Rest of Asia Burma Banks 16th to 21st Dec 07

[stickbom!]

Sorry to disappoint you guys but I was knocked out by some infection most of the time and was sleeping it off inside the cabin In fact I'm still feeling unwell now!

Lets wait for my buddies to fill you guys in...

[zeck]

You gotta be kidding mate!!!!! Looking forward for so long, and you did not fish?? Anyway, have a great Christmas and get well soon!!! Looking forward to your kakis' reports. My trip is next week.

[edylie]

Mikey,

I heard your boat landed a 20kgs dogtooth right?

Wanted to call you but i lost my contacts

Stayed one night over at Patong Beach.

I will post my CR once i have received pictures from the mates.

Merry Xmass

Edy

[stickbom!]

Yeah my guide Mr Ton caught the 20kg specimen on his prototype Toman rod and Branzino 3000! Totally made me look like a clown with all the heavy outfits

I think that afternoon after our boats met up was the last day I was fully conscious... it was all a big fuzz after that

I land a tiny GT on popper, some funny looking bottom species on jigs and winched back a Mahi Mahi that pounced on my friend's Rapala CD18. After that, my friends literally had to drag me out of the cabin to fish Luckily I still managed to sample some YFT and grouper action despite falling sick.

Zeck, PE5 is pretty safe for Burma Banks if you're not targeting the deep groupers. The seamount everyone is fishing at is 4 miles across and pretty bare of structure so you can let the fish run all it wants. You're either anchored right on the mount or dangling over the sides so there's no chance of the fish cutting you off on the edge. When the YFT aren't around, you can probably hit bottom with under 300g jigs. Bring a light PE2-3 casting outfit to fling small jigs (60-80g). You will not regret it. I'm totally kicking myself for not doing so

I was knocked out most of the time so hardly took any photos this trip. Here's one I took with my buddy Layman. Check out our haul of Groupers

[edylie]

wow ... you guys landed lotsa groupers there!

I am still waiting pics to be sent from the rest of the team so i could post it here.

We caught mostly tunas (Yellow Fin and Bonitos)

-e

[alvindiana]

Edy, any big mama yft?

[edylie]

Alvin,

Nothing big ...i think the biggest about 20kgs or so and with alot around 10kgs

-e

[zeck]

Mike, you brought something like 27 rods, and nothing to cast 60-80grm?? Hahahah. Thanks for the tip. I will bring my Dolphin Stick (or Garu) and Daiwa 3000 size for that purpose.

My main outfit will be PE4. PE5 (my max) will only come up if I get de-spooled. Was even thinking of not bringing my PE5!

Edy, 10kg YFTs will be super fun on PE2/3.

5 more days!

[stickbom!]

Zeck, due to baggage weight constraints, I only brought 5 rods

I'd like to show my appreciation to the following people-

Hohong & Vivian- Thanks for planning and making the trip happen + helping me with the "shopping mission"
Andrew & Suan- For taking care and supplying medication to us sick chickens during the trip + taking the trouble to burn the photos into a CD for everyone
Jordan/Azlan/Hafeez/Wong- for being there and making the trip a merry and memorable one

[DaFrogman]

Sorry to disappoint you guys but I was knocked out by some infection most of the time and was sleeping it off inside the cabin In fact I'm still feeling unwell now!

Miiikkkkeeeyyy.... Man that sucks big time...

In any case a belated Merry as possible Xmas and get well soon dude... Thats a pretty good haul of groupers...

Regards,

Saimee

[Jordan72]

Zeck, due to baggage weight constraints, I only brought 5 rods

I'd like to show my appreciation to the following people-

Hohong & Vivian- Thanks for planning and making the trip happen + helping me with the "shopping mission"
Andrew & Suan- For taking care and supplying medication to us sick chickens during the trip + taking the trouble to burn the photos into a CD for everyone
Jordan/Azlan/Hafeez/Wong- for being there and making the trip a merry and memorable one

here you go mike...a merry n memorable one...hehe

[zeck]

Zeck, due to baggage weight constraints, I only brought 5 rods

I will bring 5 rods as well, and thanks to your advice - will bring the Pe2/3 casting outfit.

[MarkR]

Nice catch

Good looking groupers too! What was the average size of the groupers?

tight lines

[stickbom!]

I think 10kgs would be a safe estimate

[Lancer]

wow nice. have to stand so far away to take the photo to fit in all e fish. There's a big tuna at the bottom right corner isn't it?

[th2x]

Thats a whole lot of fishes!
The trip should be real great!

BTW, what do you guys do with so much big fishes?

Cheers!
th2x

[stickbom!]

Lancer the bottom left fish is a 20kg Doggie caught by our guide... on his prototype Toman rod and Branzino 3000. Amazing ain't it

th2x it was a good trip for all of us. Some of us have never hit fish on jigs and poppers while some "sua ku" like myself never bottom fished so deep for groupers... so it was a real eye opener for everyone.

[th2x]

Lancer the bottom left fish is a 20kg Dogtooth Tuna caught by our guide... on his prototype Toman rod and Branzino 3000. Amazing ain't it

th2x it was a good trip for all of us. Some of us have never hit fish on jigs and poppers while some "sua ku" like myself never bottom fished so deep for groupers... so it was a real eye opener for everyone.

Hi stickbom!,

No worries, me too, have not caught anything on jigs as yet. Let alone jigs, nothing on lures even at payponds as well.
Have not even tried popping!
Tried trolling, zzzzzzzzz....and silence, lure came back with tooth marks, thats all....

Wonder how deep is the deep that you are referring too?
Another "sua ku" here as well.
Deepest I have fished is only about 45m only.

Cheers!
th2x

[stickbom!]

I need to check how much PE line is left on my reel for an accurate number cos I got buried by a grouper and the line broke in the deckie's hands. He had the line wrapped on his gloved hands and was trying the free the snag for me when the line cut into itself. I would say easily about 170-200m?

[stickbom!]

Miiikkkkeeeyyy.... Man that sucks big time...

In any case a belated Merry as possible Xmas and get well soon dude... Thats a pretty good haul of groupers...

Regards,

Saimee

Dude you're gonna love the "Grouper Special"... I kid you not

[Bluewater Legends]

Hi Mr Stickbom,I was just wondering if your group made up the numbers for a main Thailand group or there were some thai anglers around ? If you are, i somehow feel that it could be the thai anglers giving pressure to the captain to hunt for groupers as these groupers(I was told are very good eating)sells for pretty good money and will defray some of their costs...
The second scenario is that the captain did not give his best as nobody on board pressured him to look for pelagics,so he presumed that we goon-dus from Singapore are happy with groupers

Got a feeling of being played out and cheated.....

From your posts, you seem like a dedicated jigger/popper and IMHO,this trip is disappointing for you.....Its alright , man....you'll bounce back but maybe not at Burma.I was told that the Myanmese government have began selling permits for Taiwanese and Chinese fishermen to fish Burma and some parts of the Mergui Archipelago.....So for those of you who want to fish Burma,do it fast....

[lsk20]

Hi stickbom!,

No worries, me too, have not caught anything on jigs as yet. Let alone jigs, nothing on lures even at payponds as well.
Have not even tried popping!
Tried trolling, zzzzzzzzz....and silence, lure came back with tooth marks, thats all....

Wonder how deep is the deep that you are referring too?
Another "sua ku" here as well.
Deepest I have fished is only about 45m only.

Cheers!
th2x

hi,

i was there on polaris boat the same week as stickbom, we have fished in depth of 230m there.

fyi
lip song

[zeck]

wowowo.... 230m is pretty deep! hmm... time to rethink strategy else i will not have enough line!

[stickbom!]

Hi Mr Stickbom,I was just wondering if your group made up the numbers for a main Thailand group or there were some thai anglers around ? If you are, i somehow feel that it could be the thai anglers giving pressure to the captain to hunt for groupers as these groupers(I was told are very good eating)sells for pretty good money and will defray some of their costs...
The second scenario is that the captain did not give his best as nobody on board pressured him to look for pelagics,so he presumed that we goon-dus from Singapore are happy with groupers

Got a feeling of being played out and cheated.....

From your posts, you seem like a dedicated jigger/popper and IMHO,this trip is disappointing for you.....Its alright , man....you'll bounce back but maybe not at Burma.I was told that the Myanmese government have began selling permits for Taiwanese and Chinese fishermen to fish Burma and some parts of the Mergui Archipelago.....So for those of you who want to fish Burma,do it fast....

Yo BW Legend, there were no Thais on the boat and my captain did his very best to hunt for pelagics. He brought us to quite a few known popping spots but no one was at home. Then we tried anchoring in super windy conditions which resulting in re-anchoring countless of times. He even borrowed a larger anchor from the Polaris (supposed to be competitor/rival) just to make sure we could anchor firmly. If the Captain and crew reckoned we were goons, he would have anchored at a comfortable spot and told us to be patient. LOL If there was a lack of pelagics caught, it was definitely not due to lack of trying by my friends and the boat crew. Its just fishing and shit happens

Oh by the way, we actually sold off our haul of groupers to the local seafood dealer to subsidise our costs so the crew didn't profit from the groupers

LSK20 were you on the same boat with Edy?

[lsk20]

Yo BW Legend, there were no Thais on the boat and my captain did his very best to hunt for pelagics. He brought us to quite a few known popping spots but no one was at home. Then we tried anchoring in super windy conditions which resulting in re-anchoring countless of times. He even borrowed a larger anchor from the Polaris (supposed to be competitor/rival) just to make sure we could anchor firmly. If the Captain and crew reckoned we were goons, he would have anchored at a comfortable spot and told us to be patient. LOL If there was a lack of pelagics caught, it was definitely not due to lack of trying by my friends and the boat crew. Its just fishing and shit happens

Oh by the way, we actually sold off our haul of groupers to the local seafood dealer to subsidise our costs so the crew didn't profit from the groupers

LSK20 were you on the same boat with Edy?

yep, we were on the same boat, i was e guy who was standing on aft deck when ur boat came edy kept saying he wants to go home