DIRGAHAYU INDONESIA KE-67

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY INDONESIA

FISHING TRIP AFTER SO LONG

 It has been months since I last wash my fishing arsenals with sea water. And finally, I have the chance and time to go and dip them in and try to lie some fish with lures. This trip, we went to Pulau Buaya that known as one of the fishing paradise for monster fish among people around Riau Islands. To go there, we have to drove from Batam to Pulau Galang Baru for around one and a half hour, and then boat trip to the South for almost 3 hours. The fare for a 2 day fishing ranges from Rp. 2,8 Million to Rp. 3 Million not inclusives of baits. We brought along some squids for baits that day. Water is quite clear and the weather was a bit cloudy.

we arrived at around 6PM on our first spot. Feeling excited, we hook on the first bait with live fish that we caught moment ago, and within few minutes, a strong jerk on the rod and the fighting begin. It only took 6-7 minutes to know who win the fight. It was a 8kg Queen Fish (ikan talang). Not a bad start afterall....

After that, due to the baits that we bought were not fresh enough, and some of them have gone smelly, the rest of the night, we were ended only with some mediocre sized fish which not worth to mention.

Disappointed by our last trip, we decided to plan another trip for the week after. Now with better preparation, we bought 3kg of "live squids' from the local fisherman. We managed to fished up a 17kg rare shovel head ray, 15kg sting ray, and some good sized fish. The water condition is beautiful, but we were visit by a rain storm at around 2AM with strong west wind and 2-3 meter waves. If there was no storm that night, I believe, it will be a monster fish frenzy for us.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna go for another fishing trip. Who wanna come along?

MY FISHING BOAT

It is exciting enough to own a car and drive everywhere you want to go. But it is more when you drive your own boat and exploring the sea and places where car can't go. Spotting an empty island with white sandy beach and just 'park' the boat and jump into the crystal clear water. Packed ourselves with some picnic'c foods and beverages and of course, wines.

The privacy and freedom of getting out from the hectic and stressful city life. No hand phones, no laptops just serene ambient between us and mother nature. It's so funny when we cruised under the Barelang Bridge which I usually pass. Watching the bridge from below. People fishing from above the bridge watching us pass their fishing line. But it's so bad that I haven't tried it for serious fishing yet. Still looking for serious partners to go along with me.

It is not a very big boat. With 200Hp Yamaha machine, I can say it cruise quite fast on the water. Seeing the wave breaks when the boat hit them. It gives a type of calmness and rid off all the stress hormone from the blood system

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Following are photos of friend I took with my Nokia phone's camera, and give some photoshop touch to it.

My Boat - just for fun

I am still confused in deciding whether to repaint the whole boat or just leave it as it is. It has been almost 1 month since I paid for the boat. And I'm really eager in trying to take it out myself and go hunting for big catch. I was thinking, if I want to repaint it, what color suits best? Maybe, grey bottom with black stips, or maybe even a Hello Kitty themed finish (hahah).


I am planning to use a Yamaha 200Hp machine to power up the boat. Suggested by the previous owner who used 115Hp engine, it will be more fun to use a bigger engine since it will lift up the boat like hovering on top of sea surface.

Recently, just get a Hummingbird fishfinder from a friend. He sold it to me for a very low price compared to the market. Not a very impressive posh one, just a monochromed screen sounder. Got myself a complete sea map of Batam surrounding waters and learning hard on how to read it, since I am a total idiot on this. Live well is done, and currently renovating the front cabin for my guest to stay comfortly inside to cuddle with partners. One last item that is still not decided is the GPS. Still looking for good yet affordable one. I already burned quite a big hole in the pocket. So, it's playing stingy time. Anybody who's experienced with fishing boat, please help me on advice for making this boat fun but not funny.

However, I look quite good on the boat right...LOL

Fear of Fish / Phobia terhadap ikan

Fear of fish or ichthyophobia may refer to various cultural phenomena, such as fear of eating fish, or fear of dead fish, as well as to a specific phobia.

Hari ini, saya bertemu dengan satu pemancing yang mempunyai "kelainan" yang sangat unik. Saya menyebut kelainan, karena dia mempunyai phobia yang sangat-sangat jarang ditemui, dan baru kali ini dalam hidup saya menjumpai kasus demikian. Ali (samaran) mempunyai phobia atau ketakutan yang amat sangat terhadap ikan. Tak peduli itu ikan besar maupun ikan kecil. Menurut Ali, sewaktu kecil dia pernah bermimpi dimakan ikan. Dan mulai sejak itu, Ali takut terhadap ikan dan jangankan keberanian untuk memakannya, bahkan melihatnya saja dia takut. Yang uniknya lagi, dia suka mancing.
Today, I met with someone who have "weird" phobia. I called it weird because during my lifetime, this is the first time I'd heard this kind of phobia. Ali (not real name) have the fear of fish phobia, and a very serious one no matter what size the fish is. According to Ali, he had a dream as a child about being eaten alive by fish. And after then, Ali scared of fish, don't say of eating one, he can't even see one. Another weird thing is he likes fishing.

Malam ini, dia main handline mancing sotong di KTM. Strike pertama, cumi jarum ukuran sedang yang langsung ditariknya ke atas tanpa babibu. Untuk tinta cumi jarum gak banyak, kalau enggak, hitamlah kita semua. Selang 1 jam, terlihat dia mulai menarik lagi "sesuatu" yang berat dari dalam laut. Begitu naik kepermukaan, ternyata sotong batu ukuran hampir 2Kg!!! Begitu nampak, Ali langsung teriak,"APA ITU!!!" sambil melempar benang pancingnya ke teman pancing yang berada disebelahnya dan dia lompat ke atas lantai yang lebih tinggi...hahahha....Sayangnya, karena sotong batu kumisnya pendek dan gak menancap dengan sempurna, sotong batu mendapatkan kesempatan hidup sekali lagi...kekeke...
Tonight, he handlined for squid at KTM. First catch was a moderate size aero squid which he pulled without delay. Luckily, aero squid doesn't have much ink, or else we were all covered with black squid ink. After around 1 hour, he was like pulling something heavy from the sea. By the time the thing emerges, it was a Baktao that weight around 2Kg!!! When he saw it, he immediatelly shout,"WHAT'S THAT!!!" and throw his line to somebody next to him and jumped to higher floor...hahahah...but pittily, because Baktao have shorter tentacles and didn't hook nicely to the egi, the squid have a second chance to live...

Aku malam ini, mendapatkan beberapa sotong size sedang dan 1 ekor yang berukuran lebih kurang 1 Kg. Waktu siang hari, kami berhasil memancing beberapa ekor todak yang dibohong dengan umpan udang. Sekarang, aku kehabisan egi Yo-Zuri dan sedang menunggu beberapa teman dari Singapore yang aku kenal dari web untuk membawa pesanan beberapa koleksi egi ke Batam. Di Batam, sangat susah untuk mendapatkan egi keluaran Yozuri, yang ada pun cuman sisa-sisa model lama. Mungkin karena harga yang hanya bisa dibeli oleh kalangan tertentu dan oleh orang yang benar-benar mencintai nyumi. Setelah menggunakan egi bagus, aku seperti kehilangan kepercayaan kepada merek yang lebih murah. Seperti kurang "main"lah. Memang merek tidak begitu bermasalah dibanding teknik, tetapi akan sangat membantu apabila dipadu dengan teknik yang bagus. Sekarang, aku menggunakan egi Yozuri laser color yang mulai menampakkan potensial sebagai cumi killer berikutnya.
I caught some medium sized squid and 1 that weight around 1 Kg. At daytime, we also caught some todak. I had ran out of Yo-Zuri egi and still waiting from friends from Singapore that I know from the web to bring in some new fresh egi which I ask them to help to find. It's very difficult to find this brand in Batam, only some very old leftover. Maybe because of the price that only few people can afford to buy and have high interest in squidding. After using good brand egi, I seemed to lack of confident in using cheaper egi. It just doesn't have the kick. Althought I believe that expensive brands is not a guarantee to strike big compared to good technique, but it will boost the hit rate if combined. Currently, I was using the laser color Yozuri squid jig which was very potential in hitting big fin squid.

Batam Fishing Club Internal Tournament

Boat Survey

Hari ini, bersama anggota keluarga dan mertua pergi untuk survey kapal fibre di jembatan 2, Barelang. Boat fibre dengan panjang 8 meter tampak lumayan untuk dijadikan koleksi pertama kapal2an keluarga..hehe..cuman sayangnya, mesti banyak yang mesti dikerjakan setelah dibeli. Mesti mikirin mau pasang motor sebesar apa supaya larinya kencang dan gak sakit di kantong. Mesti dibersihkan dasarannya dari lumut dan karang dan dicat ulang supaya kinclong. Mesti hunting Fish Finder dengan GPS. Wuih...masih lumayan banyak duit yang mesti dikeluarkan supaya jadi boat ideal.

Dengan adanya box air untuk umpan hidup dan kamar tidur yang lumayan luas didepan kapal, boleh dikatakan sudah cukup nyaman untuk dijajal diperairan Batam dan sekitarnya. Atas kebaikan hati penjualnya, kapalnya boleh didocking di tempat yang bakal menjadi resto miliknya dengan cuma-cuma alias gratis dengan hanya menambal sedikit biaya untuk penerangan. Yah, sekitar 300ribuan lah sebulan...

Mudah-mudahan setelah dicek nantinya, kapal ini dapat dibungkus secepatnya dan dijalankan untuk mengexplore spot potensial sampai habis-habisan dengan teman-teman yang sehati.

Today, I have a trip with my family and in-laws for boat survey at 2nd bridge island at Barelang. The fibre boat with a length of 8 metre looks quite promising to be the first boat collection of the family. But stilld, so many things in the list that still need to be done after the acquisition. I have to decide the size of the motor that is powerful enough yet gentle on the pocket. I have to clean the bottom of the boat from algae and corals then repainted it to showroom finish. And still have too hunt for a Fish Finder with GPS. Still have to fork out quite a sum of cash to make this boat to my desired one.

With an built-in live well and a sleeping cabin big enough to squeze in 4 peoples in the front of the boat which I think could be a comfortable place to rest when exploring the surrounding water. With the kindness of the seller, I am allowed to dock the boat at his future-to-be restaurant with just returning the favor by paying rp.300k per month just for the lighting to the boat.

Let's just hope that after the final condition checking, I can have this boat wrapped up ASAP so that I can explore the potential spots with some friends.

foto di dock /present condition on dock

bapak mertua ingin merasakan jadi tekong kapal
father-inlaw wanted to know how it feels behind the wheel

Dua anak kembarku, Michael dan Emily
My dragon-phoenix twin