Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan – 14 Nov 2016
Port Dickson have always been a special place for me and Fishyology. Its a place where it all started, a stepping stone that makes it all happen. Condition does changes a bit. It was not as good as 3-4 years ago. Vertical jigging can be quite challenging for some of our previous clients and without pure determination, hooking up one fish will be difficult. After a busy season over east coast and occasionally Royal Belum. It is good to revisit Port Dickson during monsoon off season. Nigel Lian from Singapore, a blogger and an angler were on a short KL trip decided to try out fishing in Port Dickson.
It didn’t started well, we reach our launch point and it was raining heavily. The wind were blowing quite a bit and the only thing we can do is wait for the rain patch to pass on. At least 4 boat are scheduled to head out, and we all waited to move out at the right moment. 1.5 hours later finally the weather calms down. It was still raining but the wind died off. We head straight to the spot and deep down I was hoping thing will be better today. Eventually it did got better.
Birds swarms the area and it has been years since the last time I’ve seen it in large proportion. Straight away I knew that this will be a great day and its time for a little pay back. Queenfish are on the hunt for small bait-fish. I did notice that debris are floating along the coastal area of Port Dickson. It provides some cover for bait fish and the Queens are taking every opportunity to hunt it down.
Vertical jigging always does the trick when fishes were frenzy on the surface. A green sardine shape metal jig is always one of the best choice and on light tackle, it was an awesome fight. It was great to be able land one quickly as we need to make the most of today’s opportunity.
Since the Queen are on a frenzy. Almost 1 hit every drop and cast. Its time to switch tactics and we switch to lure. Nigel had a very successful bite rate on Jackson Pintail. Let the lure sinks for a while before reel it in back at a blistering speed. Nigel also tried using surface poppers but the size was too big. Even though the popper size is big, Queenfish ranging from 1-2kg still nit shy to hit it without successful connection.
Using top-water lure is probably one of my favorite tactics. This time, I have selected Jackson Bonnie 128 Chartreuse top-water plug. A very vibrant huge top-water plug with loud rattle will surely attracts predator close by. It cast well to because of a very well balance castability system and all we need to do is walk the lure. After my first cast, it didn’t took long before a Queenfish hits it. BOOM! If only I had a GoPro to showcase this to you guys. AWESOME! Each time we re drift the boat, we had a chance of hooking one. I also tried Atok Lure Buzzpeak Lure, a buzz bait meant for Toman. The Queens still hits it, but with the hook is placed at the end of lure, it is impossible to get a clean strike on the fish.
We continue on for hours, before finally when the tide changes, the fish finally swims away. We switch focus to vertical and slow jigging but to no avail. It looks good for next outing with Andrew Griffin as the fish is finally return to Port Dickson. We ended the day early and in total I think we landed more than 20 Queenfish in 3 hours. Other guys are posting similar catch rate and surely it will stays on over the weekend… However…
I was hoping we can continue our good form over the weekend. However, the fish decided not show up during Andrew’s visit. The weather was bring and hot. The waves are almost calm but the fish were not around. We did stumble upon a group of Rainbow Runners. It was small though but frenzy hitting bait fish along the floating debris. At sea, the debris were floating along a special current that will take them away from the straits of Malacca. It like almost a river flowing on the sea. A fascinating view actually. Andrew landed two Rainbow Runner, his first ever. That was it. Only two fish. All the sudden from extremely good fishing, flip 180 degrees the other way.
If only we stayed on fishing for those Rainbow Runners, it might turn out to a good day. Andrew told me, “never leave fish to find fish”. I guess he got it spot-on on that remark. We didn’t cut our effort a bit, cast every single opportunity and still zero. It was a shame. Its either overfishing or even the weather messed up pretty bad. Luckily a trip to Cowboy’s Grill Chicken ease of our disappointment. It still a fun outing without the fishes. It didn’t stopped here, I was out again the next day and this time bad weather kicks in half day and we had to return early. Not every is good day but from JAN to NOV, I am grateful to have been able to experience great fishing days and unfortunately as an avid angler we understand that we don’t win all the time. On a bad day, we just have to suck it up and try again.
