Better Late than Never – Late open season sail in Rompin

Fly Fishing Trip, Saltwater Trip, , ,

Late open season sail in Rompin Brandon Ho FFI CCI Two dark shadows followed the teasers, one on each side of the boat. Among the bubble trails, a bill suddenly appeared and slashed at the teasers. The other shadow swam closer to inspect the teaser while the teaser was being reeled closer to the boat. The dark silhouettes followed the teaser closer and now it was clear, with its large dorsal fin fully opened to display the dark blue colour with deep purple hue. The two sails attacked the teaser, each jostling to get a better position to attack the teasers. As the teaser was lifted out of the water, a large pink tube fly was cast into the place. One of the sail rushed towards the fly and engulfed it. This is the crucial moment. Would the sail spit it out or will it turn and swim away? After a moment of hesitation, the sail turned and swam away. This is the perfect time to strike!! Holding the line tight and the rod pointing towards the sail, the line was pulled backwards, ensuring the single Ahrex SA270 Bluewater # 5/0 penetrated the hard bony mouth of the fish. A magnificent sail jumped out of the water 20 plus feet away from the transom. A perfect hookup!! After the initial jump, the fish remained deep. It was not doing its normal acrobatic or blistering run. It just slowly pulled line out, as if oblivious to the fact that it was hooked. After a few moments of confusion, the reel screamed and the line evaporating from the Meriosoula wt12 reel. The sound of the whizzing reel filled the air and yet the sail showed no sign of slowing down. Then in the distance, the sail did its signature tail walk across the surface of the water some 150 feet away. The speed of the fish was incredible. The rod was pointing one direction while the fish jumped at a 90 degrees angle. Simply amazing!! The fish ended doing 3 blistering runs with numerous acrobatic displays before deciding to take a rest. This was the opportunity to regain the line. With 350 metres of 50lb backing and a maximum drag of 8kg, the Merisoula reel is the right reel for the job. There is no heroism in using a lighter set up to fight the fish to the verge of death. Finally after 28 minutes of intense fight, the sail was coaxed to the side of the boat and James reached out and got hold of the leader. Mission accomplished!! The sail was released boat side after several close up shots. The fish was released after a few minutes of holding the bill to keep the fish upright with the boat moving forward slowly. Once the fish regained its strength, it was a gently released. The greatest feeling is to see the sailfish swimming away gracefully after being released. I made the unforgiveable mistake of hauling my first ever sailfish onto the boat for a photo. My eagerness for a trophy shot clouded my better judgement and that guilt and shame has stayed with me for one whole year till I was given the chance to have another encounter with another sail. I vowed never to lift another billfish out of the water for my personal gain ever. As much as I want to take credit for the success capture and release of the sail, it was not the case. The whole team worked selflessly to help me fulfil my dream. To make this a reality, a team of 4 people has to work like a well-oiled machine to ensure the safe catch and release of the fish while fully documenting the process in film and photo. Credit goes to Capt Steven Chong, Teaserman, James and Clevin, photography and videography, Nic and Clevin. You guys are the best!! ~More Gallery Click Here~

A Sweet Start to 2021

Fly Fishing Trip, Freshwater Trip, Saltwater Trip, , , , , , , ,

Tarpon on Fly with PFFS Brandon Ho FFI CCI After driving for about two and a half hours, I pulled up at the parking lot at the Kuala Kangsar R&R. Sunrise is another 2.5 hours away. Sitting in my car, I noticed a car pulled up next to mine. 3 guys stepped out and from their outfit, they must be fly anglers. I looked closer and the initials PFFS was cleared stamped across the back of the shirt. PFFS is the acronym for Perak Fly Fishing Syndicate, one of the more active fly-fishing clubs that I know of. Every week will be a fishing weekend. Come rain or shine, you can bet your last dollar that the club members are out there on the water with a fly rod in hand. Shortly after, Janice’s car pulled up along our car and Clevin, Darell and Nic walked out. I was meeting the PFFS boys for the first time and today Asrul, Aizat and Khairul were our guides on our quest for the Indo-Pacific tarpon or locally known as the Ikan Bulan. From Kuala Kangsar, it is another one-hour drive to our fishing destination. Our first mission was to fill our growling stomach with the aromatic and spicy nasi lemak from the famed Mayfly Nasi Lemak stall. Unfortunately, the stall was closed and we had to seek for alternative. We stopped at a random stall selling nasi lemak and the local “kueh” or cakes. We bought a variety of nasi lemak with different accompaniments such as beef, chicken, prawn, salted fish… It seemed that we had hit the jackpot with this stall. At only RM1 per pack, it was a steal, considering the side that came with it. Just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, we parked our cars and got down excitedly to set up our gear. From here, we will proceed on foot. The rain from the previous day made the trek difficult. The mud stuck to the bottom of our slippers like a remora fish sucking at the back of the ray. The further we walked, the heavier our slippers became. In this part of the world, slippers were the preferred footwear. It allowed you to inspect for the occasional leech that was waiting to feast on you. The open toed slippers also allowed your feet to dry quickly after wading through the marshy swamps. Well, when in Rome, it is best to follow what the Romans do. The occasional stop and photo session made the trek fun. We chatted like old friends and insights to the feeding behaviour was shared freely by the PFFS boys, a gesture of generosity and trust hard to come by in the modern fishing environment. We were fishing the canals along the river. The brackish water was the perfect habitat for the tarpon. In the early morning, we could see the rises that accentuated the calm surface, indicating that the tarpons were there. At every break in the bushes along the canals, one of us would walk towards the bank and cast our white #6 baitfish into the rises, hoping for a strike. The tarpons have hard bony mouths and the only way to get a secure hook-up is to strip strike. The hooks have to be extremely sharp. I was blind casting into the rises hoping for a take but it was futile.  Every spot looked fishy and soon I was way behind the rest of the group. In one of the opening, the water was boiling. Without waiting for further invitation, I cast my white baitfish towards the opposite of the canal and waited for the fly to sink. Slowly I stripped the line in, pausing occasionally to let the fly sink. After the third strip, the line went tight and shot out of my hand. I certainly wasn’t expecting that and instinctively I stuck and started pulling line in. With a 16 lb tippet, I knew I could outgun the fish. In less than a minute, a gleaming slab of silver was pulled alongside the bank. My first ever Indo Pacific Tarpon! I rejoined the group and discovered that I was not the only one who struck the silver ingot. Both Asrul and Khairul managed to land one each in the deeper waters next to the palm trees. The water was calm and I was surprised it harboured large specimen there. Apparently, the fish were hiding deep in these waters. Roll cast the fly out and let it sink to the bottom before very slowly twitching and retrieving the line. Patience is key here. We walked further to try the other spots. We spread out and cast to all the likely spots. Rises could be seen everywhere but getting them to take the fly was next to impossible. In many spots, the fish seemed to be playing hide and seek with us. They were rising in front of our noses but as we cast, they just moved a little further, still rising continuously. With every subsequent cast, they just moved further until beyond out casting range. We were casting almost the entire fly line but to no avail. By mid-morning, the sun was getting too hot and we decided to take a break under some trees and enjoyed our pack Nasi Lemak. After the short break, we walked further until to come to an opening where we could get down to the bank to cast. I had walked stealthily to a bank to cast when Asrul mentioned that there was a large python in the area. Not wanting to end up as snack, Khairul and I backtracked to the path. From the higher position, we could see two trails in the grass leading to a thick bush by the canal. Judging from the width of the trial, it was almost two third of a foot wide. At another spot, there was a clearing that would allow a caster to cast. I was given the honour to cast first.…

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This is WAR!

Fly Fishing Trip, Saltwater Trip, , , ,

A battle between Fly, Spinning & Baitcasting and bond of an ever lasting friendship by Nic Chew FFI CCI It’s the time where a buddy of yours whom you have not met up for a long time called you up, in my mind I was thinking of him trying to pull off his MLM scheme to persuade me to join some shady business. I was all guarded up readied to reject him, however it was just to meet up for a fishing trip. The phone conversation that did not even last for 2 minutes had set 3 of us together again. When it comes to fishing, the saying early bird catches the worm stands true to us. To catch the prey, we have decided to reach to place as early as we could. At 5.30, I have departed from my house to fetch Ah Tan and Ah Lim and then head to our destination. An hour and half through the drive to our destination, Tan decided to call the boatman to see whether the tide has risen high enough for us to depart. Unfortunately we won’t be able to head down yet, so we decided to have our breakfast before heading over. During our meal, we found out that all of us were using different gear. It was at that moment, we decided that it was a competition between spinning, baitcasting and fly, and the person who caught the least have to buy dinner for all. Now THIS IS WAR! Fly VS Spinning VS Baitcasting! Here comes 7.30a.m. at the jetty, we quickly unload our gears from the car and loaded them up on the motor boat and off we go to hunt our trophies. Without wasting any time and not wanting to lose, Lim and I quickly set up our gears, not forgetting to tease Tan for not being able to get his gear ready while he was skillfully maneuvering the boat….at first. Then we ran into a tree after that. Never jinx it, all of us almost fell into the water. When we slowly drift down from a narrow passage to an open water, the scene was unfathomable, there were boilings, tailings and rises everywhere, you can clearly see those tarpons chasing the baitfish as the baitfish leaped up the surface desperately trying to live for another day. Without any hesitation, Lim and I began frantically casting into all the possible areas we could to try to get the first fish of the day. Then there was Tan, casually lighting and puffing his cigarette while setting up his baitcasting gear. Unlucky Day? Luck was really not on our side, 15 minutes into fishing, Lim got his first hook up but lost it when he was reeling in. Then later on Tan got his too with his mini lures and lost it again when the tarpon jumped and toss it away. It was not looking good for me as I have zero bites so far. After observing the size of their lure and soft plastic, I changed into a smaller size baitfish. I then proceed to cast into a gap between the mangrove trees and stripped it in fast, suddenly I felt a big tuck on my line and it was a tarpon! Anxiously and excitedly I carefully maintain the tension to ensure I don’t lose the fish as the previous 2 guys had lost theirs. After a 5 minutes of the fish trashing in the mid-air and me reeling in line, the first silver king was tamed and landed. It was a decent sized Tarpon at 45cm, not bad for the first fish of the day. It was now 1 vs 0 vs 0! Never Jinx it. As the time passed, the rises had decreased and the result was 3 vs 0 vs 0. I caught another 2 in between and 3 of us lost a couple too, the curse was back, so we thought. We agreed to give drift down for another hour and called it a day. It was all quiet until I recasted fly and allowed it to sink. As the fly was sinking, my line was pulled strongly along with the scream of my reel, it was a take in mid water, knowing that it could be a decent size fish, 2 of my friends repetitively joke about the ‘curse’ and also to cut the line to ease my burden. After a few minutes of tug of war, the fish was finally revealed to us, it was a barramundi! When it was pulled up to the surface, it started jumping madly trying to toss the fly away from its mouth and there was I praying that my 16lb leader can hold it. Finally when you thought that fish was all tired and ready to be taken up for a photo, suddenly when I reeled it beside the boat, this bugger started his second wave of thrashing and broke off the leader. It was then you could hear the echo of my sadness and cursing throughout the stretch of river. Nonetheless, it was a fun and strange day filled with laughter and disappointment but a good outing with your buddies beats all of the frustration. What’s more I was lucky enough to get a free dinner to end the day too. Final Verdict In the end, it was a lucky 3 VS 0 VS 0 with Fly getting first place, does the result stand true for you….?

It’s raining poppers!! Testing the FTN Poppers

Fly Fishing Trip, Fly Pattern, Saltwater Trip, , , , , , ,

It’s raining poppers!! Testing the FTN foam popper Brandon Ho FFI CCI At 6.45am, we pulled up at a pay pond in Jugra. James and Than were already there gearing up for the assault on the Barramundi. It was a dark cold morning as the constant rain in the past weeks have lower the temperature significantly but it did not dampen our spirit. The night before, we were tying flies late into the night and with only a few hours of sleep, we were at the pond. The objective for the day was to test out new flies: Poppers, Booby Streamer, Articulated Rattling Streamer. According to Than, the early morning would be the best time to test out the surface flies. At 7am sharp, we walked towards the pond at the back and started to cast. On the very first cast, Than got a hit on his newly tied Booby Streamer. The moment the fly landed on the water, a big splash erupted and his line went tight. Unfortunately, the fish managed to free itself. Standing by the side of the pond, I cast out my Goldfish Popper about 40 feet out and started to pop it back. I was focusing more on how to create a larger trail bubble while maximizing the “popping” sound. Out of the blue, a wave came rushing up to the moving popper and a respectable silver gray torpedo smashed into the orange and fluorescent yellow popper. It pulled the 6 wt line out of my finger, bending the Vision XO rod. A few seconds later, I suffered the same fate as Than. The fish was gone. The commotion got everyone excited and the pond was pounded with poppers of all colours. Otto was the next person to get a hit and he did a great job landing the fish on a Green Yellow popper on Ahrex SA 220 Streamer #2. A few minutes later, it was Nic who got another barramundi from another pond, on a Yellow Red popper. James, who was fishing at the back pond managed to have a solid hook but, unfortunately his 12lb tippet broke. By then the sun was already peeking out from the eastern sky and then surface action tapered down. It was time for some streamer action. I tied a Dark Brown Articulated Rattling Streamer onto my tippet and cast out. I allowed the fly to sink to the bottom before slowly retrieving the line with erratic movement to enhance the action as well as to create the rattling sound. It worked like a charm and within the first 5 minutes, I got a tap. I continued the retrieve but it didn’t activate any bite response. I cast to another spot and this time, a savage bite and the fish took the fly and ran away with it. It gave a good account of itself and was landed after a brief fight. The fly worked. To prove that the fly really works, it must catch another fish. True enough, the very next cast got connected to another good fish. That’s the proof I was looking for. I needed photo evidence and Janice took a good photo of the fish. What a great end to a fun testing trip. ~More Gallery Click Here~

Are All Leaders The Same? – An accidental discovery in Jugra

Fly Fishing Trip, Saltwater Trip, , , , , , , , ,

Are All Leaders The Same? An accidental discovery in Jugra Brandon Ho FFI CCI On the 3rd day of the Chinese New Year, it was time for companies to start their business after the festive holidays and it is customary to do something related to the activity of the business. After doing some work in the office and overseeing some classes,  Nic and Clevin came into my office and said, “ We are starting work today.” I looked at them and smiled. I knew what this meant. We were going fishing. To the two young men who are the team behind FTC, the local dealer for FTN Asia Distribution, to start work meant to go fly fishing or fly tying. “Where are we going?” I asked innocently, my Vision XO wt6 set was already in my car and my fly box was filled with assorted saltwater patterns. “Somewhere near and a good catch can almost be guaranteed!” was the reply. It had to be Kolam Pancing Lepas (Catch &Release) in Jugra. Incidentally, the pond was also having a festive season promotion, RM25 for 3 hours of fishing, catch and release of course. After lunch, with Clevin at the wheel and Nic dozing off in the back seat. Janice, Clevin and I were chatting excitedly on the way there; discussing about the flies and techniques we were going to use. Janice is an accomplished fly caster and could easily out fish us on a good day. After a 45-minute drive from Sunway, we pulled up onto the dusty parking space next to the ponds. Despite the rain on the way in, this place was bone dry and in the heat, we could see the wind blowing up the dust. Reluctantly, we left the cool comfort of the air conditioned car and walked towards the hut which serves as the counter cum resting area and started to set up our gear. I spoke to the person in charge and asked him what fish were active that day and he said the red drums and barramundi were readily taking lures and flies the whole day. Not needing further invitation, we walked off to the barramundi ponds. This pond is located next to a river estuary where the tides would help replenish the water, keeping the fish like barramundi, estuary grouper, red drum, mangrove jacks and GTs healthy and strong. The set up was basic enough, with 5 rectangular ponds open for fishing and two others for keeping juvenile fish to allow them to grow before releasing them to the C&R pond. Beautiful and picturesque are not the type of words to describe this place but hard fighting hungry fish is something most angler can relate to. In less than 5 minutes, Nic was onto an acrobatic barramundi. “ That was fast!” I thought to myself and proceeded to cast into the tea coloured water and allowed the black and yellow baitfish pattern sink to the bottom of the pond. I was using a floating line connected to a 10 foot tapered leader, which should be enough to reach the bottom. With slow erratic retrieve and pauses, the fly was brought back unmolested. It was cast out again and the process repeated. The first hour went past without any take from the fish. It was going to be a very long hot day. Suddenly, my fly line was stopped and I waited for the line to tighten and move but nothing. I cast in the general direction again and the same thing happened. What is happening? I was sure it was a fish but why was today so different. Normally the fish would just grab the fly and sped in the opposite direction. I was determined to give a good strip strike the next time the line stopped and I didn’t have to wait long for it. The moment the hook bite into the hard bony mouth, the line moved towards the centre of the pond and the silvery fish lifted itself out of the water did a somersault before landing with a splash. It would have scored a zero in a diving competition but in the fly fishing context, a perfect 10. The fish was landed unceremoniously and after a quick photo, gently released. This fly works very well in this pond, catching groupers and barramundis like clockwork. Seeing the short fight from the opposite side of the pond, Nic and Clevin changed to a similar pattern and did the same cast and retrieved. Encouraged by the catch, I cast again at the well-known strike zone and slowly retrieved the fly through the strike zone and got hit again. Another feisty barra. After unhooking and releasing the fish, I threw the fly into the water before picking up my rod and stood up. Lifting my rod to cast, I felt a weight at the end of my line and instinctively gave a strike. The line shot out and the fish performed its usual acrobatic routine. Another barra! I laughed out loud only to be greeted by cold stares from the other anglers. I quietly landed the fish and moved on to another pond. Nic and Clevin were not as successful. Same pattern, same retrieve and even same line weight but why the stark difference? They moved on to different ponds and Clevin became the mangrove jack champion by landing 5 of these critters in the span of 30 minutes. I cast to the same place but nothing. I changed flies and the way I retrieve, still nothing. What’s wrong? Janice was still casting to the barras and she was enjoying herself with the fight. In the fading light, the mosquitoes were coming out in hordes. No matter how good the fishing was, the itch from these pesky sting can be unbearable. It’s time to pack up. Our 3 hours was almost up. In the dying evening light, Clevin landed another MJ. On the way back, we were discussing the catch pattern and the equipment…

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