North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

what about bring it in on the back of one of those poop eating goats

Right ooo, Ill have a another bash at a post that i actually put some thought into.
To all the guys having a cry about the trip, what did you honestly expect from a 5 or 6 day holiday to another country that cost 550. I arrived in Dili on Wednesday, i didn’t know any one going over when i got on my plane but happened to sit next to a good fella who turned out to be double haul from the forum. We got off yarning as fisherman tend to do and turns out he use to work there, so already a bit of local knowledge of some bars that are worth having a drink at and some places worth having a look at, We got on a tour on the Wednesday arvo with another swag load of aussies and off we went, checked out the jesus statue, few other things of interest, the famous dili cemetery. Stopping at all the bars along the way to keep the tounge wet. Went out on the juice with waht was soon to be my fellow wild hogs. Thursday come along and me and double haul and another two fellas decided to hire motor bikes, we spent the day snorkelling some pretty amazing places along the coast of timor, riding up threw the mountains checking out little villages, it was great. We pulled into a bar for a beer and few lads that double haul knew decided to borrow a scooter, they were pretty quick to right this scooter off on what was later believed to be an evasive manouver around a pot hole, im pretty sure that the copius amounts of RUM had nothing to do with it... These lads were a little worse for wear.
Thursday night we spent with the president drinking his wine and eating his what later to turned out to be the best food of the hole trip. Great night, meeting most the people involved with the fishing trip.
Friday we left for atauro island, the ferry was pretty rough, but deffinately manageable.
The water across to the island is believed to be 4km deep between dili and ataruo.
Once we got to the island we began to realise how everything was going to work, Being the first comp in the country, it was always going to be a bit of a shamble, but they had what was a pretty reasonable camp site cleared for us, tents set up to protect against rain and give a bit of shade, a bar, really rough toilet facilities but none the less for a camp site it was pretty good. Right on the beach of a magnificent bay. Clear water, and poop loads of dug outs.
I fished the first after noon out of a dug out canoe, we had a skipper and a bloke employed purly as the bilge pump, his job was to bail the water out every couple of minutes, the boat had a 15 hp on the back and pulled the teasers along just fine, after an hour on the water i seen my first sign of action, a sail fish about 5 – 6 foot free jumping only meters from out dug out. Exciting stuff.. We didn’t get a fish that afternoon but got mighty blind once we got back to camp.
Saturday i managed to score a seat on a 7 or 8m alum boat with a 200 hp on the back, gps, sounder, shade, esky with cold p..s, the works, we trolled around all day on the Saturday and only managed to catch a small wahoo, roughly 110cm. Pretty good day on the water though, flat glass calm, crystal clear waters, the sense of adventure in a new place to explore, was near the big boat when it hooked the marlin, seen al the action unfold and pretty sure i heard the swearing across the water when they lost it.
Saturday night was another night on the p..s and in bed early after a few beers and nibbles on the yaht aniki, we paddled into shoer an went to bed.
Sunday we were back on the big boat trolling the same grounds the marlin was lost the day earlier, seen some lads hook onto some rainbow runners, but nothing really worth talking about. Did some jigging on a reef right on the boundary of the comp and got a few very small coronation trout and the biggest trigger fish i have ever seen.
Once again another awesome day on the water.

Yes there were some bad things on the trip
The toilets were discusting
The chicken and rice was fly blown
The locals were aggressive when the un left
Was reasonably unorganised
People fished the comp out side of times
Boats were not available
A Timorese bloke was bashed on the beach
The fuel was stolen by locals
1000kilo of ice was left on the ferry to melt which left us with limited cold p..s
Chicken and rice was terrible
Pretty sure young JOE was going to hang her self from the stress
But come on guys it was a pretty dam good trip for 550 bucks.
I have deffinately done it way worse in the bush, FOR more money than that, and this price included flights to another country,
YOU sound like a pack of soft co*&CKS, Harden up ,it was a great trip
hrmm i could go on for ages about this but yeah, if all your going to do is winge, just keep it to your self guys cos i dont want to hear it.

Sorry guys I normaly like to browse these forums and read what guys are up to but after reading some of the replys here and seeing first hand what happened I not sure I will be reading anymore.
YES the trip had its bad parts but really being a aussie you move on with life and make good out of a bad situation.
There really only seemed to be a few that made a bad situation worse than it was and sh$t that started at the presdients house before we even left Timor ( Really funny Kids ) and then it seemed to be those same people all weekend that complained and complained and complained.(see where I comming from )
People when we signed up for this did you miss the bit that said TIMOR sh$t rice and chiken is what they eat.Not sure how many people got really crook from the food ( I only seen 1 ) but I think alcohol and sun was to blame for a lot.
Yes no ice
Yes rice rice rice rice
Yes chicken chicken chicken
Yes warm (no hot ) coke for my rum
Yes had trouble with the boats
Yes had trouble with fuel
Yes fishing times were bad
Yes it was total confusion from the time I booked my flight
But just deal with it
Yes we are used to better run comps but really guys if you excepted anything more then what we got you should not have gone.
Yes it was an expirence to say the least but for the freinds i have made and the storys that were told and the rum that was drunk. I MYSELF enjoyed it and if they hold it again I will be on the list to go back.
First some sugestions on how to make it better but not the whinging I hear here.
Well done to luke and his father who both won medals and cash for catching nice sized wahoo.
Oh sh$t they were aussies fishing from dugout canoes putting up with the same rice chicken warm drinks and every thing else that has been complained about.
Just got on and enjoyed themselfs.

nice one p o w e r t a i l, mate i had a ball on that trip even with all the bad things that happened, good to see im not alone having a go.

For christ sakes guys, you spend frig all to holiday/fish in a 3rd world country what the frig do you expect. I went over there with limited expectations, knowing that I was going to be camping (that is why we took the tent and the air mattress), knowing that I wasn't going to get steak & three veg for dinner, even knowing that I could get sick, and I still had a great time.

Sean & Jo did a great job, Jo's biggest challenge was not only the East Timorese not listening to her as she is a woman, but the cr.p she put up with from some of you guys! Yes it may have been in good natured jest, but the amount of stress she was under to start with, the joke must of worn thin after a while. A bit of respect would not have gone astray, and while we are on the subject of respect, do I need to bring up the thanks that some people gave when the President opened his private residence to us. Yeah, well done guys, make me proud to be an Australian... NOT

I met a bunch of great people, of all nationalities, I fished (more like boated but I don't care) in the bluest clearest (despite the rubbish & frig me, you get that any where) waters I have ever seen, I swam, I got bandicoot eyes (sunburnt) and I had a great weekend.

Stop being soft cocks and harden the frig up!

barraboss wrote:nice one p o w e r t a i l, mate i had a ball on that trip even with all the bad things that happened, good to see im not alone having a go.

well good for you mate

as for ya comment "i dont wanna hear about it" well i had conversations with you over there and i must say you have changed your tune. must have something to do with getting on a flash boat and being in with a chance of a fish. also conversations with you and your crew as well as conversations with another bloke, i think he caught a wahoo too you all went outside the fishing areas and said he got his fish from the other side of the island

big money involved in this trip. cost way more then $550 to bloke. we had to pay $700 plus time off work. so why should a bloke who broke the rules and had a flash boat get $1000?

as soon as i realised the comp was a sham and i kicked back in the shade with a hot rum and coke i had a much better time.

but i didnt go there to drink pi$s i went there to fish in an INTERNATIONAL FISHING COMP. this was not

so pretty easy to put a positive swing on something when "you" got royal treatment. but to say i dont wanna hear it from the others that got shafted well that just arragant mate

i hope those who return next year have a ball and catch a heap of fish as i am sure it will be run alot better. just hope it is fair and equitable for all just not a lucky few.

and as for catfish07 theatening to never read FFF again??? do you really think the people on this forum will miss a person who only reads and steals information and never acually contributes anything usefull (not that i contribute ) but seriously WAKE UP TO YOUR SELF

and yes i must of missed where it said we will be eating fly infested chicken and rice
if you served that cr.p here and that many people got sick and had to take time off there would be legal action, so those that got sick and are still sick i feel for you guys and being told to "HARDEN UP" from a bloke who sat in a fully decked out charter boat must make you

i didnt meet a pig nuts over there so yuoll have to educate me to who you are, and in my post i did say all the poop things that happened on the trip they were unfortunate and shouldnt have happened, but what did yuo expect from the money we paid, its the first time they have run the comp they had no idea how to deal with it, my father still talks about the first barra classic, pretty awfull conditions that year.
I did not eat the chicken as I like every one else seen how long it spent in the sun, unrefrigeraetd, i have not had to go see a doctor. I feel sorry for the guys who got sic, that sucks, but why know the conditions of the food and still eat it.

The wahoo we got, we got it in the fishing area, about 130m offshore maybe 2km to the right of our camp. So i dont know why you think we were cheating.As for the flash boat, well i was pertty lucky with that.

I reckon it was a pretty good trip.

HA HA Ha stop it you guys are killing me

Often the most memorable trips are the ones that go to absolute shizenhausen. ZBy the sounds of it this was a trip no one will forget.

Please stick to the facts, don't resort to abuse/making claims about each other or I will have to lock this thread.

It's great to see some good pictures from the event

I assume the toilet cams/chunder cams weren't working

As ghound said you blokes will be reliving this for years

Great pics!!

Sort of glad the minister for war put a veto on this one, still keen for next year but.....if it happens!

might have to save some corks 2Rods.......

"abuse/making claims about each other or I will have to lock this thread"

Dont lock it pleeeaaase Matt ..put it in the "Fight Club" , it's getting interesting

For those of you who enjoyed the east timor comp well done and I am happy for you

For those who expected more than what we got...it was a dissapointment. We might of had our sights set to high by expecting a fishing comp to be run like they are run here....


I have said all I am going to say on the matter. Time to think about local fishing again.

I dont think i need to add anymore about the chicken and rice or the organisation or lack of it.

I went to Timor knowing that i was only paying $620, so i didnt expect much but what i was expecting was:

Three meals a day , not the same meal for three day and any left overs put back to go into the next meal.

Fish - I thought with all the hype that i would of got a tuna,mac etc of around the 10 kg mark. I was lucky enough to catch a corination trout(39cm), more then some people.

I was using this trip as a trial trip to hopefully that my family back next dry, as it seemed to be cheap. I have/will tell every one that asked about this trip that i wouldnt take them there, we will go back to asia where we can eat off the streets, get hot/fresh food and great accom in a great location that will still come in cheaper then what i paid all up in timor.

On a positive the waters around the island is magical(but lack fish), the locals that i came into contact with where nice and the people on the ADVENTURE were all good people.

Would i go next year, ??????????????????????? no.

To top the weekend off , on the plane on the way home the hostie asked me if i would like any chicken and rice of lunch.

Did someone say chicken and rice?

2 Rods, I think you got it in a nut shell. Everyone is entitled to an opinion & I may have been abit vocal in mine.. As have a few others but hey, you get that on the big jobs.

Maybe next year, some of you guys that have fished the Nationals and the Classic could give some advise on how the comp could be better run. Having never fished the Nats or the Classic I don't know the ins & outs of it all, & obviously they didn't either. But when even the local skippers say that they don't fish in the middle of the day, someone obviously hasn't done their homework.

I honestly believe it was all done with best intentions, but lacked in education & knowledge.

Then it would only come down to how much effort the local's are willing to put into promoting their country, then we will really see if Timor Leste is able to run an international fishing comp.