Dad Alastair and son Fraser together with Dad Chris and sons Chris jr and Nick from the UK booked a one day charter on 13th April 2006 at Kuala Rompin to land a Sailfish.
The first strike after filling up the bait tanks came at 10:50am and saw Nick take the rod. After a nice fight a beautiful sailfish was boated. Next two baits were hit at the same time with one successful hook up. Fraser was next in line and the fight saw the Sailfish wrap the line around the anchor rope. After a few anxious moments and some skilled untangling by the Skipper, the Sailfish was brought in for a quick photo before release.
By about lunch time we had had many brief hook ups and lost count of the number of strikes. We also had many bite offs and the Spanish Mackerals were the main suspects as we had seen them in a feeding frenzy launching themselves clear out of the water. A quick switch to a short wire trace would hopefully solve the problem.
At 1:30pm Chris jr was on to a solid hook up. With a bit of help from Dad and aching arms, another Sailfish was in for a quick photo session. Soon after the baits were out again Dad Alastair hooked up to a Sailfish which went airborne a few times before going on a blistering run and then seemed to have given up the fight. It seemed very strange for a Sailfish to do that. As we got some colour we realised that is was a nice Spanish Mackeral. The sailfish must have spat the bait out during it’s aerobatic display and the Mack hit the bait with lightning speed!!!
After a few more misses n a jump off, it was Dad Chris’s turn. The Sailfish put up a great display trying hard to spit the hook but Chris did a great job and stayed connected.
The last fish was the highlight of the day. Dad Alastair was on strike as he had yet to land a Sailfish. On a solid hook up, the fish did it’s thing about 150m out. Upon reaching the boat, one of the kids called out that it didn’t have a big fin. Then we realised that it was a baby Marlin.
We ended the day with four Sailfish, one Spanish Mackeral and a baby Marlin. It was a great day as it was their first Sailfish for each of them. Only Alastair had to settle for a Marlin instead!
Fishzone Sportfishing http://www.fishzone.com.sg/
