February 19th 2001 - the full moon does the trick again

My last post made it clear that it has been hard work fishing out there at Batu Abah since the excellent run from October 2010 into the early New Year. Today it all seemed right - full moon, swells down below 2 metres, gentle northerlies with waves coming from the southwest and a very convenient high tide time of mid-day. And the day panned out nicely after a slightly disturbing first couple of hours.

First cast of the day and Dede was into a fish, the smallest GT we caught as it turned out and the only one caught on a chugger (Adhek Venus) all day. Several hours of frustration followed with many misses and a couple of major bust offs in true washing machine conditions. This was not made any easier to stomach by the arrival of Adhek's boat and every time I looked across they seemed to be into a fish!

One of the misses deserves a mention- this was the largest GT I have ever seen in Bali. It came at my stickbait 3 times close to the boat and I could only see a VERY large and long back, no head or tail. A fish which could easily have been 50 kg+.

After all that we retired around the corner to gather thoughts, eat and find the energy for another go. To make the morning even more irritating I had lost my favourite Craftbait GT3.

I was not that hopeful as the raging current had calmed down after high water and notably, Adhek's boat was gone. But perseverance in blistering, sapping temperatures paid off and we landed 5 more GTs including a very feisty black fish which gave me a real workout. All were caught using Adhek Penipen stickbaits, either 140 or 160 gram, with the 140 gram redhead doing most of the damage.

When conditions are like this, GT fishing in Bali is a lot of fun. If only it could be more consistent....

Rods: Carpenter Coral Viper 79/40, Carpenter DJ83MH
Reels: Dogfight and Twinpower 10000 with SOM NL 16000 spool, both loaded with Avani GT Max PE8
Successful lures: Adhek Penipen 140 and 160 gram, Adhek Venus.

Adhek Penipen - a superb stickbait

I am a huge fan of the Adhek Penipen stickbait which was released in 2010. This easy to work stickbait has a mysteriously low profile in GT fishing circles and is thoroughly under-exposed.

It comes in three sizes: Long (160 grams), Medium (140 grams) and Short (100 grams). As with all Adhek lures, the quality of the wood used (mahogany) and the finishes are both abosolutely top class.

The lure works best with a steady sweeping retrieve which causes the lure to dart dramatically in the sub-surface. It can also be worked with a standard walk-the-dog type retrieve. The 140 gram is my personal favourite and it works best with light gauge 5/0 treble (eg Owner ST66) or a heavy gauge 4/0 (eg Owner ST76). The 160 gram is also very effective fitted with the biggest, heaviest trebles such as Owner ST76 size

5/0 and Gamakatsu GT Recorders. The much smaller 100 gram Penipen is a little small for PE8-10 GT fishing but no doubt has a place with PE6 and lighter fishing.

In Bali waters, Penipens have been notably effective when the fish are ignoring poppers and more typical surface stickbaits. It is no co-incidence that this is now the go to lure for Pak Adhek himself, as well as for his experienced crew members.

My Penipens

I truly hope that this excellent lure will become better known internationally as it becomes more widely available for sale.

Mid-January to mid-February 2011 - weather playing havoc!

After a really good run of fishing from late October through to the New Year, the La Nina year weather began to play havoc with Bali fishing.

Swells were as large as 3.5-4 metres and the rain very heavy indeed at times. Sadly, this weather coincided with the visit of a couple of groups from Singapore and a number of Australian friends. Some trips were even cancelled due to the size of the seas.

It was not all doom and gloom, and some good fish were landed, but the fishing was certainly much harder work than was expected after the fine run earlier. Pride of place goes to Stanley and his 30 kg GT jigged at Batu Abah using a local Ton Hui 600 gram spear. You can see how bad the weather was from his attire! Great job landing that fish.

Otherwise a few decent GTs landed including one by my visiting friend Paul Vogl from Perth.

Jigging involved mostly small and rather uninspiring fish although a few big Dogtooth bust offs were encouraging for the next month or two. I was personally pleased to get a decent Ruby Snapper on board at Batu Abah as they have not been easy so far this season.

After a fairly grim 6 weeks, it can only get better. Notably, Pak Adhek has done well on trips to Lombok and I have 3 trips arranged over there between now and May, so watch this space!