Fishing is fun!

16 September, 2020 as Malaysians celebrate Malaysia Day, I was out to the deep blue sea at Straits of Malacca for a day of fishing with my colleagues, Firdaus and Shafiq. This was to make up for the disappointment of not being able to go out to the sea at night on 15 September, 2020 as we were informed that the unpredictable weather had acted up in the night and it would be dangerous to go out in the dark night. Massaging our disappointment, we decided that fishing in the morning of Malaysia Day would be just as interesting and what a day it turned out to be , actually.

Peeling back the events prior to the fishing trip, I had cajoled (crudely it should be “harassed or bombarded”.….. hahahahahaha ) my good colleague, Firdaus and Teo to follow me for a fishing trip to graze my exit from my work of 23 years.  After much persuasion and cajoling, my colleague, Firdaus finally relented and took me to see our boatman’s son, En.Wan and En.Farid for a “chat” ( meaning getting to know and getting the right price for our fishing expedition ) I must say that I am very impressed with how these people, especially my Malay friends do their business over a chat and a firm handshake. No airs, no pride, just plain humbleness and word of mouth promise. I guess, seeing all these brings back memories of the yesteryears when friendships are forged and respect was the forte of the day.  I soon realized that it was a difficult decision for Firdaus as he has had the “trauma” of being  a victim of a boat capsized during a fishing trip some years ago. This “unpleasant “ memory haunted him for many years and robbed him of the pleasure and joy of being out in the sea. I could sense that pain and I was determined to get him to overcome this and to enjoy the little things in life that is far more valuable than silver or gold could offer.

I must admit with all humbleness that I am not a very good angler but I am willing to learn and do what I can to enjoy this sport. I find it therapeutically enjoyable and calm when fishing. To me, it wasn’t about the fish but just the enjoyment of being out to the wide sea, enjoying the breeze, the blue sky and occasional wave and calmness of the sea. I was to find out later that all these are good but vomiting and bawling out the contents of your stomach from sea sickness can be quite a pain in the ass!! Hahahahahaahaaaaaaaaaaa…….

Anyway, that morning, we were greeted by En.Sham, our tekong for the day while I had managed to persuade another colleague, Shafiq to join us in the fishing trip. Shafiq is a new colleague of mine and he is quite a character. I applaud him for being a steady fella and even when fishing doesn’t go well for him, he was every willing to try and try again. The three of us, Firdaus, Shafiq and me ( Teo had opted out due to some unforeseen circumstances ) together with our tekong, En, Sham headed out to the sea at about 9.00am that morning in his 29 footer boat and two 55HP engines. We headed out nicely and soon, we were headed out to some areas of fishing interest. With the fish finder on, we stopped at one of location and soon, we were putting out our lines in the water. Our tekong, En. Sham was a very chatty person and quite an encourager. We would laugh and teased each other and it was all good. We fished at this one spot for about an hour and after landing some fish , we headed out to another area of interest. Our tekong, En. Sham had lamented on “big water” or “air besar” timing and the difficulty in landing bigger fishes and better species. Of course, we were landing fishes of palm sizes and the ever nuisance, ikan duri ( marine catfish ) was in abundance during the change of tides. En.Sham says that these fishes are good for assam pedas but we echoed that he could have the fishes when we are at shore. He laughed triumphantly that his sons would have some great ikan duri assam pedas in the next few days! Easily, between us, we caught between 4-5kg of ikan duri. We were also landing ikan serkut/gerut or commonly known as grunters and also, ikan gelama or jewfish of considerable sizes.

Even though the tide was fast and sometimes, it is depressingly sad to lose fish while at the line, I have gained a lot by learning how my tekong fished and how the change in tide brings a change of species of fish. There were many great moments of laughter and fun.  Our tekong, En.Sham together with my colleague, Firdaus were never short of quips and laughs while it was encouraging to see everyone having a good time out there. We cruised and fished along Pulau Lalang, Pulau Besar, Pulau Burung and Pulau Serimbun areas. The sights were good.

One thing I must say is that I vomited and bawling out the entire contents of my stomach very early on during the trip. It was the most excruciating gut wrenching feeling ever but I was determined to finish this trip nicely. Meaning standing on my feet and fishing right through the end and I did it. That morning, I had 3 pieces of bread and a cup of Nescafe. I guess, it was the bobbling of the boat at the first location that caused me feel queasy and the contents in my stomach went into the sea. Probably, out of curiousity, this could have been the factor for us to have more fishes after that …….hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa…. All this while, our tekong, En.Sham asked me to drink plenty of water and puke as much as possible and lay down to rest for a while and I would feel better. I took his advice and I felt better when I took a 20 minutes nap later. I did not have any trouble later on.  I am thankful he took us to a different location, away from the bobbling waves later on and to steady our nerves on fishing and beating the seas sickness ( a.k.a mabuk laut ). I am not shy to admit that it was a humbling experience for me as I am not used to bobbling boat and I fell off balance a few times and I was apologetic about breaking the styrofoam fish cover to the cooler box due to my clumsy fall. En.Sham joked that it was better to fall on the cover rather than into the sea! He’s a real joker and a good encourager. I am truly glad to meet him and to be able to be in the boat with him as my tekong.

The other experience was pulling up the anchor experience. Wow, that’s a tough one indeed. It is back breaking work,ok? Luckily, all three of us took turns to haul up the anchor which weighed like a ton of bricks after a few locations change  and the tide change.  Phew! It is pure hard work and I actually would rather pay for another deckhand to just attend to the anchor duty! Poor fella, Shafiq, being the greenhorn at fishing , was seconded to the duty of the anchor job but we all chipped in to help in. I could still feel the strain on the back due to the assist to Shafiq during anchor up duty. It was a nice experience indeed but at that time, you just wanted to cut loose the anchor and just drift to nowhere….hahahahahahahaha………It was quite an experience, though.

 Fishing was nothing to shout about as the strong tide and heavy current does play havoc to our fishing. Overall, I enjoyed the fishing experience of at least got some tugs and fishes at the end of the hook. Nevertheless, we always lament the big ones that got away and sure enough, Firdaus and I had that experience of missing out the big one. Never mind, we will have other times to tackle the fishes someday. I have also learned very quickly that you need the right hooks and weights for bottom fishing. I have also learnt that using “tanduk”  ( line spreader ) is also important. Really, so much still to learn in fishing experience.  It can be quite an expensive hobby once you look into this. I believe, circle hooks are best for bottom fishing and sea fishing while wide gap hook which I had used does yield quite a catch too. I believe the rule of thumb is to suit the situation, water condition and the target fish. Just adapt and do your best. Like they say “ just count your blessings and just enjoy the fishing”.

 I realized that when I was in the boat, I could see the clear blue sky and the surrounding islands. It was a beautiful sight indeed. The breeze was just nice while the weather was good and hot though. I just love the feeling of being at sea and fishing, actually. I felt very blessed that the weather was good and sunny. Probably, I am burnt by the reflective rays of the sun via the sea water that makes the skin around my face to blush red. But I love it all including the sun burnt as I felt very alive, actually.

As we ended our trip at about 6.30pm that evening, I thanked En.Sham, our tekong , for his kind encouragement, help and most important of all, got us all back in one piece and without any mishap. He is truly a gracious, humble and a real encourager. I learnt a lot looking at how he used his Apollo hooks and also how he tied his bottom fishing sinker line set. He also made sure that we get the full experience of fishing even though it may not be a good day for fishing. We bid farewell with a firm handshake that we shall meet again soonest for the next good fishing day appointment.

That night, I slept late as I had to clean the fishes of ikan serkut (a.k.a grunters ) and ikan gelama ( jewfish ) before putting them in the freezer. It wasn’t tough but one that I enjoy very much though I was dead tired. I cleaned up the rods and reels and washed the fishing bag and some accessories too. It is the right thing to do. Guess, my dream of getting some ikan tanda ( blackspot snapper fish), ikan kerapu ( grouper fish  ) and ikan jenahak ( snapper fish ) had not been fulfilled yet and so, I intend to fight another day at the sea for a chance to pull these fishes out from their comfort zone and land them on my dining plate. With a dose of God’s goodness/approval, some fishing skills and a little bit of luck, it should be good for the next trip. I guess, I am already looking forward to that.

There should be a wide smile etched across my burnt face by now……………….