Jarak Island, Perak – 13 June 2015
Continuation of our 3 day expedition to Jarak Island, Perak. Day 1 was ok but was hampered due to to the bad weather earlier on. Day 2 will focused on the outer drop-off zone that surrounds the island. Catch Stats for Day 1 – 3 GT’s and 4 Golden Snapper. The sea was rough last night and I hardly get any good sleep but we need to conserve as many energy as possible to start the longest fishing session, Day 2.
DAY II
Another day has begun and we all begin the session early to cover the lost fishing time yesterday. As I woke up, the weather was clear from any cloud and it was shinny and bright. The boys already started jigging and I took my time taking a shower first and then breakfast. As I was getting ready, Ah Ho started to maneuver the boat around the Island to start our last popping session.
After a fairly hard work last night, I can feel the muscle strain in my arms and it was hurting as I try to firmly fold my popping rod. FCL Labo CSP was my stickbait of choice. It was woking very well as I was able to cast it 40-50m downwards and we work our way around the Island. After a few cast, the pain slowly goes away and I felt slightly confident to send my stickbait even further up.
Although we had casts several different type of Poppers and Stickbait, but the Pelagic species surrounds the Islands doesn’t seems to be interested with what we are throwing at them. Yusri was the only guy who manage to entice a huge Tenggiri or Barred Mackerel to have a go at his popper. The battle was short-lived as the Tenggiri manage to escape itself from the clutches of treble hooks. Moments later Ah Ho was worried that we are not catching anything and decided to leave Jarak Island and head out to Drop-Off and Pinnacle jigging spot.
Physical and mental fatigue were eating our spirit during the first few hours as morning session does not provide us with any great catches. Most of the guys went back into bed as they had an earlier start then me. We reach our first Drop-Off zone and we begin our jigging session outside Jarak Island.
Yusri with the rarest catch of the trip, Tiger Squid is what Ah Ho told me and the squid was aggressive and it has a huge parrot like beak.
Calmer sea is good for Slow-Pitch Jigging, Hyrol is capitalizing it effectively! Scoring a nice grouper!
A great size Jenahak or Golden Snapper fallen for the Slow Style jigging.
From slow style, butterfly and quick sinking jigs, it all works! Scott with a nice Grouper
After the lunch break, Yusri scored the first cobia of the trip!
Cobia are fearsome fighter! The trick is to make sure they run out of energy before we land them
Since the sea is calm, I switched to Storm Koika 180g for some slow jigging action. Although I am not equipped with the proper rod, we can still work the jig by slowly retrieve it. Each strike takes place in the drop-off zone. We had multiple hook up at the first jigging spot of Day 2. I hooked a large Cobia but was auto released because the deckhand was too occupied! Chris manage to land his Cobia and other landed Golden Snapper, Grouper and Tongkol.
Every single time we re-drift near the drop-off there will be hook up! Amazing stuff. By then all anglers manage to land their first fish of the day. It went quite after the third drift and prompting for a lunch break. Since most of the guys started early, they all went in for a nap and left only myself, Yusri and Scott to continue on jigging at a new jigging location. Yusri started the fiesta by hooking his first cobia. With a great setup on hand, Yusri muscle the fish to submission!. We thought that its a one off catch and I was about to join the guys in cabin to rest lol..
As I were about to walk to the cabin, I say to myself why not I try just one more time and see what happens. I released my Koika and it was taken half way down the 90 meter mark. I thought it was a Tenggiri as it was heading to the surface. It was a Cobia and it jumped out of the water! Startled me and Ah Ho!
Topwater shot of Cobia! This time Yusri lost his jig but manage to land the fish!
Yusri and his trophy Cobia!
Bob has his Poseidon Slow Jerker PE3 paired with Sailtiga Z30 in action!
Every single one of us is in action! Scott not missing the fun and hooked a couple of cobia himself.
If the jig manage to hit the bottom, you will end up with 2 grouper chasing after 1 jig haha.. way to go Doug!
After successfully landed my Cobia, I rushed into the cabin and awake all team members to come and join the fun! Soon the deck is full and at one point of time we had 6 simultaneous hookups! Awesome! Cobia’s are everywhere and it has to be hundreds of them underneath the blue sea. One hook up after another and the total tally for that particular spot after 3 drifts was close to 30 Cobia!
Not to mentioned that some of us loss the fight at some point. I lost twice and my last hookup just severed the assist line. It felt slightly stronger then usual but it got away and I was lucky not to lose my jig haha! Doug also experience a broken assist hook and severed assist line. Scott and Chris also loss some of their fights and all I can say it was the best jigging spot for all of us. From that moment it just lights up the boat with happy faces haha.
Hyrol with his massive Cobia! Welldone!
Chris and Scott double cobia hookup! Haha!
My biggest catch of the expedition! probably over 10kg!
Shimano Aernos 5000 paired with Shimano Basstera MH rod! Suitable in landing monster cobia!
Bob with his Cobia! Decent size but still put a good fight!
Double and triple hookup is usual.. This time Doug and Bob in action!
Doug and his trophy! Well done! You are now a Jedi Knight ahaha!
Jaar awaken from his night shift lol and landed the final cobia of the day!
Jaar landed the final Cobia and that mark the end of Cobia heaven spot haha! We continue on to the next spot hoping to continue our momentum. Once we reach the final jigging spot of the day, we let down our jig and instantanouesly Bob’s jig were missing! It could have been a Tenggiri spot and Hyrol was the first man to land a massive tenggiri. Followed by Yusri who gained the largest tenggiri of the expedition.
Experience and skills has put Yusri in a better position in enticing the tenggiri to take his jig. Fast jigging action at a depth range of 30m proven to be his best bet and manage to hook the last fish via jigging method. 8 hours of jigging went by so fast and what a great comeback from a slow start in Day 1. Ijat prepare our dinner and we set sail closer to Pulau Sembilan to start our bottom fishing at night. We took our time resting, chatting and simply savor our best moment of the trip. My arms a re burning at that time and was not sure if I can continue on fishing in Day 3. I guess it would not be so bad tomorrow as light jigging is a bit more relaxing.
Hyrol with the largest Tenggiri of the expedition!
We call this guy the Jigging Master! Lots of technique and skills!
We continue on fishing during the night and via bottom fishing, we landed 6 more Golden snapper and it was a great haul from the night shift team haha. The Tiger Squid proven to be a good bait for Snappers and with that alone we landed 3 Jenahak and other 3 on Mantis Prawn. We really enjoy our final night and really just fooling around and thanks to Chris who make the atmosphere less boring lol..
I was the final 2 person went to bed and helped to packed other rods as the captain wants to hide the boat in Pulau Sembilan due to the upcoming bad weather. That night we were hit by heavy storm but luckily the Island surrounds us eases the strong wind. That the wrap for Day 2 report and stay tuned for the final day report!!
Night shift is On! Jaar with a huge Golden Snapper!
Hyrol is on fire for Day 2, the best angler of the trip!
Yo!! Was wondering if u release the cobias or are they good eating?
Haha we kept 3 and release all Cobia that we landed that day. Its a good eating fish but for us, no point hauling all of them. Conserve so that next time we can still fish it =)