TDOA- Hari Raya's eve Catch Report 12th-14th Oct 2007)

[Akudou]

Vessel: Apollo
Number of Anglers : 10 (Rickster, Blue Diver, Ruby master, Ameng, Richard,
Michael, Ah Tung, Alan,Yauming & Akudou)
Departure time from Serasa Beach: 8pm (12thoct)
Destination: Dropoff Brunei arrived at 5am (13thoct)
Duration of fishing :20hrs

Dear F.O's,
As the muslims were getting ready on the eve of hari raya, the 10 of us decide to take the opporturnity to head out to the Dropoff once again. Sea was in a very calm state and as usual i took my usual spot at the rear of the Apollo, enjoy the calm weather, the clear sky with variable light wind of 10 to 20km/hr. Took 9 hrs for us to arrive at the first destination and i shouted loudly upon arrival to wake everyone up. Dropping my line and hooks, the first spot was dissapointing. A few other anglers manage to hook up some reasonable size fishes and after 2 hrs of getting very little results among us, we decided to move to another spot.

The 2nd spot was quite reasonable as Richard manage to land a Ruby weighing at 9.5kg mark. A few other anglers manage to hook up some krisi bali's and a Grouper at the 2kg to 3kg mark. Then Ameng equipped with a Miya Epoch CX4 had a big strike and the fight was a tough one! Took him some time to land it as the fish was fighting really hard and after sometime he had to ask for assistance from Blue Diver (Tito) to help him crank up the fish maually. Everyone cheered as an Amberjack surfaced the water and at the scale the weight was 28kg. A new record of Amberjack for The Apollo. Rubymaster managed to land a 4 to 5 kg Durian and a ruby weighing at more then 6kg mark. Another Amberjack weighing at 25kg was landed by Blue Diver! A few new anglers which i just got familiar with on that trip landed a few Amberjack's weighing at more then 10kg to 20kg.

I on the other hand was still using big hooks (4/0's-6/0's), misses a few bites, lost a few hooks and a few broken line managed to land lots of krisi's bali's during the afternoon. Michael using an electronic reel landed the biggest sulit of the day weighing at 6kg. I lost count on who landed which and what fish but i know a quite a few numbers of sulit's, Ruby's, and a few fish i was unfamiliar with was hooked up by the other anglers.

It was a bright, hot sunny day with the sea water as flat as a mirror. In the afternoon, we were hit by heavy rain but despite that everyone kept on fishing. We were surprise at a point when the vessel started up its engine and we were shock to see a small cyclone ahead of us at around 20 to 30 km away frm us. Everyone brace themself to get ready for it and lady luck was on our side as the cyclone dissapeared back into the sky which i suspected was due to the heavy rain. Despite the calm sea, underwater current was very strong. Even sinkers as heavy as 900gms to 1kg drifted 45 degrees and the current kept on changing direction from left to right. So imagine all of us shifting from one side of the vessel and to the other side when the underwater current change direction. The bite died down at 5'ish pm and it was very annoying as everyone kept on getting their lines tangle on the structure below due to the strong current.

3rd Spot was very dissapointing as we spent 20min without getting any nibbles at all , so we requested the Captain to move to another spot not far away. This time, it was amazing!!!! Its what i would call an AMBERJACK playground. Everyone keep on getting strikes after strikes. Amberjack's was hooked up by almost everyone and the bite kept on goin on for the next 4 hrs. Some of the anglers couldnt even bear to land it and Blue diver was given a new title: 'THE IRONMAN!!!' He helped the tired anglers to land 8 of their Amberjack's. Even the size of it was unbelievable as none of it could fit into our coolbox and even the vessel's freezer was so filled to the max by 9pm. By 10ish we decide to head back as there were no space to occupy our catches anymore. I decide to head to the cabin to get some shut eye as i didnt sleep the nite before on the way to the dropoff.

I woke up at 6'ish am went to the rear of the boat and found ameng trolling with his redhead magnum Rapala. So i decide to join him and after 15 min, ameng's rod bend over and he hooked up a tongkol at around 2 kg. As the vessel stopped for him to reel the fish in, my rapala was striked too and i managed to land a 5kg Mackarel. We continued to troll till we reach land but nothing else was landed.

Catches of that trip was unbelieveable as we estimated the total catch of more than 300kg of fishes which make up of mostly Amberjack's amd very large Rubies. Apollo's personal Amberjack's record was broken as Ameng's Amberjack weighin at 28kg broke the previous record Apollo's Amberjack of 25.4kg. I only manage a 15kg Amberjack. But despite all that, we were all very satisfied and happy with our catches. Good fights from Amberjack's, Good quantities and sizes as well. Even the captain believe this was one of the best trip ever encountered on the APOLLO.

I wish i could write up a better Catch Report for this trip but i was too busy concertrating trying to break ameng's record. Hahhahah. I let u judge the catch from the pics itself. Mind you, the fishes in the pic layed out on display is the one that couldnt fit in our personal coolbox. Almost everyone's coolbox was filled more than half and some was full to the max. Enjoy the pics and i let you judge on our outing for that trip. Videos was taken too and will probadly post in up on youtube once i get the copy.Cheers!

Total Amberjack's caught 8kg to 28kg= 22
Krisi Bali- All average size from 500gm to 1kg plus = more then 30 to 50
Ruby's- 3kg to 9.5kg = not more then 10
Tongkol=1
Mackarel =1
Catfish = 1
P/s:Cant remember everyone's Amberjack's weight as i was busy trying to break my back and the record itself.hahahaha!

Will edit the forum once my memory has gotten itself back as i still feel tired after that trip.Cheers FO!

Jason: Your shirt got me luck again dude. So Edy, When are you sending me some lucky FO's shirt?LOL!

[MarkR]

Great catch and great report dude! Very nice

[Akudou]

Thanks MarkR, Guess We were lucky the Amberjack's were waiting for us. Its not likely to meet a whole school of AJ's like this one often!

[azminza]

Bro,

Very exciting & fantastic catch. Hope to join you all after after Hari Raya when weather permit.

Rgds
Ebek.1

[stevenseow]

Great catch and nice write up. Thump up for you guys.

[jason]

Wow.....Whole Amberjack family came visiting......

Well Done.



Cheers
Jason

[th2x]

Super Catches!

[rolexking]

very nice Catch Report and great fishin peeps

[Akudou]

Thank you very much guys. To you guys who are interested in coming over, gimme a holla yea? If the timing is right, i would be able to meet you guys up or maybe join you on the trip as well. As for now, i pray for the Amberjack's family to breed quickly. hahahahaha! The last trip seems to be a wipeout but then the bite wasnt stopping even till the very last drop before we left.

[edylie]

Akudou,

Nice amberjacks landed ...

Thank you for sharing!

Regards,
Edy

[Narc]

Originally Posted by Akudou

Thank you very much guys. To you guys who are interested in coming over, gimme a holla yea? If the timing is right, i would be able to meet you guys up or maybe join you on the trip as well. As for now, i pray for the Amberjack's family to breed quickly. hahahahaha! The last trip seems to be a wipeout but then the bite wasnt stopping even till the very last drop before we left.

Great catch.
21 amberjacks along with the other fishes, can finish eating?

They cant breed as fast if none of the 21 made it back in.

[Akudou]

Originally Posted by Narc

Great catch.
21 amberjacks along with the other fishes, can finish eating?

They cant breed as fast if none of the 21 made it back in.

Yea, i realise that dude. I only landed 1 Amberjack and i brought it back to taste it. I tried to advice the others to do C&R but then seems like since they are paying for the charter, they didnt wanna do it.The crew of the vessel gaffed it up through its body and i dont think it will be able to survive even if we release it. Thats why i told the crew to gaff it from the mouth when i get another one as i wanna do C&R, believe me..i really wanna do that. But for the others, sigh..i believe they think nothing comes for free.

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by Narc

can finish eating?

Can lah...give extended family...better tasting than taka GTs

Hee hee...dun be lau sian lah...so grumpy these days

[Narc]

Originally Posted by Akudou

Yea, i realise that dude. I only landed 1 Amberjack and i brought it back to taste it. I tried to advice the others to do C&R but then seems like since they are paying for the charter, they didnt wanna do it.The crew of the vessel gaffed it up through its body and i dont think it will be able to survive even if we release it. Thats why i told the crew to gaff it from the mouth when i get another one as i wanna do C&R, believe me..i really wanna do that. But for the others, sigh..i believe they think nothing comes for free.

Agree. We can only do our part by reminding. The rest is still up to the anglers themselves.

[Akudou]

Originally Posted by Narc

Agree. We can only do our part by reminding. The rest is still up to the anglers themselves.

Yes Narc, The rest will have to think for themself as they would be dissapointed one day when we ran out of gamefish like Amberjack's to fight with. They organising another trip this weekend and i hope that they will not wipeout the same spot. As for me, im goin on a hit n run overnite on saturday if weather permits.. not for AJ's but for table size fish like mj's, snappers, groupers,etc!

[Akudou]

Very welcome Edy, am glad could contribute to FO's on behalf of Brunei. Still waiting for your FO's shirt tho ..hehheeh :P Anyways, i got a copy of our trip. not really a pro type of recording but would be willing to copy it and send it over to you. Pm me your mail address if you want a copy, maybe you could edit it n post some exciting part for the FO's members to watch. Thank you very much FO's!

[Blue Dream]

wow siuk eh basar basar lauk nya. jeles ku meliat ani wah lauk ku paling basar iatah nganya utik 3 kilo atupun belapaskan orang gila nganya kan bawa balik makan! tahniah eh!

translation:

Wow so fun so many big big fish. so jealous as the biggest fish ive ever caught was a 3 kg cat fish that i released as only a crazy person will eat that! congrats!

[Akudou]

Thanks Blue dream, dont be jealous... go out more often if the nature around you allowed it. Btw where do you catch the catfish? Kpg Ayer? hehehe... if it is that means you are doin river fishing, beach fishing,etc. To get those biggies, we had to travel faraway on a vessel where the big fish are in the deep deep sea.

[Akudou]

Last week a group of 6 anglers went to the dropoff again. 14 Amberjack's was caught with the maximum of 20kg the largest AJ brought up. Could be more mama's as lines n tackle broke most of the time. Will try to get some pics of them if there are any. Seems like an AJ season this time of the year!