Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Fishing at Takat 35

I just came home from a 2-night fishing trip to Takat 35, which is about 50 nautical miles northwest off KK. I'm so exhausted right now, but I just want to post these photos. I will also try to upload these same photos later in my facebook.


This is the KK Law 1, the boat which the seven of us anglers chartered for the trip. There were 10 of us including the skipper and crews. This boat is slightly larger than the KK Law 2 which we chartered to Sajali a couple of weeks ago.


The weather at sea was fine, except that I felt it was too calm. We were suffering the still air, practically no wind at all. Any angler will tell you that when the sea is calm like this, chances are you won't get a good catch! However, the sea condition can change, especially over a duration of 2 nights.


These are some of the interesting catch of my friends. That grouper (keratang) was found to be about 11 kg. Not a very impressive catch, of course, but still worthwhile to occupy a space here in this blog!


Although I'm quite OK with how to catch the fish, I am just so damn lousy with the species. I really don't know this particular one, but I think the boatmen said something that sounds like "Ap Coi". I suspect it comes from a Chinese word which I'm not familiar with!


This species I'm more familiar with, locally known as the sulit tanah. Very strong fighter and can really sap the energy of the angler, especially when fighting throughout the depth of 90 metres. I'm not too worried about the size though. I know my catch is not so impressive, but I prefer the ones which are just nice for cooking—not the giants which I won't know how to fit into my fridge at home!


Another decent one, weighing about 1kg, and just nice for a serving.


The overall catch, except that I've given quite a few away to my old folks. I'd say a good variety, and most of them the kinds I like to eat too. Amongst others, I have the grouper known as lai pan, small fish (yellow tail) known as the pisang-pisang, kim sen (kurisi bali) and also the cuphi (red fish on sulit tanah).


6 comments:

Ju said...

Wow those fishes do make a good feast :) I like that grouper.

Anonymous said...

That grouper is big, but it is not keratang or giant grouper.

Cornelius said...

That's very interesting, Ju! I was just saying to Eric this morning that I don't mind to catch more of those grouper! The more the better, because I just love to eat 'em!

Cornelius said...

Aha! That's exactly what I said to the boat people, Anonymous friend! They said it's keratang, but I said it didn't look like keratang to me. They insisted it's keratang. I couldn't argue too much, because as I have admitted several times, I'm not so good in the names of fishes!

Incidentally, during the last trip, I caught a big fish which the boatmen said was a kingfish. Turned out later someone told me that that was the amberjack. What can I say, I'm still learning!

Ju said...

I wish i could catch a grouper myself, hahaha... unfortunately I've never been for sea fishing, only fresh water fishing. I love eating grouper too :)

Cornelius said...

Ju,

Unfortunately it's a bit inconvenient for women to go for deepsea fishing, at least not with the kind of boats we have in KK. The toilets are just not very appealing to women. However, there are larger boats for hire, especially those from the hotels, but that can cost a fortune!

The groupers in these photos have very tender flesh, best for steaming. There are other species of grouper which have very rubbery flesh.

Actually, it's still cheaper to buy at our local market, but we go fishing mainly for the thrill. However when we do catch some, we have the added benefit of the freshness, of course.