Back to the east coast for a two-day trip, fishing offshore Rompin. We were fishing on Captain Heng’s boat skippered by Ah Pei with Shafiq as the deckhand. The anglers were me, Wong and Kieran (for Day #1 only). The trip was split into two parts –we were going to primarily target bottom fish on Day 1 and switch to hunting pelagic species on Day 2. We were particularly keen to try for wahoo, as there had been a number of reports of wahoo being caught on the east coast in previous weeks.
Day #1 (06.04.24)
There’s not much to say about Day 1. The weather was good and we headed out eastwards in the general vicinity of Tioman Island, and we were full of optimism:
Tioman Island (06.04.24)
The crew worked hard, methodologically working through their tried and trusted marks where we tried both fast jigging and bottom fishing with live prawns. But it was a very slow day. We suffered the occasional bite-offs when fast jigging at some locations, but had nothing to show for our efforts. Bait fishing was a bit more productive and we slowly started to build a mixed bag of demersal species, including emperor fish, groupers and snappers; although most were on the small side:
Emperor fish
We did manage to get sporadic action with larger Russell’s snapper, with fish up to about the 3lb mark:
Russell’s Snapper [1.5kg]
Day #1 catch (06.04.24)
We did have enough for a decent dinner, though. And I have to say that the Russell’s snapper were absolutely delicious, either fried or steamed, at our favoured Rompin Baru restaurant:
Steamed & fried Russell’s Snapper
________________________________________
Day #2 (06.04.24)
Another day with good fishing conditions. But, in contrast to the previous day, we set off in a subdued mood almost devoid of optimism! This time we headed in a more north-easterly direction. We could still see Tioman in the distance but were offshore of the northern tip of the island.
After a couple of stops looking for fish, we arrived at mark #3 of the morning, an unjam (FAD). Unfortunately, there was a commercial fishing boat (the owner of the unjam) tied up there, waiting for the evening squid fishing. Undeterred, the captain anchored about 30m off the unjam.
I had a glance at the fish finder – there was nothing showing on the scope, but I commenced fast jigging anyway. On about the third or fourth drop I noticed the line suddenly start peeling from the reel, faster than the usual jig fall speed. After I couple of seconds, I flipped the bail arm and my rod loaded up:
Fish on!
The fish made a power dive down to the sea bed, and then held deep in a slow, ponderous fight. Shafiq reckoned it was a cobia, and given the nature of the resistance, I was inclined to agree. I carefully worked the fish to the boat, as it made a number of short runs, until we finally got colour, and then a good sized tenggiri (narrow barred mackerel) came into view, foul-hooked in the side. Shafiq swung the gaff and we had fish #1 of the day safely landed, at 7 kg close to my personal best for this species:
Tenggiri #1 [7kg] (07.04.24)
After landing this fish, Shafiq immediately deployed a live-bait, with a short length of 30lb wire bite trace, on Wong’s Shimano Grappler BB PE1.5 rod / Spheros SW4000XG set-up. The live-bate was hit immediately, and Wong stepped up to fight fish #2, which took off on a screaming run around the stern before thrashing at the surface off the starboard side. Shafiq saw that it was a wahoo, one of our target species. Wong kept calm, and worked the fish to the gaff, a nice wahoo of 6 kg:
Wong – Wahoo [6kg] (07.04.24)
It was the first wahoo that I’d ever seen in the flesh. A very impressive looking predator. We immediately reset a live-bait in an attempt for another. Within ten minutes, we hooked-up again. I took action stations and fought another good fish on Wong’s PE1.5 set, the little Spheros reel fizzing as the fish sped off. Unfortunately, not another wahoo, but a very respectable and welcome tenggiri of 6 kg:
Tenggiri #2 [6kg]
After a short hiatus, Wong caught tenggiri #3 on a jig, a small fish of 2 kg that he declined to photograph. I took the next fish, tenggiri #4, that fell to a live-bait:
Tenggiri #4 [3.5kg]
As the session progressed, the tenggiri bite started to slow. The skipper added a nice, plate sized red snapper that he retained to give to his mum:
Ah Pei – Ikan Merah
Then, Wong hooked up to a good fish on his new Zen Zagan Tai Chi/Saragosa SW6000 PE2.5 set. It initially came in quietly, and I thought it was small or that Wong had his drag too tight, but as it approached the boat it came alive and set of on a powerful run. It was obviously a good fish, and Wong soon had it landed, tenggiri #5, another 6 kg fish and a good catch to christen his new rod and reel:
Wong – Tenggiri #5 [6kg]
We’d now landed 5 tenggiri and a wahoo in a crazy couple of hours from c.11.30 am to 1.30 pm. It was time to move of and search for dorado.
As we headed northwards towards the next unjam marks, we spotted a school of good-sized dorado porpoising purposefully along. We approached the nearest unjam and set out some live-baits. As we drifted past the marker floats, the baits become twitchy, but nothing was enticed to strike. We reset, but still no action. We moved off and tied up at the next unjam – Shafiq could see dorado holding under the floats, but again, they weren’t in the mood to eat. So, we moved again to the next unjam.
As we tied up, Shafiq could see dorado one again. I commenced fast jigging and, after a couple of drops, got a strike and hooked-up. As I worked the fish to the surface, we could see that it was a dorado, and it was being shadowed by a couple of other dorado. The captain tossed out a live-bait as I kept the fish near the boat. Boom, the live-bait was immediately taken by one of the trailing dorado. I brought my fish to gaff and was passed another rod with a live-bait already deployed and with a dorado on …! Crazy, three fish in five minutes. And success at our third stop, for the second time today!
In a hectic hour’s fishing, between c.2.30 – 3.30pm, we hooked up and landed 9 hard fighting dorado, ranging from c.6 to 9lb in weight, both bulls and cows:
Dorado (07.04.24)
Bull & Cow Dorado
Wong had now caught 3 different, and good sized, pelagic gamefish which qualifies him for a pelagic slam. Now, in the midst of the dorado bite, Wong’s PE1.5 rod slammed over in the rod rest as a good fish took his bait. Wong picked up as a sailfish breached and then screamed off. Wong was shocked and shook his head in disbelief, thinking that he had no chance of landing the fish on the light gear. I told him to stay calm, work the fish slowly, and that the short wire bite trace might protect his 30lb fluorocarbon leader from being chaffed and that he had a chance to land this fish.
After the initial long run, the fish settled down and Wong was able to gradually work it to the boat, for an excellent catch and release on light jigging gear, a sailfish of c.15 kg:
Wong – Grand Slam Sailfish (07.04.24)
Now Wong had achieved a Peninsular Malaysia east coast sailfish grand slam (sailfish + 3 other pelagic species), a memorable day’s fishing. And his light PE1.5 set-up had accounted for each of the different species! Excellent angling.
The sailfish marked the last fish of the session. It was already 3.15 pm and we were a good 1.5 hours from shore. We were also loaded up with fish, and very satisfied with the day’s fishing. We arrived back at the jetty by 5.00 pm, in good time to sort the catch, take some photos and head back to the homestay for a shower and then out for dinner:
Day #2 catch
Day #2’s tally was:
- 5 tenggiri to 7 kg
- 9 dorado to 4 kg
- 1 wahoo (6 kg)
- 1 sailfish (c.15 kg)
Unfortunately, Kieran had chosen the wrong day to fish, but we earmarked a couple of dorado and a tenggiri to take back to KL for him, as compensation for Day #1’s poor fishing.
We plan to return in late September, to do a Rompin-Tioman trip. Wahoo will be one of our target species. Stay tuned.
AG - Sport Fishing & Travel Blog 