February 26th 2011 - GTs gone quiet but a very good Amberjack

18-20kg Amberjack - a very good fish for Bali

The GT action had died right down in the middle of the moon cycle and it was clearly a weekend for jigging and not top water fishing. Star fish of the weekend was an 18-20 kg Amberjack landed by my friend Ben. Amberjacks bigger than the 12-15 kg range are very notable in Bali these days. Excellent job done by Ben with custom Calstar rod, Stella SW20000 and pink LJ 520 gram jig. Immediately before this fish was landed we had a bust off and a big miss with similarly large

fish, so we had certainly found a strike zone. Notably all the strikes were on Taiwanese LJ jigs which are designed for Amberjack and other seriolas. Unfortunately, after this fish was landed the current picked up a lot and we were unable to reach the fish with any precision.

The other good jigged fish was a 9kg Ruby Snapper caught by myself using a Smith AMJ 52EXS paired with

a Stella SW20000 and a 500 gram pink Ton Hui Bali jig.  The Batu Abah waters are full of Ruby Snappers but they have not been easy so far this season - perhaps that is now changing.

We tried everything on the casting front from 200 gram chuggers to 100 gram sinking sticks and not a single strike from a GT. It just was not happening. The only fish from our popping exploits was a real surprise

- a little 4 kg YellowFin Tuna which took a 150 gram Craftbait GT3 close in to the rocks at Batu Abah.

An attempt to jig a usually excellent Amberjack spot on the way home well to the south was fruitless as 500 gram jigs were flying away horizontally. I am not sure that even 1 kg lumps of lead would have made any difference!

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.

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!

November 21st and 22nd 2010 - a multinational team effort

Inspired by the October full moon Bali reports, my good friend Mark Richards from Kaiser Pro Shop in Singapore put together a great team of himself, pro-angler and renowned guide Ken from Taiwan and Maverick from Sarawak. He was kind enough to invite me along also.

Part of the trip objective was to test out the Kaiser Pro Shop El Toro V2 popping rod 150g and 180g prototypes on some GTs.

Overall it is was a very enjoyable trip with fantastic company. Day 1 was much more exciting than day 2 with the largest of 8 GTs being about 27-28 kg. Jigging-wise, only small Ruby Snappers came out to play but the fish of the trip was a 35 kg Doggie landed by Mark, my jaw dropped when I saw this fish - really notable for Bali these days. As was the ease with which he landed it (!!) on a Synit Venom 4'8" V550FT on high drag. Terminals were pink Yo-Zuri FC leader 130lb, Izor 80lb white & LJ 520g jig.

I was delighted to make two new fishing buddies in Ken and Maverick and to have a swing with the prototype Kaiser El Toro 150 and 180 rods. These have to be the best value quality popping rods available anywhere.