Wish list for Rompin trip..

We have booked our trip to Kuala Rompin, Malaysia for the first week of October and at the moment its all i can think about! After quite a few hours research into popping for sailfish i have managed to find some good information on various sites. I had previously set a goal of catching one on my branzino after seeing a video of someone achieving this however the research leads me to believe it will be quite difficult to set the hooks with PE2. Also to avoid putting unnecessary stress on the fish (whilst still providing good sport) I now have my mind set on using PE4 and my saltiga z4500. This I will pair with a 7.6ft Shimano Caranx Kaibutsu light pleasure - LPS7604.

The light pleasure suits PE2-4 for casting poppers and stick baits up to 120g which should be ideal for the size lures suited to the Rompin sails. As an added bonus it is reasonably priced and won't break the bank (although not released in Australia so I need to order from overseas). To reduce freight costs i also decided to add a new light jigging rod to the arsenal - the Hots Fake Lez 54M. This is suited to PE2.5- 4 and jigs up to 200g it should work a treat on the inshore reef kings around Sydney.

And finally I plan on trying my hand at some underwater photography/filming and since my current camera disagrees with getting wet, I will need to purchase a Sanyo Xacti ca9 waterproof video camera.. more on this later though.

Bungsamran fishing park Bangkok

Little bit of a late report, have been busy with work and not had a chance to put this up yet. In March I went back over to Thailand for a month long overland trip through Laos and Vietnam.. I didn't get to do much fishing, however when i booked the trip i was determined to put a day aside to fish the famous Bungsamran fishing park in Bangkok. The lake is stocked with a few different species of fish including the Arapima and Giant snakehead, both of which have been added to my "catch before i die" list. This trip I targeted the Giant mekong catfish, which i think is the most abundant species in the pond. Looking at the pond you can see the shadows of giants just below the surface as you pick your spot on the jetty.. I'll let the photos do the talking.. I highly recommend a trip here if ever you have a spare day in BKK. Bungsamran is also home to the 7 seas proshop - one of the best tackle shops i have had the pleasure of stepping foot in, with exotic brands and products on display which previously I had only been able to drool over on the internet. http://www.bungsamran.com/en/

One of the cabins you can spend the night in... maybe next time

Putting the hurt on a cat.. or more accurately it putting the hurt on me. Its heavy tackle for these fish - 6500 Baitrunner's spooled with 50lb mono and dough baits the size of a tennis ball.

One in the net..

Giant Mekong Catfish..

You can see all the different cabins available in the background of this photo.

The Release..

Kelly showing me how it's done

Solid

The business end..

My 6th cat in about 2 hrs.. my arms were well and truly worn out so after a nice lunch we called it a day..

Other then this trip i have only been out once recently off Sydney after some reports of a few yellowfin tuna around. Unfortunately all we managed was 1 hookup to a fin which was lost, a few striped tuna and a lone dolphin fish.. The currents are not favorable at the moment but hopefully i will get out again in the next few weeks.. tight lines and calm seas!

Thailand reef fishing

I spent 17 days in thailand at the start of the month, although it wasn't a fishing holiday i was still itching to get out and test the local waters. I travelled to 5 of the Islands in southern thailand, and went on only one longboat fishing trip off Koh phi phi. It really is such a beautiful country and I am already planning a trip back there in march!

The beautiful koh phi phi

On the way to the fishing grounds

Fishing

Lazy fishing

Our guide with the live bait.. I caught a long tom on the live baits but it shook the hook at the boat

I wish I had paid more attention to the guide as he was telling us the name of the fish we caught..

the guide called these grouper we caught about 20 of these

African pompano i think.. anyway it was very pretty!

The guide with a deadly fish

Sunset

Maya Bay

The fish feeding on chips

This is not a travel blog so I will save including anymore of the 400+ photos i took during my holiday. I am looking forward to going back over in March, although this trip the plan is to see more of Vietnam and Laos then Thailand. I am also planning a trip to Kuala Rompin next year for some light tackle sailfish trip!

Cairns to Ayton

The trip from cairns to Ayton came and went much quicker than I would have liked. The conditions weren’t idea with 20-25 knot winds at our chosen camping location. That and the boat falling through leaving us to land based fishing only still did not ruin what was a great trip... cant wait to get up there again!

Ged with a little mangrove jack, the only one of the trip.. on a metal!

The coastal road from cairns to cooktown

The daintree rainforest.. still on tarmac

Our camp site..

A wolf herring on the saltiga.

Me with my branzino christening GT..

Catfish off the beach at night

Me about to get spooled before slamming on the breaks

Sunny the suzuki on the sand :) Unfortunately no barra this trip.. gives me an excuse to go back...

Another dent in the wallet.. Daiwa morethan branzino

I have a trip to cairns planned for next month Barra fishing and I have put a fair bit of thought into what outfit to buy.. originally I was going to get a baitcaster - maybe a Daiwa steez or pluton, although i think the pluton might be a bit heavy for barra.. anyway in the end i decided on the Daiwa morethan branzino 3000 spinning reel. My reason for choosing the spinning reel over the baitcaster was I can cast smaller, lighter lures which may be needed if the barra are fussy, also i prefer spinning reels for soft plastics and i will also use it for throwing sluggos at markers around the harbour in search of kings or jigging plastics for snapper on the inshore reefs.

Black and gold = sexy... also hyper digigear!

Carbon fiber embedded in spool.. nice touch

Waterproof sealed drag..

A real four real... the best of the best..

More recent catches around the Harbour

Here is a few more photos i found on my camera..