FISHING WITH THE CHAMPIONS THE ROLEX IGFA LABUAN INTERNATIONAL FISHING TOURNAMENT 2004

This article was published in the June 2004 issue of Rod and Line Fishing Magazine.

When Patrick (Tournament Organizing Chairman) requested me to follow Team Odyssey for this tournament, my heart dropped. You see, I wanted to join my friends in boat number 10. Sensing my worry, Patrick assured me, “Do not worry, you will never regret it.” Well that was how I got on boat number 11, the Puteri Shahidah for the whole duration of the much talked-about Rolex IGFA Labuan International Tournament from 3^rd to 8^th May.

The barracuda held up by Harvey was caught with a skirt.

That night after been introduced by Patrick to Team Odyssey’s captain, Lam Choon Ming, I joined them for the buffet dinner held at the Labuan International Sea Sports Complex. There I found out that the team consisted of captain: Lam Choon Ming, second in charge: Harvey Tan, member: Ricky Ong, all Singaporeans. Our Jalur Gemilang was represented by Mok Ong Hye of Johor Bahru, while the Bodas brothers, Pradeep and Raja represented India. A tri-nation team of six very capable anglers I should say.

Mok Ong Hye posing with his huge dogtooth tuna.

 I was already waiting on boat number 11 on the morning of 3^rd May at around 8.00am. When Team Odyssey arrived with their arsenal and luggage, I joined in to help load them on to the boat. By 10.00am the convoy moved off in single file through the narrow channel to the open sea.

The moment we were cleared off the channel, the whole team started to prepare their tackles. Watching them in action, I could not help but be awed by the way they moved. One would be fixing up the rod holders while the others were adjusting the outriggers. Knots were tied and rechecked while reels and rods were inspected before stowing them away. Boy, were they prepared. There was nothing much I could do, but to stay out of their ways as I told captain Lam Choon Ming I was at kindergarten level when it comes to fishing at the Spratlys. When all was set up, we literally ate and slept our ways to the fishing ground.

Lam happily holding up his tuna.

Before the light began to slowly cut through the dark sky over Layang Layang on the morning of 4^th May, we were already waiting for the rest of the convoy. As soon as the announcement came over the radio for the commencement of the tournament, we started to troll.

Five lines were let out in a “W’ formation with the teaser in the center just behind the boat. The two outrigger lines were tied to skirts. While bib-less lures were connected to the two reels on the left and right of the boat. Of course another skirt was used in the center. After three hours of fruitless trolling, we decided to move off to Ardarsier Reefs.

The Ardarsier Reef was an immense reef just below the surface of the water. Certain parts could be seen jutting out of the surface of the sea. Many passes were made by us round the reef without any result. By 5.00pm we decided to drop anchor. As moving around this area in the dark was trying to tempt faith a little too far. The experience of Captain Lam here was very evident. With the help of the chart, GPS and the sounder, he skillfully guided the tekong to anchor the boat exactly where he wanted us to be. Baited rigs were immediately dropped overboard, while some of us started to jig. Just after half an hour I was attracted by excited shouts from the back of the boat. Moving towards the back, I saw Raja struggling with a bent rod. That whopper must have spat the hook after a seesaw battle of twenty minutes. Disappointment was written all over his sweating face.

Harvey got robbed on the high sea.

 Everything seemed to quieten down after that. The whole night the boat was rocking quite badly, rendering fishing rather difficult, but we still managed to land some trevallies belonging to the blue and big eye family. At one time in the night, Mok hooked on to a monster while jigging. His jigging rod bent, the tip almost touched the water. In the split second that followed, his rod snapped back. It was tackle failure that lost him his fish. His snap and swivel were twisted beyond recognition. All of us crawled into the cabin after midnight as the wind picked up making fishing dangerous.

Early nest morning, 5^th May, Mok started to fish at around 5.00am. When a 2kg kerisi was brought up and fixed to his gigantic hook, positive result was almost immediate. His grunts and gasps woke most of us up. After a titanic struggle of 25 minutes, the oldest member of the team was declared the winner. This giant dogtooth tuna later pulled the scale down to 48kg.

The Chinese consider the word double happiness very auspicious. When the pint size Rick Ong (Winner of two past individual winner awards) leaned back on his rod at 6.00am, we all knew it should be double happiness.

This shark was released as someone from another boat caught a bigger one.

When you were struggling with an adversary equaled to your size, you better be careful. We were all concerned for him. With the boat rocking and the fish trying its level best to gain freedom there was a fair chance of him being pulled overboard. Nobody complained when Rick crawled back into the cabin to rest after his 25 minutes of struggle. Rick’s 50kg grouper was the catalyst that pushed the whole team to another level of activities.

By 8.00am, all lines were out and the boat trolled at a steady pace around Ardarsier. Luckily for us, for we had just finished eating our breakfast, when the left outrigger release clips suddenly snapped open. Harvey jammed his rod butt into his gimbal belt and the battle was on. The sizeable barracuda immediately put the whole team in line for either one of the first three places.

Anyway, Harvey was the one who scared the daylight out of everyone at last year’s tournament when his fever nearly exploded a thermometer. Until today, he was still peeved over being termed as a SARS suspect. His only consolation was he got a free helicopter ride thrown in.

Our plan was to head for Dallas Reef, trolled for a few hours before heading for the Mariveles Reef to pass the night. Everything went smoothly as planned. At Dallas Reef, one of the reels sounded and a wahoo of about 6kg was brought up with the bib-less stuck to its mouth. Not to waste too much time at Dallas Reef, the tekong pointed the boat towards Mariveles. Moving at a steady pace, with 5 lines trolling out at the back, we took time off to rest.

Suddenly our radio crackled with a call, “Bravo 08 calling Bravo 11. Come in please.” It was my colleague Poh Chuan Maye rom Rod and Line (Chinese) inquiring about our catch. Before I could answer, I heard a lot of whisperings from my friends behind me, “Demoralize them, demoralize them,” they urged. “We are definitely the winner,” I answered. Actually, it was meant for everyone who was in radio range.

See what a giant could do to your snap?

 Well, I was not wrong when I said they would win for judging from all the talks over the radio our team was in the lead. Furthermore, being outnumbered on a rocking boat, the possibility of me being accidently bumped off was very high.

Please pardon me for using the word ‘we’. Being cramped up fishing, eating, sleeping and bathing with them for a few days, I somehow felt I was already part of the team. This feeling was reinforced with their friendly and jovial personalities. When they started to share their planning and strategies with me, I was totally ‘bought’ over.

Mariveles was the outer most reefs that fishing was allowed by the Malaysian navy. As we moved slowly round the reef, the whole team was on high alert as it was still comparatively an unfished reef. Everyone rushed to their fighting station when one of the reels screamed in protest. A 14kg wahoo was the reward. Not big but did add up to the total weight. Since landing the wahoo at 4.10pm there was not much activity from trolling.

By 7.30pm we were already anchored securely. Even though the sea was quite choppy and the boat was rocking, everyone was busy fishing. Watching Lam and company at work, I was quite sure they would emerge the champion if lady luck were to chip in a little bit. The whole night many fish were caught and released.

Harvey’s jig caught a good size fish that gave him a run for his money, when it suddenly pulled hard and went limp. Surely fish do not die of heart attack, I wondered. When it was brought up, we realized that a dogtooth had an easy meal that night. Had it chomped a little bit higher, that tuna should contribute quite a lot to our total catch weight.

Half an hour later a foot long squid jumped onto the boat, which Lam immediately secured to his hook. Rubbing his hands in glee, he was saying something about landing the giant of the day or rather the night. We all laughed until tears rolled down our cheeks when he landed a small nasty looking barracouta.

Oh how I hated them, those barracoutas. They were the same low down leagues as the puffer fish…sneaky line cutters.

Early in the morning of 6^th May, around 1.00am, a 20 kg grouper was brought up. By now we were very sure of at least a 2^nd placing. Everyone seemed to gain his second wind. The Bodas brothers though a bit quissy in the stomachs were busy fishing too. Raja was rewarded with a huge barracouta. We jigged and fished until 8.00pm when the anchor was raised and our boat headed for Ardarsier again.

Anglers always smile their best when holding up big fish.

Two hours later, Lam locked on to a huge wahoo. Pumping and winding, he slowly gained line back into his reel. Just when we thought he had that fish beaten it shot out again gaining most of the line back. This went on for some time when the most dreaded nightmare happened. Lam’s hook tore out and he reeled back his limp line.

Jigging at Ardarsier that morning was quite productive. Many dogtooths were caught and released. Only those few big ones were kept for the competition. As the fishing competition ends at 8.00am, and we had to be at Layang Layang Island by 10am of 7^th May, we decided to fish at Layang Layang that night. Fishing here saved us a lot of travelling time in the morning which could be put to productive fishing.

By noon most of us were worn out by the continuous jigging and winding, so we headed for Layang Layang, trolling as we went. Anchoring at Layang Layang at 3.00pm in the evening most of us were either lazing around or just doing leisure jigging as we were quite sure of a good placing.

Our cocky grins were replaced by worried frowns when we heard over the radio that Leong from Team TCE caught a grouper of about 100kg. Out came the chart and we all crowded round Lam to plan our next move. We decided to re-anchor at another more promising spot and to fish through the night.

Team Odyssey with their two largest fishes. At this stage they were quite sure of at least a good placing.

That night everyone in the team was very hard working. The whole boat was a hive of activities. Even the marshal, the crew and yours truly were feeling the excitement. The efforts contributed to many big dogtooths, ruby snappers, flame tails and rosy jobfish.

Lam caught a shark of about 45kg, which fought him tooth and nail for quite a while before been subdued. It was released after its photo was taken as we knew that a 150kg specimen was caught by another team earlier. Tried though they did, but they just could not land another huge dogtooth or grouper to seal their victory.

Reporting back to the mother ship at 8.00am on the 7^th of May was a cinch as we were just nearby. By 9.00am we settled down for our long trip back to Labuan. That night our convoy was hit by strong wind and rain. Most of us were wet and miserable huddled up in the cabin. It was the longest boat ride of my life. At around 7.00am of 8^th May, all the boats were back at Labuan International Sea Sports Complex Jetty. Spies were sent to the other boats to find out where we stood. When all the reports came back we were very sure of at least a 2^nd placing. Later at the official weigh in, Team Odyssey was proclaimed the winner.

Looking back. I think Team Odyssey deserved to win. Their team spirit and cooperation was very high, even though they hailed from different countries.

Another reason for their win was that not one of them ever question their team captain. Every request by the captain was carried out without a squeak…at least not openly. All of them are very knowledgeable and experienced in fishing but were very humble about it. Even though they had fished in much more comfortable environment, not one of them grumbled about the cramped boat. Most important of all was everyone was well equipped for the battle. As a novice in fishing in this area, I am very grateful to all of them or the amount of knowledge they unselfishly shared with me. This was especially true for captain Lam as this ‘old story telling machine’ was a little slow in grasping some intricate big game knots.

The champion team comprising anglers from three nations.

TEAM ODYSSEY

Success in fishing, as I have always stressed, involves many factors. The most important of which are experience, knowledge and a little bit of luck. Here I have listed out the profiles of all the members of Team Odyssey. I think the most important contributing factor to their win was their experiences. Success in fishing, as I have always stressed, involves many factors. The most important of which are experience, knowledge and a little bit of luck. Here I have listed out the profiles of all the members of Team Odyssey.

Captain: Lam Choon Ming.

Nationality: Singaporean.

Age:  42 years old.

Profession: Professional charter fishing guide.

Experience: 25 years of game fishing experience. First trip to Pulau Tioman was in 1972 on an outing with his teacher.

Second in Charge: Harvey Tan.

Nationality: Singaporean.

Age: 32 years old.

Profession: Professional fishing guide.

Experience: 12 years of game fishing. First trip was round the sea off Singapore.

Member: Ricky Ong Hwee Leong.

Nationality: Singaporean.

Profession: Aquarium shop owner, specializing in exotic beta fish.

Experience: 20 years of big game fishing experience, mostly in Indonesia. Was in the winning team in year 2000. A past winner of the individual event in year 2000 with a 36kg marlin. Also won the individual title in 2003 with a 164kg shark.

Member: Mok Ong Hye.

Nationality: Malaysian.

Age: 58 years old.

Profession: Retire businessman.

Experience: 5 years of game fishing. First trip was to the Prince of Wales wreck.

Member: Pradeep Bodas.

Nationality: Indian.

Age 33 years old.

Profession: Lawyer.

Experience: Fished in Mauritius and Takabonarate before. A lot of experience in fishing for masheers using spinner baits.

Member: Raja Bodas (brother of Pradeep).

Nationality: Indian.

Age: 31 years old.

Profession: Lawyer. Partner with his brother in a law firm specializing in company laws.

Experience: Same as Pradeep as they both always travel and fish together.