Merpati, Sarawak - (VII) - Misc Shots

Part I - The Arrival
Part II - Crystal Coral
Part III - The Crazy Ass Arsenal
Part IV - Food, Food, Food
Part V - Catch Report Pt I
Part VI - Catch Report Pt II
Part VII - Misc Shots

Merpati, Sarawak - (VI) - Catch Report Pt II

Part I - The Arrival
Part II - Crystal Coral
Part III - The Crazy Ass Arsenal
Part IV - Food, Food, Food
Part V - Catch Report Pt I
Part VI - Catch Report Pt II
Part VII - Misc Shots

Spent 100% of my fishing time jigging during the entire trip. From observation, the BLUE jigs seems to be more productive with the AJs. We were jigging mostly at depth of 100m and more, so most of the jigs were above 200grams.

Here are some of the Tricks of the Trade -
- Use heavy jigs so your jig goes down FAST! And get ready to drop once the boat is anchored. It's 'FIRST COME FIRST SERVE' with the AJs. Everytime we re-anchored the boat, we will have at least 2 hookups right after.
- During jig retrieval, pause for 1 to 2 seconds after 5 or 7 jigs. Most of our takes were during the pause. In fact, my biggest AJ was hooked up when I stopped to rest my arm. While resting, I felt 3 very light jerks and it was a one-way ticket right after that for 5 minutes!!
- Do not overglow your jig. It freaks them out. Unless you are at some virgin fishing grounds.
- When things slow down, hook on a slice of meat to your jig. The bigger the slice the merrier.

Here's my first and smallest Amberjack :-D

Tackle Setup
Rod - Daiwa Saltiga Deep 55B, PE6
Reel - Accurate Boss Magnum 665
Line - Kitaya Batline 80lbs
Leader - YGK FC 80lbs

Released to fight another day

Fighting my 2nd AJ :-D

Tackle Setup
Rod - V Fox - T Blade PE 4-8
Reel - Daiwa Saltiga Z6500H DogFight
Line - Xzoga 80lbs
Leader - YGK FC 80lbs

Fighting my 3rd and biggest AJ :-D Tackle setup as above.

Didn't even have the strength to lift the bugger up...even the smile on the face was forced...

More AJs!! :-D

DogTooth Tuna!!

Merpati, Sarawak - (V) - Catch Report Pt I

Part I - The Arrival
Part II - Crystal Coral
Part III - The Crazy Ass Arsenal
Part IV - Food, Food, Food
Part V - Catch Report Pt I
Part VI - Catch Report Pt II
Part VII - Misc Shots

Overall catch was very fruitful with Amberjacks being very co-operative.

Here's the most 'happening' angler of all, with the MOST fish landed, BIGGEST amberjack jigged, and MOST fish hooked with 1 jig. Presenting Albert from Miri!!

















These are the 2 AJs landed with 1 jig by Albert. Damn he is on fire!!














Another AJ by Albert.













Fellow angler from JB, with a Kelisi, with bottom fishing.

















Here's a virgin jigger with his very first Amberjack and very first fish caught on Jig. His legs were trembling MAXIMUMLY when fighting the fish. At the initial hookup, I was sitting down having a break. And when I saw the bent on his rod, he was not wearing a fighting belt. I jumped up and ran to him while unhooking my belt and hook it on his waist. And cos my belt was quite big and he quite skinny, I had to hold on to the belt from the back the entire time as it was slipping down.

















Here's Bruce with his Big eye.

















Bruce again with his Dogtooth Tuna.
















Wah with his Big Eye

Merpati, Sarawak - (IV) - FOOD FOOD FOOD

Part I - The Arrival
Part II - Crystal Coral
Part III - The Crazy Ass Arsenal
Part IV - Food, Food, Food
Part V - Catch Report Pt I
Part VI - Catch Report Pt II
Part VII - Misc Shots

Introducing the chef of CC - JAMs!!













Food was excellent througout the trip. On average, we have 5 meals daily - breakfast, lunch, tea break, dinner & supper. Damn I don't even eat so much on land back home.

Here's some pictures of our main meals ie. lunch and dinner. Every meal we have chicken wings but was cooked differently - deep fried, sweet and sour, curry, soy, etc. Vege and fish is a definite item. And of course we have other dishes like sweet and sour eggs, fried egg with sausages, etc etc. Breakfast was fried mee and kuaw teow. Fried and ready before you even wake up.













On the last day, our dinner was BBQ :-D We have chicken wings, lamb chop, sausages, french fries, cucumber, vegs, etc etc. Unfortunately and fortunately, we don't need to grill anything ourselves. Just sit and wait and eat.














Lets talk about tea break and supper. One of our supper was fried rice which was normal.













What was not normal was one of our tea break. Shortly after lunch on the 2nd day, around 2pm, Jams our chef, was chopping up 3 fishes which I thought was for dinner. So I thought to myself 'a bit early rite?'.














Half an hour later, we have in front of us 2 deep fried fish and 1 steam!! My god...pening...


























Another of our tea break - Amberjack Sashimi :-p





















Refreshment was never short the entire trip. Chilled coke, 100+, orange juice and Heneiken is readily available. Nescafe and tea is beside the kettle, DIY.

This is a self made refreshment - semi-frozen orange juice :p Perfect reward after battling an Amberjack. CHEERS!!

















Coming up next - Merpati, Sarawak (V) - Catch Rpt

Merpati, Sarawak - (III) - The Crazy Ass Arsenal

Part I - The Arrival
Part II - Crystal Coral
Part III - The Crazy Ass Arsenal
Part IV - Food, Food, Food
Part V - Catch Report Pt I
Part VI - Catch Report Pt II
Part VII - Misc Shots

I think i spend around an hour underneath the rod holders just staring at the rods and reels.

Here's a quick list of some of the reels on board -
- Shimano 4000HP x 2, Daiwa Tanacom x 2, Ryobi Marfix, Saltiga Expedition x 2, Saltiga 4000 x 2, Saltiga 6000, Saltiga 30 I'ze Factory, Saltiga DogFight x 2, Saltiga Game 3000, Kaigen, Stella 20000 x 2, Stella 10000 x 2, Stella 8000 x 2, Torsa , Penn International 30, Ocea Jigger 1500, 2000, 4000, 5000, Tica Taurus, Accurate 665, Saltist, Navi,

As for rods, we have Tenryu, Blue Rose, Daiwa, Shimano Type J, Shimano Tiagra, Jigwrex, V Fox, and loads of Jigging Master!!

Merpati, Sarawak - (II) - Crystal Coral

Part I - The Arrival
Part II - Crystal Coral
Part III - The Crazy Ass Arsenal
Part IV - Food, Food, Food
Part V - Catch Report Pt I
Part VI - Catch Report Pt II
Part VII - Misc Shots

The Captain's Cabin















The speed boat. Didn't get a chance to use it as we didn't go to any shallow reefs.













This is where Jams, our chef, prepares to feed all the hungry jigging monsters!!!

















Our dining table













The various bedrooms - fully air-conditioned





















Emergency Raft













TV room - with VCD player and Astro.













The Crystal Coral JUKEBOX! Providing us with daily dose of musical entertainment. We had tunes from Hardcore Techno - Pop - Super Emotional Oldies - Country - CHRISTMAS CAROLS!!













And last but not least, Crystal Coral and ME! :-p