Recommendations to Alor / Komodo Island

[Lenny Lim]

Good day, fellow enthusiast,

Any recommendation on guides to Alor / Komodo Island ?

Also, has anyone engaged the services of Marlinesia ? Care to share some reviews ?

Thanks.

[Andy Rowe]

Good day, fellow enthusiast,

Any recommendation on guides to Alor / Komodo Island ?

Also, has anyone engaged the services of Marlinesia ? Care to share some reviews ?

Thanks.

Hi Lenny,

I have previously used the guy behind Marlinesia, and my experience was far below expectations. Everything promised and paid for was below standard and the expected boat which we paid top rates for was replaced with a boat that you would not have paid a quarter the price for.

We were promised refunds, but over 2 years later these have yet to be received. This character is well known locally (in Indonesia), I would avoid him at all costs. He has a bunch of other websites that are all part of his game so be carefull. There are other well respected charters available, one of them is a sponsor on this forum.

Andy

[Mark Harris]

I too have had poor experiences with Marlinesia and can recount other tales similar to Andy's. My advice is to avoid.

For his Alor trips these days (it has changed since Andy's experience) the guy behind Marlinesia does use a very good boat and captain but you can book that direct. Marlinesia is just an agent.

[Andy Rowe]

Hi Mark, sorry to hear you have been touched by this middleman also.

I wonder what the real rates are for that Hatteras.

Lenny on a more constructive note take a look at Extreme Ulua and Kaisar, both very sound and professional operations with different set ups.

Both these areas offer stunning scenery as part of your fishing experience.

There may be more options coming up soon for the more adventurous.

Andy

[Lenny Lim]

Good day ! Mark & Andy.
Thanks for saving our lifes....This was gonna be our annual big fishing trip. Thank god, we found out sooner.

If Alor & Komodo was not on the list, we would have head to Exmouth or back to Shark Bay for some great fishing. The problem was the drive was too long (from Mandurah) especially to Exmouth.

Guys, do you happen to have the contact for hatteras you were mentioning ? 

Cheers and thanks again. I will be asking you guys again on the gear to bring to Alor / Komodo (especially the lines and lures)

[Andy Rowe]

Good day ! Mark & Andy.
Thanks for saving our lifes....This was gonna be our annual big fishing trip. Thank god, we found out sooner.

If Alor & Komodo was not on the list, we would have head to Exmouth or back to Shark Bay for some great fishing. The problem was the drive was too long (from Mandurah) especially to Exmouth.

Guys, do you happen to have the contact for hatteras you were mentioning ? 

Cheers and thanks again. I will be asking you guys again on the gear to bring to Alor / Komodo (especially the lines and lures)

Lenny I can't help on the Hatteras.

PE8 to 10 is optimal as with most GT spots, I hope you will experience a smoking by some of the rogue fish there. Some will suggest PE12 but it depends on you.

Komodo is not really for heavy jigging unless conditions allow you to cross to Sumba. Alor has good jigging spots perhaps Mark could on his jigging experiences there.

Take your usual assortment of poppers some quality stick baits may well prove worth the money.

Andy

[Mark Harris]

Lenny - I will drop you a PM with some contact details and post a bit here about jigging out there later today.

[Mark Harris]

Andy, love your new Avatar - where is that mate?

[Mark Harris]

Alor has some great jigging spots for Dogtooth, notably around the Pulau Kambing sea mount. 

Be warned though that the bust off rate is enormous - these are huge and very feisty Doggies that live their whole life in raging currents. On my trip to Alor last November we had bust off after bust off from unstoppable fish. Given the wicked currents, jig weight minimum 500 grams and often 700-800 required.  Jigging at night is especially exciting there!

As Andy says, Komodo and the other parts of Flores are better known for popping GTs.  There are notable jigging spots to the south around Sumba and the skipper of the Hatteras mentioned knows these well.

On gear, I fished PE8 and PE10 for GTs mostly with chuggers 120 to 180 grams. There are 50 kg+ fish there. so some might recommend PE12. Personally I absolutely hate fishing with line that heavy anywhere.

If you are there in the preferred October to January period, the light casting for tuna is a lot of fun and there are also much bigger YFTs to be had.

[Lenny Lim]

Good day ! Mark & Andy.
Thanks for saving our lifes....This was gonna be our annual big fishing trip. Thank god, we found out sooner.

If Alor & Komodo was not on the list, we would have head to Exmouth or back to Shark Bay for some great fishing. The problem was the drive was too long (from Mandurah) especially to Exmouth.

Guys, do you happen to have the contact for hatteras you were mentioning ? 

Cheers and thanks again. I will be asking you guys again on the gear to bring to Alor / Komodo (especially the lines and lures)

Lenny I can't help on the Hatteras.

PE8 to 10 is optimal as with most GT spots, I hope you will experience a smoking by some of the rogue fish there. Some will suggest PE12 but it depends on you.

Komodo is not really for heavy jigging unless conditions allow you to cross to Sumba. Alor has good jigging spots perhaps Mark could on his jigging experiences there.

Take your usual assortment of poppers some quality stick baits may well prove worth the money.

Andy

Good day, Andy. Thanks for the pointers ! Good on you, mate !

[Lenny Lim]

Alor has some great jigging spots for Dogtooth, notably around the Pulau Kambing sea mount. 

Be warned though that the bust off rate is enormous - these are huge and very feisty Doggies that live their whole life in raging currents. On my trip to Alor last November we had bust off after bust off from unstoppable fish. Given the wicked currents, jig weight minimum 500 grams and often 700-800 required.  Jigging at night is especially exciting there!

As Andy says, Komodo and the other parts of Flores are better known for popping GTs.  There are notable jigging spots to the south around Sumba and the skipper of the Hatteras mentioned knows these well.

On gear, I fished PE8 and PE10 for GTs mostly with chuggers 120 to 180 grams. There are 50 kg+ fish there. so some might recommend PE12. Personally I absolutely hate fishing with line that heavy anywhere.

If you are there in the preferred October to January period, the light casting for tuna is a lot of fun and there are also much bigger YFTs to be had.

Mark, what an awesome piece of advice....
I heard that Pulau Kambing is somewhat like a bermuda triangle for jigs 

The problem is that, we have all the GT popping gear but my jigging rigs are up to PE6 only  This can only mean more $$$ to be spent.

Btw, I heard that the focus now is shifting towards other islands within Alor or so called the Salpa areas...

Cheers guys.

[Mark Harris]

Lenny, there is a huge area to be explored around Alor much of it still pretty much unfished. Eg last November we tried a number of spots off the north and northeast coast of main Alor.  Really good potential there - we got into a couple of very large GTs but sadly lost them, only landing the 15-20 kg fish.  There are numerous other little fished spots which are worth trying if you have the time and boat range.

Have pm'ed you more info.

[Andy Rowe]

Andy, love your new Avatar - where is that mate?

Hi Mark,

This was the result of that rod bend on my avatar;

Re the location, just working on something new and low key and want to avoid the 'catch and keep' arrivals that have damaged other areas, prior exploring the full possibilities.

Will let you know soon.

Andy

[Mark Harris]

Nice one Andy!  I am busy speculating as to where approximately that might be .

[Andy Rowe]

Nice one Andy!  I am busy speculating as to where approximately that might be .

for the time being