After jumping on this trip a while ago, I’ve been looking forward to it every day. Finally, after several more trips to the tackle shops, the day arrived for the drive up to Rompin from Singapore.
We all met up in Woodlands and I was driving my old Merc up. An ominous orange light appeared on the dashboard telling me the coolant was low – that can’t be good, surely? Just had the car serviced, so hoped it was a false alarm. So with a warning about the horrible orange light to the 3 kakis riding with me, we set off to the dreaded Woodlands checkpoint. I really don’t like the Causeway crossing as there is always a long queue. Today was to be no exception, with a long trail of waiting cars! When you have a warning light on the car it is a worry, so I kept looking at the light, looking at the temperature gauge, looking at the oil pressure, wondering if we could clear customs before the car blew up, can we make it to Rompin? The car was still ticking along after customs and after a quick bite to eat, we refilled the water and off went the light. Mmmmm, not good! However, the old girl made it to Rompin before the orange light came back on again. Yippee!
Found the accommodation OK, had a bite to eat and started to get the gear ready. After busy preparations of gear in anticipation of the battles to commence, we managed to get a little sleep and headed off to the jetty for breakfast. Saw a couple of Fishing Kaki guys there, ready for the off. (Sorry for my bad memory GCW!). Kept a lookout for Cokiuu, but never managed to meet up, despite numerous SMS!
The morning was just waking up and the sea looked calm.
Out to sea we went and managed to catch enough Selar to tempt the Sails.
Master Popper Mervyn was at the bow, popping away merrily and had a couple of Sails chase, one made contact, but didn’t bite. Meanwhile, we had 3 rods out with balloons at the stern. We saw a Sail jump and the music started. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!! FISH ON!!! FISH ON MY ROD!!! WOOOOOOHHHOOOOOOOOO!!!
My first Sail – quite a shock to the system as it fought like hell!! After what seemed like an eternity, it came in close enough for our captain to grab hold- what a relief!!
So with a BIG smile, my first Sail was lying on my lap.
Next up was Mok – on his first fishing trip – Lucky man!!! With a little help from our organizer, Andy, his Sail was in and looking pretty for the foto-shoot.
Mervyn was next on the list with the rod bent over and reel singing – on his first big offshore trip! This sail was going nuts and jumping all over the place.
Quite a spectacle, but damn hard to take a photo in time to catch the action. This one decided to hide under the boat, so Mervyn had to dig the rod deep into the water to clear the propeller.
Finally, the Sail gave up and came in for its turn on the deck.
Next up was for our patient organizer. Once again, the acrobatic Sail put on a good show and then gracefully came in for the shoot.
Success! 4 Kakis, 4 Sails – great result!
As if on queue, the next sail hit my line again. Well, I did say it was my turn!
We managed a double hook up a while later with two Sails hitting within seconds of each other.
Andy and Mok battled at the stern, but Mok’s Sail spat the hook and sailed away. Andy’s fish came in and posed for the four of us.
Total for the day:
Andy – landed 2, lost 3
Mok – landed 2, lost 0
Mervyn (Popperman) – landed 2, lost 3 (not on poppers tho!)
Me – landed 3, lost 3
After a sumptuous meal of sotong and selar – the left over bait, we headed off to catch some sleep.
Day two arrived and once again, the weather looked kind.
Sunday was a bottom bashing day, but it was tough going. After a few Cuttlefish, Selar, Tamban and Kuning, we set off for the fishing grounds, but the fish just weren’t switched on and the action was darn slow! We managed a few table sized Grouper in the morning and then decided to put some balloon rigs out for Tinggiri.
After a short while, the music came – ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ and the ballon shooting across the water. FISH ON – FISH ON MY LINE!!! YAAAAAHHHOOOOOOOO!!!
Had to play this one carefully as the line was only 30lb and this fish was big! As it came to the boat, it started to go round, under, round, under, round, under and I had to dig the rod down deep. All lines were up, and the propeller raised. “WAH LAU – BIG ONE, BIG ONE” was the call from our captain Ah Liang as the fish showed itself. After a few more runs, it was on the gaff and up into the boat. Weighing in at exactly 10KG, it’s my second Tinggiri and my biggest to date.
A couple of slices of this fish went into our evening meal, accompanied by the bait (prawns), the Grouper, Cuttlefish and veggie. Yum yum!!!
All told, a fantastic trip was had by all. A memorable experience, great fishing, great food and great kakis!!
Thanks to Andy for the organization and to all the kakis for the fun trip.
Cheers,
Ian
