LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Hehehehehe.... ok, seems like my Grand Finales are anything but, nonetheless considering that I am outstation on leave next week, this is definitely the last CR from DFM for this year.
Once again the unusual weather conditions with lightish winds afforded my crew and I another shot at a Hit & Run offshore. As I checked and rechecked my weather satelite feeds, radar pics and forecasts it looked pretty much like the sea was quite fishable. The only thing that might have been a problem was a 4-6ft swell that was reasonably gentile.
So Ishak and I refueled the boat on Wednesday night whilst it was still at a friends workshop having undergone a number of structural reinforcements to its Stainless Steel Canopy Roof and some other small welding work.... we topped off the main tank with 200 litres of regular and loaded another 200 litres of reserve fuel in for a total range of around 300km.
The next day, was filled with last minute things that threatened to derail or delay the trip, but eventually we were good to go at 6pm after I completed wiring in the new spotlight at the launch ramp... Even then a few last minute adjustments saw us only heading out around 6.30pm with a record total of 9 guys on the boat.
Seas heading out were as forecasted with 5 foot widely spaced swells and wind conditions were also as predicted with 20kmh winds coming in from the North... The ride was a little hard but with the enhanced lighting we averaged around 42kmh heading out to a spot 72km offshore. We reached the spot around 8.15pm. This particular spot was an area we had been visiting only during daylight hours over the last 3 trips and it held some great sized Red Snapper and Kerisi Bali, but we were confident that come nightfall, we would also encounter MJs in the L & XL size.
Water depth was averaging at just over 300ft and we were parking over the edge of a "hole" in the seabed that was about 15ft deep. The sounder picture was promising, but we would only find out by fishing....
So everyone rigged up in a race to be the first to get a rig in the zone... We were using a mixture of ranggongs and XHD Apollo rigs, 4 guys in the prow of the boat were using the XHD ARs with very heavy sinkers (2 of them using handlines) and guys in the middle and stern were using ranggongs, middle guys (me and Ishak) using shorter leaders to avoid tangling the guys in the stern (3 guys, one sitting on the engines!!!) and everyone coordinated their sinker weights to minimise tangling... nonetheless we were expecting a few tangles....
Ishak was the first to get hit and in short order had boated a nice 3kg red snapper and I think that was followed by a nice kerisi bali and a grouper. Next up was one our handline boys in the front with another nice red snapper. Then it was my turn as I reacted to the classic violent MJ strike that shortly saw me hauling aboard a nice 4-5kg MJ. Just a few minutes later, Fendi who was handlining a XHDAR in front of me started hauling in and playing another good fish which turned out to be a decent 3-4kg MJ, then Kahar in the very front of the boat saw his 5 hook XHDAR score another great 4-5kg MJ on his no.3 hook.... The rear most guys were by then feeling the heat and as Ishak's rod bent over in its holder, he struck on the fish and graciously handed the outfit over to a new kaki of ours who had just started heading out with us recently. The new chap succeded in landing a very nice 5kg Snapper in short order... I think Kahar boated yet another MJ too after that.
Unfortunately after this, the wind picked up to about 30-40kmh and switched to a more westerly direction, thereby shifting the boat off the spot.... and the catch rate dropped drastically... . So in our usual "Hantam Saja" way, we cracked open the food coldbox and had our meal for the evening..... needless to say after that there were a couple of casualties with the usual serenade of "nose thunder".... some serious snoring. Except for some big marine catfish that turned up to exercise a couple of the boys (dang those things can pull hard), there were no other notable catches.
By around 1am the next morning, the remaining guys awake decided to reposition the boat since it seemed to have settled on a pretty constant bearing and after about 30 minutes of freeing a stuck anchor, Kahar reparked the boat a 120m upwind and upcurrent of the bearing and we settled in within 10m of the actual spot...... The results were good, with the crew boating snapper and kerisi bali, but I wanted another serious MJ, so I changed leader to the heavy duty Maxima Ultragreen 80lb, pulled out 2 fresh Gamakatsu 5/0s and then rigged that up to a whole big butterflied Rumahan, one hook thru the nose, the other pinning together the dorsal flaps of the bait.
I had a long wait, some 40 minutes during which everyone else pretty much crashed out but with my rod in the holder and the bait 3 cranks from the bottom, I "rested" with an eye on my rod tip and I think I may have dozed slightly to dream of pulling in an MJ....hehhehee... next thing I knew, I watched my GF755H go into a total horseshoe..... woah, mama, big mama.... Throwing finesse and technique to the wind, I scrambled to my rod and frantically cranked 3 times on the 665HXM to set the hook, whilst leaving the drag at strike. Whatever it was on the other end of the line went totally beserk and the rod bent so hard, I could not get it out of the holder (Mikey, its definitely slick butts from now on for my bottom cannons). With no other choice, I just left the rod in the holder and let the fish fight the rod and the swell that was lifting the boat, cranking whenever the line let up a little, I must have got 20 cranks on the fish before I managed to get the rod out and begin the fight properly, but the fish was still able to make 5 or 6 powerful runs straight down, headshaking, making the 755H work for its money and seeing the 655HXM unload over 20lbs of drag very smoothly. My main worry at the time was how securely the fish was hooked but with a twin hook rig, I reckoned it was reasonably safe to push that hard..... about 10 minutes later, I got the fish up but the current pushed it to the other side of the boat so I didn't get a proper look till Ishak reached down and dragged up this huge beautiful red and silver apparition with a set of fangs that would send the local Barracuda yelping off in fear.....wooooohhhooooooo..... definitely one of my PB MJs for the year and in fact the fish will be my last MJ for 2005... what a way to close the MJ account... Didn't weigh the fish, but it would have been a 10kg class animal.
Yawwwnnnn.... boy..... guys and gals I'm wrecked, I've been up continuously with only the briefest of naps for over 24 hours, its now 2230 hours and I need to catch up on some zzzzzzsss...... Will post pics now and maybe add more to yet another of my long winded CRs tomorrow.
Hope you like the pics;
Saimee
Reply With Quote
ing!!!!! 
Now ... that's what i call a season FINALE!!!!! Hahahahahahaha!!!!!
Originally Posted by stickbom! 
...
