The Mighty Black Bass - Part II

Dinner have been like this every night - abundant and delicious........ Our homestay here in this very remote village can be considered first class in its own right........ Our Chinese descendant native host has been most obliging through out our stay.........

You name it, they got it..........

They even provided dried-curry wild boar, fried chicken and.... deer meat.........

..... not to be missed crabs and shrimps. Dessert was some banana fritters and sweet tapioca......

Guess what? Bat meat is on the menu too. Look! I cleaned up the bat head too........ Yummy yummy!

And if that's still not enough, there's also grill-skewered beef (satay) for contemplation.......

Look how happy everyone is....... What more can we say about the hospitality but WONDERFUL.

At first light during the last day, we were off again.....

....... down the beaten trail.... ........ to the bridge where we cast off from........

........ some activities by the locals.Tranquility surrounding and picturesque settings sure leaves you breathless........And, the fight begins.........Some of our best catches yet........

'Catch n Release' - that's the way to go!..........

Some of the smaller ones........

Who goes there? I wonder they are more curious about us or vice-verse???

More beautiful sceneries and more catches coming up......

Thanks to these steely shiny guys......... If not for these heavily battered soldiers, we wouldn't have been this successful with our catches....... In summary, over the 4 day period, the three of us managed to hook up 61 Common Black Bass in total, not counting the many lost chances............ And our guide Alex says this is not really such a big deal. He claims that on a good day during the right setting with the right tide movement, one can easily land over 100 fish per day. To make it more disappointing, we failed to land any Spotted Black Bass this time around........

Anyhow, this gives me the more reason to come back another day. I will get you Spotted ones in the not so distant future ..... I promised. Grrrr......!!!

The Mighty Black Bass - Part I

The start of yet another journey to Far East Indonesia with friends from Japan - Takeshi and Kazu.......

Our journey starts from LCCT, KL ....... and travelling by Indonesia's local domestic airline ExpressAir. In flight meal..... not that promising huh??!!..... coupled with self bought Malaria preventive pills - just in case. And the 6-hour journey begins........

Indonesia is definitely a country full of volcanic isles, everywhere you gaze you see small volcanic islands. Touch down......

Unbelievable! Look at the waters under the stilt house - so clear and serene. You'll hardly see this in Malaysian waters.......

Setting off from the nearby jetty......

Yet to the destination........Look how happy everyone feels...... forgetting altogether about the 2 and 1/2 hours ride that befalls us.Beautiful volcanic hills and isles greeted us along the way......Our car ride already awaiting for us at the jetty...... And yet more picturesque scenes filled our views ......

Not that INCONVENIENT a place as I had expected after all. Finally, our last stop for the day..... This is where we will put up for the next few days......

As the guest house next door is not ready, this is where we will be sleeping ....The soon to be ready guest house..... And off we went the next morning even before a tinge of sunlight can be seen......

We carried along with us fuels and all .... Came across a stuck in the mud truck....... We got going again 30 minutes later when the truck managed to pull itself out of the mud. We reached this upper part of the river 1 hour later. Due to heavy rain the night before, the water was a tad murky...... hope it doesn't affect the casting game......

Getting ready our gears for the Black Bass assault....... Black Bass casting game at the remote jungle river at the Far East of Indonesia....Yeah! Some of the gears in used...... Here comes our pre-arranged boat man to pick us up......

Even shallow waters and debris did not stopped us from getting through......First cast by Takeshi....... And we were rewarded with this beauties for our effort .... The biggies seem to elude us .... for now!

More small takes.......

Finally, a descent size Bass.....
Though the Bass caught was not so big, but they sure are aggressive strong fighters. Look at the damage it did to our lures below.......3 X Ownner's triple hook was straighten by it...... Look at the Black Bass that we've landed..........

Some locals with their catches...... We even tried further up river.......

..... more fish coming up.

Sunset feels like heaven here, beautiful place....... Looking for a new location, headed across to the island next to ours........

Approaching our new destination..... hoping to land our prized catch.
Making our way inwards up river..... AND ...... Sob! Sob! Still no biggie. Actually, it got smaller.
And no bass were caught either.... only some groupers.......

Well, we decided to head back to where we came from finally.Stopping just for our meal......Great catches...... Nice Bass came on my sub-surface lure.......
Cheers!!....... Yahoo!

Hitching a ride on a tipper truck back to the 'guest house'. It was breezy though......