Sailfish on the yak!!</font id=“size6”>
It was a very early 3am start, but we got to Rompin (on the East coast of Malaysia) in good time just before 7am! As it was still dark, we wandered around for a while and saw a kitten playing with a huge scorpion!
I took the yak on the boat last year, with the intention of catching a sail on the boat first and then launching the yak. I lost 5 sails, however, and only landed my sail at 5pm closing time!
This time, I decided to launch out at the first spot!
As I got into the yak, I dropped a lively Ang Ko Li in and tied on a balloon. As I started to paddle away from the boat, my reel made a sound and line started to fly off! Up jumped a sail, but the hook was out in a flash! Dang!!
Rigged up another bait and started off again. Seconds later, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ WHOOOSH!!! Up
jumped a sail, its head thrashing from side to side and out spat my bait! Apparently, most of the boats in the area could hear my disappointment!
Back to business again, but this time it was a waiting game.
Ready for action..
After a while dunno how long, the boatman was coming back to pick me up and my reel gave a little zz, followed by another zzzz. I waved the boatman off and zzzzzzzzzzzz..ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
Hold it…,WHOOOOOSH, SPLASH, WHOOOOSH.SPLASH. FISH ON!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!
SAIL ON!!
I was being pulled in all directions winding in line as fast as I could as the fish came back toward me and then off again on a wild ride. As the fish started to pull straight for a while, I threw out my Ikea bag sea anchor and managed to gain some line back. As I neared the fish, it was shining a beautiful blue and silver. I grabbed the leader and pulled in to grab the beak. After a good thrashing around, I took out the hook and lifted her up for a quick photo before releasing her into the abyss.
Smile!!
YIPPPEEEEEE!!! I climbed back onto the boat a happy man!
It was enough for me and I had achieved what I set out to do, so was content to watch the others fish.
Angela was next up with a bigger sail..
We missed a couple of other sails, but the action was few and far between takes.
Second day:
Rain greeted us early on, so we decided to do some bottom fishing in the morning. Even this fishing was hard work tho, with very few fish coming in. Angela succeeded again with a nice Jewfish and my biggest was a small barracuda about a meter long it took the bait right next to the motors!
As the afternoon session came round, we had some bait, so I decided to launch again. A couple of sail came up very close to the yak with sails raised, but I didn’t have anything suitable for casting.
Birds were circling around nearby.
Follow the birds..
Sitting in the big blue…waiting…
Cheers and splashes coming from the boat, but this one was lost.
I had one quick take, but the bait was gone before I saw the fish!
I rigged up another Ang Ko Li and decided to troll around the area, heading off toward the birds. As I paddled about 200 meters, the reel made a lovely sound. ZzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!
FISH ON!!
I had found out that it is very hard to fight a sail and try to take foto’s at the same time - I really wish I had rigged up a video cam! The sail made a lot of jumps very close to me, so I was frantically winding in line to keep in contact.
The fish started to tire and it was time to face the beast..
Unfortunately, I was too far from the boat for a photo and the fish was already going dark in colour, so I had to release it as soon as possible.
She swam down gracefully and I was off for another, but time was almost up and returned to the motherboat with a big smile on my face!
I packed the yak and we stopped at another spot. Kelvin was now in with his first sail.
We had one more sail which broke off at the boat I had the leader in my hand, so it still counts, but I was sorry to lose the fish of another angler! Sorry Daryl!!
Time was up, so we headed off for another feast back at the base.
All in all FANTASTIC!!!</font id=“size6”>
Cheers,
Ian
