North Australian FISH FINDER forums

Hi, just wanting to share my boat trip last November off Pulau Aur, Malaysia.

It was an absolute disaster as it was so close to the year-end monsoon. Luckily none of us fell overboard the lousy bumboat.



Nice Pulau Aur (Pulau means "Island")





Loads of bait





Squid and small 'cuda caught by me to be used as bait



That's me at the back "supervising" my friend trying to haul up a suspected large Shovelnose Ray.



That's me and my bro at the far right.



nice sunset



crappy boat. If not it's cheap, wouldn't even take it. Costs a mere S$150+ per person, roughly A$125.



foul-hooked hahaha



freezing cold, strong winds and sea-spray everywhere....we're just puffing away on ciggies all the time.



tons of bait



tuna...yummy



my share of the catch, 99 fish....no biggies caught, wind and waves too high, friends sea-sick all the time the fish lasted a long time, cooked in many different ways, none wasted

might be seen as excessive to Aussie fishos, but over here there's no legislation on recreational angling. If i were to decline the fish, the boatman will sell it at the market to supplement his meagre income anyway. I do hope Asia becomes more environmentally-friendly like Australia though, I admire Australia alot in this respect. What i can do is to do my part : eat all my catch and waste nothing.

Cheers!

Hey Skunk, have you ever fished for Snakehead in those freshwater lakes/dams you have over there?

Blinky wrote:Hey Skunk, have you ever fished for Snakehead in those freshwater lakes/dams you have over there?

wow! i'm surprised you know about our famous Snakeheads.....OMG they are the freaking hardest fighting fish i've ever encountered.

they're very nice to eat too, cooked in chinese herbal soup with watercress vege.....supposedly good for manhood hahahaha



here's a small one i got.....i think the largest ever caught in Singapore is around 20kg+++.......i've seen rods snap into half when fighting these fish. Of course, the drag was set improperly as well as the rod being a cheapo one. But the point is that they fight really really hard. Got to experience one to know what i mean.

Yeah Skunk, I have fished for them a lot of times with Ricky Lee of CHH. He used to take a group of us out to 4 or 5 lakes around the area where the Zoo is, did a couple of trips to Malaysia and Borneo with him also, this was all early 1980’s.
Also did a lot of fishing for little Barra at the rockwall along the East Coast Park too. Never caught anything worth talkin’ about although.

Blinky wrote:Yeah Skunk, I have fished for them a lot of times with Ricky Lee of CHH. He used to take a group of us out to 4 or 5 lakes around the area where the Zoo is, did a couple of trips to Malaysia and Borneo with him also, this was all early 1980’s.
Also did a lot of fishing for little Barra at the rockwall along the East Coast Park too. Never caught anything worth talkin’ about although.

haha naturally, Singapore Barramundi is tiny compared to what NT has to offer...that's why im spending so much money to go over there!

the largest i've seen with my own eyes is a 5kg one...and that's probably the one and only haha.

Hey Skunk,

In Australia I don't think people would mind you taking all those horse mackerel home, we call 'em yakkas, thousands of them off the coast here at times.

I wonder why there were no big fish caught - have the big fish all been taken?

I have noticed diving in Asia that the big fish do not seem to be around the reefs unless you go somwhere very isolated or a sanctuary. I have also seen a few bomb craters in the coral.

Matt Flynn wrote:Hey Skunk,

In Australia I don't think people would mind you taking all those horse mackerel home, we call 'em yakkas, thousands of them off the coast here at times.

I wonder why there were no big fish caught - have the big fish all been taken?

I have noticed diving in Asia that the big fish do not seem to be around the reefs unless you go somwhere very isolated or a sanctuary. I have also seen a few bomb craters in the coral.

i think there're still big fish, but because of lack of governmental controls they're indeed on the decline.

Just a few months before i went, some friends caught marlin, spanish macks at the exact spot. I guess i was just unlucky to encounter stormy weather i guess

in fact, we saw a small marlin (guess maybe 60kg?) jump not far from the boat.

As an Asian myself, im ashamed to say that this continent doesnt give a hoot about the environment, and we only have ourselves to blame. So far, only in Pulau Redang in Malaysia is controls strictly enforced. Each piece of coral / fish taken is RM5000 fine....roughly A$2000 hohoho. But then that's only one spot...if not for the tourist revenue, i guess they couldnt care so sad.