~Catch Report all the way from Singapore~

[Sylver]

On the 25th May 2007, my friends andI boarded the boat Nelayana located at Keppel Marina. I had a fun time with the group because they are very helpful, friendly and willing to patiently guide us since we are inexperienced in oversea fishing. We are fortunate to have the skipper(Captain), Mr Ricky, who has more than 20 years of fishing experience and as a skipper, at the same time the excellent and helpful assistant who can cook tasty and delicious meals (because I am choosy about food) for the 3 days trip.

The Boat which we are on is called NELAYANA it is a 60 Feet with an in build entertainment corner and a comfortable 12 bunker beds.Upon boarding the boat, I proceed to find a sleeping bed located at the cabin area and the cabin is fully air-conditioned. After that, I proceed to explore the facilities that the boat have and saw a resting area for relaxation such as watching of DVDs or a game of pokers. While the rest of the anglers were busy setting up their fishing tackles and ready for big action upon activation.

On the 26th May 2007, the skipper drove us to a place located near sister’s island to have clearance before we embark for our trip to Mapur. Our organizer (OIC), collate all the passport of the angler and passed it to our skipper. We waited for the arrival of the ICA boat to come and our skipper proceed to board their boat to do the clearance while we waited patiently on the boat. After the clearance by the ICA officer, the skipper’s assistant changes the flag of the boat to the Indonesia flag as we are going to enter into their territory. After which, the skipper drove the boat for about 3 hours plus to our first destination while all the anglers catch some sleep during this period.

Upon reaching the first fishing spot, we setup up our jigging tackles to jig some Kuning fish that will be used as fishing baits for our night fishing. We caught quite a lot of kunings and some of them we fried it and eat it. One of the anglers, Jeffery, managed to land the first fish, which turned out to be a table size grouper (about 1 kg plus) while the rest of us were busy jigging for Kunings. Our skipper, Ricky, is very observant and patient, consistently looking for fishing spots and our catch. When he realized that we have enough baits, he proceeds to the next destination for our night fishing where it’s a time for big game fishing.

The first night fishing spot, the anglers managed to land some barracudas. To my astonishment, I saw some of the Barracudas which were caught by our fellow anglers, left only half of the body while their mouth is still moving. It means that there are bigger or more ferocious fish that have attacked the barracudas while we were reeling in our line. Next we proceed to change a few fishing spots and managed to settle down at a particular spot. The current was very strong and we have to use heavy weights. About 3am in the morning, our fellow anglers, feels that there are bites on their baits and that was period where we had the most action. We caught a lot of fish during this period of time and thankfully, all the rest of the anglers are very helpful, they will help you when you got a strike on your rod. We caught a lot of Japanese red, Bat fish, Giant trevally, Barracudas, Stingray and Cobias too. The action is continuous until some of the anglers are tired out. Closing to dawn, the biting action starts to stop and that was when we proceed to the next fishing spot. At the next spot, our group used the Apollo rigs and managed to land some groupers. Ricky proceeds to the next fishing spot when the action has died down. We reached an excellent spot, it’s the Red Snapper spot. A lot of the anglers managed to land huge Red Snapper and the anglers put up a good fight with the huge Red Snapper. One of the anglers, Damien, said that he got bullied by the Red Snapper because these fish are good fighters and put up an excellent fight with the anglers.

Then the night turned to dusk where the sunset scenery is gorgeous and beautiful and our skipper brought us to horsburg where we stayed there for our night fishing. The water in horsburg was rather choppy whenever those container ship liners cruises passed our boat. Suddenly, our fellow angler, Damian shouted that oooo…. big fish. The fish is so strong that the tension of the reel is not enough to hold the fish and eventually the line burst. We estimate that it could be a gigantic fish. For the rest of the night, I was rather tired and retreat back to my cosy sleeping bed to rest. Our fellow anglers managed to land some ang chos, stingrays and some groupers. Ricky told us that there are some pirate attacks for a few fishing boats located at the other side of horsburg. I believe all these fishing boats have contacts with one another.

For the third day, Nelayana headed back to Singapore waters and before we reached Keppel marina, Ricky brought us to Katong area where we managed to land some ang chos, ang kueys, and also parrot fish. We reached Keppel marina about 1pm and all the anglers were very happy with this trip because of the catch and the group. Lastly I would like to congratulate Wee Ming with the heaviest catch where he had won the jackpot money which we had agreed before we set off for the trip and thank the group for making such an enjoyable Mapur fishing trip with Nelayana.

I shall let the photos do all the talking actions. Enjoy.