Lukut, Negeri Sembilan – 19 Dec 2015
Lukut, Negeri Sembilan, situated close to Port Dickson is used to be one of the best fishing spot situated close to KL. Well known for “kelong Mahmud”, a fishing platform built off the shore of Kuala Lukut. It has been the number one choice for large group of friends and family who loves fishing further out the coastal area but loves to stay free from any sea sickness.
We have been fishing off the coast off Tanjung Tuan for years now, I think its about time to explore a bit out side of Port Dickson. Lukut is one of the best choice with several known good fishing spot and situated close to the shore. Thanks to Fadzly who set the outing and followed by my brother in-law Zulhelmi and new fishing buddy Mizan. We head as early as possible and the journey from Kajang-Putrajaya-Sepang-Lukut was relaxing. We stop over at a kopitiam in Sepang to buy our breakfast and lunch and soon find us stuck chatting with the owner as he loves fishing too. The usual insight suggest, back in those days fishing resources is abundance as compared to the current situation Well people from the past keep giving me the same not just here but other location too.
We set off to Lukut, with the idea of poor sustainable fishing practices keeps playing in my mind. It is no mystery that our waters is experiencing heavy pressure in fisheries activity. Arguments from 2 parties “anglers and fisherman” that pointing fingers to one another on the idea of, who is responsible over the depletion of our fishing resources. It is a complex situation and I cast the issue to the back of my mind and focus on today’s objective. Having fun 🙂
After leaving Kajang at 7.15am, finally we reach Lukut at 10.00am. Thanks to waze who guide us to the other side of the river and took us another 20 minutes to reach the correct spot haha.
Preparing all the gears, tying your shock leaders and breakfast!
The setting was simple, light jigging with 20g jigs and bottom fishing using live-bait. Jetty Kelong Mahmud, has a long fishing jetty for anglers to fish off the shore using live bait or “umpun-umpun” a species of sea worm. Our boat was equipped with 40hp boat and about 27ft in length and around 7ft wide. It seems bigger than their nearest fishing operator in Teluk Kemang with ample space to move around and fiber floor to add stability to the surface. My first impression were positive and I like the space in the boat.
As we finished our breakfast, we are ready to set off on our fishing trip. We were guided by 2 teenager who will be our skipper and first mate to explore the coastal area of Lukut. We set course to Jimah Power Plant as our first fishing spot. I took as around 10 minutes from Jetty Mahmod. The favorite spot would be the piping installation of the power plant that acts as the main pipeline to fuel the plant with fossil fuel. Huge tankers will dock offshore and the long piping installation will carry the required fuel to power the plant. Magnificent site to see such a marvelous man made structure.
As we reach the spot, the current on the surrounding area were volatile or unpredictable thanks to the rising tide and a huge sand drilling process that happens next to the pipeline. The water was to murky thus we decide to ditch the place an set course to our next spot.
We set sail to our first spot, Jimah Power Plant!
Sea current went haywire here, and that means we can’t fish in this particular spot. Too bad 🙁
We arrived at our first beacon tower, 10 minutes from the Jimah Power Plant. A short tower with radio or mechanical contraption installed on top of it. The signs are good as the boatman now can easily catch several baitfish like “Selar Kuning” and “Tamban”. Our live wells is filled with baitfish within minutes and soon we kick start with some light jigging action.
20g metallic jig is what our boatman suggest, thus that is what I will use. The first half an hour was only one arm workout. Casting and realizing our metal jig countless times without any luck. I kept sending it down, until a fish pulled my jig but it was not hooked properly. Dropped it again, and this time I nailed it, double hook, me and Fadzly to kick start our day. A juvenile Queenfish hits my small metal jig, I guess there must be a group of it went pass by our tower. It was not big but on light tackle it gives you the motivation to keep on going.
Soon it was our skippers turn to have some fun. He drifted a live bait, small sinker and a meter long leader. His heavy Marlin rod bent over like crazy, I thought this is going to a trophy size fish. He pulled up a ~5lb size Queenfish. Biggest of the day! It was great to see there are huge specimen in this water. I have analyzed that baitfish will tend to stay closer to the tower structure while predator will ambush its pray out side the safe zone for baitfish.
We continue on fishing but our luck has run out. Mizan did notice a stingray pass by on the surface of the water. He tried to fouled hooked it but it manage to run away. We packed our stuff and head on to our next spot, hoping for a better result.
Ready to dock the tower!
20g Metallic Blue does the trick!
With baitfish around, drifting is another appropriate technique.
Juvenile queenfish to start the day, double hookup with Fadzly.
After 3 Queenfish landed, things went quite again. We set to a new heading, light tower close to our initial spot. Buoy and Light Towers is lukut main attraction as this man made water structure is home to small baitfish which then become a target to a much larger fish. Understanding the cycle helps us understand the fishing ground and prepare a suitable approach to catch the fish here.
A 20-30ft light tower stand tall to help navigate the busiest shipping lane in the world. The angler can choose to do their fishing on the boat or hop on to the tower. I decided to jump on to the tower and explore the surrounding area with ease. Baitfish is definitely around the area, thus we start or jigging and drifting. We tried for about an hour without any success.
One of many tower off the coast of Lukut
Mizan, his second trip to the sea.. hopefully more to come 🙂
How cool is this place haa. 🙂
This place is awesome but only small fish around
Shell power plant is our next stop. Same like Jimah, fishing will focus on the piping installation from the coastal area to 1-2km offshore. The column structure provides a good cover for fish thus that will be our fishing spot. The only problem in this area is, there aren’t any baitfish around. Baits are limited, we are forced to use fish cutlet and it remains quite for the next hour.
We head back to our second spot where we landed 3 Queenfish. The tides are running low and the wind starts to pick up a bit. We wasted no time by fishing more live bait to keep the stock count high, while the others continue on jigging. Live baits are abundance but not the predatory fish. We called it a day, fishing offshore, we decided to take a short tour down the Sg Lukut , an estuary heaven for Barramundi angler.
Shell refinery station… I think..
Baitfish..Easy Peasy 🙂
We stop over at the jetty to buy some live prawn to be our bait. Fishing in the estuary requires a different set of technique selection. Lure fishing is one of the most effective way. Hard bait or soft plastics work like wonder if we have the guts to cast it right underneath the mangrove tree. I didn’t bring my lure box thus I’m obliged to use live prawn this time.
I didn’t took long when a fish took my bait haha. This time a special species took it, it was a baby spotted snapper haha. If its 100x bigger then the one I caught, it will put a great fight, but not this time. Well that was the last fish of the day and we finish our session after we finished all our live bait. It was a great day to enjoy a normal fishing outing plus some new experience. We will be back hopefully for some Estuary fishing in Sg Lukut, for now we bid farewell to this lovely place and thank you for reading.
Estuary fishing, always excites me 🙂
If only this fish is 100x bigger, it will be a lovely treat at the nearest restaurant. Hopefully you will get bigger and I got a chance to catch you again 🙂
