November 2019 - Sport Fishing Asia

What The Fish is going on?!

kuala rompin

I was expecting the fishing to get progressively better over the week for Anthony, Chris, Robert and Richard.

When it comes to fishing this could be one of the toughest week I’ve ever experience.

Most of the 2019 season we have experienced windy days and choppy seas, nearly every day of the week all season.

WINDS OF CHANGE

All of a sudden on the first day of fishing this week the chops were gone replaced with big smooth swells.

Dark clouds shrouded the skies with the occasional rain pouring down over Rompin.

Day 1 saw 6 hookups but incredibly we dropped all the fish including 3 break offs! Weather was nice and sea was beautiful on this day.

Rain greeted us in the morning of day 2 as we headed for breakfast. Turned out to be largely a wet miserable day. Reasonably big swells throughout the day but was generally calm with no chops.

We probably had a shark take one of our bait and after a long run cut the leader.

Thankfully the sky stopped raining and warmed up a little just to turn on the bite later on.

Ended the day with a double hookup and both Richard and Robert landed their fish. Robert’s was his first ever sailfish and was a nice decent fish on the small PENN Spinfisher VI 4500 reel.

We decided to call it in early as the weather was turning bad again with white caps building.

Richard with a nice fish from the double header

Chris holds a beautiful sailfish for a quick photo

It was tough going on day 3 with the fleet having to work hard to look for fish. The sailfish appears to have been on the move the past couple of days and the unstable weather was not helping.

One of the highlights of the day was when Anthony caught a toothless narrow-barred Spanish mackerel.

These fish are known for their razor sharp teeth so its always a curiosity when one without any teeth is caught.

As a matter of fact, we have caught a number of toothless Spanish mackerels over the years. No one appears to have any good explanation why they are toothless. Are they born these way? Did they lose their teeth? Are they a subspecies (I think not likely)?

Day 4 was painfully slow and to our exasperation, we dropped the only sailfish that took our bait!

Anthony with the toothless Spanish mackerel

Find out more about fishing in Rompin or request quote, CONTACT US.

The New Natural Exotic Fish Fishing Pond in Behrang

Freshwater Paypond

The pond with the longest name, Natural Exotic Fish Fishing Pond (NEFFP), moved to this new location in Behrang, Perak in 2017.

Let’s also call this place EXOTIC POND which is not a mouth full, and much sexier! What do you think?

Previously located in Rawang, Selangor – this popular fishing pond for monster freshwater fish relocated a distance of 66km from its old home.

The sign above the payment counter and entrance to fishing area

Some of the fish species you can find here are:

Chaophraya catfish
Giant Mekong catfish
Amazon redtail catfish
Pacu
and others – the species above are the heavyweights and caught most often.

*A signage displaying the fish species available in exotic pond*

After two years at this new location, we finally dropped by to check the place out and wet some lines. Better late than never!

Kudos to the operator as the NEFFP appears well maintained (an often rare trait in Malaysia!).

The place is huge resembling a complex of sorts and lots of white structures making the place almost feel clinical.

Plenty of space for anglers but not so much for fly fishing

Exotic Pond Fishing Cost

Fishing fee is RM100 per rod for 4 hours

A RM50 deposit is required for each rod

Notable points:

Pond is very well stocked
Fish are mostly big and powerful
Bait and lures allowed
Live bait available for sale
Rental of fishing gear are not available
There are workers to help out if anglers need any assistance
Landing nets are everywhere
Sufficient toilets
Ample water hoses for washing
Vending machines available with drinks for sale
No food for sale at location
Ample carpark
Good road leading to/from pond

Some Catches in Exotic Pond

One of the most desired target species is the very aggressive and strong Chaophraya catfish

Tuz landed this beauty on an 8wt setup before we ended the session

As you can see from the pictures above, the Amazon redtail are the most aggressive/hungry/greedy/willing to bite, at least on that day.

A couple of fish was dropped by everyone including a Chaophraya catfish that took JW’s fly and put up a brief show of power before dropping the hook as well.

NEFFP is open 24/7

Getting There
Google Maps location

Fascinating Sailfish Facts You Must Know

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Sailfish are often listed in the top 10 most sought after saltwater game fish. They can be caught in almost any manner including live baiting, kite fishing, trolling, casting lures, popping and even fly fishing.

Sailfish are said to be the fastest fish in the world and can achieve a burst speed of up to 110 km/h (68 mph). It can seem like it if you’ve ever had the experience of hooking one and seeing the zoom off, half the time out of the water, and your reel screaming away!

Here are some interesting facts to know about this incredible billfish.

The huge sail-like dorsal fin of some sailfish can be taller than the length of the fish!

WHERE ARE SAILFISH FOUND?

Sailfish can be found in both temperate and tropical waters throughout the world’s oceans. It is particularly abundant near the equatorial regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

Sailfish are pelagic marine fish that spend most of their adult life within the top most layer (epipelagic) of the up to five layers in the ocean.

Sailfish are closely associated with coastal regions and have limited dispersals. To date no scientific data have shown any sailfish making trans oceanic crossings.

Sailfish are highly visual predators, but appear capable of foraging in low light.

Not taking sailfish out of the water not only is better for the survival rate of released fish, they often display superior colouration for photography!

WHAT SPECIES ARE SAILFISH?

The classification of the sailfish has been a subject for debate in recent years.

Some experts recognise two separate species while some now claim they are of the same. The confusion could be the result of there being no distinguishable difference between the two other than the size.

The IGFA lists separate categories for Atlantic and Pacific. The all-tackle world record for info-pacific sailfish is 100kg (221 pounds) in Ecuador, 1947 and for Atlantic sailfish: 64kg (142 pounds) in Angola, 2014.

The maximum lifespan of the sailfish is estimated at around 15 years although they live averagely between 5 to 7 years.

The dorsal fin of sailfish is scattered with many small, round black dots.

PHYSICAL TRAITS

Sailfish grow to a maximum of 3 meters (9.8 feet) in length and can weigh to around 100 kg (220 lb). The most common size caught regularly by anglers are fish that weigh between 20-40kg (45-90 lb).

Sailfish are easily recognized and named after their large sail-like dorsal fin that extends nearly the whole length of their body.

The sailfish’s lower jaw is roughly half the length of its bill.

Sailfish can change their coloration rapidly. On each side of their body are 20 rows of longitudinal stripes made up of many bluish dots. The dorsal fin is scattered with many small, round black dots.

While sailfish are cold-blooded animals, they have special organs next to their eyes to heat their eyes and also their brain. The heating of the eyes greatly improves the vision, and enable them to sustain energy.

Turquoise green or teal blue are also some shades the sailfish can display

REPRODUCTION

Sexual maturity is reached at 135–180 cm lower jaw fork length. Source

Sailfish are believed to breed year round. A female may have 4 to 5 million eggs in one spawning.

Sailfish grow quickly, reaching 1 to 1.5 m (3 ft to close to 5 ft tip-to-tip) in length in a single year.

COMMERCIAL VALUE

Sailfish flesh is said to be not good and is not widely eaten, hence are caught less by commercial fishermen compared to other billfish species such as some marlin and swordfish.

The biggest attraction about sailfish fishing is the acrobatic jumps they make and the fight if often very visual as they usually stay on or close to the surface.

Because of its speed and its strength, the sailfish is considered very valuable in the sport fishing economy which are worth hundreds of millions of dollars in some countries.

The best thing about supporting recreational fishing or sport fishing is that it is sustainable as the majority of fish are released alive.

Some of the top sailfish fishing destinations around the world are (in alphabetical order):

Costa Rica
Exmouth, Australia
Florida, USA
Guatemala
Kuala Rompin, Malaysia
Mexico
Venezuela

Find out more about sailfishing in Rompin

Best Tyre for Hyundai Starex MPV

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I’ve had the Starex (known as the Hyundai iMax in Australia and H1 in some markets) for 14 months now. It is a great people mover and near perfect for my needs – that is bringing anglers and fishing gear from one point to another.

The Starex is build ground up as a commercial vehicle to carry heavy loads.

If there’s one thing I don’t like about the Starex it is the hard ride.

It’s a Hard Ride

If there’s one thing that I don’t like about the Starex, it is how hard the ride felt. From day one, I’ve felt the tyres to be bumpy and hard. Every time I comment about this to others, the answer I hear often is “it’s like that”.

I thought maybe it’s the original Nexen tyres that came with the car that’s just hard.

How hard is the ride? If you driving on a smooth road with the correct tyre pressure everything is nice and fairly quiet until you hit a pothole, even a small one will feel like your tyres are overinflated! Even patched up roads and painted-strips on highways will feel really hard. Going over speed humps is also best taken very slowly.

I played around with different tyre pressures. Even not adhering to the manufacturer’s pressure recommendation with some reservations due to tyre wear and safety concerns (I often have heavy loads). Lowering the tyre pressure didn’t really helped much. The ride still felt hard.

I sometimes think maybe it’s the suspension setup or design, but kind of doubt that.

So I thought when it’s time to get the tyres changed, I’ll changed to a different make and brand of tyre. Hopefully that’ll give a better ride.

That day came when one of the tyre that’s been patched for a puncture has a recurring slow leak from the same spot.

Best thing to do is to change two of the tyres. The other two are still good for at least another couple of months of driving so I’ll leave them on for now and save a few bucks.

Change Size?

I asked the tyre shop manager what options do I have and imagine my surprise surprise when he suggested to go with larger sized tyres instead of using the same size.

The original tyre size is 215/70/16. His recommended size is 235/60/16. A fair increase in width. Height will roughly be similar. At least I won’t need new rims.

My reaction was why? Wouldn’t that increase fuel consumption and cost more?

His answer was the larger size will give a much smoother and more comfortable ride. The original spec tyres are also commercial grade tyres meant for vans and trucks hence their hardness. The Starex is after all a rather heavy vehicle weighing in at 3-ton unloaded.

Fuel consumption will not be much of an issue as the Starex is a diesel burner.

The price? A wider Bridgestone model is similarly priced as the original size. While a better set of Michelin will cost around 20% more.

Original size 215/70/16

Hankook RM390 (USD93)
Toyo RM440 (USD105)

Wider 235/60/16

Bridgestone RM410 (USD98)
Michelin Primacy 4 RM475 (USD114)

Not much price difference. That’s good. I reckon less jarring rides could also mean less wear in the vehicle in the long run.

I decided to go with the Michelin as I’ve been a long time user of their tyres and just have confidence with them.

New wider Michelin Primacy 4 tyres on the Starex

Initial Impression

With wider rubber the Starex now looks cooler! I’ve always felt the car has very skinny legs for a vehicle this big. The tyres are now about perfectly flushed with the mudguards, perhaps a tad out maybe 1cm, or less.

First Drive

I’ve always subscribed to the believe that manufacturer specced tyre sizes are always the best compromise between ride, handling, consumption, etc. So if you go a different size, there will be a compromise somewhere.

First impression is steering feel is a tad heavier but very negligible and I’ll probably forget about that in no time.

The tyre shop inflated the new tyres at 35psi which I felt was a bit low but decided to drive with it and see how they felt. 35psi even looked under inflated but it gave a very cushioned ride. After a day I inflated them to 40psi to see how they felt. This pressure feels better for a heavy load with more passengers. Still softer than the previous tyres.

First 1000km

At speed, the tyre noise level is noticeably higher. Not irritatingly noisy but they are louder with more rubber making contact with the road surface now.

I drove through a very winding, up and down hill stretch of road of about 100km. The grip level has definitely improved, as would be expected. But I don’t think it makes a lot of difference for me as I don’t drive fast anyways and certainly rarely drive on winding roads often.

Speedo reading remains as before, according to the GPS navigations apps that I regularly use.

I feel there is a slight compromise here when it comes to acceleration with these wide tyres.

Conclusion?

Maybe 225/65/16 size will be a good compromise? I can’t be sure but may go this route when the next time to change tyres come. Or perhaps if there are just softer ride tyres in the original spec size of 215/70/16?

Check back for an update as I put the new rubbers through its pace and see if this is the right tyre choice.

Update: After two long drives

Since changing to the new tyres I’ve made a 600km drive to the east coast and a 200km drive to the hilltop resort of Genting Highlands in the Starex.

Here are some of my discoveries. The tyre noise level seem to be less than my first drive impression. Is this a case of “got used to the noise”? Or is it because the new tyres have settled in? Hard to say but either way I’m happy it’s not bothering me no more.

One of the things I was initially slightly concerned about was an increase in fuel consumption. Surprise surprise, it appears during my long drives fuel consumption may have actually improved. I need to drive more to confirm this but if correct, this could be the result of the reduced rolling resistance of the Michelin Primacy 4 tyres?!

On the steep uphill downhill and winding roads of Genting Highlands the drive was good, even with a full load the car went up without hesitation and the tyre grip was great going downhill.

Overall, I’m happy with the change and have no regrets as the ride comfort have definitely improved very noticeably.

What The Fish is going on?!

WINDS OF CHANGE