76: Plastic Boat Fun In Bintulu Part 2

Plastic Boat Fun In Bintulu

Action On The Water

By Amirul Irfan

This here is part 2 of Plastic Boat Fun In Bintulu, Sarawak. Click tab below to read part 1.

By 11am the sun was up and high. We had a quick nap under some tree cover with a slow breeze. Up the bank, there was a small trail which led to the outer side of the rock wall. I heard that some anglers would cast for groupers here if fishing was slow in the lagoon. At 1pm we were back in action while anchored around some sand flats at the lagoon’s northern side with lots of weed patches around. Some large swirls occured behind our jerkbaits and near our boat with missed hits right along the weeds.

Casting about in a plastic boat landed these anglers a barramundi.

On one cast right on the edge of weeds, a Mangrove jack dashed out to chomp on my jerkbait. It was an easy fight with the fish covered in weeds. We increased our tempo of fishing jerkbaits which resulted in another two hook ups with smaller barramundi. I lost both thanks to their classic acrobatic jumps. We continued paddling back to a rock wall where I landed a small but feisty GT. At one point our boat drifted onto the weeds. I utilized the opportunity to pitch a sinking Barra-x into an opening. I gave three twitches and a small Mangrove jack ambushed it and it was landed promptly before a quick photo and release.

A feisty GT caught along a rock wall.

As the evening progressed, we continued casting at any patch of weeds we saw. By 5pm we were back at the first mangrove area we stopped at. There were thick patches of weeds at the end of the tree line. A quick cast was made right into a little opening and my jerkbait was hammered. Mangrove jack number 3! We then paddled along the tree line and came across another plastic boat. The angler in the boat, Zul was hooked up to a GT of about 1kg and it took him for a little spin. It was fun to watch the fish make dashing runs back and forth, twisting the boat around in the process.

A lovely mangrove jack.

While watching Zul land his GT, I fired my last cast right by a snag covered in weeds, just next to the snag where Altaff hooked his barramundi earlier in the day. I had a nice hit and the fish gave quite a fight. With silver flashes appearing I was relieved to finally have a shot at another Barramundi but to my surprise, I landed my fourth Mangrove jack which was chromed out instead of the usual red/maroon coloration. The good fight ended my day perfectly. With dusk and some rain clouds approaching, we paddled our boats back to the culvert where we worked together to carry the boats over.

Another mangrove jack.

The outgoing tide was halfway done so Din requested that we tie the plastic boats at the Pantai ABF Jetty where he could retrieve them once the tide comes in. It was a fantastic day out especially for a first time experience. Fishing with medium light setups made the fights with small fishes fun. In the months following this trip I spent every week fishing both day and night in yellow plastic boats owned by Din. For my next article, I will share about my night fishing experience in yellow boats.

Another mangrove jack.

For boat rental, Din can be contacted at +60 13-578 6301. Depending on the tide, boats may or may not be able to launch. A suitable tide level to cross to the lagoon would be above 1.1 meters.