Trippin’ at Tiger 5
By Trevor Tau Fik
Offhand, I would say that there are probably five or six
places that a Malaysian fisho absolutely has to fish at before being worthy of
admission into the pantheon of “accomplished anglers”. For me, one of those
places is the terrifying Tiger 5 Saltwater Game Fishing pond
in Sitiawan. Why did I use that word to describe the place? Let me explain…
Even
before this trip was planned, I had heard the fish are so big that two or three
of ‘em combined would easily outweigh my scrawny 57kg butt. Scary isn’t it? Then
I heard that if you are caught using barbed hooks, they make you buy the
friggin’ fish at RM100 per kilo. That is RM2,000 to RM3,000 per fish! Like I
said … it’s terrifying.
* click on pics to enlarge
League of extraordinary fishos (from left)
Trevor, Boon Yew, Bruce, Jason, Erik, Kolby, Alfred and Ming.
My
motley crew of seven, however, seem like the kind of guys who fear no fish.
They may kneel before God or girls occasionally, but I doubt any of them have
ever met a fish they couldn’t handle. So it was with suave swag that they
strutted in that searing Saturday morning, eager to meet whatever gargantuan
groupers or sinister siakap that purportedly inhabit these waters. Like a squad
of trained mercenaries, they quickly assembled their weaponry, fanned out
orderly along one side of the pond and started firing an assortment of
projectiles comprising mainly soft plastic lures. The rectangular pond is only
about 60 by 15 metres, give or take, so our posse easily carpet-bombed the
place with our offerings.
This was the only one I could lift for a
pose. The others would have given me a hernia!
Not
wanting to squash in with the crowd, I walked over to the opposite bank of the
pond. Away from the aerating water-wheel and everyone else, the water here was
still and it gave me “that feeling” anglers sometimes get where we just know there is a lunker in the water
nearby just waiting to mince your tackle and make an ass of you. After a couple
of casts, I figured the pond is about six to eight feet deep, so I alternated
between a slow and moderate retrieve. That way, I reckoned my titbit would be
crawling along the bottom on one cast, and darting around in mid-water on the
next.
Check out this awesome video!
Either
the technique was good, or I was just plain lucky … coz after about 10 swings,
something bumped my lure twice in quick succession. “Tope … tope!!!” My heart
imploded and visions of grappling with a Godzilla grouper blanked out my mind.
I went into auto-pilot mode – lower rod, take up slack and strike the sh*t
outta the SOB! I whipped my entire body backwards in a malicious double-handed
swoosh. About a third of the way up, I felt a thunderous connection and my rod
crunched downwards into a frightening curve. Hookup! It felt like I had snagged
a tree stump, but it was moving … and fast! My reel hissed in protest of being
forced to strip, while I dug in my heels as the enraged fish revved towards the
bank on my right. When it got there and could go no further, it turned around
and headed towards the middle of the pond, all the while furiously beating its
tail and wildly shaking its head to tell me it was not happy about the way we
met. I felt its raw power rattling my wrists on every run and hell, it was BIG!
Kolby with a hard-fighting groupie that
very probably outweighed him.
Every
time it stopped for a breather, I would steal back some line with a few quick
pumps and rapid cranks. But whenever I thought I was making some progress, the
belligerent beast would just turn its butt in my face and take off again. As
the action peaked, Tiger 5 marshal and guide, Alex, quickly came trotting over
with a videocam in hand to film me fighting the first fish of the day (*takes a
bow*). A “pond deckie” also showed up beside me, with a large landing net at
the ready. After about 10 minutes of rod-creaking and bone-crackling labour, a
huge swirl emerged in the water about three metres from the bank. Whoooaaa!
It’s a monster! As if to enhance my shout of awe, a Goliath grouper came up
just then and glared at us. Holy howitzers, the dang thing had a head the size
of a planet! Seeing an opportunity now that it was on the surface, I gingerly
clicked the drag knob a couple of notches tighter and heaved a cautious lift.
The fish tried to resist, but clearly quite spent from throwing its tantrum
earlier, it grudgingly slid into the net. Touchdown!!!
Boon Yew scored a couple of platinum hits.
A tricky triple hookup on the jetty
requires anglers to do a bit of the tango.
My
jaw hung open as they brought my captive up for a quick pic. It was a beautiful
specimen, albeit a “small” one of only about 20kgs, wearing a dark-coloured
commando uniform. Although restrained and in “enemy” hands, it maintained a
dignified and brazen look. As it calmly swam away upon release, I gave it a
mental salute, from one fighter to another … there was no loser in this battle.
With
all the commotion highlighting the action on the side of the pond I was
fishing, my friends Ming and Boon Yew soon came over and started working the
waters too. And things really picked up from then on. Boon Yew caught two slabs
of siakap that leapt like lunatics, while Kolby on the opposite bank hooked and
lost something that ran like a finned rhino … only to get another hit moments
later. He landed that one – a grumpy grouper that almost matched his weight
(he’s very slim). But alas, Kolby’s rod broke later that day. Like I said,
things were really picking up.
Alfred won the “Angler & Fish Lookalike
Contest”.
Just
as I hooked my third fish, Alfred and Jason had simultaneous hits, making it a
triple hookup! How cool is that? Lotsa fish were caught and released or lost
from there on, and everyone was smiling, sweating and smelling like fish. With
the exception of Ming and Erik, who both hooked and lost a fish each … and
blamed it on each other. Also scoreless was Bruce, our de facto captain (hey,
he brought the beers). But that didn’t bother him coz the guy is known to tame
sharks with his little finger, so I guess “guppy groupers” would be beneath
him.
Just
when we thought it couldn’t get any better, marshal Alex announced that we
would next get to fish at “Pond #2” – where the action is even better! When we
arrived there, I instantly recognized the place from the Tiger 5 videos online.
It is an oddly-shaped pond, with a crooked and narrow plank jetty protruding
about five metres out over the water. A strange feature at this pond is the two
electric posts sticking out of the water (don’t ask). But the action here is
crazy.
Le wild Bruce likes his meat raw and still breathing, so he takes a bite
outta this baby grouper. Photobomb by Ming.
It
started off really slow, and no one caught anything for about an hour. Then the
pond owner showed up. Feeling a little embarrassed that his “performers weren’t
dancing” that day, he enticed them a bit by scattering some feed fodder on the
water. And the place erupted! Suddenly, there were fish everywhere in front of
us. Just a metre off the jetty, a huge mouth startled me with an explosive
“boof!” Pretty soon, the water was boiling with gangster groupers … fins
sticking out, mouths boofing and tails slashing. All we had to do was toss out
a rubber grub just a spit away and boof … instant hookup!
Double landings are a common occurrence at
Tiger 5 – as are double bust-offs.
Over
the next two hours, we were like a bunch of ants while fighting the fish …
jostling our rods, going around each other and scrambling all over the jetty.
There were double, triple, quadruple and multiple hookups, and just as many
bust-offs, when the fish twined our lines under the jetty. I totally lost count
and track of who caught how many fish. It was an insane scene, with adults
whooping like kids, fish thrashing like kraken and the scent of adrenaline
hanging thick in the air. Slowly and satisfyingly, we wound down our efforts to
catch more fish. Not because they weren’t biting anymore, it was just that we
all had already consumed enough joy to keep us deliriously ecstatic for months to come.
As
we left, I thought about how I would tell the day’s story to an angler who has
never been to this place. Such a person may balk at the RM2,000 per group fee,
or the arduous long drive to get here, and would probably ask if it is all
worth it. To which I would reply: “Have you ever had such a good fishing day
that your arms screamed for you to stop?”
I
rest my case …
Unbelievable feeding frenzy!!!
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