Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan – 25 DEC 2016
First of all, on behalf of Fishyology’s Team Member. We would like to wish Merry Christmas to all our readers and Happy New Year. We hope 2017 will be a record breaking year for all of you and a step further for Malaysia to become one of the best sport fishing destination in Asia. Quinn and I got in touch about a month ago and she is really keen in going out to try Port Dickson. The only catch is that she is really into fly fishing. It is going to be an interesting day, the only place that I can think of is Vikram for some surface Queen-fish action. But it is hard to predict how the day would unfold as the Queen’s of Port Dickson don’t roam all the time at the ship wreck.
As for me, I came back straight from Karang Tinggi and catch a few hours sleep and drove to Port Dickson to pickup Quinn and Roy for their fishing trip. Man.. I was a bit sleepy on my way to Teluk Kemang. Got caught up at the twisty road of Tanjung Tuan and finally manage to find Quinn resort home just by the beach of Blue Lagoon. Stunning house. Pick them up and straight to the boat. The weather was perfect that day. Travelling offshore can be bumpy but today was smooth sailing. The sea was very calm, the current was slow too. Half way through Vikram, we encounter a large pile of abandon nets and rope that forms a big piece of floating junk. It provides cover for small bait fish and guess what.. predator will be on the hunt too within this area. We stopped closer to the debris and all the sudden bait fish was every where. Yellow Tail scads about 3/4 size from the average palm size.
So last time when I was out with Andrew Griffin, a found a similar debris and we were catch small rainbow runners and we can see hard tail scads frenzy and hammering bait ball. We ditch the place and hoping it will be better fishing over Vikram, at the end of the day we skunked haha. Not going to happen today. We stayed on and explore what can we catch. Quinn and Roy started their fly fishing with a wet fly and sinking line. It looks like a small bait fish. Perfect for pelagic predator. However, getting those small flies out in the open at a nice distance is tough. It requires space and technique to do. Luckily there aren’t any wind to heighten the difficulty even more.
They keep on trying while I scout out the depth with some metal jigs and Sabiki. As expected bait fish are abundance. 1/3 drop from sea level it was full with yellow tail scad. Pass the rod to Capt Imam and he will try catch as many bait fish for fresh bait. It is beautiful to watch small yellow and black stripe fish swims just beneath the floating structure. When I look closely, it surprises me that a school of Triple Tail or scientifically known as Lobotes were swimming freely underneath the structure. Some of them is big, probably more than 3-4kg each.
Brain cells starts firing, analyzing quickly how can we catch it. The expectation when that big triple took our hook keeps on lingering in my head. Roy and Quinn were still on their fly outfit but still no luck. I took a piece of fish, slice it and dropped it into the water. A different type of fish surges in and devour the fresh flesh of bait-fish. It was a school of Blue Trigger Fish. Quinn switch to a spinning out fit. I quickly assemble the fishing hook with bait and BOOM! First fish of the day. A Blue Trigger Fish. It took a few tries but eventually she did it. 5-10lb rod were light and easy tackle to have fun with this small but aggressive species. I ask Quinn to cast the bait as close to the floating structure and let it sink for a bit. BOOM! Another fish and this time its a Triple Tail! Wohoo!
Soon Roy join in the fun, he sets his fly rod with a small hook and sinkers to have a taste on how strong a Triple Tail is. It doesn’t took long when he too scores a Blue Trigger fish and scored a couple of even larger Triple Tail. Good size on the plate as we like to call it. Its a shame they don’t go for those small wet flies. It would have been epic. They were saying they did not get the right balance of the fly line, leader and fly. So they can’t cast it properly. We stayed on, chalking more Triple Tail until it is enough for the whole family to have a big Christmas Dinner tonight. A perfect day fishing, and the sea was calm as the lake and cloudy.
It got busy on the deck. Fishing was fantastic today. I did set some live bait and placed it deep down around 40-50ft but not fish is interested with our bait. I remembered last time, it is easier to catch the big triple tail with a Spoon. So I switch one rod to a spoon lure and drop the lure close the the structure. They were not swimming that deep, I keep the line around 10m and I don’t even retrieve it. Just a subtle and gentle jig and suddenly a felt a strong pull. Hooked it, it put a good fight and finally landed a 1kg Triple Tail. It was awesome haha.
Finally we had enough, we moved on to the ship wreck but stumble upon another massive floating structure. Another boat was near the structure and they were hauling the same fish we caught 7 miles further north. We didn’t intent to stay long as fishing was a bit too easy. Quinn suddenly pointed out there is a turtle stuck in the structure. Its hard to locate it but finally got my eyes on it. Poor thing. The upper part of the body was exposed to the sun and god knows how long has it been out of water. Luckily the head was still underwater. I pushed it with a gaff and it moved. I was still alive. Together we help the turtle free by cutting the net that tangled it. Luckily it was not injured and safely we return the turtle back to its habitat. Alive and free. Wow, we were blessed to have a good catch at sea and to save that turtle was an icing on the cake.
We finally reach vikram but sadly no activity on the surface. Quinn decided to end the and decided to go home. We did stop by near the shallow reef closer to the shores but their fly outfit was a bit off so we head straight home after that. It was a great outing and this is the first experience for me with fly fisherman in Port Dickson. Probably we could have done better but it was already a fulfilling day for us as anglers. We stop by the beach near their house and bid farewell with a bucket full of fish :). For me the journey continues as I need to get myself ready to Jarak Island for a Popping session with Zeynul from South Africa. Boy its going to another long drive.. Thank you..
