I post on behalf of Akudou,
The MIRI GT TRIP:
This trip made me really excited as i was invited to join this trip, esp after seeing the previous E11 & F6 video results. So our organiser Ameng brought 12345, Alan, H.Li & me from the Brunei side. Other Anglers include Darrel from KK, Zip from singapore, Sam from JB and the rest of the anglers such as Stanley (Ah hiang-boat owner), Poland, Matsut-angeh, meng-meng, Alex and a couple more which i cant remember the name as total of 15 anglers was onboard. Vessel was more than 80footer.
We made a move from Brunei on the 20th March at 9am and arrived in Miri at 11’sh. Got to the 80 plus footer vessel and load our stuffs on it as 12345 and me was the first to get there. Since no one was there yet, we decide to do a lil shopping at a few tackle shop, had lunch and at around 3pm we decided to board the vessel waiting for the others to come.
The others came one by one and as soon as eveything such as rods,reels,neccesary equipment & everyone was ready, we left around 4.30pm. Heading to the first Oilrig was a long journey as it will take 12 to 14hrs to reach. So,everyone had their little shuteye before reaching the first rig.
Reach the first rig at around nearly 6 the next day and everybody got their rods,jigs,poppers out to be ready for our GT hunt. First rig wasnt so productive as only 7kg GT was caught on popping. After 2 to 3 hrs of jigging n popping, no one had a strike and the organise decide to head to the other rig which will take 3 to 5 hrs.
The 2nd rig wasnt that bad as Matsut-angeh and Stanley got hookups on thei first drop. Gt was estimate around 5 to 7 kg respectively. After an hr or so , no strikes still and as it was approaching 6pm, one of the anglers decide to bottom fish the rig as the vessel will be resting there for the night and the other anglers followed to bottom as well. Bottom fishing resulted in a few dinner table fish weighing frm 2 to 5kgs. Even using live baits resulted in a GT hookup. Many lines was busted as the pesty Barracuda’s was around, around 7 barracudas was landed on that night weighing around 5 to estimated the largest at 15 to 18kg. since im here for the GT’s, i decided to get some shuteye.
Woke up at 5ish am the nextday and as everyone was still bottom fishing for the pesty coutta’s, i decided to drop my jig, my first drop instanlly strike a fish and as it landed onboard it was a red snapper. Not what i expected but then was atleast happy to land a fish on jig.
The vessel made a move to the 3rd rig at around 7’ish after breakfast and when they told me it was the famous F6 i was excited and as we approach the rig, everyone was ready. I can see as much as 10 anglers on the right side on the vessel and the other side 5. As everyone dropped the jigs, i estimate the water was around 90meters plus. As i hit the bottom, i began to jig around 3 strokes,i felt a pull. Guess it missed the hook so i dropped it again and for the next 3 strokes i manage a strike and held on as i can feel that it was very strong. The fish made a dash as i tried to hold on to a comfortable position and as the rod decide to bend over, my reel scream for like 1sec and i snapped the line. i reel my line up and found my 130 FC leader snapped.
The other anglers manage to hook up some GT’s weighing at 5kg to 14kgs on jigs &. Some hooked up a few big eyed jacks and even meng-meng manage to hook a nice 4 to 6kg Yellowfin. It was turn to sashimi for lunch.heheheh. As the patrol boat was around which makes it difficult to do jigging as they tried to chase us away. We decided to stop and have lunch.
Some times after lunch, we decide to do make a move to another rig which takes us more than 1 hr. As everyone drop their jigs on arrival, i manage the first strike on my first drop and boy, was it a magnificent strike. Needed 2 ppl to help me keep in balance as the fish tried to pull me overboard and when i finally settle in to fight my fish, rod was bending down so badly and as the reel screamed twice, my line snapped again, this time as i reel in i found my 100lbs braided line snap without the 150lbs shock leader. After jigging n popping sometimes, the others decided to troll. A rapala CD14 Mag was left with just the bip as something strike hard at it. 12345 also manage to land a GT around 5 to 7kg. He manage to get another but as lines crossed, 12345’s 150lb shock leader snapped as well. Trolling around the rig productive as around 5to 6 Gts was caught with the heaviest at 18kg. Some even use their popping gear with poppers to troll and was quite effective. After 6 rounds around the rig, we decided to move on to the last rig.
Arrived at the last rig at around 8pm and as usual everyone was jigging & popping. Only a couple of GT’s was hooked up and a few decent size big eye jack. After having no bites on jigs, came the bottom bashing again with Alan raising quite a few nice table fish. I was too tired to bottom and decided to clean my reels and place my rods. Tje vessel decided to headback at around 12ish. Reach miri the next day at 10ish am.
Though i didnt manage to hook up the GT’s, i was quite happy with the trip as it gave me some experience where how the mama GT’s fought. I hope to be back some more but this time well and ready equipped. I estimated around minimum of 20 GTs released, 10 huge Baraccuda’s and quite alot of table fish.
The arsenals onboard brought for the trip was awesome as we estimated around 20k to 30k worth of just reels such as Stella, Saltiga Exp, a Few multipliers such as the OJ’s, Accurate,etc. so we didnt bother to count the rods. Rods used onboard was Jigging master,Fisherman,ripple fisher, Seed, Xzoga, sevenseas,Carpenter, Tenryu and a few more which i cant recall. Imagine each angler bringing along 5 to 7 rods.
