Kuala Lukut, Negeri Sembilan – 26 NOV 2016
It time to add in more mileage to our Estuary fishing experience. We had a successful outing earlier this year with Fadzly landed a beautiful Barramundi or Siakap. Hopefully we are able to gain more experience in tackling the king of estuary. We were schedule to head out to Banting, Selangor but unfortunate circumstances, we were told that the condition is not good for Barramundi fishing and our trip were cancelled. One of the determining factor when were out hunting for Barramundi is to go out on the most ideal condition (tide and water clarity). Apparently it has been raining over the past week thus fishing for Barramundi is regarded as close to impossible.
Thus, we have to re-route our outing and luckily we manage to find a boat in Kuala Lukut and sadly Wan could not join us as the boat can only fit 3 pax. We set our course and proceed with our plan. The tide is pretty much high and there is a good chance to catch an Estuary Catfish. We set out early to Kuala Lukut, stocked our food supply and some live bait (prawn).
We started our casting session in the morning. Scouting the edge of mangrove tree and the sea, which is a perfect ambush point for Barramundi to stalk and hammer bait-fish as they pass by. We give it a go for few hours but only archer fish were willing enough to try and took our lure. It was a relaxing outing, just enjoy a day fishing. Drifting along Sungai Lukut as we send out our lure every single feet of the river bank. Closing to mid-day, the sun rises straight above our head and its getting warmer or I would say, hotter! We seek refuge under a mangrove tree as shade. Casting for hours without a bite is tough, we decided to have our lunch break and start some bottom fishing while we wait the weather to cool off a bit.
Muaz is one of our new angling friend and his knowledge of bottom fishing draws my attention. Plus he is one of the local rod builder stationed in KL. Our first outing was in early Nov, a trip that got halted by the raging sea to Karang Tinggi, Perak. We never really got the chance to publish the report as the sea condition was too rough and it would only damage our camera. Clearly he is well verse in fishing using bait. Let it be Freshwater and Saltwater, a man with his talent proves to be a good addition to our growing team member. He was the one to start the day with a nice Croaker fish on lure and even using bait. I would say its a fluke but to catch one on a minnow lure is very rare haha.
One by-catch that has been stealing our bait and wrapped around our leader is called Moray Eel or locally we called it Sesirat. Its not like the Giant Moray Eel, I think a close relative to this giant saltwater eel. The usual length was no more than 10cm, and once they took the bait, it will tangle itself to the leader thus prompting us to cut it and re-tie our fishing rig. I think each of us would encounter at least 4-5 times and its a pain the A**. Its hard to untangle it with all its slime and if we forced it, we would only injured the fish. The best way is to cut the leader and hope it will untangle itself.
Time flies so fast, we only have 3 more hours to land our Barramundi haha. We head back to the Barge area and we cast along the shoreline as we drifted back to our intended location. Behind us, a storm is forming and quickly engulf us with some light rain. The sound of roaring thunder were intimidating, thus once again we seek refuge at the bow of the Barge. Muaz once again the man of the hour with several good size Gelama! We kept on sending bait down, hoping to add up more tally to our catch today. In the end, it was Muaz rod that hooked a large fish. He was on a light tackle, and it bend quite a bit, could this be a Barramundi? Nah.. It was a Sembilang! Saltwater Catfish! Dang! It was a great sight as it surfaces from the depth, finally a decent fish from the depth of Kuala Lukut Estuary!
Our first sighting and success of catching this Saltwater Catfish. Muaz was happy, he couldn’t hide his smile from us. Still, we carry on, hoping to catch even more. Its a good eating fish, Curry or Asam Pedas is one of the most preferred method of cooking. I was on a Live Bait and all the sudden I can feel a weight pulling my line. I hooked it quickly but it didn’t connect properly :(. I rigged another live prawn and send it down again. This time the timing was right, the hook were properly pierced the edge of the fish mouth and, Voila! My first Semilang!
Soon bite dropped off and the rain stopped too. We head out to one of the main Sungai Lukut river junction to continue our fishing. Badrul were still eager to taste some hard fighting fish with his lure, unfortunately only a Long Tom were kind enough to take his lure haha. Bait is running out fast as Muaz were on fire hooking a Juve Salmon Threadfin or Senangin and on a floater landed him a Juve Queenfish. Clearly a higher class then us today 🙂
It proves that Estuary is probably a main breeding ground for most of the ocean species. Malaysia is blessed to have so many estuary fishing ground. However, fishing condition in this place could have been better with proper care of the right agency and most importantly ourselves as anglers. If this area is not properly maintained, soon our ocean will run out of resources. Mangrove tree is protected under the Malaysia Forestry Act 1984, any attempt to cut down or illegal logging of Mangrove tree is a punishable act. This helps the ecosystem by maintaining a high percentage of Mangrove Tree area in Malaysia. Water pollution though are another matter, which downgrade the ideal environment of our estuary fishing field. We always dream of a place for Barramundi fishing like in the northern Australia. Without proper intervention from the right agency and help from corporate and environmental evangelist, that dream still a bit far fetched.
Back to our fishing, it was on that final moment, Badrul finally meet a decent match. The fish put up a fight but his Daiwa Morethan SV were cranking up yet another saltwater catfish. It was the biggest of the day. We were targeting other fish yet scored three Semilang plus an assortment of estuary species like Senangin, Queenfish and other estuary catfish species. It was a good day out on the boat along with good company. I really enjoyed it. Brings back old memories as this is one of few places that I go with Asrazi and Izzuddin during our early years in fishing. Good times.. and hopefully we will slot in more estuary outing in the future.
