shutdown month for the offshore fishing period in Brunei.... towards the end of the month, the weather will gradually turn more and more ugly to the point that even the most hardcore crews will quit going to sea.

This year however, October and November have seen periods of unusually calm weather and I reckon that we are starting to see some of the effects of climate change coming upon us. But even I have to admit that with a typhoon approaching the Philippines, it looks like my trip yesterday was the last for this season, hence The Grandish Finale..

This is just a brief rundown of our trip...Less details more pics.

As usual, we launched the boat around 5pm and after waiting a little for a last minute addition to the crew, we headed out to the nearest bait FAD to see if we could pickup any livebait. Unfortunately, livebait was pretty thin in the water and we didn't get many fish from the FADs we managed to visit before dusk fell.

By 7pm we arrived at the first of our intended spots around 60km offshore, but the sounder picture indicated that no one was home, so we shifted around to about 3-4 other spots before we came to the first promising spot, but this one only yielded a few baby GTs in the 3kg range along with some big pisang-pisang and baracudda. Moving onto the next spot finally saw the first of 6 MJs in the 2-7kg range come up to visit the coldbox before a rainstorm came in and put the fish off the bite. The spot also yielded a red snapper but strangely enough, no ACK...

We finished the rest of the night at the MJ spot and then headed further offshore at 7am the next morning.... The next area was very productive and over a dozen Kerisi Bali landed, including 5 very solid fish well over 5kgs and one nudging the 7 kg mark. The area also yielded a number of very solid red snapper, with the largest also nudging the 7kg mark.... Most fish were caught on XH Apollo rigs, but I boated a number of solid Kerisi Bali using a shortened ranggong to fish on the drift.

Enjoy the pics..

Regards,

DFM

[stickbom!]

Nice Now, this is the kind of place to put my up & coming bottom bashing outfit to test In SG it's more of a beer in hand, got fish is bonus type of activity

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by stickbom!

Nice Now, this is the kind of place to put my up & coming bottom bashing outfit to test In SG it's more of a beer in hand, got fish is bonus type of activity

As always, fantastic catch Saimee!!!!!

Mikey, the kind of fishing Saimee does is pretty hardcore .... especially in an outboard high speed boat. Encountering bad weather in such a boat is no joke, to say the least. Looking at the distances he travels to his spots i.e. >60km offshore, it is a hell of a lot of distance to travel -- 120km two way!!! That is mucho much distance to cover for an overnight trip, and is only feasible in fast boats. And usually no place to hide when weather turns suddenly!!!

For us fish-deprived Singapore fishos, choosing the right timing and the right charter, we can occasionally have just as much fun When you are ready to test out your new bottom "cannon"; give Yew Seng a call & go target hawker centre table size roti pratas. In my books, as much fun as a good size & (perceived) more "exotic" Dogtooth Tuna or Samson It will put the hurt on your back just the same

[DaFrogman]

Makaira,

As usual, you are pretty spot on for your observations...... Actually the round trip is over 200km, including shifting spots.... The distance of the spot I mentioned is direct distance from shore, and not the distance needed to be travelled from our launching area. The boat used this time is a 33footer running only twin 175s, top speed in the 70+kmh area. It is a not so comfortable way of fishing with some rough rides, only overhead canvas cover and no cabin, BUT it maximises our time on the water during a 24hr trip. During the rainstorm, which was brief but fierce, a wrap around of canvas provided some cover along with the roof... My standard outfit includes a Nomex Balacava which beats sunblock in alleviating sunburn...

Stickbom,

I just broke in my latest T6455XH bottom cannon..... and it is definitely a good bottom stick, in some ways more comfortable than the GF755H ... Mak is right, the big prata is the best discount back breaking experience available in Singapore. In the late 80s and early 90s, GTs would have been the best test in Brunei, they were almost a pest fish.... not anymore, the commercial boys have put paid to that .

Anyway,

Glad you enjoyed the pics.

Saimee

[AmbeRjacKHunter]

Saimee,.... great workout my friend & as usual the catches too

salam
Bro RK

[octopus]

DFM,
Well you set off your finale with the "red carpet" Pretty nice catches for you guys there.

New rod will come after the old 1 gone, am I rite :P

[stickbom!]

Hey Saimee, Nomex Balaclavas are really warm! How do you wear that and not get a heat stroke During my stay in Temburong, I tried wearing one to ward off mozzies/horse flies at night... and nearly went into a coma :P

By the way, the tip/butt dia on Calstar T6455H is already kinda BIG. What type of guides do you use on the XH If it's not too much trouble, could you please post photos of your T6455XH for reference Thanks Buddy

Makaira, prata or big ack or no fish... no problem. As long as it's easy going and allows me to leave my rod and reel in the rod holder.

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by stickbom!

As long as it's easy going and allows me to leave my rod and reel in the rod holder.

That's the way to go dude!!!! One of the best things to see is your rod arching over in the rod holder & the ratchet screaming!!!

[DaFrogman]

Mikey, Thou asketh, thou shall receiveth...

Rods are nothing special, no deco butt wraps, just solid hardware and clean wraps by Ben, am very pleased with his work. I was going to try for SHD BB Rollers all the way, but Alvin said that would be a bit too psycho and heavy..

Guides are AFTCO RSHD51, 41,41,31,31 SHDBB 12...

Only differences are Chrome and Black.

But due to the larger blank, reel seat sizes differ.....

Some pics.. enjoy.

Saimee

[DaFrogman]

Octopus,

The GF755H replaced my favorite (and broken) Kilwell 24kg Stroker... I liked that old rod so much, I may well get another maybe in the new Texalium blank.

During the trip, one of the crew using a 30-60 class rod had it broken like a matchstick .... I did warn him that it was a pretty light rod for our kinda use, especially since he had loaded an EXW4/02 with 80lb braid on it, but.....

Mikey,

The Nomex I am using is a pretty light weave, typically used by your SF/HRT boys, its warm but not quite sunstroke inducing.... if you look at the pics you will see most of the crew using the T-shirt balacava..also very effective.

The weather is still weirdly calm, I was pretty sure yesterday and today would see horrid sea conditions, but a crew that launched Saturday afternoon, came back Sunday afternoon and reported very calm conditions and lots of Japanese reds (Sulit Merah).... That is really strange considering the weather system sitting over the North Philippines.... If it holds up, there may well be a Grand Finale II

Regards,

Saimee

[stickbom!]

Hi DFM

Nice rods Thanks for taking time to take the shots. I see they are configured like standard Marlin stand up sticks. I'm trying to built mine as a hybrid. I don't see myself trolling too much to its a-

20% Trolling
30% Super Deep Jigging
50% XH Bottom Bashing

Will probably use heavy frame SIC guides and a metal reel seat. Probably a Perfection #2 cos my Jigger 4000P reel foot is rather small.

I'm very very keen to get hold of the new Seeker Extreme Blue S Glass blanks but can't seem to find it here in SG. Wonder if I should wait for someone to visit USA or just get a Calstar. Any suggestions

Has your friends tried the following blanks?
United Blanks URS60MH-T 6’ Mod-Fast 50-100lb
G.Loomis PS72-80 Obsidian 6' Fast 60 - 100lb

These are some blanks I'm considering to use so any input would be very much appreciated.

[DaFrogman]

Stickbom,

There is merit behind the madness in using the full AFTCO rollers for bottom fishing..... We have found that it makes a difference in the effort needed to raise those XH sinkers in deep water (300ft+) with or without fish. That said, I reckon that full Fuji Sics work pretty well too and I am thinking about building a 755H in this configuration, since it makes the rod lighter and the Sics make it easier to just grab the rod and chuck out your rig. With rollers you need to be more aware of where your braid is in relation to the roller tip.

As for the blanks, like you I really liked what I have read and heard about the new Seeker composite S-Glass rods and I am interested in their full S-glass rods too, if they provide a significant weight reduction over E-glass. For bottom fishing, there are times when I have come to like full glass rods for their softer actions ( Yes Mak, you were right about the full glass), but rod weight for 80lb class standups is always an issue for full glass. A recent post in Allcoast seems to indicate that the latest Seeker composites will be available in March, whether this "new" line of rods will be different from their blue S-Glass series in terms of structure and performance...that I don't know.

As for reel seats, the Ozzies reckon that some graphite reel seats are strong enough for 80lb standup and given the number of 80lb class jigging outfits out there, its hard not to agree. BUT, since I am a bit psychotic about my hardwear, I would definitely agree that you go with the aluminium perfections.... the size 2 is what is used on my 755H and it fits my Kaikon reel feet and should fit your jigger too... If they made Titanium reel seats I would use those ....

I have been looking at the United Series and I know the Obsidians have been recommended too, but no opportunity to try it out yet.

Am still working on my rod arsenal (looks like a never ending quest here ), probably build that Sic 755H, to take over from my tried and trusted Penn Senator 9/0 37kg class that is a broomstick extraordinaire on loan to one of my captains along with my Kaikon and has accounted for a whole bunch of MJs these last few weeks.

Good luck, if I figure out a solution to the Seeker issue, I'll drop you a PM.

Tightish lines dude.

Saimee

[stickbom!]

Hi Saimee, Fuji graphite reelseats are fine if you're not using a reel clamp. I suspect they will crack if you're going to clamp down your reel tight. As I'm going to use my rod for various applications, a metal reel seat would surely be a better choice.

I have a bunch of guys here in SG willing to split shipping charges for the Seeker blanks. If you're keen to order some Blue S Glass sticks let me know soon. Wong, Edros, Jason and myself will probably buy 1 or 2 blanks each very soon. Bad-Fish (www.bad-fish.com) seems to be really close to the Seeker people and I've ordered stuff from them before. Will be ordering our S-Glass sticks from them too. Also, I've got an account with Fed-Ex and there's a 20% discount on incoming shipments for me. Shouldn't cost much to ship in a bunch of those S Glass blanks.

I'm pretty sure the rollers are handy for deep water bashers like you guys. Most of the deep water anglers in USA use full roller rods too... not to mention serious bent butts No kidding man. These guys strap themselves into such tackle and target big groupers/cods.

can consider this as another shipping option, might be cheaper

https://www.vpost.com.sg/vpostusa04/index.html

[stickbom!]

Thanks for the tip off

[physlo]

Originally Posted by stickbom!

Thanks for the tip off

Physlo deep blitz jigging rod coming up. Stay tuned. Cheers!