Sailfish In Kuala Rompin

[kajiki008]

It was a family holiday for me with a little sojourn courtesy from David (Season's Rods) who put in touch with the Xzoga boys in Malaysia so that I can get into a couple of days of chasing a dream of mine. SAILFISH.

So whilst the family went to Singapore - I jumped on the plane to Johor Bahru where Dennis and Wilson from Xzoga picked me up from the airport on a journey to catch the famous Kuala Rompin Sailfish.

I spent the day in Johor Bahru talking to the boys about rods and reels and as everyone knows, Xzoga is basically a Malaysian company that actually does it own design and tests in rod making. I had bought a couple of Xzoga rods before - mainly jigging ones and liked the movement and the way the rod handles not only the jigs but a nice fish when you are hooked on. As a routine jigger of Sydney waters, i have had my days of really fast drifts, currents and a lot of jigging with nothing to show. That is where i have found Xzoga to come out on top as they are not only light but handle 300gm to 400 gm jigs with ease. The boys at Xzoga were amazed at the weight we jig but then after remembering their own adventure in Perth for Samsons - they laugh at us Aussies for being so crazy !

Back to Kuala Rompin - Dennis (who is the salesman) told me that I will have a great time and when I met the CEO - Mr. Lim - he asked who the skipper was and when told it was Sky Chong - laughed and said - this is a 300% guarantee !! You will fish hard - but he is one of the best skippers in Kuala Rompin !

So right on 5pm - it was a quick dinner and then off on a 2.5 hour journey up the road to Kuala Rompin and we ended up in Sky's designated " Angler's Rest Place " a 2 bedroom comfortable unit - our quarters for the next two nights.

The boys were quick to unload and no doubt like all fisho's tons of equipment - especially with the Xzoga rods as the boys were very eager for me to try them out. I could not bring my popping and jigging rods but that was not needed as the arsenal was large enough for me to make a choice.

Sky was waiting for us - despite the fact that we arrived nearly at around 11ish at night and gave us an update of the fishing. The sails are there Sky said, but not easy to catch and also the birds have been sporadic (meaning sails not feeding) but we shall try Sky said ....there is NO WAY you will go home without catching a sailfish !

1st Fishing Day

Breakfast at the markets followed by a trip down to the ramp. Many boats were there ready to go out for sailfish and bottom fishing and i was amazed that the boats although not big are powered by extremely large four strokes. It was only a 15 minute run - and we were on the bait grounds. Sky yelled - Drop and the bait jigs went down only to pull up (FULL) little queenies -

Damn - yelled the skipper - we gotta move - these baits are too spiny for the sails.

We quickly moved to the next spot and again - the jigs went down and up came lots of bait fish ! - NOPE wrong baits. I could not identify the bait fish but the names they gave them were a mixture of Malay and Chinese of which one was called Miss Yellow or Wong Siew Chay - pretty looking but definitely a NO NO.

Each stop at the bait grounds yielded more Ms Wong - and as the sun was right up the sky, the day got hotter and hotter and sweat was pouring down - no need for showers.

We finally got some " yellow tail " or scads and proceeded to use a 5/0 Owner hook attached to a 2-3 meter trace of around 80lbs. Dennis said that the more finicky the sails the lighter we have to go....

The bait were then ballooned out from the back of the boat whilst those who want to " POP " can do so at the front.

So we let out the baits and waited as we drifted. The seas were getting stronger and despite changing locations a few times - no takers.

Did we see sails - YES we did - swimming but they simply would not take a livey !

Sky was adamant the the reason for this bad show is that there was a boat trolling for a fly fisher - and the motors were spooking the fish. ( Now haven't we been through that before in game comps with people trolling over our burley trail ??)

For me, it didn't really matter as i wanted to learn more about popping since this is something new to me. It is not easy - and personally in 98% humidity - I prefer to jig 400gm anytime !!

But the technique was what matters and to see Sky and Dennis work the poppers - it was worth it just to observe and learn..

Suddenly, the popper was smashed and Sky pulled in a nice spanish mackerel - Yippee - dinner for tonight.

Fishing Day 2

The night before the skipper was still upset about the trolling boat and said - Tomorrow we head out to another location. We will find the fish and this is why it will be an early start.

Needless to say after a fantastic meal of Spanish mackerel in Curry, Deep Fried and Stir Fried - I was just happy but praying that since this will be my last day of fishing - I hope I will get something otherwise my brother in laws who could not come with me on this trip would be laughing their heads off in Singapore !

The day dawned bright and the seas did not look like yesterday. in fact certain parts look like glass and Sky decided to head off to his " secret location " when he suddenly stopped the boat and said - Drop the jigs - there's bait. Down went the jigs and up came nice scads and finally - the sought after " Kembong " which is the indian mackerel similar to our slimy mackerel.

Once we got off the drift , we went back again until the action died when suddenly Dennis yelled out - Something is on my bait jigs and it aint bait !.

As he pulled up his bait jigs - he found nice 30+cm calamari attached and well hooked to the bait hook ! Lunch !! everyone roared - Sashimi and I felt something heavy on mine as well and pulled up another squid ! On that drift - we pulled up a total of at least 3 calamari which the boys kept in the live bait well as well as one arrow squid.

Oh yes - Ms. Yellow was still around but this time - we had yellowtail (scads) as well as kembong aside from other species that again I have no idea what they were..

Once we had enough bait in the live well - Sky powered the motor out only to sight birds flying in the air, diving in the waters and quickly stopped the boat and said - Liveys liveys out out out ....

It was quick - a hook into the livey. Tie a balloon once about 20 metres of line out - tie the balloon then pull out about 20cm of line and tie it onto your rod. Once the balloon pops, the slack line is gone, lift your rod gently so that the circle hook will slide it nicely into the jaw.....

I cannot recall exactly HOW many minutes before the first livey hit the water before we were hooked up... as I fought the sailfish on a PE 3 rod, I asked if I could increase the drag a little.

The reply - " Depends what you want to do. If you want a photo with the fish - I suggest not but if you don't then do what you want !!...."

Needless to say - I did not touch the drag...

The day grew calmer and calmer and we would have hooked at least more than 10 sailfish between us. I know as i personally hooked up to 7, caught 4, tagged only 3 because the last one came up belly up and we spent a lot of time swimming it and a big queenie on livey.

We popped in between and there is nothing more exciting than to see sails chasing your popper right up to the boat but equally frustrating as well. The heat was worse - NO WIND and somehow - it didnt matter because the FISH WAS ON...

There were some quiet moments so we slow trolled with the bail arm open - and that was a different technique as the when the strike came - you need to free spool and work out the right timing otherwise you get thrown hooks ...

It was late in the day when we slow trolled as it was obvious that the fish had decided to go down deep. When I say deep - i meant about 30 to 40 m as this was the depth of the area. This is something of an enigma for as the ground was a mixture of gravel and some coral but at the same time if you look at the you tube video - the water was definitely not the " blue water " that we associate any pelagic species with. At the same time, Sky also said that yesterday, the water quality was also not good yesterday.

I know from reports that the boys from Xzoga had caught and released a juvenile sailfish but apart from catch and release of these fish - there was not other ways that this could be documented.

Prior to my coming to Kuala Rompin, I had wanted to tag the sailfish and wrote to Bluewater magazine editor Tim Simpson for some advice. I hope that our efforts now and sending the information through to our fisheries department and also copies to the Billfish foundation will allow all of us to find out why the fish is there from August in such great numbers and more importantly how can we protect this fishery. I know that the Malaysian charter boats in the area practice a catch and release but upon hearing reports from them - the sailfish get more finicky as the season progresses due to the large number of hook ups.

I have put some pictures but none other than the you tube segment which is via this link

I guess there is nothing more to say except express my thanks to the kind generosity of the Xzoga boys. The best part was to also clarify about their rods since many people were confused about the " origins " of Xzoga.

The blanks are definitely Japanese and manufactured in Japan under licence and strict control of the Xzoga Design team. Then the rods are put together in Taiwan and imported into Malaysia from which they are then exported again. Apparently it is far cheaper to import a finished product than to import the raw materials to manufacture.

NOTE

For your information, i used the Shimano Stella's 5000SW, 8000SW and also christened my new Talica 16 - II speed just for the hell of it. And YES - I finally scored a fish with a HALCO rooster popper - but it was not a sailfish but another nice mackerel as well as species that I was not familiar with. Unfortunately due to the action of the sailfish - you can imagine me running up and down the boat as the livey goes off and I am still popping that it was very hectic for me.

Needless to say - the experience is something that i can truly recommend for all of us anglers out there who want to catch a fish that will thrill up and delight you. The Malaysians are a real fun people to be with and very charming but just as equally good like us Aussies in dry jokes or making you work for your fish.

The Xzoga Boys were fantastic hosts and I must say - Wilson - the quiet achiever - and part of the design team took all the video shots and assisted in the underwater shots as well so for a cameraman - he deserves the OSCAR FOR FISHING !!

Xzoga Rods - Just because I have a few in my collection proves what i believe in and whilst my Ripple Fishers and Blue roses lie on the rack - I don't know why but the Xzogas go fishing with me most times. My PE6 jigging rod has brought me a 46.1 kg Yellowfin and now the PE 3 , 4 to 6 has given me sailfish. What more can I ask ??

.

Edited October 18, 2010 by kajiki008

[steze]

Absolutely Beautiful Place to fish mate... the conditions look so good.

[FISHARK]

Well done mate it looks as if you had a ball.

Also some nice fish there

[kajiki008]

Absolutely Beautiful Place to fish mate... the conditions look so good.

Conditions were a bit windy first day but seriously not like the conditions in Sydney. Not much swell at all just wind.

But second day - glassed out !!

[kajiki008]

Those conditions look absolutely perfect! What a memory!

Cheers,

Mike

Yup and for your information, the weather is only great for a certain number of months i.e. from August onwards. However the boys have also informed me that the fishing is best over the start then peters out. Apparently sailfish is there all year round in these waters - perhaps because they are not commercially targeted and it is amusing to know that the as the season progresses, they become more wary - Too many caught and released so it becomes more difficult to catch them. I was very lucky for a first timer !

[kajiki008]

Well done mate it looks as if you had a ball.

Also some nice fish there

The beauty of the place is such that it is still remarkably " village " unlike Kuala Lumpur and other big cities. There are no size limits but the amount of fish available (especially bait) is indicative it must be very productive.

As mentioned before in other replies, the fish do get finicky but from my past experience in chasing billfish - man the water was definitely as green as you can get (see the youtube) and yet they are there in numbers !!

Never in my life that i could believe catching sailfish in 30metres of water LOL

[bangus]

It was a family holiday for me with a little sojourn courtesy from David (Season's Rods) who put in touch with the Xzoga boys in Malaysia so that I can get into a couple of days of chasing a dream of mine. SAILFISH.

So whilst the family went to Singapore - I jumped on the plane to Johor Bahru where Dennis and Wilson from Xzoga picked me up from the airport on a journey to catch the famous Kuala Rompin Sailfish.

I spent the day in Johor Bahru talking to the boys about rods and reels and as everyone knows, Xzoga is basically a Malaysian company that actually does it own design and tests in rod making. I had bought a couple of Xzoga rods before - mainly jigging ones and liked the movement and the way the rod handles not only the jigs but a nice fish when you are hooked on. As a routine jigger of Sydney waters, i have had my days of really fast drifts, currents and a lot of jigging with nothing to show. That is where i have found Xzoga to come out on top as they are not only light but handle 300gm to 400 gm jigs with ease. The boys at Xzoga were amazed at the weight we jig but then after remembering their own adventure in Perth for Samsons - they laugh at us Aussies for being so crazy !

Back to Kuala Rompin - Dennis (who is the salesman) told me that I will have a great time and when I met the CEO - Mr. Lim - he asked who the skipper was and when told it was Sky Chong - laughed and said - this is a 300% guarantee !! You will fish hard - but he is one of the best skippers in Kuala Rompin !

So right on 5pm - it was a quick dinner and then off on a 2.5 hour journey up the road to Kuala Rompin and we ended up in Sky's designated " Angler's Rest Place " a 2 bedroom comfortable unit - our quarters for the next two nights.

The boys were quick to unload and no doubt like all fisho's tons of equipment - especially with the Xzoga rods as the boys were very eager for me to try them out. I could not bring my popping and jigging rods but that was not needed as the arsenal was large enough for me to make a choice.

Sky was waiting for us - despite the fact that we arrived nearly at around 11ish at night and gave us an update of the fishing. The sails are there Sky said, but not easy to catch and also the birds have been sporadic (meaning sails not feeding) but we shall try Sky said ....there is NO WAY you will go home without catching a sailfish !

1st Fishing Day

Breakfast at the markets followed by a trip down to the ramp. Many boats were there ready to go out for sailfish and bottom fishing and i was amazed that the boats although not big are powered by extremely large four strokes. It was only a 15 minute run - and we were on the bait grounds. Sky yelled - Drop and the bait jigs went down only to pull up (FULL) little queenies -

Damn - yelled the skipper - we gotta move - these baits are too spiny for the sails.

We quickly moved to the next spot and again - the jigs went down and up came lots of bait fish ! - NOPE wrong baits. I could not identify the bait fish but the names they gave them were a mixture of Malay and Chinese of which one was called Miss Yellow or Wong Siew Chay - pretty looking but definitely a NO NO.

Each stop at the bait grounds yielded more Ms Wong - and as the sun was right up the sky, the day got hotter and hotter and sweat was pouring down - no need for showers.

We finally got some " yellow tail " or scads and proceeded to use a 5/0 Owner hook attached to a 2-3 meter trace of around 80lbs. Dennis said that the more finicky the sails the lighter we have to go....

The bait were then ballooned out from the back of the boat whilst those who want to " POP " can do so at the front.

So we let out the baits and waited as we drifted. The seas were getting stronger and despite changing locations a few times - no takers.

Did we see sails - YES we did - swimming but they simply would not take a livey !

Sky was adamant the the reason for this bad show is that there was a boat trolling for a fly fisher - and the motors were spooking the fish. ( Now haven't we been through that before in game comps with people trolling over our burley trail ??)

For me, it didn't really matter as i wanted to learn more about popping since this is something new to me. It is not easy - and personally in 98% humidity - I prefer to jig 400gm anytime !!

But the technique was what matters and to see Sky and Dennis work the poppers - it was worth it just to observe and learn..

Suddenly, the popper was smashed and Sky pulled in a nice spanish mackerel - Yippee - dinner for tonight.

Fishing Day 2

The night before the skipper was still upset about the trolling boat and said - Tomorrow we head out to another location. We will find the fish and this is why it will be an early start.

Needless to say after a fantastic meal of Spanish mackerel in Curry, Deep Fried and Stir Fried - I was just happy but praying that since this will be my last day of fishing - I hope I will get something otherwise my brother in laws who could not come with me on this trip would be laughing their heads off in Singapore !

The day dawned bright and the seas did not look like yesterday. in fact certain parts look like glass and Sky decided to head off to his " secret location " when he suddenly stopped the boat and said - Drop the jigs - there's bait. Down went the jigs and up came nice scads and finally - the sought after " Kembong " which is the indian mackerel similar to our slimy mackerel.

Once we got off the drift , we went back again until the action died when suddenly Dennis yelled out - Something is on my bait jigs and it aint bait !.

As he pulled up his bait jigs - he found nice 30+cm calamari attached and well hooked to the bait hook ! Lunch !! everyone roared - Sashimi and I felt something heavy on mine as well and pulled up another squid ! On that drift - we pulled up a total of at least 3 calamari which the boys kept in the live bait well as well as one arrow squid.

Oh yes - Ms. Yellow was still around but this time - we had yellowtail (scads) as well as kembong aside from other species that again I have no idea what they were..

Once we had enough bait in the live well - Sky powered the motor out only to sight birds flying in the air, diving in the waters and quickly stopped the boat and said - Liveys liveys out out out ....

It was quick - a hook into the livey. Tie a balloon once about 20 metres of line out - tie the balloon then pull out about 20cm of line and tie it onto your rod. Once the balloon pops, the slack line is gone, lift your rod gently so that the circle hook will slide it nicely into the jaw.....

I cannot recall exactly HOW many minutes before the first livey hit the water before we were hooked up... as I fought the sailfish on a PE 3 rod, I asked if I could increase the drag a little.

The reply - " Depends what you want to do. If you want a photo with the fish - I suggest not but if you don't then do what you want !!...."

Needless to say - I did not touch the drag...

The day grew calmer and calmer and we would have hooked at least more than 10 sailfish between us. I know as i personally hooked up to 7, caught 4, tagged only 3 because the last one came up belly up and we spent a lot of time swimming it and a big queenie on livey.

We popped in between and there is nothing more exciting than to see sails chasing your popper right up to the boat but equally frustrating as well. The heat was worse - NO WIND and somehow - it didnt matter because the FISH WAS ON...

There were some quiet moments so we slow trolled with the bail arm open - and that was a different technique as the when the strike came - you need to free spool and work out the right timing otherwise you get thrown hooks ...

It was late in the day when we slow trolled as it was obvious that the fish had decided to go down deep. When I say deep - i meant about 30 to 40 m as this was the depth of the area. This is something of an enigma for as the ground was a mixture of gravel and some coral but at the same time if you look at the you tube video - the water was definitely not the " blue water " that we associate any pelagic species with. At the same time, Sky also said that yesterday, the water quality was also not good yesterday.

I know from reports that the boys from Xzoga had caught and released a juvenile sailfish but apart from catch and release of these fish - there was not other ways that this could be documented.

Prior to my coming to Kuala Rompin, I had wanted to tag the sailfish and wrote to Bluewater magazine editor Tim Simpson for some advice. I hope that our efforts now and sending the information through to our fisheries department and also copies to the Billfish foundation will allow all of us to find out why the fish is there from August in such great numbers and more importantly how can we protect this fishery. I know that the Malaysian charter boats in the area practice a catch and release but upon hearing reports from them - the sailfish get more finicky as the season progresses due to the large number of hook ups.

I have put some pictures but none other than the you tube segment which is via this link

I guess there is nothing more to say except express my thanks to the kind generosity of the Xzoga boys. The best part was to also clarify about their rods since many people were confused about the " origins " of Xzoga.

The blanks are definitely Japanese and manufactured in Japan under licence and strict control of the Xzoga Design team. Then the rods are put together in Taiwan and imported into Malaysia from which they are then exported again. Apparently it is far cheaper to import a finished product than to import the raw materials to manufacture.

NOTE

For your information, i used the Shimano Stella's 5000SW, 8000SW and also christened my new Talica 16 - II speed just for the hell of it. And YES - I finally scored a fish with a HALCO rooster popper - but it was not a sailfish but another nice mackerel as well as species that I was not familiar with. Unfortunately due to the action of the sailfish - you can imagine me running up and down the boat as the livey goes off and I am still popping that it was very hectic for me.

Needless to say - the experience is something that i can truly recommend for all of us anglers out there who want to catch a fish that will thrill up and delight you. The Malaysians are a real fun people to be with and very charming but just as equally good like us Aussies in dry jokes or making you work for your fish.

The Xzoga Boys were fantastic hosts and I must say - Wilson - the quiet achiever - and part of the design team took all the video shots and assisted in the underwater shots as well so for a cameraman - he deserves the OSCAR FOR FISHING !!

Xzoga Rods - Just because I have a few in my collection proves what i believe in and whilst my Ripple Fishers and Blue roses lie on the rack - I don't know why but the Xzogas go fishing with me most times. My PE6 jigging rod has brought me a 46.1 kg Yellowfin and now the PE 3 , 4 to 6 has given me sailfish. What more can I ask ??

.

well done

[dogtooth]

Great report on the sailfish would have been a great trip . , Would have been a pleasure to fish with the the xzoga guys , already have 5 xzoga rods and swear by them and love them as a rod . My latest is the 53b blackbuster 30 kg max cant wait for the big kings to show up so i can get some footage and test it out .

This sailfish was caught up north queensland always bigger in Oz .

cheers Dogtooth ..... John....

Edited October 19, 2010 by dogtooth

[kajiki008]

Great report on the sailfish would have been a great trip . , Would have been a pleasure to fish with the the xzoga guys , already have 5 xzoga rods and swear by them and love them as a rod . My latest is the 53b blackbuster 30 kg max cant wait for the big kings to show up so i can get some footage and test it out .

This sailfish was caught up north queensland always bigger in Oz .

cheers Dogtooth ..... John....

Yeah the boys were great - lots of laugh and definitely an Aussie sense of humor (dry jokes !!) and like every fisher loves to see another angler hooked up and in pain -HEHE

Nice sail - the only one i got off Nth Queensland was around 30kg only but gave me a fight on 6kg line.

You will love the rods - My biggest fish on the PE6 Taka Si was a 46.1kg YFT just a few months back. Took me some time but the rods will do the trick and yup for kingies - just purrfect especially in our Sydney waters - you jig more than you hook up LOL

BTW do you have big kingies up your way ??

[dogtooth]

Yeah the boys were great - lots of laugh and definitely an Aussie sense of humor (dry jokes !!) and like every fisher loves to see another angler hooked up and in pain -HEHE

Nice sail - the only one i got off Nth Queensland was around 30kg only but gave me a fight on 6kg line.

You will love the rods - My biggest fish on the PE6 Taka Si was a 46.1kg YFT just a few months back. Took me some time but the rods will do the trick and yup for kingies - just purrfect especially in our Sydney waters - you jig more than you hook up LOL

BTW do you have big kingies up your way ??

live and fish in sydney , Big kings on live baits are the go in sydney waters . Just need the fish to be there like last year. Lost alot of bigger fish so i have upgraded all gear and getting ready.

cheers Dogtooth..... John....

[kajiki008]

live and fish in sydney , Big kings on live baits are the go in sydney waters . Just need the fish to be there like last year. Lost alot of bigger fish so i have upgraded all gear and getting ready.

cheers Dogtooth..... John....

LOL i live in Sydney too and last season went jigging for them nearly most weekends i could get out. This year a bit more sporadic due to work and also being away chasing other fish in other states. Nice catch that kingie - my PB was caught in South Coast waters over 1.1 m long so hopefully this year I will get my hands on a nice one here in Sydney waters. The biggest i got was only around 10/11kg not bad but i am still searching for the elusive BIG MOTHER !