THE BRAND CONSCIOUS QUEENS

This article was published in the July 2002  issue of Rod and Line magazine.

I was introduced to lure casting around Pulau Sembilan in the early seventies. Those days, Kuala Sepetang (Port Weld) was our base where we made forays to the islands, the drop-offs and the old abandoned kelongs.

My sifu then was a friend from Taiping, who had graduated from Australia. After honing his skills and knowledge from down-under, he passed them on to us. Tony Toh introduced us to some lures with very funny names. From him I learned how to make my own “coffins”, “undertakers” and “executioners”.

Yes, these were the names of the lures that he brought back. I still possess a few self-made chrome heads, which we used together with rubber squids skirts to troll with deadly effect. Getting replacement skirts was a hassle as there were none in Ipoh back then. We had to show one to the dealers and beg them to stock some for us.

Leong with his presentable trevally on our previous trip. The forward stance is necessarily on  the rocking and swaying boat.

It was during this time that this “story telling Smart Alec” found out that the dolphin fish was not a mammal. You see, when my classmate, Cheah Meng, invited me to fish for dolphin fish with him and Tony, I gave him a mouthful of @#$%. “I only fish for fish and not mammal” was my ignorant reply.

When shown a photo of a dolphin fish or dorado I wanted to bury my head into the sand to hide my embarrassment.

The most handsome boatman (Leong's word) displaying two of his queen fish. James Khoo goes casting around Pulau Sembilan almost everyday. Can you believe that he wears out one spinning reel every month?

Those were the days where I learned to be a sport fisherman too. We targeted mainly trevallies, queen fish, tenggiris, barracudas, tripletails and at the beautiful dorados by trolling or casting lures. But everything must come to an end. Due to work, business and other commitments our group just drifted apart.

Since then I only do casting or trolling whenever I met up with some like-minded guys. With eight or nine fellows on a boat it was almost impossible to get everyone to agree to do lure casting. Of course, there were still some anglers who were keen to cast lures. The occasional trips were enough keep this fisho fighting fit.

Then one day Leong of Silibin Aquarium phoned to inquire whether I would like to join him to cast around Pulau Sembilan. The person who would be taking us there was James Khoo, the most handsome boatman around. Yes, I may be getting on in age, but I still do relish challenging the jumping queen fish and hard fighting trevallies around these islands.

A beaming Thang posing with his catches during one of the quieter moments. Can you see the Abu Koster? It is his main weapon.

When I saw James Khoo I know why Leong called him “the most handsome boatman around”. We sped off in Khoo’s 26ft boat powered by an eighty-five hp engine from somewhere near the Outward Bound School. Reaching Fairway Rock in just twelve minutes we began casting.

Our quarries did not seem to be around so we headed to the other islands. The water current was not that conducive, thus our catch was not very encouraging. The day’s final tallies were a couple of kilo plus queen fish and trevally. By the time we reached the landing point, the sun had long set. During this trip all the fish caught were with Abu Koster Flash.

The frenzy casting and fighting of fish near the Black Rock.

When Thang phoned me about the next trip, I was armed to my nose with lures. Being not that well endowed in the finance department, I had with me scores of imitation Kosters. At RM 2.50 each who wouldn’t buy? After all I had caught some trevallies with them so I was confident. When I tackled up my mates were all laughing and calling me cheapskate. Fuming I retorted “: I will show you”.

After bumping along for twenty minutes we finally reached Pulau Argus. While getting ready to cast, I commented that the todaks seemed to have vanished of late. As soon as we were in range, our lures flew out in unison. Immediately there were strikes and everybody was busy fighting their fish.

When we landed, the todaks thrashed all over the place. Every one of us landed at least three. When we kept pulling up those toothy creatures, James Wong commented, “you and your big mouth.”

“Make sure you eat all the todaks that we caught,” he grumbled again. (Be careful with these creatures as there had been cases of them causing fatal injuries.)

This trevally was one of the first fish to be landed by Thang.

When my lure was suddenly stopped, I realized immediately that this was no Senor Todak. My line kept on going out. That creature swung to the left then to the right. Pumping back some line, I was trying to catch a glimpse of that fish when it shot out again. The next time I brought the fish back, James Wong was shouting, “wah, at least 3 kilo trevally lah.” Being one who was never humble, I took the opportunity to get my revenge. “RM2.50 also can catch fish one lah,” I quipped.

Before I could finish, the fish went under the boat forcing me to dip the rod tip into the water. Desperately, I tried to steer it out from below when I felt a surge and the fish was gone. Reeling back my empty lure, I was a figure of dejection.

From then on, most of the islands that we visited produced the usual todaks and some queen fish. While Thang, the two James and Tan were getting all the action, my lure did not seem to attract any attention except for the occasional todaks. James Wong was teasing me about using cheapos, which even pomelo leaves could not help. Not wanting to admit defeat, I stubbornly blamed it on my poor reel. “Suei lah!” I joked. “Must clean with water soaked with thirty six types of flowers.”

Tan and James Wong each holding up their fish.

James Khoo was almost screaming when we were easing the boat towards a current line. “Talang, talang,” he gasped, pointing to the turbulent surface. The queen fish were attacking some baitfish.

There was pandemonium everywhere. Out shot four Abu Kosters and an imposter. Four rods were bent and groaning with four fish on. Reeling back my empty lure I flicked it out again. By the time they had landed a fish each, I was still casting and mumbling like a mad man.

In similar situations, some tennis players would throw their rackets on the floor.  I had heard of a world class badminton player throwing his racket into the crowd. It was a pity that I was not famous and my tackles were not sponsored or else I would have thrown them into the sea.

James Wong just pulled up a queen fish.

Moving over to the Black Rock, we were scouting around when our boatman pointed to some fish jumping in the distance. Making our way over, out shot five lures again. The same scene was replayed. Four rods curved into perfect Cs. Yes, mine was not among them.

Everywhere I looked, either it was Thang fighting talang or James Khoo pulling one into the boat. James Wong’s lure was hit and shot out of the water. When it dropped back, it was grabbed immediately.

Tan’s fish threw the lure when it jumped. When reeling back the empty lure, it was hit again by another talang. All these time my lure was not even nudged by the talangs. I saw a couple of fish following my lure, but they veered off when they neared the boat. Thang was kind enough to offer me his Kosters, which I declined. (Not wanting to admit defeat lah.)

Left: The RM2.50 imitation. Can catch the odd trevally (the short sighted ones) once in a while. Center: A well worn original. Notice that the split ring and the treble had been changed to something stronger. Right: A brand new original Abu Koster Flash. We suspected that the finish on the lure made the difference. The originals have a translucent shine on them.

By the time Thang had registered his twelve hit, I had to swallow my pride and sheepishly asked for one. By now the school had thin out. Most of the fish had left, led by those that threw the hooks, no doubt. With the original I had a hookup but lost it when it jumped.

Boy, I had never seen such acrobatic display before. The action was so thick and furious that I was in two minds whether to fish or to take photographs. There was an occasion when James Wong’s lure was knocked, missed, bumped, missed, bumped again, missed before finally hooking up a fish just one meter from the boat.

Casts after casts were made by me but there was no more queen fish anymore. By now it was already getting dark. I knew the others were dying to go back. Seeing the scowl on my face and my fishing knife nearby, no one dare to suggest it. Reluctantly I had to finally agree to head back. All the way back, I was suffering in silence as the jokes and puns thrown were at my expense. Luckily, the skin on my face was quite thick.

Please recycle: This would be a perfect casting spot, except for the eyesore. Look at the rubbish and debris. This was a common sight around Pulau Sembilan. We anglers can do our parts by at least refraining from adding more rubbish into the sea.

Result spoke louder than words. The cheapo can and do catch the occasional fish, but not as regular as expected. When compared to the original, there was no fight. The Abu Kosters outperformed the imitation hands down. Well, the first thing I did the next day was to stock up on my Abu Kosters. The original of course.