Fishing Adventure of NorthernHardcoreFisherman

Malaysia Fishing Trip: Fishing Expedition 2012 Pt 5, Star Cruise Jetty, Kijal | FishingAdvNHF

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Finally, I reached the Kijal Jetty, a great fishing spot that I first discovered in 2011 trip. I had traveled almost six hundred kilometer in distance over the last two days and crossing through many towns over three states of Malaysia. Along the journey I took a few breaks and a failed attempt on the Kite Fishing at Chendor, Pahang due to the weak wind.

Although I had came here knowing that the weather was going to be rough, I didn't anticipate that it was this worst. When me and my car inched closer to the jetty, the roaring of the rough wave could be heard from miles away. Droplets were visible on the car windscreen and it was mixed with some fine sands, it caused some squeaking sound when the wipers were trying hard to sweep them away. I could feel that my car was facing some resistance and I had to accelerate slightly. Pacy wind penetrated through my opened car windows and it was moisten, it forcing me to wind up the car windows as I do not want my car's upholstery to get damped.

Extra effort was needed to push open my car's door as this mighty strong monsoon wind was trying to stop me from getting out. The thundering sound of the wave was getting louder as I walked towards the jetty, the attempt by the Mother Nature to intimidate me from getting up close was failed. I got more excited and was eager to find out how was it felt on the jetty.

When I first visited this place in 2011 I was told by a ranger (he claimed) that the beach behind those wooden fences was restricted to the public, he told me it's a protected area for the Greenback Turtles. In the later date I found out that this is not a protected area for the turtles, it is under the management of the Awana Kijal Resort and it is open only for their guests. The resort is situated at the far end of the beach.

As I stepped on to the jetty, trembling could be felt from my feet. The assault of the mighty wave seems like wanting to tear this jetty apart, it pounded as hard as it could to the jetty, splashing up sea water onto it and I bet that it was just the matter of time for this jetty to surrender to this onslaught.

The wave retreated to the South China Sea almost simultaneously after the kinetic force was transferred onto the beach, it left behind a layer of white foamy air bubbles on the surface of the sea. The bashing of the wave pushed the sands to the higher ground and at the same time brought back some back to the sea. In the process, beach worms that were hidden underneath the sand were dug out and dragged into the sea where bunch of eagerly waiting hungry predators would swallow them in split second.

This scene was unthinkable when I was here in 2011, back then the sea was calm and clear, sunny through the whole day. The ironic part is when I did the third long distance trip to here on the same month in 2013, a combination of two scenario which was rough on the first day and completely calm on the next. I used to hear some fishermen mentioned how unpredictable the ocean is, especially this South China Sea and I couldn't agree more as I myself had encountered this sudden change of weather and sea condition over my past fishing journey. In recent day I began to do some fishing with my newly acquired Intex Seahawk II Inflatable Boat, I was forced to retreat at many occasion as the sea condition turned with the blink of the eyes.

I was not alone here as these local boys came onto the jetty with their motorcycles. I figured that I should approach them for some information about this place.

"Hi! You guys are locals?" I walked over to them and asked

"Ya! Bang.(Brother) We are from nearby village." They smiled at me

"Bang, why you come here?" They seems curious to see me alone here, especially a Chinese guy.

"Was planning to do some fishing here, but the condition seems quite bad." I told them

"Ya, we fish here as well. But today doesn't seems like a good day, we are quite surprise by this rough condition as well." One of the slim boy said

"Bang, you should come here during the June to September season, it is the Squid season and hundred of thousands of squids can be spotted around here. During that period of time many good fishes will come close for the squid." He continued

"Ya, Bang, I caught a Giant Trevalley last season, weighing fifteen kilogram! I fought with it for almost two hours!" Another boy added.

Great information! I should change the timing of coming here next year. I was a bit skeptical about the Giant Trevally could be caught here at that moment. As the matter of fact, recently I did read some post on the social media that many Giant Trevallys were caught around this area here, maybe...

The gang left the jetty for dinner and I went up to the edge of the jetty to enjoy this rare encounter with the Mother Nature.

During the third visit here in 2013 I saw anglers walked over to that small platform, they were jigging for the Yellowtail Scad which came in groups. Tons of them were hooked up but I didn't join in the fun as that small platform was crowded with five anglers.

I went back to my car and decided to have another rest and hope that the sea might be calmer when I was awaken. At around 9pm and I woke up surrounded by the darkness. With the help of my portable stove and portable lamp I made myself a cup of "Renggit White Coffee", I needed this to stay awake for the night fishing.

It was extremely quiet comparing to just now, the sea was calmer and the wind had slowed down. After the coffee break I set up my Loomis & Franklin 10 footer fishing rod and paired with the Shimano Aero Symetre 4000 Spinning Reel, the rig used was a bottom feeder rig with a size 3/0 J-Hook. I hooked up the frozen squid that I bought from the NTUC Supermarket in Singapore and tossed it into the South China Sea from the jetty.

It was five minutes to twelve o'clock, it started to get windy and the sea became choppy, wave started to swell higher and eventually splashing up the sea water onto the jetty. I was a bit reluctant to leave the place as this seems like the perfect moment of hooking up some biggies, I hung on although I was drenched by the splashing sea water. But soon after I was forced to pack up as I began to feel the trembling of the jetty, it was pretty scaring as I only had a head lamp in this pitch dark atmosphere, I couldn't see anything that was coming from the sea and an unnoticed huge wave could just swept me into the sea.

Returned to my car and got myself changed into a new set of clothing, it was around 12:30am and I left the Kijal jetty towards my next destination, Kuala Terengganu.

To be continued...

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Always Tight Line, Hardcore is the Spirit!

Malaysia Fishing Trip: Fishing Expedition 2012 Pt 4, Teluk. Kalong, Kemasik, | FishingAdvNHF

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After almost five hours at the Chendor secret spot, I was starving. I went on to search for food as soon as I left the spot, somehow or rather I made a wrong turn which led me back towards the Cherating. Well, I was too hungry to crawl back another thirty to forty kilometer and decided to settle my lunch here.

The food that was offered there was identical to those of many other eateries that I had my meal with, but then again I couldn't ask for more and ordered this Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) with a piece of fried chicken wing.

Thirty minutes later it was time to move and I made sure I had set the direction right, towards Kuala Terengganu. As I drove on the route AH18 highway, I saw a signboard stating that the Cherating Beach was just one kilometer away, since I was so near I figured that I might as well just revisit the place. (I was there in 2011 fishing trip.)

The wind here was super strong but too bad it's blowing towards the land. The South China Sea was rough and the wave was strong. I didn't fish here due to this rough condition and I was still recuperating from the morning session.

I remembered that during the 2011 trip the weather wasn't this bad although I had came during the same period of time which is in the month of March. What is happening to this Earth? Could it be the "El Nino" effect?

Continued my journey towards Kuala Terengganu and stopped by this place called Geliga, which is a small coastal town not far away from the Chendor town. During the 2011 trip I stopped by at this place as well and had done some grocery shopping at a supermarket here.

This supermarket at the Taman Seri Geliga saved me quite a bit of money and they contain many items, from tooth picks to gas stoves and fresh seafood to canned food. I got myself some Instant Noodles, Shampoo, Soap and a pack of Butane Gas Cylinder for my portable stove.

The Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) that I had at Cherating had been digested on the way here and I felt hungry again. As I drove off from the supermarket, I saw this Malay Eatery and decided to have my second lunch here.

Friends always ask me this question, "How come you are not afraid of roaming around at those unfamiliar places whereby most of the time it is the place that is majority Malay races. A Chinese guy going into their territory alone, what if they found you intrusive and felt offended? What if they attack you?"

I don't blame them for their shortsightedness as most of my friends in Singapore here have the perception of the Malay community in Malaysia not liking the Chinese. I do not disagree with them either as there are some racist people around. But most of the time or I should say, every time when I was visiting a new unfamiliar place alone, be it a Malay majority or Indian majority, I had never once encountered hostile treatment towards me and sometimes I even got new Malay friends which would offer to show me around or bring me to their secret fishing spot.

But then again respect and mutual understanding is a must when you are in someone else territory, you need to have some basic knowledge of their culture and never mess around with their taboo. I do have a advantage of being able to speak and understand the Malay language.

This eatery here were selling home cooked dishes and white rice. I browsed through the dishes and decided to had some fried chicken meat and a sambal fish (chilie paste fish), the soup was FOC though.

The Mak Cik here were very friendly as they kept asking me,

"Masih lapar? nak nasi lagi? (Still hungry? Want more rice?)" they sat just right beside my table and repeatedly asked me if I wanted more rice.

This was because when the first plate of white rice was served I emptied the plate in split second and the second plate didn't last long as well.

"Dah! nasi cukup. Kak, Ais Limau lagi satu! (Rice is enough. Sis, one more Lemonade!)" I replied as I finish off the last piece of the chicken meat.

"Nak pisang? (Want bananas?)" When she brought the lemonade to me she asked.

"Boleh juga! (Also can!)" The morning session at Chendor must have took away most of my energy, I felt like I could finished off everything they had here.

So the total damages I caused were, a plate of fried chicken meat, one whole Mackerel fish, two plates of white rice and two glasses of lemonade. Oh ya! two more bananas after the meal.

I guessed the Mak Cik must be wondering how a slim guy like me could stomached so much food. I was very satisfied with the food and I believed this friendly atmosphere played a big part on my huge appetite.

While I was resting after the meal, a Pak Cik (Malay uncle) came sat beside my table to have his lunch. When he had done his meal I politely asked him if there is any good fishing spot nearby. The Pak Cik wasn't really into fishing but he told me that right behind this housing estate there is a beach named Pantai Teluk Mak Nik, he suggested me to go there to find out.

I followed his instruction and found this place but I decided to give it a pass. Reason No.1 was the place looked very new and the beach doesn't seems natural, it could have been reconstructed with new sand that was brought in from else where. Reason No. 2 was I started to feel tired and was thinking of finding a cool shaded spot to have a rest.

I went on to search for a hide out and came upon this shop at Kemaman, the shop has a garage which stored a few fibre boats. Out of curiosity I stopped by to find out what was inside the store. It turns out that this shop is doing boat renting for fishermen, the shop owner told me if I wanted to he can arrange a Tekong (Skipper) to bring me out to good fishing spot. The rental for the boat is Malaysia Ringgit $120 not inclusive of the petrol, another $40 was needed for the Tekong (Skipper), the Skipper would accompany me for a full day session which was twelve hours. As I wasn't very keen on the boating at that moment and I was travelling with a budget, so I told the shop owner I would be back some other time.

As I moved on I spotted a stall at the road side selling some local snacks, it looked identical to the Otar or Otak-Otak (Toasted Spicy Fish Paste in Attap leaves) that we normally eat here in Singapore.

They used the same kind of material for the wrapping, which is the Attap leave. The one which is different in shape is called Satar, it is wrapped into a pyramid shape and I guessed the name Satar came from the English word of Star. They did sell the Otar as well. I ended up bought both items for my tea break.

It took me around one hour to reach this place, which I discovered it from the map. The place is called Teluk Kalong and it is another man made rocky beach.

I trailed along this rocky path towards the far side and ended up at the outskirt of a construction side. Bulldozers were busy scooping up the sands and rocks onto the trucks, the fully loaded trucks were then driven over to the shore line and unloaded, some road rollers could be spotted as well. It was a very busy work site and it was super noisy, the coast line was disturbed and I could see the nearby sea water was quite milky. Well, maybe I should came back in the later date when this newly reconstructed coast line had settled down.

It was around 3pm and I was reaching to a point that a rest is a MUST. Found a spot which was shaded with some trees and huge rocks were placed here, it looked like a resting area made by the construction workers. I was too tired in both physically and mentally, without thinking much I parked my car there and parked myself into resting mode...

An hour later I was woken up by the heat and my shirt was soaked with my sweat. Gees! I was smelly and sticky. Although it was quite windy here and the place was shaded under the trees, somehow the tropical heat still manage to find it's way to warm me up. Oh! for your information, I locked myself inside my car and the car windows were left with only a one inch gap, some safety precaution was needed anyway.

Sometimes back during one of my fishing trip I bought a five liter bottled Mineral Water, after it was finished I kept the empty bottle as I figured that this five liter capacity bottle could be useful somedays. It was made into good use on that day, it had been filled up with tap water at a petrol station in Johor Bahru. I took the bottle out and with the newly bought face tower (from the Geliga Supermarket), I cleaned up myself from head to toe.

The one hour short rest was really helpful as I felt energetic again, the wash up with the tap water soaked face tower was an added bonus, my body temperature was cooled down almost instantly. Alright! It's time for another bonus. I took out the flask that contained boiled water which I refilled it from the Geliga Malay Eatery, (it was free!) made a cup of the energy boaster "Renggit White Coffee".

It's Tea Break Time!! The Otar and the Satar I bought from Kemaman were ready to be served.

I started off with the more familiar looking Otar and it did feel the same as I unwrapped the Attap leave, until....

Some brief introduction on this local delicacies. The main ingredient inside the Otar is fish meat, as for what kind of fish used is unknown for this one here, mostly it is the Mackerel that is used in Singapore. The fish meat will be grind and marinated with numerous of local spices, some flour is added too. It will then wrapped with the Attap leave with two small bamboo picks to hold them together, next it is sent for toasting.

P.S. Many different version of recipes can be found online, some using Coconut leave instead of Attap leave and some stressed that the Banana leave is the best.

The first bite was shocking! It was a completely different taste from what I normally tasted, this was a SWEET Otar! Although that I had discovered the people here at the North-Eastern part of Malaysia preferred sweeter taste in their food, but I never expected this traditional Peranakan delicacies to be modified into a dessert! And the best part is IT IS NOT SPICY at all! Weird....

My new friend, Ah Huat the three legged goat was attracted by the smell of the Otar, so I gave some to him...

It seemed even Ah Huat also disliked the sweet taste as he spitted out the Otar and ran away, probably went to search for water to rinse his mouth.

I proceeded on to the next snack which was the Satar. The fish paste was white and it was almost certain that this Satar would not taste hot as well. True enough after the first bite it had no chilie added at all, but this was much more tastier than the Otar as it wasn't that sweet. The fish paste was soft and smooth, you don't need to chew on it because it virtually melted inside your mouth.

The extremely sweet snacks I took made me super hyper, I packed my stuffs and carried on exploring which ended up at this place called Pantai Penunjuk.

The weather changed again without any given notice. Dark clouds were looming the whole sky and the pacy wind was pushing hard onto the sea surface, it thus created strong wave which smashing as hard as it could on to the beach. This place was a lot more rougher than the Cherating beach. Gosh!

This beach stretched some five kilometer and is joined with the Kijal beach

The wave swept in continuously on to the beach, it's getting higher and stronger too. I did have a urge of setting up my rod here as I ever read a post about "How storms affect fishing"

The author explained that, "As a storm system approaches, a low-pressure warm front rides up over the top of a high-pressure cold front, causing condensation to take place in the form of clouds. During the time the skies are clouding up, and right on through to the end of the storm, there is a slow and steady drop in barometric pressure that increases as the main body of the system approaches. Once the main body of the storm hits and moves through the area, rain, winds and sometimes thunder and lightning form along the frontal line. The pressure continues to drop until it bottoms out as the storm runs its course. The fishing should be good this entire time, although lightning and heavy rains on the water's surface might spook fish. "

Over at the other end of the beach, huge rocks can be spotted which might be a good fishing spot.

I hesitated for a while and eventually I made up my mind not to fish here, I would stick to the initial plan of going to the Kijal Jetty.

On my way out I accidentally drove into another housing estate and to my surprise this estate is basically a Chinese community, almost all the houses here are Chinese family. I figured that since the mistake had been done I might as well do a short excursion around here.

I roamed around the estate and came out to a small road which led me to this narrow bridge. It is just nice for my car to squeeze through and I saw some strange objects right in front, it looked like a structure with a ball shaped roof. What is that? Where am I? Did I accidentally barged into District 51?

It turned out to be the satellite station for the Malaysia Telco, Celcom.

Such an important and expensive infrastructure which the Telco must have spent millions of dollars to built it, but it is left unguarded. I was loitering around this area and came up close to the station. The signboard of "An Armed Man Shooting the Intruder" was spotted on the gate, it did terrified me a little as I get closer. Anyway, I am still alive and there was no security personnel came out to chase me away. Well, this is in Malaysia. You can never expect this to be happened in Singapore.

To be continued...

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Always Tight Line, Hardcore is the Spirit!

Malaysia Fishing Trip: Fishing Expedition 2012 Pt 3, Kite Fishing at Chendor | FishingAdvNHF

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I was so excited and it took lesser time for me to return back to my car. Immediately I started to pack the necessary gears for the Kite Fishing. Sometimes back I came upon this video on YouTube and this guy from Paul Kite Fishing in New Zealand showed how to Kite Fishing from shore. The method is using the kite to pull out the fishing lines with multiple hooks, this method also can be used on the fishing rod. It increases the changes of hooking up big fishes as your bait can be send farther away to the spot that even Danny Moeskops couldn't reach.

My Kite Fishing Gears consist of 200 lbs tested monofilament lines with a length of 1500 meters as the main fishing lines, it was winded onto a drum which I DIY it from a discarded Car Audio Cable Drum. 2000 meters of 80 lbs tested braided for the kite lines and I bought a reel specifically designed for kite flying. A super strong Power Sled Kite was used as this type of kite is capable of lifting the heavy long lines when caught up with the strong wind. When I did the first test flight at the Woodlands Waterfront Jetty on a windy night, I almost couldn't hold on to the kite lines.

Forty sets of rigs which using 4/0 circle hook and 60 lbs tested as leader lines were prepared before hand. Before I set off from home I caught around 200 pieces of Tambans (Greenbacks) as baits, they were frozen and packed separately into fifty pieces per pack. I did some preservation by adding salt to it and packed tightly in my cooler box and they were still icing when I unwrapped them. I decided to leave behind the fishing rods and reels as I figured that I might not had time for them.

Twenty minutes later I was back at the spot with the Kite Fishing Gears. It was a much tedious walk as I had to carry the gears along which were around thirty kilogram.

The wind turned weaker as the dark cloud faded away. The scotching Sun reappeared to beam the heat down to this piece of Earth here, it's getting warmer. But I wasn't ready to give up without trying and as soon as I regained my energy, I brought out my kite set and started to fly it.

The wind was still blowing outward and although it blew slightly slanted towards the north-eastern direction, I figured that it was fine as long as the kite manged to get up onto the sky. The strategy was to let the kite went up to a higher altitude and than I would release more lines for it to travel further out. The kite should be heading out at the sixty degree direction from where I was, when it reached the five hundred meter mark I would attach the fishing long line onto the kite lines, a Snap On Swivel was attached on the fishing line for easy attachment. I could easily get the fishing long line to reach a distance of 1000 meters when the the Kite lines reach it's full capacity of 2000 meters.

The forty rigs that I had made at home each came with a two feet hook line and a swivel clip attached onto it. On the main fishing lines I made some stopper loop with a spacing of two feet, the rig will be clipped onto that spacing and it was free running. This spacing for the rigs was given another six feet of spacing in between to prevent them from entangled onto each other by the fishes. Everything were set and all I had to do now was to bring the kite up to the sky.

I always heard people saying that the weather over at the South China Sea here is very unpredictable and it had proven to me on that day. From the moment I arrived it was drizzling in the morning and it remained cloudy till noon. The wind picked up a few knots and it was a perfect timing to fly kite. When I started to fly the Kite the wind suddenly got weaker and changed direction almost every minute.

As the Power Sled Kite required a strong gust of wind to bring it up, I was having a hard time for it just kept crumpling down onto the beach, the wind died off quicker than I could anticipate. The Kite lines reel was giving me problem too. Due to it's design the lines constantly spun out and entangled onto the spinning shaft. After two hours of running, retrieving, disentangling, sweating and cursing, I gave up trying.

Returned to my car with tired body and disappointment. What a let down! Not only that I failed on the kite fishing, I wasn't even had a chance to wet the fishing line. Slowly I packed my gears and cleaned up myself with a soaked face tower. After some rest I moved on to my next destination as planed, the Adventures of NorthernHardcoreFisherman will be continued at Terengganu!