True enough, we were happily sharing the kelong with around 10 other people for the first 2 nights. However, the kelong was swamped with people who arrived in droves on Saturday morning. Many of them were families with children on holiday and not anglers out for serious fishing. Even then, we had to jostle for space sometimes among the tamban rig and sotong lure wielding holiday makers...
Well, despite all that we were very happy with this trip because of this...
Big parrotfish caught at kelong!
I was patiently eging the previous night when I spotted a crab swimming on the surface of the sea. Unlike most crabs we usually see which are only about 1 inch plus across, this one was almost 3 inches. Intrigued, I decided to scoop it up with a net and place in a plastic container with about 1 cm of seawater to use for bait the next morning.
On Saturday the 19th, I woke up at 630am. After the usual morning ablutions, I walked over to take a look at the crab - which was still alive. Great! I thought. As the current was rather slow, a paternoster rig with a single Owner size 2/0 hook was chosen. I casted this out with my Abu Garcia Tournament 9 feet rod paired with an Avet SX reel.
It as not more than 10 minutes before we noticed the rod tip bending slightly. Must be small fishes nibbling at the crab, we thought. But when the tap, tap motion continued consistently, the rod had to be checked. When I lifted the rod and gave it a jerk to set hook, I was rewarded immediately with a fierce tug. Fish on!
The fish tugged energetically, but did not manage to pull too much line out due to the high drag settings - it was too near the kelong's stilts for me to take the risk! After a few minutes' pumping, the fish surfaced. Woohoo! We were expecting a parrot, but hugely surprised to see its size! Although we tried to land the fish quickly, the strong parrot managed to make a dash into the stilts. NO!!!
The line was kept in tension as we patiently waited for the parrot to come out. Luckily, our 50 lb braided mainline/ 80 lb FC shock leader/ 50 lb leader withstood any abrasion and a minute after, the tired parrot was dragged out and landed. :)
6.5 kg on the kelong's weighing scales.
We also amused ourselves at the kelong 'shooting' rabbitfish with treble hooks, using bread as bait. Read about the various other methods of fishing we employ at the kelong here. Unfortunately, thanks to anglers who used nets to catch these rabbitfish, the population is very much decimated.
Beware of the spines!
We managed to catch only 7 selars throughout the trip. Other anglers were also catching about this number. Guess we will have to wait quite a while before more can be caught during the monsoon season!
Selars caught on size 5 tamban rigs.
Total catch - 18kg.
The picture above shows only the fish caught, not the sotongs which will be another story coming soon... :p
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