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2008 Season Summary

Bluesails Sportfishing has had yet another memorable 2008 season with a K. Rompin record breaking 70kg juve Black Marlin on June 27th with good team effort from Adam Taylor & Ross Mcgregor. Other potential records for these waters included a 12kg Spanish Mack by UK angler John Meech on July 26th & a 6.5kg Dorado by Mark Batram on May 25th. There was a significant capture of an approximately 55kg Sail on Oct 28th by US angler Eli X as most Sails in these waters do not surpass the 50kg mark with average sizes ranging between 20kg to 35kg. Another significant capture on board was a 1.2m python! The snake was hiding in the anchor ropes & decided to venture out after we were already underway, 3 nautical miles from shore. Mike Tan, accustomed to catching any odd critter had no qualms about catching the snake with his bare hands & posing for pics with the family onboard. The snake was released back at port unharmed in a nearby palm oil plantation at the end of the day after spending the day fishing with the family in a box! Amazingly, Danish angler Frank Hansen hooked-up his first Sail on popper lure with his very first cast on Oct 5th.

We considered ourselves very blessed to have set quite a few records for pelagics in these waters. Our ongoing focus & measure of our success this season was the increased conservation effort, not just in catch & releases but also catch management of this unique sport fishery for Sailfish & other less occurring juve Black Marlin & Spearfish. Hence, we established a catch limit not only for billfish, but also for other species such as Macks, Cobias, Dorados, Trevals. And the importance of releasing unutilized baitfish at the end of the day holds true here & globally…as the saying goes “you kill the food source, you kill the fishery”. Unfortunately, many are left forgotten in the bait-tank to rot or end up as table-fare & the ignorance continues with most local charters thinking it is an unlimited resource, forgetting that all fish stocks are increasingly pressured by commercial fishing in these waters. Hence, Bluesails are not into the numbers game / catch-rate as with the “old-school” mindset of some fishing guides / skippers, but rather focus on the quality of the catch with lures and poppers which do not result in gut-hooking and minimize damage to any Billfish. It’s undoubtedly a much more exciting form of fishing with the thrill of anticipation as you watch a Sail stalk & pounce on the popper / lure right in front of you. It also gives a much better work out / exercise! When someone comes back to port to brag that they had multiple Billfish releases with live-baiting, it simply says how much of the environment they damaged that day. Considering the ever increasing need for conservation, we feel that a group who limited their catch for the day would in consensus command much more respect.

The founding premise of sportfishing or game fishing is that the fish be entitled to an even opportunity to escape. Hence, again, there’s no sport, challenge or glory with live-baiting & catching double-digits scores as it is like “shooting fish in a barrel” especially when the Sails are swimming thick in an area. Again, why do you need to catch 20-50 Sails a day & subject these magnificent fish to exhaustion, stress & predation? There have been a number of shark attacks on Sails after hook-ups with half-chomped Sail bodies being reeled back to the boat & amateur guides/skippers are silly enough to stay on in the same area subjecting another billfish to a similar shark attack after hook-up! It does not take an expert to make a logical assumption that some Sails succumb not only to stress but predation. Hence, we cannot emphasize enough that having a “catch your limit & limit your catch” mentality would bode well for the sustainability of this sport fishery. We recorded & expected lower numbers with the new catch limit per angler onboard implemented this 2008 season with just over 200 Sails & 4 juve Black Marlins released with a significant loss after hook-up on an extremely rare Spearfish in these waters. All these results were from a total of 30 plus, mostly 2 day package trips for this entire season of about 8 months.

This is not to say that trips with double digit scores for Sails were not frequent. Sails released for the entire season could have been more, but thankfully all anglers we had onboard this season were for conservation in relation to catch limit & opted for quality catch rather than quantity. Bluesails will continue to advocate in-water Billfish releases with the angler holding on to the bill for pics instead of hauling it onboard. (i.e. group pics are encouraged with just one Sail). Hence, a practical & common sense approach is needed to protect this precious & unique fishery. Again, lures such as the typical popper could be utilized once the catch limit has been reached for each particular angler, or perhaps other species of fish could be targeted instead. A variation of catches would also be more interesting at the end of the day.

Basically, Bluesails guides along with other veteran guides/skippers have the utmost responsibility for the well-being & welfare of Sails in these waters. This is to ensure the long term sustainability of this sport-fishery & to protect it from over-zealous & ignorant anglers - irrespective of how informed they think they are on conservation issues- bearing in mind that it is also well known locally that these Sails are targeted by commercial trawlers. Hence, our responsibility to significantly reduce or minimize the mortality of the fish by having a catch & release limit.

As with any popular fishing hotspot, new charters & guides eventually appear on the scene. Unfortunately, there’s a huge difference between doing this just for the money & taking advantage of ill-informed anglers, or as a passion / lifestyle in a responsible manner in terms of game fish conservation. Many of the longer established charter crews were disgusted & saddened to witness a bill of a Sailfish cut-off & brought back to port as a souvenir & shown around as though it was a ‘trophy’! It is not only distasteful / mindless even though the fish was already dead, but it encourages other anglers back at port to want a similar ‘trophy’ as a souvenir. You can’t mount something like that on a wall, or perhaps use it as a paper-weight?! The truth was that this same group of ignorant anglers & their amateur guide had taken far too long after the fish was hauled onboard for photos. This incident was said to be the first since game fishing started here in 1998 & was by a group of tourist anglers not locals. Hence, a strict release policy for both dead and alive sails is practiced by Bluesails & only a handful of charters. Basically, anglers should just get out there on the waters & enjoy the fishing experience with minimal impact made to the environment (keep your trash onboard) & proper revival of the fish before release. It is already a great privilege to witness & interact with these Sails. Like with scuba, you take nothing but photos!

We look forward to fishing with all our regular clients & of course anyone new who has yet to experience the true potential of an affordable, responsible and professional fishing charter in K. Rompin in the new season of 2009! May you all have a great & blessed year ahead in 2009.

Screaming Reels to All!