ISLAND FEVER

Weather has been unpredictable of late, what with the volatile wind and the typhoon hitting Taiwan, the offshore fishing has taken a back seat to some close inshore fishing. And there's no better way then to load up the tinny and take a trip down to nearby islands for some light tackle fun.

Perfect fishing weather.

Nice calm waters. Good fishing to come...

Didn't take too long to hook up to some rock fishes like this honeycomb grouper on the Ima Gun Peki 40g.

There were plenty of this grouper around just climbing all over the Ima Gun.

Blue Hind not willing to be outdone.

Beautiful in the water but soon they became pesky. 

DUO Ikkako got snaffled.

  We soon hit a school of GTs below the boat. Majorcraft Volkey used to pull some schoolies up.

Nice fight for its size. Taken on the ever useful DUO Ikkako.

A golden snapper got into the mix with the GTs to snatch the Ima Gun Peki.

When the schoolies got spooked and swam away, there was only one method to hunt for them...

Cast a Jackson Pintail far from the boat and just burn it back. 

 Long casting rod like the Majorcraft Giant Killing bent on a nicer GT.

Shining sheen at boatside. 

Not big but they fight hard. Pintail Tune is the sh*t!

All the GTs were carefully released.

When things quieted down there's always the little ones to entertain like this baby barracuda. 

Ikkako just catching anything and everything in between like this yellow pomfret like fish.

Calling it quits after a long day.

TACKLE FEVER NEW STOCK

Fisherman Andaman 185g jig

Bassday Quicker jig 180g and 250g.

Killer jig in Miri waters.

IMA Ro 120g 

IMA Gun Peki 40g assorted colors

DUO Ikkako. Great Ultralight lure for small to big fishes.

DUO Poco Poco mini poppers.

Majorcraft Crostage PE1.5 light jigging rod

Keitech Swing Impact Fat 2.8" and 3.8"

IMA Melty Nymph 3.5" soft plastic

Viva Mazzy Frog for snakeheads.

TUF Line XP

FOR MORE INFORMATION, EMAIL

samchieng79@gmail.com

JUNGLE FEVER

Over here in Sarawak, Borneo, we are blessed with an abundance of mountain rivers, of which, most still holds some decent stream fishing. Similar to overseas trout fishing, employing ultralight tackle for stream jungle perch (sebaraus), is the go to methods for areas that are heavily pressured from netting and spearing. 

Heading to my favourite spot armed with a new Majorcraft Trapara, a great value for money troutin' rod and some tiny lures.

The mark of a good trout lure is its small yet heavy body to cast a mile and swims steady in strong currents. The Spearhead Ryuki 50S by DUO is one such lure.

Few casts later resulted in this 3 striped jungle perch neatly hooked.

Imitating signature downcast eyes of the DUO Spearhead Ryuki. 

Nice fat specimen.

Another sebbie caught on a small Maria jerkbait.

The locally named Juak, indigenous only to the Borneo side.

Another species of jungle perch coming in, the one striped Hampala Macrolepidota.

Beautifully glistening in the sun with another great lure, the Ima Sukari

Had to strip down to retrieve this fish from the snags.

Awesome fish country. 

Smaller dinks on the Jackson Athlete Lipless, an awesome twitchbait made for saltwater species but worked just as well on freshwater fishes.

Another common mountain river fish, the Forest Snakehead (Bujuk) which took a liking to a Zipbaits System Minnow.

Beautifully patterned, the bujuk is an ambush predator with nicely camouflage skin. Deep diver pulled this one out of the logs.

Zipbaits System Minnow hooked a healthy specimen, which I'm hoping will stick around for more light fun. All fishes were released for future stalking. 

FISHING THE EAST SIDE OF THE WEST COAST

Back last year, I made a trip down to East Coast Peninsular Malaysia to sample some of the local fishing. Fishing with local fish master and tackle enthusiast, Darren, the short trip to Pekan was quite the experience. Agenda on hand was light jigging and casting and some sailfish popping.

First fish on a small Coreman Zettai jig.

All smiles as I hook to a runaway sub. Golden Mean Sabel Dance II bearing the brunt!

First sail! Hooked on an Ima Gun Peki

Boatman Azahar with a good size Golden Trevally

Good Bend on the Majorcraft Offblow Light not long after.

Nice Sagai/Longfin trevally

On the Chrome/Red eye Ima Gun, a powerfully effective jig.

 Casting for Macks was a rod wrenching affair. High speed retrieve with the Jackson Pintail Tune 40 hooked this speedster. Majorcraft Crostage with it's long casting capability rod was ideal for this type of fishing. 

 Another long casting rod, the Evergreen Poseidon Ocean Hunter

Double whammy of GTs. Jackson and Ima combo catches. 

Ima Gyodo Heavy Surfer.

How good can it get?

 Mother of Pekan GT on a Rapala Stickbait

Taking a break for some Egiing fun

Hooked up to a underwater jet plane that wrapped itself around some underwater fish traps.

What came up was a gorgeous Diamond Trevally, taken on a soft plastic bait, no less.

The Keitech 5" Shad Stick

 Popping for Sailfish as the rain clouds rolled in fooled this tiny sail.

Neatly hooked on a FCL walking stick bait to wrap up the trip.