"Not-So-Deep" sea fishing

For the first time in my life, I went to area around Pulau Bai, Batu Sapi and also Pulau Nangka for fishing yesterday ( 29 November 2008 ). Departed from the jetty in Pasir Putih at 700am and went back at around 430pm. Went there on a 170hp speed boat with Jus, Painus, Azrim and the boatman himself. The speedboat was equipped with a fish finder. We used prawn, squid and basung as baits. Painus got the first catch of the day with an otik, followed by Azrim with a 200g or 300g red snapper. Those were the only catches we got in Pulau Nangka. Then, we moved to another spot, this time, I caught an otik. As the water was so muddy, we went to Pulau Bai. The excitement started when Jus caught a grouper weighing about 250g. Azrim, Jus and Painus caught a lot of gelama. Azrim also landed a 800g fish which I don't know what its name and accordin to the boatman, it was an expensive fish. As for me, with the title Raja Otik a few months ago, like usual, I caught a lot of otiks. The size of each otik got bigger each time I caught them. I also landed a very big manyung. It was more than 1kg. It was heavy and the catfish had no fighting spirit at all. With my 40lbs braided line and cheap seahawk reel, the feeling of fighting was not there. I should have brought along my 20lbs line. Besides otik and manyung, I also successfully landed a grouper which was about 500 to 600g. Didn't take a lot of photo as everyone was so busy with their spools and their rods.

Painus preparing his spool. Azrim was busy with the baits. Jus was busy with his Dunhill Menthol Light.

My manyung and grouper.

It was fun fishing with them. I'm looking foward for another 'not-so-deep' sea fishing trip with them. We planned to have a monthly trip fishing in those area. Hope this will come true and hopefully we'll get better catches.

Sandakan wet market again?

Wong fished in Sandakan wet market again last night from 130am to 600am with Chu. Used tamban as bait and successfully landed a 1.5kg red snapper. As for Chu, he was there from 730pm to 600am. It was nearly 12 hours. He caught a 1.3kg sweet lips ( the local here called it ikan kaci ). According to Wong, the fish is priced at RM60/kg.

The 1.5kg red snapper caught by Wong.

Chu's 1.3kg sweet lips.

7/8kg sea snake

Chu caught this sea snake last night. Felt like pulling up a big rock. It was about 7 or 8kg according to the people there.

The sea snake caught by Chu.

The spool used by Chu to land this sea snake. The sea snake was even fatter than his arm.

In the quest to search for Sungai Korek

Went to search for the 'much-talked' Sugai Korek in mile 7. People had talked much about their experiences fishing for groupers, selongsong and even mangrove jack there. So, I went to mile 7 alone yesterday afternoon. Asked some of the villagers there. Managed to find the place in less than 30 minutes. It was a nice place to fish and it was actually not a river. As what I saw, I would rather say that it's a pond. Will surely go there again.

Went to Sandakan wet market last night with Donny. With prawn as bait, I managed to catch an otik. As for Donny, he caught an otik and a kerisi.

The small and sexy kerisi caught by Donny.

babies groupers & red snapper

Planned to go fishing with Donny at 830pm. I was quite tired so have to cancelled it. He went to 'tembok' alone last night. He got only stone fish. Anyway, I've got a message from Wong that he caught a baby snapper and another 2 babies groupers at about 9 something. He was with Ah Wah. Fished in his favourite spot ( Sandakan wet market ) using handline with squid as bait.

All the babies caught by Wong.