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The Ultimate Power-Driven Retractable Boat Top, A revolutionary solution for Sport Anglers. SureShade™ lets anglers fish with no annoying poles to…Read more...
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Greensboro, NC 27420
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Ocean-LED was formed purely to design and produce LED Underwater Lighting. With this new approach, companies using 'decades old' technologies of…Read more...- Mariner's Market >> Trolling Lures
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Keep your bait alive for weeks with the all new Bait Receiver from Baitball, a heavy-duty, perforated, floating bait container that…Read more...
Dogtooth of Indonesia |
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| Written by Danny Moody | |
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Every now and again I get a request to photograph a unique location or an exotic adventure. The call I received in September 2006 was one such opportunity. A friend of a friend was interested in hiring me to travel to the other side of the globe to shoot an advertising campaign. As with most such requests, I anxiously took the phone while noticing the stern look on my wife’s face who was obviously listening to the conversation. It was the same look that any husband and father know all too well. A look that says, “Don’t even think about leaving me with this house and kids for two weeks!” But traveling is part of my job, so travel I did. The Mentawai Island Archipelago, 90 miles off the coast of Indonesia, has been discovered by adventure seekers to have some of the very best surfing waves in the world. For more than a decade the pristine waters and tremendous swell generated from the Indian Ocean have invited a steady stream of westerners to the region. It is believed by some that if it were not for surfers, the archipelago may have continued to simply go unnoticed to the rest of the world. As the breathtaking region continues to grow in popularity, the true beauty the area holds is quickly becoming apparent.The Mentawai Islands are situated barely south of the equator. This prime positioning creates an ever-present summer and an abundant flow of warm, nutrient-rich water moving across the Indian Ocean. As these deep ocean currents merge with the shallow warm water surrounding the islands, an aquatic food chain like only a few other places is the world is created. To think that recreational sport fishing will ever be mainstream in the Mentawais’ may be a far-fetched dream, but the possibility of the area developing into an exotic angling destination with a wide variety of gamefish is wide open. When I first got the invitation to visit the Mentawai Islands, I had no idea what to expect. I knew I wanted to fish, but I had no clue of what type of gear to pack. The only ‘fishing’ information I could find about the islands was a few photos of surfers holding up mahi and tuna. There were certainly no articles about techniques or tackle used in the region. What I did have on my side though was that I was taking along an eight-foot long surfboard bag that would carry plenty of fishing rods and supplies. Packing was comical. I knew the boat I would be on for two weeks would have some fishing equipment, but what? I did not want to take the chance of not having something essential. I finally settled on a pair of 50 lb. trolling outfits, a pair of bottom jigging outfits, two light spinning rods and two fly outfits. All of this, along with a full tackle bag and plenty of camera equipment, had me looking like a traveling circus. Traveling to the other side of the globe… Flying to Indonesia is not something that you just wake up one morning and do. My good friend, Brett Duff, had decided to make the trek halfway around the world with me. He was anxiously sitting in the driveway of my house as both of us admired the mountain of luggage that was supposed to travel 13,000 miles over the next two days and hopefully arrive in one place and in one piece. After some heavy lifting, we had his SUV jam-packed and were cruising up the Turnpike to catch the first of five flights that would eventually land us in Padang, Indonesia. Landing in Padang was like being transplanted into a different world. Now, I am pretty accustomed to travel around Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, but this was a different story all together. Never before had I felt so far out of my circle of comfort. I can honestly say that I never felt threatened; just a feeling of being completely out of any element that I was familiar with. After we gathered our luggage, we were greeted by our driver who drove us to our boat. Trust me when I tell you, with his driving skills, it was a big relief to finally pull up to the dock. After quickly getting situated on board, we made our way out of the harbor and motored all night to reach the Mentawai Island chain some 90 miles away. Motoring out of the port, we could see a series of almost blinding lights beaming over the horizon in the direction that we were heading. Curious, I asked one of the English-speaking crew what they were. He informed me that they were commercial fishing boats drifting about 15 miles from us. As we motored through the night, many more of these lights could be seen across the water, literally turning the nighttime sky to a dim daylight. The bright lights are used to attract gamefish to the surface where the fleet trawls large nets. Fishing regulations in Indonesia are in their infancy, and the government is just starting to realize the valuable resource that their waters hold. A general sense of ecological awareness is needed in the country as the vast majority of the population lives in poverty and is simply unaware. The following morning, just as the sun started to edge over the horizon, I was awakened by a frantic knock on the cabin door. With my mind still in a different time zone, I sprang out of my bunk and proceeded to barrel out onto the main deck. I noticed two of the other guys on the boat loading trolling outfits into a primitive panga. They instructed me to grab my gear. We were heading out for the early morning tuna bite. It did not take long for me to wipe the sleep from my eyes and grab whatever I could. The big boat was anchored between a series of coconut-lined islands off one of the main islands, Kandui, in the Mentawai chain. Being in a new area and completely unaware of my surroundings, my instincts lead my eyes towards the horizon and the empty ocean that lay beyond. The only thought going through my head at this point was, “This sure is a tiny boat to be taking way offshore!” I hesitantly got into the panga and found myself and my camera equipment a dry place for what I believed was going to be a long ride to the fishing grounds. As the panga idled away from the make-shift mothership, I situated my tackle as the other two guys wired a couple of trolling plugs to their rods. Still within yelling distance of the large boat, they deployed their lures. One was pulling a purple/black Yo-Zuri Bonito and the other an orange/black Rapala-looking diver. Since we were still well inland of the outer islands, I asked the guys what the deal was. “We’re fishing. This is where many tuna run.”  In no position to doubt anyone, I simply played along. Much to my surprise, the first strike came within three minutes of the lures hitting the water. One of the Indonesian crew was on the rod and quickly reeled up a juvenile dogtooth tuna. Even though the fish was on the small side, this was my very first experience seeing a dogtooth and it was exciting. To be honest though, I was a little disappointed; the fish looked more like a mackerel than a tuna. Minutes later, a double header had two reels screaming. Both fish were cranked to the side of the boat and quickly gaffed. These dogtooth were noticeably larger than the first. By this time, the sun was full in our faces and the heat of the morning was making itself known. Still within easy sight of the larger craft, we quickly ran our catch in to chill for what I was promised would be the most delectable sushi dinner I would ever taste. Since this was primarily a surf trip, fishing was something that we did when we were not surfing. Traveling from surf break to surf break usually involved lengthy motoring across very fishy grounds. Our boat steamed at a convenient eight to nine knots which provided the perfect speed to deploy four trolling outfits off the stern. The favorite lures seemed to be dark-colored diving plugs. A hookup on this 80 ft. boat was a process not taken lightly. Whoever was minding the rods would hear the reel scream and set off a chain reaction of yelling across the boat until finally the Indonesian captain (who spoke no English) got the message and slowed the boat. On average, we motored within a half-mile of any of the islands with the average depth ranging anywhere from 100 to 300 feet. As the tide shifts across the islands, large volumes of water move quickly between and around the chain. This movement is enhanced by a large ground swell that can vary from a small heave to solid eight foot breakers. During one evening, I sat at the helm with the captain. I kept a close eye on the depth finder as we entered the evening hours when we experienced the most consistent bite. I watched as schools of baitfish rose to the surface from the lower portions of the water column as if someone had rung the evening dinner bell. We witnessed large boils pop up all around the boat tight to rip lines that the current created. The vessel would pass a large rip followed by an active school of baitfish and on more occasions than not, a double or triple-header of mackerel or tuna would be the result. Although no billfish graced us with their presence, we were informed that blue, white and striped marlin along with occasional sailfish are common when trolling the further offshore waters. Besides the good luck we experienced trolling, we also had a few productive nights of bottom fishing. Like any thriving reef system, the shallower waters that we anchored in would come alive with not much more than a small introduction of bait scraps. In virgin waters like these, it is easy to ignite a hot reef bite. The lights of the boat and scraps from the dinner table were enough to get schools of baitfish teeming which, of course, attracted large predators. We were most impressed by the number of horse ballyhoo that gathered behind the boat. We quickly learned to keep a couple of sabiki rods ready at all times as the ballyhoo were eager to eat and provided us with great bait. A strip of ballyhoo dropped to the bottom rarely went ignored. We constantly found ourselves tied to a unique variety of snapper, grouper and hard-fighting great trevally. I spent many days on that boat peering off toward the horizon, dreaming of the trophies the distant offshore waters held. I could only imagine the vast schools of un-pressured tuna and wahoo. I caught myself thinking about the extraordinary marlin fishery which exists here. It must be fantastic considering some of the richest billfish waters in the world are located just to the south off the continent of Australia. If one is adventurous enough, the sport fishing possibilities in the Mentawai Islands appear to be endless. I know that I am ready for a scouting trip on a modern, tricked-out sportfisher. Coupled with the diverse scenery and wildlife, the untapped fishing makes Indonesia a place I can’t wait to visit again. |
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