March 2011 ~ Fishing Adventure of NorthernHardcoreFisherman

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This is a Remake of my previously uploaded video, added new videos and an extended version. You can check out the previous version by clicking here.

Back in 2011 I decided to make a long distance fishing road trip which crossing a few states of Malaysia. It is the first of it's kind for me and it is also my first encounter with the Kijal Awana Jetty.

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I never had a fishing trip that is beyond the Johor state until that year. As I was considered a greenhorn I made use of the experience that I gained in my past fishing trip travelling to guide me there.

I began the road trip from Johor Bahru and en-routed the Jalan Kota Tinggi towards Mersing, it is a 150km drive through many steep corners and bumpy road. At around midnight I reached Mersing and as usual I took a break at one of the many Indian Restaurant here. I continued the journey towards Endau and then Pekan. At around 6am I reach Kuantan of Pahang state, I was worn off by the travel and decided to head for a rest. The best accommodation was my car as it's safe (I get to look after all my gears) and it's cheap (basically free).

That morning around 8am I reached Cherating, found Club Med but was denied entry. Explored the area and found a peaceful spot. Some fishing were made here and I took the opportunity to regain some of my lost energy.

Nothing was produced there and I left the spot towards Terengganu that afternoon. Along the way I stopped by a few places to do some exploring, no fishing was made and it's just for the purpose of scouting new spot. Eventually in my future trip at 2012, 2013 and 2015 I revisited most of the places I marked in my brain.

3pm on day two of my journey I reach Terengganu, a most Malay populated state and a very conservative Muslim place as well. Behavior and speech needed to be careful as I was told before coming here, yet it turns out that all are just rumors. A very friendly and warm place that made me felt at home, food are quite different from what I used to have at the southern part, other than that it is not as hostile as what other described.

Many missed turns and lost of way here, it's the first time I came here after all. Call it fated or predestined I came upon this place by error, the Kijal Awana Jetty. Upon reaching there I was stunned by the beautiful South China Sea and over at the far horizon there stood a majestic lone concrete jetty. Extending from the beach towards the open sea, it measure just 400 meter and it is not as wide as Bedok Jetty or Woodlands Waterfront Jetty at my home ground Singapore. What caught my eye balls rolling was the area surround it, the vast wide beach with only the Awan Kijal Golf Resort on the far left side (It is now called Resort World Kijal), this is a wild wild land with deep seabed and huge wave. I was so excited and began the fishing here, it ended with just a 500 gram of Diamond Trevally caught.

The trip had it's closure on that night of the second day, although nothing significant was caught but I was very satisfying overall. Not only I get to see the many beautiful beaches along the east coast, I managed to discovered another great fishing spot like I discovered Air Papan in 2006 and I revisited the Kijal Awana Jetty thrice in future.

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Many years ago when I was still schooling, I joined the school organized holiday trip to the Langkawi Island. We were told that we would have the chance to meet the Greenback Turtles which would come on shore to lay eggs. Too bad it didn't happen although we spent the whole night staring on the beach.

Toll Ticket of East Coast Highway Malaysia

As times passed, I had my own family and two lovely children, the Greenback Turtles somehow came across my mind when I brought my family onto a holiday trip in Malaysia. It was a free & easy trip and we didn't really had any plan of going anywhere. We started off from Johor Bahru to Malacca, visited a few museums and continued to Kuala Lumpur, we spent the Christmas inside the Time Square Theme Park. The journey continued further north to Ipoh, where we visited caves and old temples. At Perak, We heard about the Tsunami disaster while we on our way towards Penang, many people were killed. That was in the year of 2004 Christmas day. We crossed the West Malaysia Peninsular horizontally from Penang via Kedah, visited Alor Star and entering Kelantan & Terengganu, the two Muslim populated states. I suggested visiting Rantau Abang, which is located in the state of Terengganu and it is the breeding ground of the famous Greenback Turtles. I was left with disappointment yet again due to the monsoon season, the area was closed as the high wave was not over yet and we were told that the Greenback Turtles wouldn't be there as well.

The following year we went on for yet another family holiday trip and we listed Rantau Abang as our first destination. That trip didn't fulfill my wish of meeting the Greenback Turtles either, so I guessed we were not fated to meet each other. I was so fascinated by the clear blue sea of this northern east coast beach during the trip and since then the idea of fishing here slowly overtook the wishes of meeting the Greenback Turtle.

I've been telling myself that one of this day, I should come here for fishing. However I was held back by other commitment and was not able to travel. It was not until six years later. On the 13th of March 2011, I finally made the long awaited fishing trip to the North-Eastern Coast of Malaysia. I planed to make Air Papan beach at Mersing my first destination and followed by Cherating beach at Pahang, lastly I would visit Rantau Abang beach at Terengganu. It would be a cross-state expedition which covered some 1000km in total distance.

As this would be my first ever long journey fishing trip, I spent nearly one whole day to decide which gear to bring along. In the end, five pieces of fishing rods ranging from six feet to thirteen feet were selected, three Spinning reels and two multiplier drum reels to pair with them. I brought as many different sizes sinkers as I could and a tackle box full of hooks and swivels, a twelve feet Gaff and a ten feet nets were added. I even had a sleeping bag and a portable gas stove to tag along.

After the packing was done I went to take a nap and woke up at around 2am, as soon as I finished loading all the gears into my car I set off to Johor Bahru, it was already 3am in the morning. I went to the Pandan wet market which was still operating and bought some small fishes and prawns as baits. I began my journey towards my first destination Mersing, which is some 140km away from Johor Bahru. I reached Mersing at around 6am and decided to have my breakfast here, a bowl of Mee Soto was ordered at this Indian Eating house near to the Mersing round-about.

The initial idea of making the Air Papan beach my first fishing destination was abandoned, I decided to head straight to Kuantan instead. Had a short break at Endau before I continued the journey. On my way I passed by Rompin and Pekan, two famous fishing ground for Sailfish. And finally after almost three hours of non-stop driving, I reached my first spot the Cherating, it is also where the Club Med is located.

Stopped by at this Malay Eating House along the main road here for my second breakfast, I ordered the traditional local breakfast, Nasi Lemak. (Coconut milk rice with chili paste)

After the breakfast I went on to explore the Cherating beach and found the Club Med. Too bad they don't entertain walk-in guest, I couldn't get inside to have a look. I drove off from the place and came upon this spot, it is situated along the same stretch of the beach where the Club Med is.

Decided to do some fishing here with three fishing rods set up, a Bottom Feeder rig was used on the Loomis & Franklin ten footer. A half cut small fish was hooked up and it was tossed into the South China Sea. The other two rods were on standby and I proceeded on to make my favorite beverage, the "Renggit White Coffee"

Gentle sea breeze from the South China Sea made me sleepy, the swinging tree branches seems like singing "lullaby" to my ear...

I would have to agree that this is definitely a fantastic place to relax, not for fishing. It is so peaceful and I was half asleep over the past three hours here, nothing was produced and I decided to move on.

I continued the journey up north and followed the signboard which lead me to this stunning place, Kemasik Beach. The breath taking clear blue sky and the fine clean sand make the place a popular choice for professional photographers.

It's landscape seems like a carefully crafted master piece, huge rocks scattered along the shore line with some unknown greenery planted on it. The white cloud that hovering over the sky looked soft and gentle. As I walked towards the beach I was caressing by the warm sea breezes, it seems like delivering a message of welcome to me.

It was so peaceful here that I didn't even had the thought for fishing, I chose to relax myself at a shaded spot and lazying for the whole afternoon. Reluctantly I left the place in the evening and headed to town for dinner, I was too tired to continue after my dinner and I decided to spent a night here in my car.

The next morning after my breakfast I drove up further north and came to this town, Kijal. Throughout my journey of fishing trip over the past years I always love to explore new places, this has become a routine for me whenever I travel and I had been doing this since 2006. I always look out for signboards for beaches and I did discover many beautiful places through this way.

Certain time I seek out on small roads or lanes which it's direction are leading towards the sea side, it could be a no-through road or just leading to a village, but I never stop trying. Places like the Punggai, Batu Layar and Kampung Gambu were all discovered in this way, my all time favorite fishing spot, the Air Papan beach was spotted when I travelling from Endau back to Mersing.

In this long journey fishing trip cum expedition I found this fascinating spot when I made a wrong turn, while doing the U-turn back I saw this narrow lane towards the sea side. Without hesitating me and my car bashed into this small lane and after a couples of turns I encounter it, the Kijal Star Cruise Abandoned Jetty.

P.S. Some updates on the Kijal Star Cruise Jetty, in 2012 I was told by the locals that this jetty was now belongs to the Awana Kijal Resort and was renamed Kijal Awana Jetty. In 2015 I made a returned visit and found out that the Awana kijal Resort was bought over by the mighty Genting Group, it was renamed as Resort World Kijal. Not sure if the jetty was renamed too, is it called Resort World Jetty now?

Another breath taking spot that I discovered and this is the spot that I revisited in 2012 and 2013. (Click on the highlighted link for the trips) I didn't make it on 2014 but I returned to the place in 2015. The Jetty is about two hundred meters long and it stretches out towards the South China Sea.

I was stunned by the beautiful crystal clear sea water and the strong wave that was pounding hard onto the jetty constantly. As I stepped onto the jetty slight tremble could be felt from my feet, the roaring of the huge wave was kind of scary and intimidating.

From this angle the sea might looked calm, but deep down under the strong current was creating a turbulence which pushed up the sea water, eventually huge strong wave was formed. As it swept closer towards the beach it gather more momentum and finally smashed onto the beach as hard as it could.

I walked towards the end of the jetty to get the up close encounter with the Almighty Mother Nature creation. A larger platform was built here and two staircases were found on the both side, looking at it I wondered how the passengers managed to use it.

A huge but corroded warning signboard was found here at the edge of the jetty, it stood tall and lonely to deliver the message, PRIVATE PROPERTY, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. In 2015 when I returned to the place, this signboard was nowhere to be found.

An extension platform from the jetty looked idea to fish from there, in fact I spotted a few huge shadows right underneath it. The thought of walking over to that platform was abandoned as the pipe was wet and slippery, not worth to take the risk.

The Loomis & Franklin 10 footer was set up and paired with the Shimano Aero Symetre 4000, I set up another six footer to jig for some bait fish. I didn't have to wait long for some action, a Diamond Trevally a.k.a. Chermin or Ebek was hooked up on the six footer. It was weighed around 500 gram but it gave some fierce fight and gave some excitement.

My first ever long distance fishing cum expedition trip ended here at the Jetty. Although I didn't manage to land any monster fish at this fascinating spot, but I was excited for the discovering of this spot and the sightseeing along the journey would definitely worth for the effort here.