I think i miss out one important CR which is fishingkaki.com webmaster and gangs goto One Fathom Bank, Port Klang. Although this CR is kinna late, …it’s better late den never right???[:D]
Maggotbabe is the webmaster wife of fishingkaki.com and she is one heck of an organiser. She take care of her gengs to OFB like no other organiser that i know of…[:D]
They safely arrive at Port Klang around 5am this morning. here’s some pic of them in Port Klang…[:D]
My Shop before the renovation…[:D]
They did some shopping at my shop before departing to OFB…[:D]
After that we went for some Teh Tarik while waiting for the Bak Kut Teh stall to open at 7am…
Breakfast at Port Klang, BKT Style…[:D]
Who could resist the lovely aroma of morning BKT at Klang…[:D]
Woolalaa…[:D]
Yummy…[:D]
Uncle Des T from fishingkaki.com said “Ho Liaw”
After a good braekfast, we head to the Jetty
They waited till the tide is rite than board the boat to OFB
A happy babe
Off they go
OFB
Everyone was anticipating the OFB trip dated 7th Nov to 11th Nov 07. From the Malaysian postings, everyone was having the notion of fighting big surface pelagic and also having a good time bottom bashing. For a fishing trip, that is considered unknown to most of us Singaporean fishing enthusiasts. Unlike kelong or boat trips, we were more or less well trained for what to expect. But for OFB, it is an unknown and that intriguing expectation is driving everyone to fish there. Even my boy was talking to his schoolmates about OFB, and the kids were longing for the big fight of their life. Indeed, as according to Kurao King, we are the first batch of Singaporeans to step foot OFB.
OFB Lighthouse: An aid for navigation and pilot at sea, a lighthouse is a tower building or framework sending out light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire. Lighthouses are used to mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, and safe entries to harbors and can also assist in aerial navigation. Because of modern electronic navigational aids, the number of operational lighthouses has declined to less than 1,500 worldwide. Situated 10 nautical miles west of Port Kelang. (Follow 170 when you are out from the west port entrance)
It takes about an hour to reach One Phantom Bank (OFB) with a speedboat and about 4hours with a fishing boat due to the rough sea. There are currently 2 lighthouses standing on this area with a sunken lighthouse house located about 500meter SW of the new lighthouse with a steel pole as the marker. A shipwreck is also located west of the new lighthouse with another steel post above the water level during low tide.
According to diving friend’s information, this area is famous for grouper, snappers and barracuda and they can get pretty huge. Not many anglers come here due the rough sea so there are some really huge fish here. Below the new lighthouse watches out for barracuda about 4-5ft in length and 1-2ft batfish in height. There are also some crabs under the rock (thought it was lobster for a while). The fish you will get here are groupers, snappers and barracuda and if you don’t feel pity on the batfish, you can eat hunt them too with a lot of rabbit fish. And if you are the clam hunter, you can go hunt for some clam at the old light house (still standing).
I packed for two-noodle setup and bottom setup. This turned out to be acceptable as it’s meant for 2 people:
2 Gloomis GL2 noodle paired with Daiwa SS1300 spooled 8lbs braided
1 Shimano Alivio 425 ISO rod paired Shimano 4000 Integra 20lbs mono
1 Shimano Jigrex parried Shimano 6000 Alivio modified 30lbs braided
1 Shimano Bassterra 6ft6 paired Shimano 2500 12lobs braided
1 very excited heart!
Things to bring also were Nokia N70 with 2 spare batteries and spare SIM Hi! Card. (it did not work!) One MIO GPS and charger. Going to a lighthouse communication is important. Digital camera with spare batteries and some water protection. Lifejacket too!
The gang slowly came into assembly on 7th Nov night 9pm at Golden Mile Studio coffee shop. When I was there I was so shocked there were no one at sight, but they were all hiding inside the coffee shop smoking and drinking! Slowly, all the familiar faces came in one by one. Faces were not too familiar for some, but will be friends in no time!
Sylver Reis, Penn, Nimo Jon, Richard Ah Boy, Zulu7777, Leon, Francis Lim, Wee Soon, How Cher (Bold Boy!), Jeff, Des T, llee, Tom, Tom Wife, Ben, Suling, butcher_hoe (Edmund), yzr500, Emily, Jesslyn, Skunkie, Francis, Charlotte.
Bus was on time, arriving at about 10:15pm and pack up was quick. Due to the many different items each party brought, there was some confusion. But despite the large amount of items and variations, the bus took in the full loads! 20 over people were too many, but we were lucky everything went in nicely.
Clearing the custom was not as bad as we expected using the second link. The officers were general nice. Soon, with the cold and rainy weather, all went to sleep and we had some meals at Yong Peng. We finally hit KL very soon in the early morning at 4am+ and Kurao King came to meet us in high spirit!
We reached Kurao King shop GPS location:
WP,D,Kem J kurao king||My Favourite, 3.001360000, 101.396903000,12/31/1989,00:00:00, 11/11/2007 08:37
Kurao King started singing about 100lbs leaders, big fishes, big baras and all went into a big shopping mode. Actually, his shop has many good stuff and I could had come up to stock the essentials. We bought a few rod stands which made up for the ones Ah Boy left at home. Some of the items are cheap and you might want to buy there! There is supposed to be a good nice coffee shop but it was not open. So we adjourned to Bak Kuk shop.
Honestly, the food was not as nice as I expected from a KL point of view. Anyway, I was hungry, and good food was not the agenda of this trip. Maybe next time we can go to a different one. Initially, we thought the shop KK Bakuk TE was run by Kurao King!
Soon, the bus hit the small port that we would meet our boatmen. GPS location:
WP,D,Sultan Hishamuddin Lkn coffee||Confidential, 3.002785000, 101.374353000,12/31/1989,00:00:00, 11/11/2007 08:37
WP,D,began haram mouth||Confidential, 3.007596000, 101.386690000,12/31/1989,00:00:00, 11/11/2007 08:37
WP,D,Sultan Hishamuddin Psn||Confidential, 3.002826000, 101.373120000,12/31/1989,00:00:00, 11/11/2007 08:37
The place look a bit worrying as reflected on everyone’s face. Due to the tide condition, we had to pack up into a heap and waited for the tide to come in. First problem! But no one was complaining and meanwhile, we went to the nearby hawker center and had some simple coffee and meals. It did not look very clean for Singaporeans and all looked very hesitating. We were told to wait until 2pm, and it was only 9am!
Feeling bored, we sent snooping around the small jetty and I started getting ready the reels and lines. Leon and I started loading the boat up at 11am. Fortunately, but 12 noon it was a go from the boatmen. The two boats were fully loaded, and off we went!
While on the way, we saw a ferocious Todak skipped on the surface many times chasing baits. That was a very good sign! Very good indeed! I could see DesT looking really excited!!
Anyway, two joyful and friendly Malaysian fishing kaki joined us. They helped us pack and load some of the stuff, which is very gracious of them!
OFB in view!
WP,D,one phatom bank||Confidential, 2.889348000, 100.995693000,12/31/1989,00:00:00, 11/11/2007 08:37
WP,D,ofb stone island||Confidential, 2.900556000, 101.178213000,12/31/1989,00:00:00, 11/11/2007 08:37
In no time, we started unpacking and bringing things into the main lighthouse. First problem, there were not enough rooms! Ladies, smokers, non-smokers, etc, there were some arguments, but quickly everyone gave and take and all quickly settled in. Some like Penn or Skunk simply unpack and started fishing! Ah Boy quickly “CHOP†a bed turned into his nest.
Ask what Kurao King said, the baitfishes were really big. The Tamban’s measured more than palm sizes. This is very good news for big fish hunting. The time was about 3pm plus and high tide according to my Timex would be at 4pm. Everyone was pulling up big tambans! Leon and his live well went into action very quickly.
I deployed the Alivio ISO and casted a big fat wriggling tamban out to about 30ft out against the tides and went on to set up my other rods. Ah Boy was so excited that he went around collect tambans and threw into the life well. So much so that, we ignored out noodle rod and the float drifted and got caught on to the structures. There went my beloved float that got me so many fishes.
While I was still trying to figure out what is going on, one Malay guy yelled at me. I turned back and was too happy to see the Shimano 15ft ISO rod bent into a big C! I quickly lifted the rod out of the holder and set hook then to my surprise, despite the Ultegra 4000 was set to very tight drag, line started to pour out and made the zzzzz sound. Before I could do anything, the fish dashed round the structure and the main line burst! I reeled back with a bitter face and checked the line. My Goodness! More than a few meters of the front part was frayed and the Nakamoto line looked really rough. I have to put in braided instead.
Meanwhile, a lot of actions have started:
Francis in high spirit
Skunk ready for action
talking talking
Seen such a BIG Kelong Chi??
Frenzy started
My Biggie??
Francis having fun!
Beauty and the Best
Yaw Kwee
BEN: Where is mine?
Have a drink take a break
Coffee break
My Grouper! Big!
WHOSE QUEEN? SKUNK?
AHHHHH Run away fish!!
Relack One Corner
BIG by Sulin
He went fishing or Batam?
Soon, it was dinnertime and all were really hungry and ate. Good cooking by Francis and his mate. Really appreciate as they came to help.
Quickly night came. That was a good start for the day, two big Queens by Skunk and howCher. Many nice bait. I had 4 takes on my ISO rod, two at the jetty walkway, with one burst main line and one broken leader. One missed when Syl took the rod. One miss when I tried to strike. I think it was a group of Queen that came.
At about 9pm, we took two boats up to the shipwreck to try night fishing. I tried jigging, bottom with whole tamban, but here was absolutely nothing. Maybe the tide was too strong. We were very close to the wreck, and it looked very eerie. After 2 hours, having nothing, we decided to return. I think we should had got some Sotong, it would be better.
By the time I was back, I went into party mode. Had a shower, cleaned up, and started to have beer with skunk and company. We started to know each other well and I took out the VSOP cognac to share. Supper was served and all were tired. I went to bed and realized there was no space. Had to squeeze with Ah Boy and went into dream land!
The next morning, I woke up at 8am. Tried jig for tamban and others. Deployed the noodle rod and no Todak. Ah!! Nothing!! The tide and wind was too strong. And it rained.
The second day was very quiet. Only came afternoon, we took the boat out to fish again. I tried jigging and there were no bites at all. Think the boat men did not bring us to the correct location. But who knows.
Sylvia missed one!
My catch, the only cath!
Not many catch again. But the view was good:
Where I got one bite.
Nighttime came and we started to party:
hard core fishing
We started a fire!
Special delivery
Setup flood light
Nice party
SOTONG TORTURE TIME!
Hibernating Drunken Skunk with SMELLY HongKong Feet
Good time went passed and we HAVE A BAD NEWS!! THE AUTHORIES WERE COMING TO OFB AND WE HAVE TO CLEAR BY 9AM!!
Some serious last minute fishing
They missed a big Barracuda about 9kg the night before. According to Syl, it was a waste as they almost landed it. They could not find a gaff as DesT kept it already…. What a waste! I was too drunk and went to sleep already.
It was really frustrating! I was preparing for one more round on OFB, but have to leave early because of some officials! No Way! But what to do! Woke up at 5am and started clearing up and pack up. Really Fed Up but we could look for pond fishing before the bus return at 9pm.
Hey! No Entry lah!
Last picture on OFB. Maybe we will come again?
Checking all my good pictures
here we go:
back to where we came from….. the amount of loading/unloading shows on Penn
It was another round of loading and unloading. Meanwhile, all went to the same hawker center for makan and coffee. It was already 1pm, and by some arrangements, we were going to POND fishing at the famous Sea Lion pond as featured in Rod & Line!
The heat was intense, and we were choosing between the Sea lion and Pond 4/5 site. Finally, we decided on Sea lion because one miserable looking Malay kaki came out and said “BOOR HER LAH BOOR HER LAHâ€!
We settled for M$50 for 3 hours, with a refund of M$14 when we finish. Prawn/Fish at RM$1 each. Not too bad lah. When we saw one grouper landed, we were so encouraged!
The Malaysian Kakis there are super friendly. They taught me how to setup the rig and where to cast. They even moved and gave me space to cast. The weather was just too hot.
Despite my experiences in Pasir Ris ponds, there were no bites at all. But the Malaysians were landing fishes upon fishes next to us. Oh NO!
Soon, we left the pond as there were 0 catches and too hot!
The word BEER was ringing in many people’s mind. We route marked about 3km to the nearest restaurant HAPPY (which shows on GPS, which means, it is a Kor Tort shop). Who cares now, its food and drinks we after!
Dinner!!
After a superb dinner, as ordered by Penn, Emily and Syl, we had some nice prawns and also Peranakan fish. Syl tried to call the bus to come in early, but still have a few hours wait. We had coffee AGAIN.
How Cher: LAPAS KAN SPRING!
Mermaid from Copenhagen yuks!
High spirits
Smoking gang keeps mosquitoes away
BUS CAME! 9PM! ALL LOADED UP AND GO!
We were all sleepy and tired, have some refreshments at 12 mid night
I must say the bus was good. Reach the border at 2am. We cleared all custom and reached Golden Mile at 3am. By 4am I reached home and washed up.
Overall, I thank Sylvia for a great trip. If there is one more trip:
- need to check tide information on OFB.
- need to anticipate officials visit and cut short the visit
- better prep for OFB
WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT : WE KNOW MORE GOOD KAKIS AND EVERYONE EXHIBITED GOOD TEAM WORK AND CO-ORDINATION. WE WILL FISH AGAIN!!
[IMG]http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i92/KURAUKING/OTHERS/2698e0df.gif[/IMG] http://www.kurauking.com/ 03 3166 0913 [url="http://www.kurauking.com/"]>< Worst day of FISHING is better than best day at WORK ><[/url]