New Fishing Spot at Sematan

the lubuk

the catch by a local angler. catch comprise of baby gt and ikan kekek

sungai pueh?

Over the weekend, I finally found a fishing spot that I have only seen in photos. There is definitely potential fishing at this place, but the timing must be just right. I didn't catch anything there on Saturday as the trip was more of a photography trip but I will definitely be back there to try my luck.

Sematan Fishing (26th July 2008)

On 26 July 2008, I fishing at Sematan. John had extended an invitation, asking me if I wanted to join him, and I said yes. He would have gone by himself if I could not make it, but I decided to go mainly because I haven't been fishing in a while and my blog seriously need some fishing entries being that it is a fishing blog.

Anyway, our journey started later than usual. We departed for Sematan around 5pm. We reached Sematan around 6.15pm. We boarded the boat by 6.45pm, but could not leave until it was 7pm because of the low tide. Almost 1 hour journey and we reached our first fishing spot. It was there that I caught 3 small angcho aka snapper aka tanda in succession. I thought to myself, this would be a good trip. I was at the back of the boat the whole time, so when I didn't hear to much commotion coming from the front, I looked to the front and saw John lying on the deck. There were some uneven waves which malay calls alun hitting the boat. I did feel a bit dizzy, but I kept myself busy by re-baiting my hooks. Then the anchor of the boat became loose and by the time Hashim moved back to the fishing spot, there were no more bites registered.

By that time, the waves aka alun was getting stronger by 10pm, I was floored too. Thus, left Hashim and the anchor man fishing. I woke up from time to time due to lightning and thunder. Around midnite, Hashim decided to head for a river nearby. My guess was a storm was closing in. When we arrived at the river, there were some 6-7 boats already parked. Then a few more boats joined us. Then it started to rain and we all tried to sleep.

It was 2.30am when one of the boat started its engine to go out once again. Hashim followed suit but when we got out to open sea, the waves were still there. Me and John continue to sleep, whereas Hashim and the anchorman fished. Try as Hashim may, there were little to show the next morning, save for a 3 small kerapu aka grouper, 2 small snappers and 2 small nurse shark and John had zero catch.

It was my worst trip ever from Sematan. However, I accept the fact that fishing has been unpredictable lately, especially in Sematan. I have one more Sematan trip coming up end of August. Hopefully, it will be a much better trip.

No pictures were taken during this trip as none of us took our camera. Besides, there was nothing much to take pictures off anyway.

first blood, with a small gopeng

noel with an even smaller gopeng

picture perfect sunset

one of the only 2 angkay that night

the cuttlefish that was caught by chen

me and my leopard ray

last weekend, i went fishing with john, chen and noel. hashim, our regular boatman at sematan had called john telling him that some other anglers have cancelled their bookings. since we had out trip cancelled on april 19th, we all agreed to take up the hashim's empty boat.

upon reaching sematan, hashim's dad aka obiwan told me that results have not been encouraging the night before, however, we were determined to go out nonetheless.

around 4.30pm we set off to our first location. 45 minutes later, we reached the area. using prawns brought from the market, i managed to draw first blood with a small gopeng. then it was noel's turn.

the bites were far and few in between, so we took the opportunity to enjoy the sunset. for the first time, i saw dolphins frolicking in the sea of sematan. terns were also flying abouts and on occasion doing nosedive into the ocean. i presume they were attacking the school of anchovies that were hovering just below the surface of the water. hashim said that ebeks were around also... but none of the ebeks took our bait.

night fall and we moved to many spots, guided by hashim, using his Garmin GPS and also fish finder. we moved to many many spots throughout the night as results were not encouraging. the sea was rolling and noel slept most of the trip. john slept about half the trip. chen and i only napped when we were on the move.

we did get some huge bites that night... but the end result were only rays. my rod caught 2 rays and so did chen's. the biggest ray was on my rod, a leopard ray of at least 4.5kg. the other were normal rays which were between the 1-2kg range. the best catch of the night was a 1kg MJ by hashim. other species caught were angcho, pekcho, angkay, gt and other coral species... but the size and quantity were almost 1 species 1 fish.

i attributed the results were due to unfavorable water conditions. fresh water from the river systems had flushed into the sea, making it less salty and full of debris.

anyway, what's fishing without the ups and downs. we shall be back again to sematan, in the near future.

p/s: sotong were aplenty that night... but the surprised catch was a 1kg+ cuttlefish by chen.