Fish Lombok

Well with Gilis out of our system we hammered south and west in the big Yamaha leaving the storm and the Gilis in our wake. Immediate destination: Labuan Poh.

Having dropped off the non-hardcore; Nic and the 2 Robbies headed out for a late afternoon session. Rounding the corner past Bangko Bangko had all the adrenaline of a good rollercoaster ride as we plowed up one side and surfed down the other of wave after wave after wave.

An hour past the corner and on our way back we hit fish after fish after fish, here Rob Christie shows a nice puppy. Dogtooth tuna #1.

The next day we headed out to the grounds en masse. Eight of us on the boat and a carefully orchestrated roster of "at bats" and "on decks". We didn’t have to wait long:

James Christie with the first of the trip’s many Barracuda.

Again, James after a hard-won battle with a Giant Trevally.

John Oven with the biggest damned fish he’s caught since – well – ever. A monster battle with a big GT that was kept alive and released soon after the photo session. Something that made the young angler feel great about the whole thing.

And John bends a big rod during the fight he lost with what I estimate was a 30-kilo specimen. Hard luck but he took it well.

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Kai Mountfort got hold of a nice 10-kilo dogtooth.

And Niko Mountfort with a big Barracuda that came out of the water 4 times during the fight. Like a damned Tarpon. Great show.

Some people just seem to be able to get things done. Take my mate Justin Ferrier. He and his wife Harumi (Mami's best friend) flew down to Lombok for a pre-Chinese New Year stay. And of course we went out for a little 2-day fish in the middle of things.

Now Justin came down to catch a GT (Caranx Ignobilis) on a popper. And that’s exactly what he proceeded to do. Caught a good brace of them in fact. Like the line from the Mike Shinoda song “Remember the Name” I used as this blog entry’s title, Justin combined his doggedness (Concentrated Power of Will) with all the rest (luck, skill, pleasure and pain) to catch some good fish.

Justin with his 1st-ever GT on a popper. You can’t see his arm shaking as he tries to hold the fish out further … but it is. ;)

And his 2nd.

Next day things started to get interesting. A casting malfunction resulted in the pain: A mighty braid-snapping crack, a popper flying home towards Australia and the top half of a brand new Penn Slammer lying in 11 metres of water.

Not being one to let a little inconvenience come between a mate and his fishing I made a quick decision to chase down a little boat we had spotted earlier. They were lobstermen. Skindivers who used a compressor and a rubber hose to catch the crustaceans.

The lobstermen in their sampan. After buying far too many lobster at too high a price (5 kilos for about USD50) I commissioned the divers to travel back to Gili Solet and have a look for Justin’s rod. Damnedest thing. Within 5 minutes the diver surfaced holding the rod tip and wearing the biggest grin I’ve ever seen.

Lombok Magic.

Not much more to say than that. My brother Ian flew out to take that long overdue but now impossible Hong Kong holiday. Must say Lombok was a better choice. Slow start but a great fishing trip by the end of it.

Ian with a smashing 10-kilo Red Emperor (Lutjanus Sebae) taken on a deep diving Rapala.

And a schoolie Rainbow Runner (Elegatis Bipunnulata)

And a nice GT (Caranx Ignobilis).

Rob with a good catch-and-release size GT. She will live to fight another day.

We went to east Lombok to pick up and deliver an 18-metre blue-water Japanese fishing boat. Three-day trip to bring it back by way of Sumbawa. I was really thinking it was marlin time. Not to be however. The sea was very heavy – I know they say that 4 to 6 beats 9 to 5 any time – and for the most part I endorse that view but the Sumbawa Strait was a bit scary. I was really glad to be in that big Yamaha.

The Yamaha at anchor. Will be a superb fishing platform with a little work.

A porter carries buckets of Garfish (Hemiramphus robustus) to the morning fish market. There are hundreds and hundreds of buckets like this for sale very morning. One bucket would set you back about 5 Euros.

A black marlin (Makaira indica) (L) and an Indo-Pacific Blue Marlin (Makaira mazara) both swordless to prevent damage to the fisherman’s boat. These are the real reason I made the trip. I’ll be fishing this region in the coming weeks and these are my targets – strictly catch and release however.

Unidentified sharks frame shark fins and a juvenile on the periphery of the market.

Claiming ownership. A fishmonger stands on a Manta Ray (Manta birostris) she is selling.

Continue reading "Tanjung Luar" »

... Same Great Fishing.

Nab the boatman steers the Buccaneer off Batubuton. Long story about the old boatman -- one best left to a chat over a pint or, better yet, forgotten about completely. OK OK I can't forget about it yet. The only positive in the whole story is that the threat of filing a police report meant that my Garmin fishfinder, Braid fighting belt and other sundry items all found their way back to me after having been dropped overboard, lost or stolen (or a combination of the above) as previous accounts would have it.

In any case I had the pleasure of fishing from Andrew's rubber duck yesterday. The Zimbabwe native and Lombok resident offered me the use of his boat and boatman after he's had a look at the "FishLombok" blog. It was offer I jumped on immediately after my return from Singapore and Hong Kong.

The day was a lot different from previous outings.

First: When we took off from Montong at 0700 hrs we reached Bangko Bangko at 0730. Planing along at 20 knots the 16 kilometres (10 miles) to the "zone" ceased to be a two-hour thumb twiddle. This was a double blessing at the end of the day when you're tired and need a shower.

Just before the "Tuna Hotel" I rigged up for trolling. Brand new Rapala X Rap on one rod and a traditional CD12 Redhead on the other. It was also the first time that I used flatline clips. The idea with these being that instead of your line being above the water by the height of the boat and the length of your rod you pull the mainline back down to where it runs through a very high quality Aftco roller which is either attached to the boat or the safety line holder on your rod itself. As the name implies this means that your mainline enters the water from a flat instead of acute angle. Essentially you can get your lure down easier and keep it down deeper. In the case of the new plastic-bib Rapalas ths translates to more than 10 metres down (this I later proved to myself by snagging a rock in 12 metres of water).

Second: If one of the regular spots wasn't producing any hits it was in with both lines and a quick hop to the next. There was a auxiliary 15hp on the boat for trolling but for a couple of reasons it was more difficult than just using the big Yamaha 85. As it was tiller steer it means that the boatman is basically sitting on your port rod and when we got into the big currents at Batubukun -- well we went backwards at anything but redline revs. I need to learn a lot more about trolling in a boat like this.

The new Rapala Xrap pulled up fish from much further down the water column. As a result it took a mauling. This was a brand new lure yesterday. Two Trevally, a Barracuda and a Green Jobfish left it in this state. (Note: With the exception of the solid ring on the pull point I have replaced all the hardware that comes stock on the Rapala. Owner split-rings rated at 140 lbs and 4X Owner treble hooks which are probably the only hooks a Trevally wont straighten with impunity.)

I guess essentially this is a product endorsement for what can only be called a counter to the killer Halco minnows. I take these endorsements seriously -- as you may recall the last product I endorsed was Absinthe -- and that was a couple years back....

Last difference of the day: Catch and Release. I'm not personally convinced its the way to go. But after this brute was brought to the boat in a back burning 5 minutes I let his big sister go. I feel good about it. 'Nuf said.

<*)))))))><{

... but then he had to go back to work. Hard Luck.

Had an excellent six days fishing with Lance Cherry. He was in Lombok to film an installment for his "Adventure Fishing" video series. He may just have it in the bag.

After a slow start we had a cracking day hunting GTs (Giant Trevallies or Caranx Ignobilis) amongst the rocks and the massive inshore swells of South Lombok. Acronym aside this was: Seriously Hot Inshore Trolling.

This GT tipped the market scales at 28 kilos. Taken off Sophia Louisa Island near Sepi, Lombok.

Smaller but more beautiful. Fish good as well.

Continue reading "Venni Vetti Vecci..." »

Ouch. Out to do a little recon as Cap'n Lance is flying in for a spot of fishing later in the month. Had planned for a 3-day trip, overnighting for two nights in Sepi on Lombok's south coast. Around ten-hundred hours I found the tuna that had been conspicuously absent for the past couple of months.

This Dogtooth Tuna (Gymnosarda Unicolor) hit an 18-cm (7-inch) lure being trolled about 4 metres down. You can get an idea of the size of the fish and can imagine 6" disappearing pretty darned quickly into a mouth like that. Be sure to click on this picture to check out a larger version -- absolutely incredible. Two dogs this size and two smaller (approx. 5 kilo) ones weighed in at 70 kilos at the Ampenan fish market. Quick math puts this puppy around 30 kilos. Big GT (Caranx Ignobilis) of 25 kilos a smaller Trevally and the first Rainbow Runner (Elegatis Bipunnulata) i have caught in Lombok. Here's the catch as we motored in to Sepi.

Continue reading "Nice Doggies" »

And entirely Happy. If you count the ones that merely ripped a few metres of line off the reels before spitting the lure, I missed 11 fish yesterday. The eight that I brought home made a great day of it.

The weather has changed. The south coast is flat and almost windless. The water is warmer and the fish are schooling close to shore.

We went a bit further east than usual -- I was sick of the Trevallies beating me up, diving into the coral and snapping the line. it was 4-nil at that point; I'd lost 2 lures and sat on a treble hook (Which explains the bloodied bit). Luckily it didn't go in past the barb. Lol.

We entered the next bay and it was like an aerial circus -- dozens of Macks and Wahoo leaping ino the air after bait fish and small tuna. Like something off the NatGeo channel but better -- because the entire show was for the captain and me.

1st of the Mackerel's (Scomberomerus Commerson) 1/2 of the pair that hit the lures at the same time. This was followed by a brace of 10-kilo Wahoo.

2nd of the Macks. These school sized fish were invariably hitting all the rods at once -- like a pack of dogs. The speed of their runs was just unbelievable. I took the third rod out of the water soon after the first triple strike and then started fishing just one rod as couldn't manage both hits at once.

Continue reading "Sunburned and Bloodied" »

I'm willing to wager that there are not many places like this to drag a fishing line in this whole wonderful world. We don't usually cut in this close but the tide was high and the channel presented itself beautifully as we finished one particular figure-8. Fish finder told us we were in 4-9 metres of Lombok brine.

The result was this small but perfectly formed specimen. I'm taking a risk here but I'll punt that this is a Pennantfish (Alectis ciliaris). Main reason being that it only has one dorsal fin which means its not a true trevally. If it had two it would have to be a GT. In any case, it destroyed this the rather unusual (and plump) redhead I was forced to commission due to the utter depletion of my lure bag. Another day another 10 dollars I guess. Singapore merchants can expect some serious custom at month's end.

Continue reading "Inshore Trolling" »

Been a while since I have blogged. Or fished. Been knee-deep in study -- trying to get a grip on the "Logic Games" portion of the LSAT (Law School Aptitude Test). Yikes.

In any case took time out to go fishing for the afternoon with a Mr. Howard Singleton recently of Jakarta, Singapore and Hong Kong. Currently a stalwart of Lombok.

Brought in a "rubbery" Chinese Footballer (Plectropomus Laevis) off Gili Air. Mr. Singleton has offered the fine facilities of his Office Bar and Restaurant where we will dine on said Footballer this evening.

Happy Birthday to me Uncle Bob -- Robert Cecil Mountfort -- who turns 71 today. And to Da' -- Donald Frederic Mountfort -- who would have; had God willed.

Well maybe Lance has the right of it when he says “... we would like to
see a picture of a reel nice fish, instead of those tiddly-pumpkins"

Despite the fact that he’s pulling my leg (surely?) he does have that little bit of street cred that gives him certain bragging rights after all.

Here’s a frame that shows one of his “Tiddlers” -- the biggest Narrow Barred Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomerus Commerson) caught off Australia’s Cape York Peninsula in recent years. 40 kilos and a once-proud member of the razor gang. (L-R) Ian Young, Lance Cherry, Tim Freebody (professional guide) and Gary Young.

I know it doesn’t look it but Lance's fish was more than double my finest Spanish Mack which weighed in at 17 kilos. Taken in Lombok, August 2004.

22Aug06. The sun rises over Ampenan, a small port town in Lombok and I’m going fishing. You can just tell some days are going to be great; Here’s the evidence as of 6:42:18.

Couple of hours and a couple of small tuna (Euthynnus Affinis) later this bad boy came to the boat. Barracuda (Sphyraena Barracuda) always look bigger than they are mostly due to that ugly big head full of teeth. This one was around 10 kilos.

There being just the two of us and only the Captain possessing a valid fish wrangling license I was relegated to camera duty for today :P

A big Wahoo slashed up a Rapala 18 right off Gili Solet but spat instead of swallowing.

Stopped trolling for a couple of hours to cast poppers near Batatruna and tried my hand at jigging near the “Tuna Hotel” – but seems that all the dogtooth had checked out. Not a nibble.

Decided to troll slowly back to Bangko-Bangko to watch the surfers for a while.

Dinner came to the boat along the way. A beautiful Coronation Trout (Variola Louti) of 40 centimetres steamed Canto style was just the thing to end a fine day.

As we were putting along waiting for the afternoon Wahoo bite the 9cm Rapala I had on my Tiagra 12 long corner line got absolutely hammered. It was hit so hard and for so long that I couldn’t get the rod out of the holder before all of the 50-pound braid was stripped away and the 80-pound backing started to follow.

By the time I had the Calstar rod in hand there was no choice but to ratchet up the drag to strike (8 kilos) in an attempt to stop the fish. With over 300 metres of line out the drag would be more than doubled and we were dangerously close to a break-off.

As Badri slowly motored the boat away from the reef and to the sand bottom north of the island I started winning back inches and feet of line.

This then was the best fish and hardest fought battle of my angling life. A Giant Trevally or GT (Caranx Ignobilis) that came to the boat over an hour later and weighed in at 20 kilos.

Rob holds a 15-kilo Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) taken off Lombok’s south coast 10 August, 2006.

I didn’t see her fly when she hit the lure from below but I saw when she crashed back into the water over a second later. By that time I had the rod out of its holder; just in time to see a series of thrashing barrel rolls 100 metres behind the boat.

This is what it was all about. The preparation, the anticipation and the nervousness all disappeared with the 1st sound of the reel’s screaming drag. This one went to me. Earlier contests with a large tuna and a GT went the other way.

The “Tuna Hotel” as we call it, an unnamed but charted rock that sticks up from the seabed 50 metres below. There are always big waves here. The “hotel" can disappear completely or 2-3 metres of it can be visible depending on the swell. It is located half-way between Bangko Bangko and Batugendang on Lombok's South-west coast

No dogtooth tuna came up to the lures this time but the Wahoo was taken on the final (but 1st inshore) pass.