Bali GT fishing reports

[atte.mentula]

Tried to book onboard mr.Adhek.
The whole month was fullbooked.
I have this week time on Bali.
Can anyone suggest me the next best option after mr.Adhek?
Best regards,
Atte Mentula\Finland.

[Mark Harris]

Sadly, I cannot really recommend anyone else.  I hope another one emerges as it is mad only having one worthwhile charter here.  As you have found out, it is very often fully booked.

Poor second options would be X-plore Charters - used to be brilliant but the captain and guide both left - and  Ena Fishing.

What dates are you in Bali and looking to fish?

[Arve Evensen]

Thank you Mark.
Is the netfishing forbidden around the icland on Bali and is there a general commercial fishing rules connected to the inland waters.. ??

[Mark Harris]

Thank you Mark.
Is the netfishing forbidden around the icland on Bali and is there a general commercial fishing rules connected to the inland waters.. ??

Sadly, there are no rules or regulations, at least none that I know of. If there are some, they are neither known about nor enforced.   You do not see too much net fishing though.

[atte.mentula]

Thanks,Mark for your quick reply.
I was today onboard with some guys with a decent boat (Sweet Stanly).We saw during the day mr.Adheks boat GT1 as well.
We spent the day most obviously in wrong places at the wrong time since we did not get a bite during the the set (from 13.30-18.30).
Starting to let go of the idea of landing good-sized gt:s in\a round Bali.The best set was a week ago around Comodo-island,we took off from Labuan Bajo (approx.7gt:s between 4-7kg:s).
Quite huge disappointment the fishing around here in general.And I know what I am talking about (worked as a fishing-guide almost 10yrs+15yrs of travelling based on fishing).
Next winter propably going to fish on the coast of Kenya.
I have still a couple of days left here before heading back to Finland.

[Mark Harris]

As you will have seen from reports in this forum Atte, there have been many big GTs caught around Bali in recent times. I know of the Sweet Stanly boat and of the "guide"..... errrr...... I will not say anything.

So much depends on knowing where to be at certain times and how to target the fish at those times.  Otherwise, frustration will be the order of the day.

[atte.mentula]

Yes,you have that surely right.Getting a bit frustrated is my case more or less.Yep,noticed (again) that these guys did not know where the active fish could be found.Originally was supposed to go fishing on Sumba island but the unfortunately the Nihiwatu resorts boat sunk on my way here or so I was told.How unfortunate;D
Since that I Have been trying to get onboard around Bali+some other islands here as well.
So I have noticed that it is not easy here getting onboard with a professionalfishing-guide here.Frustration is ruling.
+Many thanks Mark for your answers:)

[Mark Harris]

Were you staying ay Nihiwatu?  Truly amazing place. Sumba is one of my favourite places on the whole planet.  Unfortunately the really good GT fishing is on the opposite side of Sumba from Nihiwatu.  There is good pelagic fishing down there in the south though.

Now you are member of this forum Atte, you will find it to be a great resource for finding info before you go travelling. I hope that this assists you in future and that you can avoid the unfortunate frustrations you have experienced in Indonesia this time.

[atte.mentula]

No,re-routed when got the information.Since it really is quite an remote location otherwise.
Yep,surely will do that in the future.(Unfortune to find out about this forum so late,been around here approx.4weeks+travelling\fishing alone which has been quite expensive lesson this time:)

[John Cahill]

Hello Atte, what was the name of the guide on Sweet Stanley?

John

[atte.mentula]

Hello John,

Local names are do not stay in my mind very well but if I remember it right,
it was Wyan.
So actually I was the only paying customer on board but there were these three local guys on board all together.Usually one other guy fished beside at the time.

[Brandon Khoo]

Guys

I just wanted to thank those of who made the effort to raise your concerns about the cable tie being placed around the tail of the GT.

To Adhek's great credit, he saw the potential for problems as soon as it was rasied with him and the practice has ceased immediately. It was a difficult issue to raise as Adhek has done some much to promote the sport and the need for careful CnR in the region.

For those of you who are wondering what harm a small cable tie could do, it is because of the potential for the cable tie to pick up algae and other attachments like barnacles over time. Those of you who have seen how tags look after some time will understand this. The concern is that the build up might cause the cable tie to ultimately cut into the caudal peduncle region possibly crippling the fish in time.

Anyway, thank you to all who have assisted in this, particularly Tony Fowler for explaining it (I was too dumb to understand) and Mark Harris who had the potentially tricky task of speaking to Adhek.

[Mark Harris]

Yep, it's a good result for sure and my special thanks to Tony Fowler for all his assistance.

The only thing I would add is that a formal tagging program will soon be started for Bali and Lombok GTs (and hopefully further afield in Indonesia), led by Adhek's efforts.

[John Cahill]

Great news Mark - Adhek will do well of course

[Mark Harris]

I was away for a fair bit of March and did not fish locally much at all.

Early March was a little quiet after the excellent GT fishing in January and February. However, later in the month some reasonable fish were being caught again at the Batu Abah site, many by a spate of Japanese visitors including Kawachi-san who was here again and seems to spend more time fishing in Bali than I do!

Here are some pics and as previously reported, no more cable ties. A big feather in the cap of GTPopping.com for that development.

I have included pics of a couple of GTs caught on inchi-ku gear - check out the size!  Very impressive for a PE3 set up.













Some GTs on inchi-ku gear: