Kuala Rompin report Part 3

[free2rome2]

Hi to All again,

The monsoon is about to ‘kick-in’ in Malaysia, but being fishos, my hands were ‘itchy’ to say the least and was aching to go out to sea again. Usually, we’d have to hang up our gear and wait till the window opens again in March.

We’d made a date with our regular boatman, Steven on the 13th November (Friday the 13th…hmmm).

Checked with him the day before, and he said that there were some swells of about 3-5 feet, but still fishable. So upon hearing this, we just had to go…

Arrived at Kuala Rompin resort (not really a resort tho’) and jetty with my mentor, Thomas Lee, of JD ARTAC, the maker of my custom rods. A great guy, and I honestly think, he’s like a living legend (in his own right). He uses his own formula blanks for his rods.

Anyway, when we arrived, it was drizzling and there were no one around except us. Seems like no one wants to go out as it could be very unpredictable, the waves.

The water was murky, but no strong currents and we thought… shit! We’re going to fish on the low tide, which don’t produce very good results!

Well, we’re already there, and we’re definitely not going to change plans, so, we headed out and the sky was real ‘dark’, and it’s already 8am.

We planed for about half an hour, and stopped to get our usual live baits of slimy mackerels, yellowtail scads etc. but it was scarce. We only got about 30 or so mixed live baits and they were only about 4 inches!… although, I got us 2 squids, this will be good baits as well. I saved a piece for my barbecue later…

The water was dead calm (couldn’t believe it, was supposed to be monsoon..).

Yet, we saw many ‘boils’ of baitfishes being spooked all around us. There must be something big beneath to chase them like that.

We were thinking it could either be Sailfishes or Diamond Ts. So, we rigged up and threw our livebait into the boils and slowly drifted…

Before long, Thomas got a hookon, and it gave him quite a nice fight. We were thinking what it was until it surfaced…. It was a Spanish Mack and on top of it, we didn’t have any wire trace on… but we managed to get it on. Lucky! :woohoo:

Later on the weather became much better, the sun came out and it was my turn to get hooked, and then we saw the Sail flipping it’s tail…. After a short fight, it unhooked itself… shit!

Anyway, later on, I got another bite (this time I got a wire trace on) and it was a Barracuda! My very first and it tipped at 9kg! Gave me a good fight, it keep going under our boat… but finally managed to land it.

Overall, we landed a couple more smaller Barracudas, a Queenie, Garoupas… it was to be a nice and fruitful trip in the end.

I honestly wanted to stay on but the weather changed and sadly we had to go back.

Looks like there’ll be no more fishing for me here till March next year…sigh!

Hope you’ll enjoy some of the pictures and video link I have below, as it will tell the story better than I could…

Cheers! Everyone…

Fishing with light Thomas Stroker rod, real slim and light (like toothpicks)…
/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvdR6RW4XYA

Caught a Wahoo (Tenggiri/Spanish Mack) without a trace and didn’t know till it surfaced…
/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN0cpz3fDsI

Me and my first Barracuda (approx. 9+ kg), gave me a nice ‘fight’…
/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wVAklA827Q

View of the jetty... empty

Pic of the resort... we were the only ones there...

Pic of murky waters and our boatman, Steven getting ready for us to go out...

Steven with our boat...

Pic of Rompin jetty...

Dark clouds and sky...

Tioman island in the horizon...

Thomas getting the 1st hook-on for the day...

A mack without trace...

Weather changed...

My turn to get a hook-on...

My first Barracuda at 9kg...

That's Thomas posing with my Barracuda...

Me with Queenie...

Thomas with a smaller Barra...

There were short periods of waiting, so, I took a picture of our livebaits...

[Gazza]

What a great report you've got me itchin to get over there any one else like to go for a week early April I'm KEEN :woohoo:

Cheers Gaz

[mick fillet]

looks like good fishing to be had there. Congrats on your fist barracuda Jonothan tough PB to beat. I like the sail fish action on that light gear. those thomas stroker rods must be pretty dam good you guys had them fully loaded. Good to see a quick release of the sailfish as well. great report mate.

OH yeah whats the go with the starbord suzuki it has its engine cowl off was there a problem with it?

Mick

[free2rome2]

Gazza wrote:

What a great report you've got me itchin to get over there any one else like to go for a week early April I'm KEEN :woohoo:

Cheers Gaz

Hi Gaz, yeah, April is good to target DTs, Macks and probably Sails (but may not be too many tho')...

If everything's good, PM me and I'll check things out for ya...

Cheers, Jon

[free2rome2]

mick fillet wrote:

looks like good fishing to be had there. Congrats on your fist barracuda Jonothan tough PB to beat. I like the sail fish action on that light gear. those thomas stroker rods must be pretty dam good you guys had them fully loaded. Good to see a quick release of the sailfish as well. great report mate.

OH yeah whats the go with the starbord suzuki it has its engine cowl off was there a problem with it?

Mick

Hey Mick, thanks!

The Thomas Stroker rods are real fun to fish with, they're light, slim, strong and real tuff...

Amazing that you noticed the 'cowl' on the engine... there was a small leak with the hose somewhere, and our boatman got some chewing gum and stuck them on, and off we went fishing again... :laugh:

Dun really know what happen to it tho'...

Cheers, Jon

[Angus]

Awesome.

Thanks as always for sharing mate

Angus

[free2rome2]

You're most welcomed, Gus...

My pleasure...

It's always good that we all can share and compare notes and in the process learn from one another...

Cheers, Jonathan.