Popping & jigging trip Brunei waters

[Akudou]

2 mths of resting due to my accident, i decide to head offshore last week due to my boat being chartered. Check for preparation on saturday afternoon and when eveything and everyone was safely onboard, we made a move frm the ramp at 3'ish pm.

First destination was at the champion area. 6 of us started to jig away and i was using light jigging gear cos was afraid it would cause some damage to my injured collarbone which i suffered for 2 mths. 2 of the anglers are newbies to jigging so had to brief and show them the right way of jigging. One of them manage a hit during jigging but did not set the hook right to strike the beast. It got away instantly. As my skipper decide to make a move, i drop my jig for the last time and halfway up, i manage a strike. After pumping twice on my rod, i too lost to the fish halfway up.

Headed to the 2nd destination at 5ish pm which is my favourite playground for GTs in Brunei. After 2 mths of not heading offshore, the J/M 400gm rod and stella felt heavy to me and i started to jig away and after 6 to 8 drops i decided to take a rest as i can feel the pressure on my collarbone. My skipper started to use his popping gear which is a light setup on a eupro popper. He was quickly rewarded with a 5kg GT and gave him a good fight since his popping gears are only 20lbs to 50lbs class. Tito decided to try his luck and borrowed the gear frm the skipper. After a couple of popping, he manage a strike too and this fight was a good one as the rod bend over till it looked C-shaped. He was rewarded with a 11 to 12kg GT. Very good one for a light setup i must say.

GT's seem to be frenzy but not taking any jigs so i decide to try the new caranx kaibutsu LC and the new pencil popper i got from CFFS. After a couple of setting the popper flying on where suspected GTs are at, i manage quite a strong strike as i set my stella to 12kg of drag. Reel was screaming and i decide to tighten the drag some more. The pressure really hurt my injured collarbone and i wasnt ready to give up. Suddenly the pressure lessen and i realise the fish was heading towards the rig. Saw the line was below the rig and started to set it at almost full drag. Could be 21 to 23kg of drags and the kaibutsu shows its power and i started to pump the fish out of the rig. The fish decide to head out frm the rig as it lost its power to pull my line under the rig. This time its between me n the fish in open water. After less then 2min of fighting, i landed the fish and it was just a little thinner then Tito's GT. mine was around 12kgdue to the size of it. Even the colour was different compared to Tito and my skipper's GT.

Just as we were having fun looking at where the GTs are frenzy and jumping around, the dolphins came and that took away all the fun as we do not know where to throw the poppers at. After failing to pop, some decide to jig and after a couple of hours they decide to do bottom fishing to get a lil break.

I stayed awake the whole night hooking up table size groupers,pisang emas and lapir,etc. At 5am, my skipper started to tabur around the rig and we can see schools of GT circling the rig. Still no bites from bottom fishing, so we decided to jig. I turn to my heavy artillery to jig with the AG 280gm jig. As soon as the jig hit the bottom, 1 pump of the rod to raise the jig and the rod bend over instantly. Set the drag higher and felt the pressure on my collarbone till it hurts that i decide to pass the rod to my skipper to fight with. Took him less then a min when he lost the fish along with the jig. The 150lbs shockleader was cut off by its tail. Oh well...

We jig till 8am but seems like other jigs doesnt attract the fishes except for the AG jigs which i ran out of. As the time period of the charter was beyond time, we decide to troll and without any results we decide to head back. Reached the ramp at nearly 10 and for me not a bad result for us despite losing 3 jigs.

Enjoy the pics and as usual, keep the lines tight

[eeyore]

Hi Akudou,

Nice Catch Report and can tell your had a lot fun at the oilig.

By the way just curious as my Brunei friends told me the authority take very stern action and impose a very heavy for those boats caught fishing near the oilrig so I am thinking your are the lucky one for sure.

Take good care about your just recovered injury.

Happy Fishing

[Akudou]

Thanks for your compliment. Yes, we did have fun since the GTs are hard to get to esp near the rigs. Mine is the favourite rig where i have to spot and check whether there are any patrol boat near the rig. If they aint any, then we would head up to it and do our thing. If there is, i still have a few areas which recently alot of GTs bein spotted alot.

Thanks, im still goin to my pysio theraphy and hopefully im strong enough to fight the next target weight.

Cheers mate. Any fishing lately?

Originally Posted by eeyore

Hi Akudou,

Nice Catch Report and can tell your had a lot fun at the oilig.

By the way just curious as my Brunei friends told me the authority take very stern action and impose a very heavy for those boats caught fishing near the oilrig so I am thinking your are the lucky one for sure.

Take good care about your just recovered injury.

Happy Fishing

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Akudou

Thanks, im still goin to my pysio theraphy and hopefully im strong enough to fight the next target weight.

Cheers mate. Any fishing lately?

No fishing lately because nowaday the weather is very unpredictable the sea condition is not very good for offshore fishing in Sarawak area

[Juan]

Good report!

thx

[Akudou]

Thanks Juan. Since my Catch Report, everyone here have went to try popping for mama GTs. Hope they find some as im looking forward to another trip in which i intend to break my personal record. The last spot i went to, i spotted a GT which was more than 4 feet in length, i predict 20kg plus...

[Bebatik]

Felix, any upcomming big fishing trip in aug? i'll be back home that tym.

[Akudou]

Azman, Im trying to promote popping and jigging trip at the moment. So, when you get back by august we will see what kind of sportgishing we are into. Dont forget july and august weather aint that good.

Originally Posted by Bebatik

Felix, any upcomming big fishing trip in aug? i'll be back home that tym.

[ziptoh]

hello. friend nice fishes, can't wait to join u.
rgds
Zip

[Akudou]

Hey there Zip, How are you?

Heard that you and the gang of anglers came over to Brunei. Sorry i wasnt able to meet up as i had an accident which cause me 2 weeks of bad injury which made me unable to do anything at all. The GT spot i headed to seems to be quite good. Water is very clear and its around 40 to 60 meters only so you can actually see it down there. Largest i spotted was estimately around more than 20kg. There are quite a few mama's there as well as i encounter with my captain a few years back where he was using 150lbs handline and tied it to the front of a 28 footer boat and when we release the boat's rope frm the rig, we realise the fish was pulling our boat quite slowly and it was pulling the boat against the current. Light popping is very effective there as well. I dont have light popping gear so i had to use medium action gears but then hey yea, we always want the big ones. hahaha! The good season of the sea has goneby as i was injured at that time. So i only manage 2 trips before the weather became like this.

Well, if you planning to come over, make sure the monsoon is over. July to august is gonna be unpredictable weather and its raining almost every night. Even the tide is unpredictable that i had to abandon the launching of my trips 5 times in 5 straight days. I'll update you when the condition out there is good, then i'll call you. Any new gears on you bro? hehehe. Well, Cheers, Take care and keep in touch man. Nice to know you are here on the forum too.

Originally Posted by ziptoh

hello. friend nice fishes, can't wait to join u.
rgds
Zip

[cwtan12]

Originally Posted by eeyore

No fishing lately because nowaday the weather is very unpredictable the sea condition is not very good for offshore fishing in Sarawak area

Where about in Sarawak are you from? I grew up in Kuching and I worked in Bintulu several times before.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by cwtan12

Where about in Sarawak are you from? I grew up in Kuching and I worked in Bintulu several times before.

Miri .....bro

[12345]

Akuduo,

Start popping means your pocket gonna bleed again....haha, all the stock waiting for you

[Akudou]

Aiyo, u ah my good and close friend like to tease me alot with new arsenal. My boat been having problems..so all my wallet bleeding there. Even Capt advise me to invest in the repair rather then get arsenals nowadays eventho it means he wont untung anything.hehehhe but then he's a good as he advise as a friend esp since im always trying to head out to the sea regularly nowadays. Safety comes first.. even if it meant i have to sacrifice a few payments.

Originally Posted by 12345

Akuduo,

Start popping means your pocket gonna bleed again....haha, all the stock waiting for you

[ziptoh]

nothing new here, but i might ask ming to bring in the poppers i used the last trip at e23. there r some pancil poppers on sales @ SABRE STROKER.$25/pcs 100g

[12345]

Originally Posted by ziptoh

nothing new here, but i might ask ming to bring in the poppers i used the last trip at e23. there r some pancil poppers on sales @ SABRE STROKER.$25/pcs 100g

Zip,
Your popper for trolling purpose not fair to the GT try Hummerhead next time, btw any news when they plan next trip? Since u guys left never contact them.