Tawau Fishing Part 4

The catch was not so exciting since the target was mainly really deep sea denizens, and they did not cooperate by letting themselves be caught in abundance. We managed to pull some weird fish, which were unceremoniously dumped back. There were three sharks caught, and they lived to fight another day.

we did, however, caught a few groupers, which tasted real good!!















The groupers in the ice box....














The groupers cooked....

The Wasabi and Ruby Teams from Tawau.
A really fantastic group of people... incredibly helpful and patient with the total inept and unprepared fishermen from KL..

Thank you, guys.

Tawau Fishing part 3

Roach Reef Resort is a rather simple place with adequate facilities. The rooms are relatively clean, 9except for some pesky black ants), clean toilets, 24 hours generator running in the background, and if you stand at some spots, you could even be within mobile phone zone.

View of the resort from the sea.

Main street on the island..

The eating area where we ate many meals....

View of sea from eating area...

Fishing Tawau part 2

The flight over from KLIA LCCT was delayed by about 30 minutes, and when we finally landed at Tawau it was almost 9pm. A quick dash to the hotel to check in and dump our luggage and it was off to the 'in' spot for seafood dinner.

We dined on live mantis prawns (huge buggers!!), a still swimming sea wrasse, still swimming flower crabs and wild goat meat. All washed down by a nice bottle of wine.

The next day started with a delicious breakfast and meeting up with the Tawau. To our amazement, we were told we will be fishing with the Wasabi and Ruby teams of the famed Labuan International Fishing Competition! Those guys have been fishing as a team for many years, and have participated for 4 years straight in the Labuan competition, having emerged champion in 2006 and 3rd placing in 2007.

First item on the agenda was the discovery that we would be fishing in waters over 200m deep, and in some areas at depth exceeding 250m. Our small reels, with inadequate lines, were quickly respooled with 500m of 80lb Powerpro braid line. The Banax Kaigen that i brought along also did not have enough line...!!

The catch over the next 24 hours was not that many, but the company and food we enjoyed with the Wasabi team was simply tremendous.

The strangest fish caught was a baracouta; a deep sea fish the Wasabi guys called 'koong loong' or (dragon). It is a nasty beast that constantly and easily cuts our 100lbs mono leader with great impunity. When one was finally brought up, it was a massive beast with a huge head, and equally huge sharp teeth. And apparently, it leaves a very bad smell on your hands if you touches it. I did not touch it....
This has got to be the ugliest fish i have ever seen....

We stayed on a 'man made' island that has some fantastic diving spot; a resort called Roach Reef Resort, run by a Japanese guy who is quite localised to the Tawau ways of life. The distance from the resort to the 250m drop off is probably less than 500m away! Incredible.....

Will blog more later..

Fishing Trip to Tawau Sabah

Will be flying AirAsia to Tawau this Friday for a weekend of fishing. This would definitely be the first time that I will be 'flying' to a fishing spot.

The contact in Tawau has arranged the necessary boat and also the guide as well as local experienced fisho to show us how to do the right thing when we are there.

We have been adviced to bring electric reel if we have, and also suitable tackles of up to 50lbs. Apparently, we will be fishing near some drop-offs of 100m+ depth.

Looking forward very much to this trip... Unfortunately, AirAsia apparently does not allow frozen stuff onboard. So, whatever caught may have to either stay in Tawau of be carried back cooked and eaten in our stomachs.

will update with pictures next week.

CD from LiteFM

On the way to office this morning, Simon of LiteFM announced the Cue to call for the CD giveaway. The featured CD is by Ronan Keating... and yours truly was supposedly caller number 9 with the right password.

First time I ever got through to the Host, and certainly first time i ever won a CD...

Squids Galore at Paka

Went for a whole night fishing last weekend...

We boarded the boat at about 4pm on Saturday and only came back to solid ground round about 430PM the next day. We were not really prepared for what was going to be a rather uncomfortable but fun night.

The place where we fished is probably less than 2 nautical miles from shore since our GSM phones were still operational. We could see the lights and the burning flares of the petrochemical plants from where we anchored for the night.

We started the journey looking to catch some life baits and we managed to catch quite a few 'tambans', 'selars' among others. With these in a 'life bait' container, we headed out further from shore. Where we anchored for the night, there were already numerous boats all ready with powerful spotlights. Little did we know that the night would be spent jigging for squids!!




Over the night, we must have jigged in some 100+ squids. At the end of the trip, this is the whole lot that we took in that night!!

Day at the Zoo

Since yesterday was a holiday, decided to take the family to visit the zoo... mostly for the benefit of the younger daughter since she could not remember her last visit to see animals. The day before, she bugged me nonstop to ensure that the trip will take place.

So, the visit took place as planned.

The standards and conditions of the place has really gone to the dogs. There are so many 'exhibits' that are 'work in progress'. Place was dirty and real tired looking. The area where the 'apes' are supposed to be can only be described as pathetic. All I saw there was 3 bored chimpanzees and 2 sleeping orangutans. Period. And, mind you, it is tucked away in the furthest corner of the place.

Took a few pictures of the more notable exhibits...