Destination : Banda Aceh – The Story

RONDO!


This report is long overdue but seriously, i had so much fun writing it i just kept going on and on and on and on...A month ago, I got a random call from Khian asking if I was ready. I asked him “Ready for what ?” then he replied, the fishing trip of your lifetime. “Fishing”, “Lifetime” my reply was only 2 words. Lets Go.

SOMETIMES CAN Anglers!

Khian checking out his new toy

The Japanese Tourist

Unloading my Shit

All my shit akakakkak

ANGLERS CONFUSED!

Mr Michael Meng & Johnson slutting themselves to the nice lady at the Air Asia counter

HOW the FUCK are we gonna check these shit in and not be overloaded...

Seriously....freaking overloaded!

This was just the rod weights...

Party like a ROCKSTAR!

Time for some good old ECSTACY akakakakaka Malaria pills...


He told me that there is a trip to Banda Aceh which is the northern part of Indonesia where the Tsunami stuck like 6 years ago and it seems that there were numerous monsters caught there recently. He then sent me some pictures from Mr Michael Meng ( TEL: +6012 641 8880 website: www.fisherzone.com )fishing trip organizer extraordinaire in this part of the world with the mother of all Doggie I’ve ever seen. It was FUCKING big man.

Kenny taking EVIDENCE of the E's!

VICTORY CIGARS.....we had to get some to celebrate the trip!

This is why I love MALAYSIA...I love it!

YEAH, I am READY to ROCK!

From left, Kenny, William and Michael

Banda Aceh Airport...

Counting the number of fishes we will be landing akakakakakakak

Awaiting our arsenal....most crucial moment of any trip...

I Love it...Porter service!

2 words...LETS GO!


To seal the damn deal, he sent me a picture of Michael holding up a dream GT! 35 fucking KG’s on jig! Now that is a must go in my book. Fuck the yellow fin, fuck the dogtooth, GT, ‘m on! The trip was a bit steep but hey, so are all the gears that are collecting dust in my room! I gotta make it for this one. I must go, its like a god damn calling from the ocean!

The best RESTAURANT in the WHOLE of Banda Aceh

Looks Yummy but really not my shit....

SOMETIMES CAN Anglers....not enuff sleep

The ROCKIN' Crew to DESTINATION : Banda Aceh

Local Tackleshop 1

Boys at their favorite toy store

FISHERMAN & SEVENSEAS Jigs re not enuff...the local jig, VIRUS BALI is the SHit in these waters..

Rods that we will never buy.....

Men.....shopping...

Khian the happy Camper!

Our RIDE

DESTINATION : Pulau Weh!

More shopping for the tackle sluts

The little man on a raft.

Our Driver.


FAST FORWARD >> A few weeks later…

The preparation and the damn anticipation was just too intense for me. I haven’t fished out at sea since 6 – 7 months ago because of work commitments so this trip made me feel like I was waiting for SHOWTEK to perform live in Malaysia.

The River View

Need I say the Destination ONE MORE TIME! Lets GO!

Seriously...what the fuck was that hut for anyways?

Khian....the happy camper..

The New POSE!

The Arsenal

I Seriously love the T's

SERIOUSLY

PEACE tot he FISH MARKET!


Countless sleepless nights, thousands of $ spent on all sorts of fishing stuff from jigs to poppers, to brand new line, to clothing and even luggage akakakakkakaka! It was well worth it. Many people may say that you shouldn’t keep your hopes up too high before a trip as you might be more disappointed after but this is what I have to say:

I have a lip problem....

Mr Michael Meng

The Happy Camper once again!

Kenny & William..the PRO's!

Nice Shot!

HERE WE GO!

The Crystal Clear waters of PULAU WEH!


“Fishing and going out to sea with a bunch of good friends and meeting new people is the TRIP. It is the process of it all. The anticipation, the preparation, the weeks of planning, the company, the ocean, the bullshitting, and the enjoyment of being there makes the trip. Landing every fish is a bonus to any trip” – Bruce Fuck You No Time Wong.

Lickin it!

the Siamese Saltwater Fighting Fish!

Johnson fighting the Siamese Saltwater Fighting Fish on Fake Lez

Breath taking sunset

Me + Hot's One Pitch Slider + ZEEBAAS in combat!


Because I live and fish by this thinking, every trip I go on is a great one, with or without fish. But there must be someone up there who loves my ass pretty much as I have been blessed with fishes almost every trip. I FUCKING LOVE IT!.... sorry, got a bit off track here but hey, its my fucking blog, I say whatever I want! Its my escape from the concrete jungle and the shitloads of work that I have to handle EVERYDAY!

Back to the STORY

FRIDAY, 26TH MARCH 2010 - 9:00am

IBOIH INN.

Johnson & Michael diving in....

SNONGKING!

The place we stayed in @ Pulau Weh

Commotion at the Jetty

READY?....Lets Go.

Sunset....NICE SHOT KHIAN!

Kenny the Pro showing us how its done!

SOMETIMES CAN Anglers....here we fucking GO!

Check out the damn positioning of my finger....thats where the damn problem was!


My brother was kind enough to send me and Khian to LCCT to catch our flight to DESTNATION: BANDA ACEH. During the long drive there, me and Khian hardly spoke a word but we knew that we were just too freaking excited that we have just became speechless. The only words uttered throughout the journey were “Are you ready”, “Lets Go” and “ Lets fucking do it already!”

Johnson was fucking PALE after landing that specimen

Fighting the big one - Johnson

Khian the Happy Camper with the first GT landed on the trip

NICE!

Loving Popping...

Catch & Release

Nice one Johnson lim!

Michael Meng....IT WAS FUCKING FANTASTIC!

Dontcha ljust love these poses!


When we reached, pit stopped at Mackers to grab some breakfast and to wait for the rest of the crew to arrive with Michael Meng. We were the first to reach then shortly came Johnson and his wife. Soon after, the whole gang arrived and we looked like we were going for war with some serious firearms. The 2 other new faces in this trip was William & Kenny ( Pelagic Anglers). Serious guys at first but as we got to know each other better…same shit happens… fishing buddies that you will never forget in this lifetime.

Kenny, after a long and hard day of POPPING!

I freakin love GT's!

Panas tapi Kemas

Just look at the JOY on Johnson's face

My first GT of the TRIP

MICHAEL.....where is the TUNA??

The 2 Pro Poppers at work!

Nice!

Even Nicer!


Hats off to Michael for being able to get 5 fully grown excited adults to actually make it to the check in point together. Its easier to get a bunch of 5 year old to line up and check in than to get a group of adrenaline pumped grown men to line up or do anything.

The ZEEBAAS....Orgasmic!

The Lung Chim....

Nice one KHIAN!

CLEAN Place man1


At the check in point, we knew that we were seriously over-weight already. The lady at the check in counter looked like she was gonna give us shit for the overload and because its not a tour, no group check-ins. So what do we do, send in the secret weapon, Johnson Lim. This is a guy who would anyone’s day and knows what exactly makes one tick. It took him like 2 minutes to make the lady laugh and allow us to have the group check in. YOU ROCK JOHNSON!

Me and Khian were the official camwhores with our new SLR’s and was just snapping away our memory space. If there is one thing I learnt is that bringin an SLR on a trip of a life time to capture every moment is vital and a freaking good idea. We may not be professionals but you know what, that RM5k spent on that camera, taking a great photo is effortless. I don’t even know what aperture or shutter speed is but hey, the pictures turned out GREAT!

This is some tranquil shit

Pazeth the GREAT!

tsunami Remembrance

DAMN clear water man!


On the plane, boys being boys, we did what we do best. Make noise, have fun, and have total disrespect to other peoples feelings. Hey, it’s a low cost carrier, we all paid the same damn price for the ticket, nothing makes you more special than I do so eat my shit!

DESTINATION: BANDA ACEH

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Michaels local partner and guide Pazeth ( www.delfinechartere.webs.com ). Pazeth is a soft spoken guy, good hearted and fucking fun to be out in the sea with. He is also someone you would want to have on board as he used to work or still works for the Red Cross doing something that is really honorable, saving lives.

We were brought to the best restaurant in the WHOLE of Banda Aceh, this restaurant called BUNDA. Im not a real fan of Indonesian food but the whole Nasi Padang thingy doesn’t really go down with me. Im not into the whole eating cold stuff thing and recycled food. They place the food on the table and whatever you don’t eat, they put it back and serve it again to other customers. Not so cool for me but hey, its their culture so we learn and respect that. Don’t waste food!

Ahhh....Finally...some CHINESE food!

Nudles...what a blessing

Jaffar the SKIPPER!

PATRIOT DESIGN, HOT'S, SMITH , STELLA & DOGFIGHTS ONLY...

JOHNSON & HIS 35 - 40KG SHARK!



After lunch, we were brought to the local tackle shop. As if our arsenals were not good enough, ALL of us bought the local jigs called Virus Bali. I shit you not, these babies rock the fucking house. You can use your FISHERMAN or SEVENSEAS jigs, these babies will land twice the amount of fishes you do….and its damn cheap!

DESTINATION: PULAU WEH

Pulau Weh is an island 2 and a half hours away from Banda Aceh, that’s if you travel on a boat that walks…..you can see the island from land but the journey there is like forever! It’s a slow wooden boat but you know what, you get to meet the friendliest boatman Mr Jaffar! And his crew. His crew is first class. Seriously they know exactly what to do at whatever time. Rockin!

ROCKIN desert

ruckus in town!

i love this pose

kenny & GT!


When we were exiting the river into the ocean, we passed through the hardest hit area of the Tsunami. The Tsunami incident didn’t really hit me at all when it happened and it was like ok, 200k ppl died and I didn’t think much of it until I reached the place. I felt my heart cry and I felt a great sensation of sadness and pity. I will never forget the feeling and this time, I truly felt for the people in my neighboring country. I said a prayer in my heart for all the souls I could feel as we exited the river mouth and did a small ritual I always do when I go out to the open sea, throwing coins into the ocean. Its like paying toll for using the water and to protect us from any harm that might happen.

When we reached Pulau Weh, my god the scenery was just mind blowing! Crystal clear waters! I fucking love it! After so many hours of traveling, all I wanted to do was jump into the water and fucking relax my ass off before we take on the monsters that might be waiting for us tomorrow.

I LOVE GT's!

In your FRIGGIN FACE!

One More time for the GT KING!

DESTINATION : Bruce Rock!

Kenny with a good sized GT


We stayed at this chalet called IBOIH INN. All the chalets in this island are rated no star. Its nice chalets by the clear pristine waters but only 3 problems.

1. Mosquitoes….they are friggin everywhere
2. No air-conditioning and the size of the fan is enough to keep your laptop cool and
3. The roof is made of steel, and above it are trees that bear fruits that drop every 2 minutes so you will be shocked by these damn fruits EVERY 2 minutes with a loud BANG!

Other than that, the place is great. The water, unbelievable. We sat in the restaurant for some drinks after a nice swim in the water and were de-briefed by Michael on the plans for tomorrow. We had to be at the jetty by 4:30am to make it to Pulau Rondo at 6:30am to catch our friends when they have their breakfast.

After dinner, we tried VERY hard to catch up on some sleep but the issues, please refer to the 3 on top was just too much to take. Me and Johnson ended up not sleeping, watching Japanese Fishing DVD’s and tying knots! It was fun but we knew that we will be trashed when we get on board tomorrow.

Just look at the Size of this thing!

Me catchin & releasing akakakakkak

here it iz...the TUESDAY SPECIAL!

I Freakin LOVE IT!


Here is the itinerary for the entire trip:

Saturday :Pulau Rondo – Popping the whole day
Sunday Morning :Buyung Reef, Bambang Reef,and check this out… Panty Utara - Jigging
Sunday Evening :Back at our luxurious chalet for some mosquito
Sunday Night :Dinner in Sabang and disturb the locals with our annoying fun
Monday Morning :Pulau Rondo Popping the whole day
Tuesday Morning :Buyung Reef, Bambang Reef,and Panty Utara…..again akkakak - Jigging
Tuesday Evening :Back at our luxurious chalet for some mosquito
Tuesday Night :Packing up and begin to feel fucked up because we age going home
Wedneasday morning :Banda Aceh – The same restaurant – Airport – Back to reality


SATURDAY, 27TH MARCH 2010 – 4:30am

With our panda eye-bags, fully geared and the MOST important thing for any trips out in the ocean…your own pillow! Fucking excited about Rondo at that moment. Im not good at popping at all. In fact, this was actually my 2nd trip out on a full on popping outfit so I wasn’t too sure on how I will perform when we reached the place. But it doesn’t really matter, “IKAN TADA TAKPA, GAYA MESTI ADA” and that is what I have, I love bragging about it because I earned it. I have the freakin gear and I was ready to tear it apart.

At about 7ish, we were approaching Rondo island. Michael screamed out loud, TUNA! It seems that everyone on board could see TUNA jumping outta the water estimated at at least 30 – 40kg’s. Seriously, I couldn’t see jack shit but in order not to lose face and be part of it all, I was like “Oh ya…I fucking see it! Its HUGE!” in actual fact, I couldn’t see shit and for a moment, I thought everyone ganged up on me knowing that I was in deep sleep.

SO I quickly got up, blindly cast my popper, already I had no idea how this was done properly, Michale saw it and he quickly grabbed the rod from me ( WRC SMITH KOMODO DRAGON + SALTIGA DOGFIGHT 6500) and in one effortless stroke, he casted my MURA MURA popper to exactly where the boiling was. Within 2 jerks, there was a fucking strong pull on the line. The line was going out like a rocket then I fumbled, and I think the line hit the anchor the line snapped. It was a clean cut on the line. It wasn’t rayed it was a clean cut. I’ll let you know why I need to stress this point. Feeling the disappointment in me, Michael picked up my rod, checked it and quickly proceeded to extract line from my reel. I didn’t know that for popping, the reel spool shouldn’t be full like jigging. Lesson learnt, and within minutes, the leader was done and I was popping again, casting aimlessly, firstly, I couldn’t see where the fishes are, secondly, I cant cast for shit and thirdly, I just woke up man!

After 20 minutes of chasing tuna, we decided to head straight to Rondo for the GT’s. I felt disappointed that I lost the fish but FUCKING great that I felt the pulll once again! Seeing this, I quickly got Pazeth to help with extracting line from my BRAND new Stella SW10000XG + Carpenter Blue Lagoon PE8 – 10 + BRAND NEW NEVER USED AND KEPT IN MINT FUCKING CONDITION VARIVAS AVANI 80lbs line.

Just some random pictures....im getting tired akakakaka






When we reached Rondo, Khian got the first taste of Rondo GT. Then, Johnson was on to a good sized GT. The fight was pretty intense but I was looking at the rod more than I was looking at him. I lent him my Hot’s GIPANG 83H rod, the same one that landed me the 45kg YFT last year. I don’t know about you but I truly believe that there is a spirit in every rod. And this GIPANG is a lucky lucky lucky rod. Johnson landed the most fish of the trip with this rod and all of em are good sized GT’s!

After the 2 of them had landed their first fish a.k.a the License Fish, I could feel the shit talking on me coming. It was already starting when Khian said “Erm, for those who haven’t landed anything yet, please work harder, we are here to fish and not play. If you cant land a fish, then why come all the way here?” followed by Johnson’s “Hey Khian, we landed fish already right, we now have the license to sleep”. Usually I would be the one uttering shit like that so I felt FREAKING pressured.

Then, 20 minutes later….GT smiled upon Bruce and said “I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS DISRESPECTFUL SHIT TALKING TO THE KING of GT’s”…that mafakka grabbed my popper and sped off…but this time, no shit. The KOMODO DRAGON is a dead serious rod. I dragged the 5kg specimen back on the boat, EFFORTLESSLY. Shit the feeling was soooooooo good. Khian and Johnson had no more shit talking to do…to the GT KING ahahahahhahaha FUCK YOU!

We landed GT’s after GT’s on poppers of normal size. Looking at the structures around Rondo was just fucking awesome. I really enjoyed popping but I still felt that there was something I wasn’t doing right, my poppers can never fly as far away as anyone’s even with full strength! This was annoying me…so I asked Michael for advice, his only comment was “Don’t be afraid of breaking the rod, just swing it with full force”. I did and my casts got a little bit further but still fucked up compared to the other guys.

Landing the BIG ONE!






Night time, no one was fishing. This was because everyone was dead tired from popping the whole day.

SUNDAY 28TH MARCH 2010

In the morning, everyone was jigging. This was the time I brought out my ULTIMATE gear….ZEEBAAS!!!! paired with the Hot’s One Pitch Slider. After 5 drops, I hooked up what they called an Ibu Kerisi…don’t ask me what kinda fish it wa but it was a great feeling…ZEEBAAS! Akaakakakakakak I was so freaking happy I licked the damn thing! That would be my new pose….followed by the lifting of a GT akakakakkaka.

After jigging for about another hour…I gave up, I just couldn’t do it anymore. William who hasn’t got any fish since day one was rewarded with a HUGE GT of about 20kgs. FUCKING ROCKIN WILLIAM! He deserved the fish man, due to work purposes, he had to leave us the next day, luckily that GT made the trip well worth it!

Here it is....the GT Dream!




Johnson caught a weird ass looking grouper. I call it the Saltwater Siamese Fighting Fish….it must have came out from some river in Thailand, lost its way and joined the slatwater groupers. Its beautiful! Really awesome looking fish! I love it!

At about 2pm, we headed back to Pulau Weh. When we reached, we got changed and was ready to head down to town, Sabang! Me and Johnson decided that we will invest in a small fan for our room. But when we reached the town, we were so engrossed with eating all sorts of funny food we totally forgot about it!

We went to a noodle store run by a Chinese and chowed down on some real food. Then we walked the night market and saw many things that we want to buy like FRUITS. One thing about guys when we go outta town, it’s a friggin mess. We all agreed to buy fruits on board the next day, and this was a must must. Yah you guessed it damn right, we bought jack shit! Everyone thought the other persom was gonna buy it but FARK no one bought ANY fruits!....but we did have some KILLA AVACADO juice man. I love it!

Some RANDOM Pictures from Michael Mengs camera....








29TH MARCH 2010 – The Day I lost the ONE

Well to sum it up, this was my friggin day at Rondo Island. I landed a good size GT to begin with then in the evening, FUCKING DISASTER struck me. Here is the rundown of things that happened:

REEL: Shimano SW10000XG (Brand Fucking New. First time touching water)
ROD: Carpenter Blue Lagoon PE8 ( Tested in Bungsamran, this shit wont break for sure)
POPPER: Cubera 150g ( I knew this baby was gonna be the one after the MURA MURA)
HOOKS: OWNER 5X ( It scared the shit outta me when I bought these hooks, BRAND NEW!)
LINE: FUCKING VARIVAS AVANI 80lbs ( I paid RM 400 for this shit. And it was BRAND NEW)








Why im stressing this is because there were comments on the gear I was using when this fucking disaster happened. My friend whoever you are, I never go cheap on gear and I make sure they are in tip top condition. And the mafakka saying that I had the style but not the skill, well thank you for the style compliment but FUCK YOU on the skill part. Im proud to fucking say this that I have landed a 26kg GT on a PE1.5 – 4 rod and 40lbs line jigging and a 45kg Yellow Fin Tuna on a PE 6-8 popping rod and a Stella 8000 with 60lbs line so don’t fucking tell me that I have no skill fighting a fish. I may not have the popping skills but hey, fighting a fish I fucking out fight you and your fucking crew anytime so excuse my French FUCK YOU……

Sorry, got a bit carried away, I just had to let it out. Well anyways as you can see from the video…I lost a big one. Huge ass mafakka. Why? Because of the VARIVAS line I was using snapped!. The first run of this big momma, stripped off half my line, and then the second run, the line fucking snapped! It was unbelievable! VARIVAS, I trusted you. I loved you but now, I FUCK YOU. I was so disappointed, money couldn’t buy me back the feeling, not even with RM10,000 compensation. How can you buy a feeling on landing a fish like that. It was a DREAM and VARIVAS spoiled it!







After that, I had to use the dogfight to pop throughout the trip paired with the Carpenter. This day was really bad for Khian, he didn’t land anything. But Johnson and Kenny on the other hand, landed a few good sized GT and Johnson redeemed himself as the original SHARK KING.

His popped hooked on to something that just went berserk! We all thought that it would be a big GT! I was thinking to myself at that time that this will be the end of my title as GT King. But when the fish surfaced after a good 10 minute fight, we all saw it was a huge white tip shark of at least 35 – 40kg Seeing this, Johnson was like “FAAAAAARRRRKKKKk I thought it was a 40kg GT!” then did what Khian did in Spratly, passed on the rod to Michael Meng to land it…akakakakkakakkakakakak Sharks are not really welcomed on trips like these!







Come night fall, same drill, we ALL went to sleep…seriously DEAD tired. In the morning we were jigging at the same spot 2 days ago. When I was asleep, the crew caught a yellow fin, a good size GT and a fish called “Hoi Dai Kai” translated to Underwater Chicken. Its actually one of the most expensive fish in Malaysia. After jigging for awhile, I suggested that we head back to Rondo Island for more popping. In my heart, I wanted to land a GT of at least 30kg before the end of the trip!







Kenny who was popping non stop since we reached Rondo Island was rewarded with a HUGE GT! 30kg at least! Congrats bro, awesome catch. Composed and professional, Kenny ensured that the fish was treated with the best of care, land, snap then release. I salute you Kenny!







At about 2pm, we had to head back to Pulau Weh. When we reached, we had a good dinner then headed back to our rooms to pack our stuff. Leaving the place sucked, but the company, the fishing the experience was priceless. I will return again to find that CUBERA popper and MURA MURA popper I lost, the next time, I will not make the same mistakes. I friggin loved the trip. Kenny & William, it was an honour fishing with you guys, the TRUR Pro’s! I love it! Pazeth….you fucking rock! Michael Meng…you are the LEGEND and to the whole SOMETIMES CAN Anglers crew, WE FUCKING GOTTA COME BACK HERE ONE MORE TIME BIATCH!..Pazeth, send my respect and thanks to Jaffar and the crew yah! Till the next trip….

Bruce

SOMETIMES CAN Anglers.