Kuala Rompin Sailfish Adventure Round Up

Earlier this year, we launched a scheduled trip for Bluewater magazine readers and Ocean Blue clients. The destination we chose was the international sailfish capital, Kuala Rompin on the east coast of the Malaysian peninsular. BlueWater magazine editor Tim Simpson got behind the trip from day one, and we selected dates and put the wheels in motion. The response was great, drawing 15 anglers from all fishing codes from around Australia (and a ring in ex pat living in Thailand), not a bad turn out!

Logistically, there was a fair bit to co-ordinate leading up to the trip. Once we arrived in Singapore all went smoothly thanks to the efforts of Rob Chang who organises every detail on the ground for Ocean Blue over there. We loaded up and began the adventure, making our way out of Singapore and then into Malaysia.

The big billfish statue in the main street marked our coach arrival into the town of Kuala Rompin, our resort base for the next week was the Serai Lanjut Beach and Golf resort. After checking in, all the anglers met at the resorts restaurant and had a well-earned arrival dinner and a few beers. We chose our groups of 3 anglers per boat and skipper, with Tim and myself planning to spend time onboard with each group.Having 15 anglers on 5 boats for the week, we also arranged a mini tournament and a creative hat comp for the final day.



Gradually everyone turned in for the night, with the final die-hards instructing the bar staff on their week’s cold beer quota!

Fishing Days.
Breakfast consisted of local Malay, Asian and western dishes. As always, I stayed well clear of the westernised dishes, as the local Malay food is fantastic. The launch jetty was a few kilometres away, located on the other side of the resorts golf course, and for almost 20 people, this meant utilising every available vehicle for the transfer. Rods and tackle went in a van, while more gear, camera bags and a few guys jumped in a nice 4wd. The bulk of people all got to ride in an open carriage with bench seats, which was towed by the resorts semi-dodgy tractor. The last 3 people rode to the jetty via the resorts electric golf buggy! Our colourful modes of transport were hilariously effective and by the end of the week, accepted as the norm!



We boarded our flotilla of boats, consisting of 28 – 33ft outboard powered craft, which are fast and basic in design. We shot down the river and out into the South China Sea, which was glassy flat and more sea green than cobalt blue. 1st stop was to get live bait, generally a pretty easy task. Our skippers continued to drop the bait jigs throughout the day, keeping lively bait on hand for all! The baits are similar to what we’d use at home, and consisted of yakkas or yellowtail, as well as slimy mackeral, silver herring and lastly redfish.





Sailfish.
“Sail, Sail, Sail!” was the usual call from the skipper, boatman (crewman) or anyone else onboard. We’d look to where the call was directed to see that big sail dorsal fin and sickle tail slicing through the water, sometimes only meters from the boat. For most people on this adventure, myself included, these were the first sailfish we’d ever seen, and now we were surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of them. It was awesome!









With our hawk-eyed skippers having an uncanny knack of knowing where the sails would appear next, the most effective method was to move the boat into position for a good drift. We’d get the ok and let the livies out to do the rest, either under a balloon or free to go where the wished. There is a real art to hooking them, letting the sails swallow the bait and run a bit before loading up. I lost count of the opportunities lost due to our inexperience, but the skippers have the knack. We were in a fishery where you could afford to trial various techniques, and even experiment and take a few risks!





On day 1 Jimmy Downes landed 2 sails on his Shimano Raider rod spooled with 20 or 30lb braid, more suited to snapper back home. He lost a fair few more that he had to bust off before being spooled! Another time he got a sail that refused to jump and had him on the ropes for well over an hour, this fish we finally landed but what an effort, it was a tough fish. Most fish averaged around 30kg with the biggest around 40kg, heaps of fun and enough of a handful for experienced and beginner fishos alike.







Melissa and Scott Lockwood did it a bit tough early on in the week using Tiagra 30’s, but both did well on lighter gear as the week progressed. Melissa won the award for the most spirited fight and most laps of the boat after an awesome effort using my light Jigging Master combo. Joe Kolossa got the most fish for the week, and his efforts along with Dan Hart and Jimmy Downes secured their boats’ victory to win the tournament.







Fishing
The feeding birds often marked the location of the sailfish, although sometimes I’d point out the birds working on the horizon to the skipper and he’d shake his head and tell me, “Not sailfish…”

Seeing them was easy, catching them at times was frustrating! We’d see scores of sailfish on the surface, and for every one on the surface there are so many you don’t see swimming below. My best day I had many strikes, hooking about 7 and landing 3. I was filming more than fishing, and seeing other guys hooked up only 100 or so metres away was great for boat-to-boat spectator action and photography! Double hook-ups were common, or a few boats might be hooked up consecutively on fish erupting and tail-walking around each other; these fish are fast!





Everyone got shots at fish daily and the excitement and stories over some beers back at the jetty, resort or bar allowed us to get the full account from everyone of the day’s action.



The best I did was seeing a few sails finning on the surface about 40m off the bow so I cast a livey in their general direction. It was snatched about 20 sec later and with the bail arm open, line shot away at a blistering pace. On light gear this was a blast! At the other end of the boat, free swimming sails ignored both livies but snatched a fresh one off Chris’s Mitchell’s sabiki jig as he was bringing it up from 20 metres below the boat. This happens a bit, but no one has ever landed a sail on a sabiki jig!

Popper Fishing for Sailfish
My goal for the week was getting a sailfish on a popper, well, a half hearted goal in between catching them on conventional techniques. Most days my stickbait or popper was followed by 1, 2 or 3 lit up sails all the way to the boat. I had a few good strikes right at the rod tip and a few hook-ups that lasted only briefly as it’s so hard to get the fine assist hooks to set. Talk about exciting fishing! Michael Coleman, Jim and Rob Lindrea worked this out on day 1, and effectively teased the fish to the boat with hookless poppers, basically tease and switch. The 1 lure caught fish for the week deservedly went to Rob Chang, who landed this fish on a pink Gunz Tailwalk stickbait. Awesome Rob!









Highlights
I don’t think I’ve been on a trip with so many standouts and highlights throughout the week, and so many of these were off the boats! It’s been a bit hard to come back down after such a good time away…

Fishing is one of those things where, regardless of your job, background, age or where you live, you’re accepted as an equal from the word go. And so it was on this trip, it seemed like the week’s motto was “to have an awesome fishing adventure with a great bunch of people”. We started off in this style, and didn’t stop all week! Teamwork onboard and having a laugh with new mates was a highlight of the trip. This was obvious when I spent time with Rob Vine, Chris Mitchell and Geoff Harris, 3 top guys who got on like a house on fire from day one.

Everyone really enjoyed the local Malaysian culture, cuisine and friendly locals we met through out the trip. The cultural differences were entertaining in their own right. Where else can a tractor and golf buggy ride to the jetty (monkeys on the golf course!) be as much fun?

Of course the Australian culture rubbed off on the locals, and our sense of humour combined with a healthy fondness of beer-based activities assisted the entertainment. Beer can Olympics; we had the local conservative bar staff involved!

Friday’s mad hat parade was full of hits; probably such a turnout will never be seen again. We definitely turned a few heads!





Footnote:
From my records, over 4 days fishing between us we landed 88 sailfish. With countless more fish hooked and lost, everyone raved about it being a red hot sailfish destination. I’d love to return, with sports fishing gear and a few more poppers!

I’d also love to fish with any or all of the Bluewater Readers Trip group again, you couldn’t find a better bunch of fisho’s to spend the week with!

An interesting note is that Kuala Rompin is now a sustainable protected fishery, with a law now passed promising a hefty fine for anyone who brings a sailfish ashore in this area. So, no by-catch or ‘it came up dead’ excuses, the fish are here to stay!

Thanks again to the following people for making this adventure such a success.

Boat 1
James Downes
Dan Hart
Joe Kolossa



Boat 2
Rob Vine
Chris Mitchell
Geoff Harris



Boat 3
Michael Coleman
Jim Lindrea
Rob Lindrea



Boat 4
Grant Freeman
Jarrod Freeman
Dan Theodoulou
David Frake



Boat 5
Melissa Lockwood
Scott Lockwood



BlueWater Magazine
Tim Simpson



Here’s what angler Rob Vine had to say to sum up his trip:

"To take 17 people (mostly strangers) overseas, put them in a fairly isolated area for a fishing trip and hope it works, can be a daunting task at any time. Well, it worked thanks to the organisation of David Noble and the staff of Ocean Blue.

The fishing was fantastic with one adrenalin rush after another as fish were sighted and hooked. As you watched them tail-walk across the ocean and perform midair leaps and twists you knew the job ahead was going to be simply exhilarating. As you bought them boat side you bore witness to their amazing size and colours which made the previous hard work all the more worthwhile. Finally, the satisfaction you felt as these beautiful creatures were released and you watched their power and grace as they slipped away from the boat.

The boat captains and resort staff did everything in their power to make the trip both successful and enjoyable.

Lastly I would like to thank all of the people on the trip for the privilege of meeting and sharing this adventure with you. You are a group of great people who dealt with any situation with a smile and a laugh.

Thank you Ocean Blue for providing me with the opportunity to take part in one of the most memorable trips of my life.

Rob Vine

Photos courtesy of Chris Mitchell, Rob Vine, Melissa Lockwood, BlueWater Magazine’s Tim Simspon and Ocean Blue.

http://oceanbluefishing.com.au

Edited by Ocean Blue Fishing - 18/May/2010 at 11:08am