Jingu,

Greetings from Amsterdam. How are Jenny, Nick and
Susan? How was the summer season? Catch any fish? Just
want to touch bases and report about the recent
fishig. Since the relatively boring, yet fun and
inexpensive, ROLEX comp in late April I didn't fish
too much...but what I did was well cool! Tilapia in a
local frm pond and treking into primary forest in
Borneo to catch Emperao a delicious apparent cross
between a sucker and a carp that lives in clearwater
trout-like streams. migrates to eat berries and fights
hard. All good nature fun. I missed Korea and Japan
this summer and look forward to returning to continue
my studies and enjoy my friends in the near future.

As you know, I have dreamed for the past few years of
landing a respectable-sized Giant trevally (GT; Caranx
ignobilis or Ulua in Hawai뭝an) from shore. GTs are a
pan-tropical Pacific migratory species ranging north
to Hawai뭝 and west through Indonesia and grow to over
150 pounds. GTs are an extremely powerful predator
that feeds inshore on smaller fishes and other reef
creatures and eagerly strikes artificial lures fished
on or just under the surface. All this sounds a
natural to shore fishing possibilities. However, the
sad truth is that there are fewer and fewer shoreline
habitats that attract and support large pelagic
fishes.

One day last winter I read a brief article in
밐awaiian Fishing News?describing a first class
밓ungle Ulua Adventures?expedition to camp out on a
remote Java beach and fish for an abundance of GTs,
Bluefin trevally and other species. Big Dog and Cyrus
are hard-case surfer/anglers from California and
Hawai뭝 who obviously love to catch Ulua from shore.
So, after a few e-mails and little further thought I
was off to join them in Bali and arrange a two week
trip to nearby Java.

Our fishing terrain was pure paradise ?camped on a
white sand beach strewn with seashells and backed by
jungle with hornbills and monkeys, crystal clear water
and psychedelic coral reefs ?untouched by commercial
or sports fishing and only visited at extreme low
tides by a few local reef pickers. The basic strategy
was to either fish the sandy shorelines at full tide
and cast a lure over the back of a wave breaking over
the reef; or fish at low tide by walking out on the
same reefs and casting into deeper channels. Timing
casts to the rhythm of the waves while maintaining my
balance in the relentless surf proved tricky, but the
guides were great and the learning curve steep. Like
with any rocky surf fishing, safety is always the
primary concern.

I was casting a consistent 50-60 meters (30 percent
farther with a following breeze) with my 7.5 foot (too
short!) Shimano Bluewater T-curves but it really
wasn뭪 far enough. The 10-15 kg and 15-24 kg T-curves
had plenty of backbone, but they were too short and
too heavy at the tip to cast well. Not nice rods to
fish with! My goal is to reach at least 80 meters with
poppers or irons and be able to do it for three hours
at a time. This really is required if I want to have
any chance land-basing big GTs etc.

Apparently, fish were not as abundant as on previous
trips; few Bluefin trevs around and none of the 밼ive
hookups on five casts?scenarios. The surf was a bit
bigger than the guides would have liked, but otherwise
conditions were great. I was only the seventh guest in
two years, so it뭩 not a matter of over fishing, but
just a different mood for the reef. However, the GTs
were larger than average and included some absolute
monsters! Cyrus bagged an estimated 50 plus pounder
and Doc one closer to 80-85 pounds, both their
lifetime best. My biggest landed were around 25-30
pounds, both on poppers. Got monstered by huge Ulua
and caught smaller Papio (young Ulua less than 5 kg)
and various other delicious reef fish, all in a most
challenging and beautiful environment. Really comfy
tent camping and gourmet camp food and wine topped off
the package. Too much fun! I will try to return for a
rematch next June.

After returning to Bali I moved on quickly (too
crowded) and saw friends in Chiangmai and Kathmandu
(also crowded) for a couple of weeks where I also
scored more interesting hemp clothing for my
collection, even a couple of old hemp and wool sacks
from Bhutan. Autumn colors in New England and then a
session in the woodshop in my LA garage making poppers
are my immediate destinations.

In early February I will head back down to New Zealand
until April, when I hope to fish the Rolex comp at the
Spratly Islands with you again. However, this time I
hope we can fish on the smaller catamaran and get
closer to the reefs. You are most welcome in any of
these venues. You know I enjoy fishing and socializing
with you. In late April or early May I will return to
A뭗am, possibly via Kuching for the ROLEX. If I don't
have to return to A'dam for work I 'll be back in Java
battling the GTs in June. We should do our best to
meet up once again on the earthly plane! Stay in
touch!!

Best regards,

Rob