Eging in Pekan
Beginner’s luck on a squidding trip
Brandon Ho FFI CCI
The first squid photo appeared on Facebook and then another and another. I’ve never been on a squidding trip before and when the opportunity came, I jumped onto the boat. Did some research and talked to Bong and Otto to get myself educated on this thing called Eging. I was amazed by the depth of the skills required for this game. First thing first, I needed to get my hands on some Egi jig. The first name that came up was Yamashita and they are not the cheapest. I bit the bullet and got myself some of these.
After work on a Wednesday evening, I got into the Mitsubishi Prado with Bong on the wheel. After picking up Eric, we started our Eging Adventure. The three-plus-hour drive went by like a breeze with insightful discussion about everything under the sun. After settling down in the homestay, I went to bed, dreaming of the first squid that I would catch.
The next morning, after a meal of chicken rice, yes, chicken rice at 7.30 in the morning, we took a leisurely 5-minute drive to the jetty. I saw our boat for the first time. In the morning light, it looked like the sportfishing boat where dreams come true. Equipped with two 150-horse-power 4-stroke engines, it was ready for everything. My hopes for a successful trip soared. Rods were set up as we cruised out of the estuary for the open sea. The muddy estuary gave way to the blue ocean. I was enjoying the trip yet at the back of my mind, worried if I could survive the trip without giving up my breakfast to the fishes. It had been a long time since I last set foot on a boat.
The sky was clear but the South China Sea was decorated with white caps, indicating the wind was blowing up one metre high waves. I managed to doze off only to wake up when the engine slowed down. We have reached our first spot. The boat was tied to one of the floats, a few jerry cans tied together. Coconut leaves were stringed on ropes and anchored to the seabed about 20 to 30 metres deep. This was the Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) made by the local fishermen. Sometimes, several strings were put close to together to form a larger Unjang, the local name for these FAD.
I clipped an orange 3.0 Egi jig an lowered it to the bottom with the help of a #3 sinker. I tried to imitate the jigging motion, not really sure what I was doing. The countless videos I watched on Youtube didn’t make sense. Bong, seeing my clumsy moves, came over and showed me how to do it: cast it out a short distance, let it sink to the bottom and make a few short jigs while retrieving the line, lift the rod slowly, let it sink slowly and repeat the process. In this spot, the squids were close to the bottom. Behind me, Eric was hooked up to a squid and he expertly reeled in a good sized cephalopods. The first catch was in the boat. It was beautiful but not totally defenseless. Its first weapon was an injection of ink that spread in the water confusing its attacker and while it was being pulled up the boat, it could shoot out a surprising amount of the black sticky substance. I was horrified by the amount it could shoot and the distance was impressive.
The Green Eye squid as locally known is also called the Bigfin Reef squid. They have large oval fin that extends throughout the mantle or the body, resembling cuttlefish. They can grow up to 13 inches in length. They are also recorded to have the fastest growing rate of any large marine invertebrate: it can reach a weight of 600g in only 4 short months. However, they have a short life span, dying usually one year after hatching. Males tend to be slightly larger than females. Their large eyes are covered by a transparent secondary corneas, allowing the greenish based to be visible, hence the name Green Eye squid.
Laughter could be heard around the boat as everyone was trying to avoid the ink projections while others were trying to aim the hooked squid at their fellow anglers. It was mayhem and hilarious to watch. Still trying to get a hold of the proper way to jig, I suddenly felt a weight on my rod. Instinctively, I lifted the rod and the rod bent double. I just held one while the line was slipping out from the reel. Was it a fish? Not likely, as I was using an Egi jig. Once the line stopped moving, I slowly and carefully retrieved the line, pausing every time the mysterious creature pulled line out. Finally, I could see the mono line, indicating that I was about a metre away from whatever that took the jig. I peered cautiously over the side of the boat and saw my very first squid of the trip. I peered into a ball of outstretched tentacles, the body of the squid was changing colours, from light yellow to a darker hue of brown. If it could communicate, it was telling that it was not happy being caught. Wary of being shot in the face with the ink, I carefully lifted the squid up from the water and put it into a pail. The angry squid released a barrage of sticky ink, all in the confine space of the bucket.
That was the first but not the last. At the fist spot, the five of us managed to land about 90 squids. Enough to fill a 20-litre bucket. Everyone was catching squid, the captain and deckie contributed to our catch. They seemed to out fish me and no matter what I did, couldn’t even come near to their efficiency. For every squid that I caught, they would catch 5. To keep the fish fresh, the deckie would gut the squid, packaged them and tossed them into the big orange ice box. For his hard work, he would reward himself with collecting the mouth piece of the squid. This seemingly unappetizing morsel of meat was apparently highly sought after in the local restaurants.
By the time we stopped fishing, we have landed 160 squids, an amazing catch rate. I was thrilled but the best was savouring the freshly caught squid at a nearby restaurant. This was just the end of day one. Tomorrow would be another day of squidding.
At the end of the two-day trip, we successfully landed about 300 pcs of squids, a 16kg cobia and a good sized grouper.