LIFT2008 - Mackerel Run
Langkawi
International Fishing
Tournament - 8 & 9 Nov 2008
Water colours at dawn off Awana Porto Malai
- gateway to LIFT 2008
Record 42 teams mostly in traditional wood hulls await
flag-off.
If Fishing ... is about Love
... "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it
does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It
is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.......Love never
fails."
Above attributes describe a state of
mind common to many Anglers gathered in
Langkawi.
It is November, tail-end of the rainy
season. And islands off Awana Porto Malai appear like watercolour
paintings glowing with soft ethereal changing hues. Brilliant
blue skies in blazing sunshine. Cotton bud cirrus clouds float on
high. Afternoon convectionals arrive with fat grey cumulus growing
heavier and darker by the hour. Muggy humidity hit the high nineties.
The air is still, sagging with moisture soaking fine hairs on your
skin. Rain breaks and it seems a veil has been drawn over the islands, stretched
and moving like a misty muslin curtain. Hoverig over one
island then pulled across the sea to cover the next. Showers
revive bushes and trees clinging
precariously to nook and cranny on rocky outcrops thrusting out of the sea.
Overcast skies see lightning plays
continue into the night. Splashes of irridescent golds and
electric blues reflect on water glimmering to dark island sillohuettes
on distant shores.
Awana Porto Malai's GM Rasli
Sulaiman remembers ex PM Tun Dr Mahathir's favourite seat is at
the covered patio outside the tiffin room. There he'd sit sipping a
cuppa while looking east towards Pulau Dayang Bunting. And on a
good day, you see dolphins cavorting in the bay chasing schools
of tamban and achovies.
This year, Royal
Patronage of HH Sultan Abdul Halim has elevated
LIFT 2008 to a higher plane. A record 42
teams vie for the honour of carrying aloft the beautifully crafted crystal glass Sultan Abdul Halim
Trophy.
Day 1 Sat 8 Nov 9.30am:
Tourism Langkawi GM Shaharudin Hjitam and officials raise
hands aloft for a combined blast of air horns and the boats race
away. Most traditional wooden hulls are 22 footers with covered seating for
4 powered by 70HP outboards. We're Boat #7, a 26 foot fiberglass hull
powered by a quietly purring 115HP 4-cylinder Suzuki. Skimming the
surface, an exhilarating 20 minute ride sees us arrive first at the unjam -
the place to hook live bait.
Boat#7 appears a balanced
team. Seasoned anglers Skipper Din and Editor Nizam are stuck
with know-nothing newbies - Airport
Manager Zuiful & Reporter Polo. With beginner's luck, newbies
hooked one tiny Queen-fish each. Too big to be
live-bait and too small to count. Thereafter, newbies get nothing.
Aah!...But our seasoned anglers did not fare much better. One whole
day passed for the occassional nibbles and some hits. Its a hit
when fish bite on your lure but you hook no fish. Nizam's hits
had fish biting so hard on the lure, we see teeth marks score the
hard surface. Hook has not caught on bone so BIG fish escapes to fight
another day. Us newbies jig for baitfish. Then try bottom fishing with
sinkers hoping for a garoupa. In fact, any fish a little bigger than
the tiny queen fish would save us from embarassment. Newbies end the
day with lots of ..... fat hope. Hope tommorow we'll do
better? Meantime, we get to admire Nizam expertly lure casting to
rocky shores. But luck was with the fishes playing and feeding elsewhere. Both
Nizam and Din trolled patiently for Barracudas and Giant
Trevally. Must have taken hours because I dozed off and woke to find
them patiently fishing. They tried every trick in the book for these
waters. Hot sun, overcast skies, rain showers, no fish, bitten-off cables?
They patiently threaded another hook and kept trying. Giving up is never in
the equation for anglers. You know in your heart the next BIG fish is still
lurking out there hungry and waiting to bite.
At 6.15pm we straggled in with the rest.
"How was your day?" "Er..not so bad lah! Biasa" Just normal. When you go
fishing, not landing a BIG one is normal. A day floating on the water.
Alert and on edge anticipating the next BIG fish biting. Now,
that's priceless!
At the judges tent, the tally
for catches on Day-1 catch totals 120kg landed. Compares well with
last year's 150kg total for two days. There's tomorrow. Still hope for
those like me with rod and line..and no fish to show.
Day 2: Sun 9 Nov 9am: And
they're off!...for Day-2 of the Makerel Run. Boat#7 is now down to 3 Anglers...
Polo's staying back for onshore assignments.
Beach Fishing (10am-4pm
) is a secondary contest for LIFT 2008. The mega-sized Star
Cruise Jetty is opened just once this year for LIFT Beach
Fishing. Participants know there's plenty fish sheltering in the
waters below. At just RM 50 for 2 contestants, over 100 have signed
up. Contest begins at 10am and within the first hour, over 200 shore fishes
- have been recorded. Scores are tabulated with points allocated by
species. Jewfish 3 points; Catfish-Duri 4; Stingray 5; Whiting 6;
Catfish-Sembilan 7; Garoupa 8; Silver Trumpet 8; Finger-Mark Bream 9; Barramundi
9; and Threadfin Salmon is tops at 10points. All other fishes count for 2
points.
Sun and rain do not deter these raincoat
ready anglers. Here's a brand new corner of Langkawi to fish from. Fishes are
biting. Pit your skills against fellow anglers, and hope to walk away
with the RM1,000 top prize-money. Comments, critiques and good natured
ribbing is the order of the day. Contest concludes at 4pm.
Judges finalise results and at 5pm,
Tourism Langkawi's Azmil Munif presents Lucky Draw
Hampers; then trophies and Cash prizes
to Top 10 winners.
Top 3 winners for LIFT 2008 Beach
Fishing are..
-
Rosli Ahmad 194 points wins
RM1,000.
-
Faizal Hamdan 191 points RM500.
-
Nazrul Hisham 174
points RM 300.
6.00pm: Polo
is pacing the docks looking out for Boat #7. Many have returned
weighed down with big Mackerel. Tired faces. Happy faces. Resigned to my fate
..'I've got no Mackerel today' faces. Anglers haul their catch to the
judges' weighing station. Some hooked 2 Mackerels today in addition to
two yesterday! Boat#25 Team Tepa Satu hauled in 5 Mackerels today.
Boat#18 Team White.Com hauled in 2 BIG Mackerals with anglers Zuraidi
33 and Nordin 57 looking exhausted yet contented. Boat #7 finally
comes in. Tired. Quietly packing-up their fishing gear. How? "OK
lah! Another normal day - sun, rain and more hits." Aah! sweet
consolation. Boat#7 Skipper Din's hooked a 2.1kg Mackerel. Nizam
carries face-saver mackerel aloft. Something to show for two days at
sea.
8.30pm: Awana's Grand Ballroom
resonates with the sound of people laughing and chattering. You may
not recognise some of your new fishing friends. Discarding two days of
unkempt hang-loose looks, they've showered and dressed up
for tonight's Royal Awards Dinner looking so smart casual. Music is is
coming from a live band. A generous buffet is lined up against both sides
of the ballroom. Anglers want to taste the fish they caught. Mackerel
is sliced and marinated in a soy, chili and garlic sauce. Then deep
fried to perfection. Squeeze some lime or lemon juice for a perfect
treat.
Loud throbbing Kompang drums
accompany a bevy of beauties from the cultural troupe to announce
the arrival of Yang Teramat Mulia Tunku Sallehudin Ibni
Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, Tunku Temenggong representing his brother
HH Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah. A ceremonial welcome dance
precedes essential Dinner speeches before Tunku
Temengong officially declares ending of LIFT 2008 Mackerel
Run. LIFT2008 resonates well with his personal sporting inclinations.
Beaming with pleasure, Tunku Sallehudin presents awards and prizes to
winners. Amongst subsidiary prize winners, Boat#7 Team was runner-up
in the Media-VIP catergory. Wow! And the beautifully formed crystal glass fish
trophy is a stunner.
LIFT 2008 Mackerel Run...Top
prize winners
-
Sultan Abdul Halim Challenge
Trophy + RM8,000 + Trophies - Boat #25 Team Tepa Satu. Catch 31.30
kg.
-
RM5,000 + Trophies - Boat #6 Team
Dewa Laut. Catch 27.65 kg.
-
RM2,500 + Trophies - Boat #16 Team
Jumpoi Catch 23.15 kg.
-
RM2,250 + Trophies - Boat #18 Team
White.Com Catch 23.05 kg.
-
RM2,000 + Trophies - Boat #9 Team
Cenang 1 Catch 15.45 kg.
-
RM1,750 + Trophies - Boat #24 Team
Tanjung Rhu Anglers Catch 13.95 kg.
-
RM1,500 + Trophies - Boat #29 Team
Udang Merah Catch 13.20 kg.
-
RM1,250 + Trophies - Boat #21 Team
Tanjong Rhu Resort Catch 11.80 kg.
-
RM1,000 + Trophies - Boat #10 Team
Jerung 1 - Catch 10.55 kg.
-
RM900 + Trophies - Boat #2 Team Nature
Marine Catch 10.30 kg.
Prize monies totalled RM35,000 and
LIFT 2008 Mackerel Run sets a new record with Total
Catch of 265kg.
Additional prizes were awarded for
heaviest catch for Pelagic species and Media/VIP catergories.
Langkawi Dreaming....report by
India's Caesar De Souza.
Caesar lives in KL
and enjoys Malaysia's fishing tournaments
Ever wondered what this day has in store
for you?
Whatever will this day be like?...
crossed my mind as I carried rods and ice boxes to Boat #1 with team
mates Robert and Maggie. Day-1 looks promising. A slight breeze plays
and scattered white clouds float above. I've been looking forward to this
day for a long time. That’s how Mackerel Run 2008 started off for me.
We're not surprised to
see over 100 anglers lugging fishing gear to their respective boats.
Fishing for Mackerel is a BIG draw. The meat tastes really sweet. Once the
flag-off horns sounded, you see a traffic jam like what we live with on the
roads in KL. 42 competitor boats alongside marshal boats slowly heading out to
sea. We can't wait for the skipper to thrust the lever forward and open up
the butterfly valves to hear those engines sing.
We've
planned to start the day trolling with 6 lines paying out a variety of
different colored lures at different depths. However nature wasn’t willing to
co-operate. After hours of trolling at the shipwreck with not a single bite to
show, we moved away to another spot but the new place yielded no fish. Its
not that the lures were not working. The mackerels were just not around. We
ended the day without a single strike and observed we were not the only boats to
return empty. Must plan better for Day 2.
Day-2 looks
equally promising, but nature can disappoint when you're
expecting ...er ... hoping to catch Big fish. Despite going to new
fishing grounds and applying new strategies, Day-2 proved equally
futile.
Returning to port, we see other boats returning with fish.
If I am not mistaken, the biggest Mackerel was around 8kgs and the maximum
number of fish caught in one boat was eight. They have found the right
grounds where the mackerel were feeding. As they say, its back to the drawing
board with new plans and strategies for 2009.
Pssst....Seems to me this year,
some boat captains were tight-lipped about where the fish were biting. So that's
how the mackerels just passed us by.
Despite not having
a single bite, I must say the whole event was a nice experience. A nice holiday
with nice food and nice people. Reason enough to plan my return for
LIFT 2009 Mackerel Run.
If Fishing ... is about
Love...
Tourism Langkawi invites you to stay
... in Love.
Highlight on your fishing calendar 2009?
-
Squid Fishing Challenge 6-7
March 2009
-
LIFT 2009 Mackerel Run 13-14
November 2009
Tourism
Langkawi
Phone: +604-9698080/9698084
FotoStory by
FotoPolo.
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