Since the last positive trip to Rakit Atan, a trip was planned for 31st Jan to do a group visit here. After some planning, the turnout was quite good and on that day, 3 other cars joined mine, making a total of 4 cars to meet at my block downstairs, starting off for a trip to Rakit Atan aka Tiram Fishing resort. For this trip, I would be meeting Patrick and Marcus for the first time, who were new to the group. XN & family came too as well as Roy, all who were new to this fishing thing. ZW entire family also came along too for this trip.
The checkpoint was a breeze that day and we cleared the checkpoint with ease. But the 4 cars convoy fell apart just coming through the checkpoint and Marcus's car went missing and didn't turn up at the designated meetup area. After some frantic calls, we located Marcus at the nearby stadium a short distance away from the shell station. I wasn't too sure where the stadium was, but was lucky to have found the place fairly easy. After picking them up, we set out on our way to Masai to have our breakfast there.
We had to wade on the beach to get up the boat
When the boat sped up, the ride was thrilling
Breakfast was a rowdy affair as we were a fairly big group,which made for a confusing order of pratas with and without eggs. But we filled our stomachs and were ready for the day of fishing. We were soon at the fishing village for the boat ride across. For some reason, the place was rather crowded with lots of cars. Being a big group, the rakit sent a big boat that was able to fit all of us. The boat was a powerful one, and the children all enjoyed the ride immensely.
Feeding fishes
Reaching there, the children all began to have fun at the hammocks, which I noticed to be an instant attraction to all new visitors here. Certainly, it was a perfect setup for a lazy timeout here.
Those who were here for fishing immediately setup their gears. Given that the tide would be low, I setup a bottom rig for targeting Gelamas. However, there was totally no bites at all from the bottom. In fact for the entire trip, no Gelamas were caught at all, much to my surprise. I next changed to a sabiki and went about the rakit looking where the fishes might be hiding. I needed to break the egg to show the newbies how to go about getting their first fish. With some luck, I managed to get a little tiny queenie on the jigs, much to the delights of the children.
Warm up catches by Roy
My Papa caught one. He very clever
ZW went on to try out to see if mr todaks were around. Within half an hour, he brought in a small specimen establishing their presence in the water. Seeing the fairly good hit rate, I encouraged all the newbies to try their hands at todak fishing. XN and Roy managed to get some bites but were unsuccessful in connecting them. That continued for the morning, with all the todaks getting away with our free meals. However, the todaks did keep the newbies interested in fishing and the morning saw them trying and trying.
I was speechless. The Kurau was caught using Tamban Jig with live glass fish
Patrick caught the todak with his bare hands
His girl was afraid of getting close to mr sharp teeth
Patrick was first to hit a good fish of a Kurau that was of a good size. I was startled and impressed that he and his family did seem to know how to fish. :). He was also skilled at todak fishing and soon got one for the family album.
This is for assam curry fish head tomorrow
Even the children knew to put their foot to take fish pictures! hehe
Mrs Zhao aka Emmy also tried her hands at todak fishing and was grinning ear to ear when one was caught on her own. Now she knew why Mr Zhao loves to fish todak and was always bringing it back for dinner. :O. To her extra credit, she also brought back a new fish this time, an Assam fish. I myself only caught it 3x in my life. No mean feat :)
Step 1: First, pick the fish you like
The children all had their own fun of fishing as well and managed to catch some small fishes which was already very exciting for them.
Whole morning of trying and finally!
Wah, this is harder than programming
No no..easy as restarting server
Seeing the situation, I changed tactics and asked them to change the hook size to a smaller one. I wasn't too sure about it but when XN finally managed to get his first todak, that was confirmed to be the reason why mr todaks were all getting away. After that, Roy too broke his todak-less history and hauled up a decent specimen for some photo taking. At the end of the day, XN was to score 2 todaks, and Roy surpassed it with 3, ending with the largest todak of his life ever.
Strange looking prawn (Mantis prawn)
Yahoo! My first Tenggiri on lure
ZW and I did some luring. I noticed Patrick was also luring but he was away from us in another corner and I wasn't sure how he was doing. But ZW and I did manage to get some bites, although it was far and in between. We took the opportunity to be test out our less frequently used lures. I was just teasing him that he was so lucky not to have even lost one lure after so long when he tossed out his newly acquired x-rap and the braided line broke and lure went flying into Sg Layang forever. Must be my unlucky mouth :P.
ZW got lucky and his red head crystal minnow got a hit and I saw the line going deep. That was a good sign as it certainly wasn't another todak. When the fish surfaced, it was a tenggiri. Seemed that Tengirris are fairly common here and they were a joy to be gotten on lure.
To wrap it up, the champion of them all. Don't play play
Children playing fish. *poor fishes*
Ok. Wash your hands, then we go play fish doctor
Setting up the timer for the camera
Marcus was doing his own thing and I didn't quite check on him as he was already a seasoned angler having been to some boat trips and sibu kelongs and all. I realized that I had kind of forgotten about him when I realized that I didn't even have a good photo shot of him at the Rakit. Sorry Marcus :P On the way back, we huddled for a group photo luckily and managed to have a small pic of his face. :))
I checked the icebox and found LIVE fishes swimming in the plastic container
The culprit who was trying to "smuggle" live fishes back to Singapore
We fished till about 5pm and started packing to return to the mainland for dinner and shopping. To our shock, the boat ferrying us was to be driven by a small 10-12 yrs old boy. But he handled the craft deftly and we landed safely back at the jetty to return to our cars.
From there, I led the group to the newly opened Jusco at Bukit Indah. Dinner was a simple meal at the foodcourt and then to some shopping. On the way out, we lost Roy whose car automatically headed for Sg Petani, where his in-laws were. After some worried wait, Roy managed to relocate us and regroup. We headed then to the final SHELL station for refueling before parting ways and going back via 2nd link. The way was entirely smooth was no jam whatsoever.
Certainly a "fruitful" fishing trip with almost everyone getting a fish or two. I noticed that the rakit had mostly smaller specimens being at the tip of the river system. But it was fairly consistent in terms of the chances of getting some fishes, although there were hardly any tambans here. Not a bad trip and I did think that all enjoyed it one way or the other. The children certainly had lots of fun playing fish today.
Photos
Videos
Articles










Comments
zhaowei says on 03 Feb 2009 11:24 :
oh thanks, looking at one that thin & cool that can cover from head down:-), ex$, then don't need lah, will take pro recommendation with my long sleeve T-shirt, hehe.
nafishnafish says on 03 Feb 2009 10:30 :
Pat, ZW probably looking for those anti UV type of clothings. They do sell...but very ex. :O. I think not necessary. A normal long sleeve t-shirt should be able to afford a good measure of protection. Notice that I was dressed in a long sleeve T that day.
idsi2004 says on 03 Feb 2009 09:42 :
ZW - looking to buying new jacket or finding old and used ones?
I hv grey colour long sleeve company shirt(not worn before) but wif names sewn on it.Given to me by colleagues. You want? Let me know if anyone wants.I hv 2 to spare.I use them for fishing.
zhaowei says on 02 Feb 2009 17:18 :
Pat, yeah its only the 2nd fishing for my wife but she's well prepared after seeing me "burned" for a few fishing trip. i m still looking for a right jacket for that level of protection:-)
nafishnafish says on 02 Feb 2009 16:35 :
Yeah lor. He is ninja photographer. His camera from far far away can zoom until near near. Next time must comb my hair a bit. Yeah man, Roy passed and is ready for Sibu kelong bigger game fishing. hehe.
idsi2004 says on 02 Feb 2009 16:23 :
Art, you purposely give Roy the spool with little line to test his fishing skill right? Luckily he did not disappoint his sifu and managed to pass with flying colours, hehe...:}
idsi2004 says on 02 Feb 2009 16:14 :
Roy, next time let me know when you taking pic of me ok, so I can post a bit ma. I look more like carrying weapons going to war instead of fishing leh, hehe... Thks for the beautiful pics. You shoot as well as you fish.
nafishnafish says on 02 Feb 2009 15:56 :
Oh...THAT reel. Yes, yes, very little lines left. Will have to respool it. Thot only for play play only, didn't know he caught a big one. haha, but certainly made it more exciting :P
zhaowei says on 02 Feb 2009 13:38 :
Thanks Roy, thats the Pro Photos:-)
Art, you may need to add some line to one of the reel, it left about 50m only.
royyong says on 02 Feb 2009 12:19 :
Pat, it indeed set my heart pounding. Especially when the reel is almost all out. Luckily (or not so lucky) for the malay uncle, he helped to ensnare the todak's mouth :D