Just back from a wicked day out at Batu Abah, the main GT site in Bali. This was a last minute decision as I was supposed to be leaving for the UK to attend a wedding. What can I say other than thank you for the cancelled wedding...... (that's a whole other story... ).
Some members of this forum have been at Batu Abah when the north/south current is really running and it is an awesome spectacle. But I kid you not, today was like nothing I have ever seen there. The combination of the new moon with recent storms and 2-3 metre swells hanging around as an after-effect of that, created an absolute raging boil on the run up to high tide.
After about 40 minutes I realised the absolute futility of casting chuggers and surface sticks into that - it was just impossible to work them. I also realised that for the first time in years I did not have a single pencil in my bag. So it had to be sinking stickbaits and I started with the prototype new fast sinking Heru Bobara, which had been sent to me for testing. A very good choice as this little beauty started to get hit immediately and I did not fish with any other lure for the rest of the session.
To cut a long story short - lots of hits, lots of misses and some very solid fish landed. Pride of place goes to a brute of fish which had me convinced I was into a 50 kilo animal. What I didn't realise was the enormous effect the ridiculous current was having on that belief. This fish gave me hell before I got it to the boat. Measured up at 124 cm fork length with a beefy 101 cm girth. I called it at 40 kg but it could have been a bit more than that. Two other fish in the 30 kg class (and one little 17-18 kg job) made this a day to remember.
All the fish were caught on the prototype new Heru Bobara with my Endless Passion 82/38. I cannot speak highly enough of the lure. Although it is a fast sinker, I was using it with quite a speedy, tapping retrieve which meant the lure spent much of the retrieve in the sub-surface. It has a roll which looks so enticing and it behaves differently to the existing Bobara in that respect. It still has the darting motion of the existing Bobara. Absolute pleasure to use even in today's incredibly challenging conditions, and one to look out for when it reaches the production stage.
As always thanks goes to Adhek Amertha for setting up the day so well, and to his knowledgeable crew for doing all the right things yet again.
Some pictures. Not great pics by any means but good record shots and not a wide angle lens in sight
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124 fork length with 101 girth, about 40 kgs:
About 32 kgs:
And about 30 kgs:
A small one:
The pain beginning to show:
Prototype fast sinking Bobara which did all the damage:
Loaded up Ep 82/38:
