ROYAL PAHANG BILLFISH INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE 2014 - DAY 2

ROYAL PAHANG BILLFISH INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE 2014 – DAY 2

After 8 hours of non stop fishing, we had a long deep sleep before we started day 2. 7am is the start time for day 2 and before we head out to sea, we need to drop by at Lanjut Jetty to pickup our Marshall. We’ve reached the main jetty around 6.30am, unpacked all our stuff and waited for the boatman and skipper. I begin capturing short video which later I will compile it to showcase our day 2.

Morning scenery from Kuala Rompin main jetty 🙂 Beautiful sunrise

DAY II

As usual, we begin our journey by searching live bait at the nearest Unjam. After a half an hour jigging our sabiki rigs, we could only manage to land a handful of baitfish. A totally different scenario as compared to last night. My guts tells me that this could turn out to be a Sailfish frenzy moment at DO. It turns out to be true. With limited bait and all the sudden sailfish are everywhere, day 2 will be very challenging for us as we need to make each of our bait counts. Reaching our first spot, no Anchovies trawlers to be seen but we can see other boats has been fighting with their catches. We cast of our three bait line and not long we have our first double hookup of the day. It was my rod and Salihin’s. Quickly I tightens the line to avoid it from freeing itself but Salihin could not manage to keep up with the sailfish and soon it has won its freedom. With a few free jumps and sudden dash of blistering speed brought joy to the rest of the crew and soon I manage to land our first sailfish of the day.

Game On! Fishyology.com Team lucky no 5!

My second sailfish of the season! Great shot!

After landed our first fish, we head back to the same spot and cast off for another shot. Again a double hookup and this time it was Eddie and me. Eddie was not able to hook the fish fast enough marked our 2nd loss of the day. I manage to set the hook neatly and dance with the sailfish for a while. Then I was slightly distracted by the Marshall when he asked me to smile for the camera. Split second decision, all I did was I turned my face then the Sailfish jump out of the water. The line was not tight enough giving the sailfish an opportunity to cut my shock leader!! Arghhh!! Unlucky!!

Soon we had multiple moment that turns out against us. We lost total 10 sailfish on day 2. A very bad record I reckon. Probably we are to excited to hook the fish or there are technical faulty on our end. We just don’t know and as times running out, we hoped that we can match last night record of 4 sailfish. Just before we hit our lunch break, Eddie’s line was taken by a fast moving Sailfish. As it jumps out of the water, it was a huge specimen and such magnificent moment. It was showcasing its acrobatic ability marked our 2nd of the day. This time Eddie was pushed to the limit. Closing to more then 15 minutes to land the fish it was a very huge Sailfish, the biggest I’ve seen so far.

Ikhwan is just happy to jig his Sabiki and landed this beautiful Sagai :D!

Finally Eddie scored his third of the tournament!

Fishyology.com Team final score of the Royal Pahang Billfish International Challenge 2014

Eddie’s landed fishyology’s final Sailfish of the tournament. After we had our lunch break, the water was calm and we simply enjoy the moment with the rest of the crew. Such a great journey so far in 2014 and scored 6 sailfish. I really hoped that we can do better but I am happy with all the hard work and effort put by every single team member of this team. Not to forget other team members that are not with us on that day especially Badrul’s contribution. We head back to Lanjut jetty at 2.15pm as the fishing time ended on 3.00pm. Weather was still raining in the evening but not as worst as last night. Soon we check-out our hotel, had our late lunch and waited for the closing ceremony.

Its good to be part of Royal Pahang Billfish International Challenge 2014, fishing for Malaysia’s iconic Sailfish. Disturbing rumors and news of fishing trawlers invading Kuala Rompin are the main highlight in the closing ceremony event. I hope the Maritime Malaysia can do a better job in preventing such event to happen again. Word of mouth suggest that almost 50 sailfish where caught in the fishing net, how accurate the report is, I’m not sure but it showcase the lack of enforcement and monitoring by the respective government agency. Sailfish is important not only to the Angling industry but to the Rompin community and environment. All of us hoped our iconic Sailfish will still be dancing, jumping and swimming until the end of our days. Thank you 🙂