“Uncle Ivan, wanna go to kelong fishing? “ quipped Robin one day and the next thing I knew , we were making plans for a fishing trip to Kelong Acheh. He is that fast when it comes to impromptu planning and after roping in Lennard and Andy a.k.a Joe Tanah, we were on our way to the said kelong. Yeah, I was super excited and the thought of fishing with three other great guys was a fantastic idea. You see, anglers are a different breed of people. They are cool, nut head and very determined when it comes to fishing! Sure, I did not know who Andy was at first but I must say that at the end of the trip, I have so much respect for Andy as he is clearly one of the most enthusiastic, determined, joyful and full of energy angler. As for Robin and Lennard, I pull my hats off for you guys for really being great, encouraging and fun anglers, man!
Coming back to our trip, we started out as early as 5.30am on Saturday cool morning and it was all in anticipation for a great fishing day ahead. After breakfast of Sarawak kolok mee in Kluang, we were soon headed towards Penyabong, Mersing for our date with the fishes,man! Yeah, the journey was fun as Robin and Andy took turns at the wheels and soon, we were at the LKIM Penyabong jetty. After a quick unload of our things and gear, we were greeted by a gruffy man who was to be our contact person at the jetty for us to get to Kelong Acheh. I guess, like all “good” man, they all looked gruffy and crappy as hell in the mornings and will look nicer and good after the day progresses, I guess! So, here we are like country bumpkins, pulling our stuff on a wooden trolley as we get towards our speed boat.
After a quick payment of RM 2.00 each for the use of the jetty at the LKIM office, we were in our speed boat with our young boatman, Awang ( I just call him that as every freaking one is called “Awang”, anyway! ). There was another young angler by the name of Husin in the boat and I came to know him during our fishing time at the kelong and he is from Bera for a weekend fishing trip. We were then off to our fishing paradise for the weekend and we were all pretty pumped up for the fishing time. Our boatman looked like some Mat Rocker who just came out from a rock concert that wasn't good and he ain't in a happy mood, really. Anyway, they all looked the same to me - young, crappy and unresponsive.
The speed boat ride took about 10 minutes and we were at Kelong Acheh, a quaint and nice fishing lodge. Predominantly built on areca nut tree ( pokok pinang lah! ) structure and wood, this sturdy looking kelong seemed alright for me. Afterall, I am not expecting a lot for accommodation or fve star resort as we were there for fishing activity. After being told of our place to bunk in for the night, we put down our bags and got our gear ready. Within minutes of our arrival, hooks were set in the waters and the fishes around it made it all so mouth watering for us. However, we were greatly disappointed as these pesky fish keep tearing our baits away from our hooks thus, minimizing our chances of landing bigger ones.
High hopes for big fishes soon faded away as the sun smiled its rays on us burning our faces and hands and the smaller fishes kept tearing at our baits. But we keep our hopes alive by continuing to set smaller hooks and landed a few small chocolate hind (brown garoupa) , mottled spinefoot ( ikan belais ) and scad ( ikan selar ). Yeah, guess the expectation were high but the results were small catches. Anyway, for me, I am just thankful for whatever fishes that comes up.
I guess, I was pricked by the spines of mottled spinefoot a couple of times and they are really very painful. The pain inflicted to you will last for about 20 minutes or so on but it is so damning painful, man! Anyway, damn good fish for Assam pedas, I tell you…yummy….yummy! Anyway, I wished I had caught bigger specimens as they would fit nicely in my cook pot, man. Ah, well, there would be other times for me to catch these pesky fish!
After fishing for some time, I sorta had this screaming thought in my head like “ Come on , fish! Give me a challenge by eating the bait, will you? Let’s have a challenge, shall we?” Guess, the fishes ain’t biting that day. However, curiously, we noted that this elderly couple kept pulling up scad ( selar kuning ) of considerably sizes in the late afternoon. Lennard soon came back with the news that it was a special rig made by the kelong staff that was making all the headway splash of fishes into the cooler box. Not to be outdone, we got ourselves the “special rig” for our fishing frenzy later. It cost us RM 10.00 per rig but we later found out that the joy from purchasing the rig was enormously joyful, man as the fishes filled our cooler box too.
Anyway, we had a good time of laughter over food and during fishing as we spoke on varying topics. It was a chilled out day for all of us and it was fun. Chugging a beer or two and an occasional pick up of fishes does help us loosen up and get to know each other. Food was good and simple. The kelong even threw in supper of biscuits and some longan drink thingy which was good.
That night at about 8.00pm, we started our fishing frenzy with our special rig and we pulled out strings and strings of scad fish,man! That was like some mad rush mid-day traffic and the scad did not stop coming. It was like so fun to finally pull something out of the sea and get that “tarik” feeling, yunno. By this time, everyone of us was just “busy” like some construction worker at work. Anyway, I also noticed that a Malay couple had roomed beside our room. Yeah, they arrived at the kelong in the afternoon. Out of the corner of my eye, I noted that there were 8 rods & reels but only two were used. I soon realized that some of the rod ends were still shrink wrapped and unused. Hmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnn…..it makes you wonder if they were there for fishing or ……………….. I shall leave that to your very constructive and imaginative mind. Afterall, somebody gonna get the rod tonight! That’s all I am saying,man! BTW, it was kinda funny too that by 10.30pm, all the windows and door were closed and you do need some form of ventilation in the room somehow, right? Yeah, it was cold that night….definitely very cold that night….hahahhaahhahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…….
Anyway, our hardcore angler, Andy and Robin was up in the night to get the biggies but only two bamboo sharks graced Andy’s fishing rod that night plus a few other fishes. So, as Lennard and myself headed towards the medium hard pillow, I was in seventh heaven and fell into a snoring sleep that fast. But as it goes in the early morning, Andy was still fishing until 2.00am while by this time, I was just entertaining the thoughts of landing somewhere in some strange land in China la! Anyway, I was awakened from my slumber by the loud and trumpeting sounds of elephant calls from Robin’s nasal! It was all good and fun , really.
In the mornings, we starting jigging again with our special rig and the frenzy came as fast and left as fast too. We managed to get some good size scad fishes together with some other species too like Indian snapper, fringescale sardinella, queenfish ( ikan talang ) and blueline hind. Soon, it was time for us to pack up and get ourselves ready to get back to the mainland and head for home.
I truly enjoyed the time out here at the kelong. Sure, we did not get a lot of fish but it was fun nevertheless. It is always a lesson whenever you get to a kelong and see how others do their fishing. Like I said, I enjoyed myself as I got my time to relax and enjoy myself while learning a lot of tricks on fishing from Andy, Robin and Lennard. It was a good trip as far as I was concerned.
That evening as I was cleaning the fishes, I truly am thankful as it was an abundance of fish, really. Perhaps, I shall be having ikan selar kuning goreng for the next few days with some kicap cili padi. Ah…….. Heavenly! Simple yet good.
To Robin, Andy and Lennard, thank you for the fellowship, the fun, the fishing and the inquisitive minds plus constructive views on the 8 rods mystery!
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