JARAK ISLAND, PERAK - 12 JUN 2015

Jarak Island, Perak – 12 Jun 2015

Jarak Island, the mecca of Salt Water jigging and popping field in Western Malaysia. Situated further offshore then the 9 Islands or Pulau Sembilan, it promises rewarding fishing experience and lots of trophy species such as Cobia, GT, Snappers and Groupers. It all started last year when we booked 2 of the best dates for 2015 and we have been gathering anglers to joined this fishing trip and finally we are full during the final week of preparation. This will be a 3 part special post and the other 2 part will be posted later this week so keep an eye on that one.

DAY I

Lock and loaded boys! Hyrol preparing all the gears!

Raining all the way to Pulau Sembilan

We set off from Sg Buloh RNR at 5.30 am in the morning. Me, Bob and Doug waited for Chris and Scott and convoyed our way to Bagan Datoh. The other guys Yusri, Hyrol and Jaar carpool together and were scheduled to meet us before 10.00am. It was a short drive from KL and it took us 2 hours to reach Bagan Datoh haha.. Maybe we rushed a bit haha because we are all excited.

The weather prediction suggested that it will be a raining fishing trip but all looks fine during the morning of Day 1. We stopped over for morning breakfast and ice breaking session. The ice was so thin that we get along fairly quickly haha. We loaded all our stuff at the jetty and waited for the boat to depart at 10.00am. While waiting, there is a heavy dark cloud formation and it rained heavily for at least 1 hour. Not the best start but we are always optimistic that it will get better later today.

We set sail around 10.30 and our first location will be Pulau Sembilan to stop by for lunch and take cover from the strong winds. During our first stop, we started our day 1 fishing session with light jigging in the surrounding Islands. Scotty draw first blood with a baby GT and Bob missed a decent size Queenfish. GT Chaser serves breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner to its customer and the food quality that they serve for lunch is very good. After lunch, we set off again to Jarak. It will took at least another hour so I decided to take a nap after a long night previously.

Scott and Chris first trip to Jarak!

Scott scored our first fish of this expedition!

Baby GT! A good way to start this trip!

Noru.. Jigging time! I wake up thanks to Bob who awake me as we reach our first location and our caption Ah Ho mentioned that this is a shipwreck. Start jigging right after your deep sleep is tough haha. I bring the heaviest setup in the inventory a Saltiga Z4500 paired with a Poseidon SpinJerker 2.5. Shout Lance 150g jig was the first choice for this first session. Silver long profile makes it easy to jig 80-100meter of water.

It was not long to score my first fish haha. It didn’t put up a strong fight and I was really pulling the fish easily out from the water. As I looked down into the clear water, it was a Small Giant Trevally haha!

It took my 2 years trying to catch one and finally I did it here in Jarak! The boat reposition for a second drift and after a few fast jerk I scored another Giant Trevally but this time the size is bigger than the last one. YEAY! Working with a heavy setup was challenging for most of us as it takes physical fitness to jig 150-200g jig at a 100m depth range. I was resting after 4-5 drops hahaha never knew that it can be tough.

Officially my first Giant Trevally haha! Fallen for Shout Spear 150g

An even bigger GT! Shout Spear is doing the magic! Back to back action!

We leave our first spot and head up to Jarak Island!

That is Jarak Island and we are preparing our first Popping Session around the Island

After a few drifts later, Ah Ho decided to go straight to Jarak Island and we stopped by to jig at one spot. Jaar scored a baby grouper on a hand made jig and I scored an unknown pelagic species, it was a really heavy take and the line were cleanly severed. I think it can either be a Barracuda or GT but another factor that contributed to that lost was due too an optimized drag setting. After that we begin our popping session around the island but the water was crystal clear and we can see the underwater structure 10-20ft underwater. No fish were interested with our stick-baits and poppers even after 2 rounds, there are no GT to be seen. Ah Ho parked the boat near to the Island as the Deckhand were preparing dinner.

Jaar Tune metal jigs first kill!

Finishing our first Popping session.

Damn.. it was a tiring day.. I white flag myself and head in to the bunk bed and fall asleep instantaneously. I do notice the boys were still fishing late till the morning and occasionally the boat re-position behind the island to stay away from heavy winds. Bottom fishing can be a lucrative technique and this time we will be using live mantis prawns as our bait. A simple sinker and a meter of double hook rig is what is required to fish for Golden Snapper.

That night alone Jaar scored 4 decent size Golden Snapper. Still Ah Ho needs to re-position the boats several times as the strong winds will be dangerous for all of us. They finish their session around 4am and that marked the end of our Day 1. I am totally amazed with the fishing experience gained during Day 1 and hoping Day 2 would be better and the weather is kind to us.