fishing on langkawi island

[ChezzieM]

has anyone every been to this beautiful malaysian island?

if you haven't i recommend it.

what does it fish like, and what can you catch there?

im thinking of going back.

matt

[fishing-geologist]

Hiya Matt,

Have never been to Langkawi, although have been to Tioman, and Pangkor.

Fished out of a small boat at Tioman Island, absolutely beautiful. caught lots of wee snapper/bream type of pink fish. Also caught small groupers which seemed to be highly prized by the locals.

One day I'm gonna go back and catch the one that got away!

Chris

[marktheshark]

Hiya Chesilmaster
My parents fished Langkawi a few years back. They hired a speedboat from the beach and trolled Rapala magnums off the islands, especially the reefs and drop-offs around rocky headlands. Lots of barracuda, 10-20lb, plus a bonus spotted grouper around 5lb. Offshore seems to be very heavily fished and a lot of the standard game species have been hammered. Inshore, the area is famous for anchovies, which are turned into a local delicacy called ikan belis; so small silvery fry imitations might be a good idea.
There are good stands of mangrove in some parts, so it might be possible to spin or fly fish for snappers and jacks, and possibly barramundi (they farm them there); get as close to the roots as you can on a high tide and be prepared to lose tackle.
I've fished further up the Andaman sea off Krabi and Phuket. There are a few bonitos and dorado, plus small kingfish and barracuda to be had, tuna heads and simple 6in muppets (red/yellow very good for dorado, blue/silver for cuda) with a 1oz ball lead in the head work fine, with a strip of tuna belly whipped to the hook for scent. Use a wire trace. You might be lucky and find dog-toothed tuna or sailfish, and there is a run of small black marlin in our summertime, but these fish are few and far between now because of commercial pressure.
The shore fishing can be pretty hard on the plain sand beaches; off the rocks and around coral you'll find needlefish, jacks, small cuda, rays and all kinds of coral fish. Beware if you catch sea catfish (long, scaleless bodies, and whiskery mouths; their pec and dorsal fins have poisonous spines). At night on rock-strewn beaches in Thailand I've had a small, handsome silvery snapper with a distinctive yellow tail to cut-bait on a size 4 hook.
When I fish from the shore in the tropics I always try a method called Mark's magic balls (!!). You need a transparent oval bubble float, about 1in round; thread the line through the float and add a small swivel; tie a trace of about 3ft to this and put on a 1in epoxy fry fly (or any other fry imitation, or even a tiny muppet). Half-fill the float with water. This will be your casting weight. You spin this rig AS FAST AS YOU CAN on the surface; the float careers around, creating all sorts of splashing like a shoal of fry being harrassed. Jacks, needlefish and cuda come running to the noise and pick off the fly. It has worked for me everywhere warm.
There is quite an active shore fishing scene in Malaysia, and a fishing forum (www.fishing.net.my); it may be worth asking them for advice. If you want to do a web search, the Malay words for fishing are "pancing ikan". From my experience (I was born there) a lot of recreational fishing is done off boats with handlines for small reef species, but every now and then something bigger, like a grouper or snapper or coral trout is taken.
Hope some of this is of use!
Good luck - and let us know how you do

[ChezzieM]

thanks buddy, i will take a look. if i could, i would go and live there tomorrow.

[marktheshark]

No probs. It's a great country - in parts. Fishing has been hard hit though. You're probably better off shore fishing from Chesil ... if you ignore the temperature difference!
PS: I wrote a reply to a message you left about fishing one of the Spanish Costas recently. Then I checked the date and found the original was posted last year. Did you go, and did you catch anything?

[ChezzieM]

haven't been yet mate, im going in may and october. i will take a look.

thanks. matt