Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Memancing di tasik, muncul di lautan
Oleh Nuri Angkasa
MISTERI hilang daripada kumpulan masih mengisi halaman misteri kali ini. Semuanya mengaitkan peristiwa kaki pancing di tasik yang jauh dari perkampungan. Lokasi terpencil seperti itulah yang menjadi kegilaan sebahagian pemancing lasak.
Kumpulan yang diberi nama Pemburu dianggotai enam pemancing diketuai seorang anak ketua kampung. Rafiq, berusia 25 tahun masih bujang dan bersemangat waja dan lasak. Beliau tidak menghadapi masalah untuk turun memancing walau di mana saja dan akan bersama kumpulan enam orang.
Kumpulan anak muda sekampung yang berkawan sejak kecil itu dianggap kumpulan pemancing dermawan. Ini kerana setiap kali mereka pulang memancing sebahagian hasil tangkapan akan diagihkan kepada jiran terdekat dan saudara mara yang biasanya akan menunggu kepulangan mereka.
Tasik Lembah Buaya sering dikaitkan dengan penunggu. Namun kumpulan berkenaan tidak mengendahkan langsung cerita penduduk kampung terutama ketua kumpulan itu, Rafiq. Beliau tetap berpegang kepada kekuasaan Allah dan bukan kuasa lain tetapi beliau tidak pernah celupar mulut atau mencabar sesiapa.
Lokasi tasik itu jarang dikunjungi pemancing selain jauh dari perkampungan. Tempat itu selalu diganggu pelbagai makhluk yang tidak dapat dilihat dengan mata kasar tetapi nyata ada lembaga yang berkeliaran di kawasan tasik berkenaan.
Ketika memancing beberapa jam saja di tasik itu, mereka berjaya mendaratkan 15 patin bunga dan lampam sebesar pinggan.
Bagaimanapun Rafiq cuma mendaratkan dua ikan baung sebesar lengan. Kerana patah semangat, beliau berehat di bawah pokok jejawi rendang di tepi tasik itu. Tiba-tiba Rafiq dibawa oleh seorang rakannya bernama Azizul.
Mereka meninggalkan tasik itu untuk bertemu satu kumpulan pemancing lain terdiri daripada empat orang anak muda kacak yang sudah bersedia untuk turun memancing di laut. Rafiq dan Azizul dipelawa untuk turun sama dengan menaiki bot mewah berwarna putih yang lengkap dengan radar, pengesan GPS dan sonar.
Rafiq dan Azizul tidak menolak pelawaan itu lalu turun bersama memancing di laut yang dalamnya hampir mencecah 90 meter. Rafiq dan Azizul diberi pinjam sebatang joran dan kekili setiap seorang. Mereka bertarung dengan ikan bersaiz XL daripada jenis ikan tenggiri dan belitung yang berat mencecah 15 kilogram. Umpan ikan tamban hidup yang dibawa khas dari darat paling digemari oleh spesies ikan di laut berkenaan.
Kehilangan Rafiq yang tadinya berehat di perdu pokok jejawi disedari oleh rakan sekumpulannya, Azizul lalu melakukan operasi mencari di seluruh kawasan berkenaan.
Aktiviti memancing sudah dilupakan sama sekali. Rafiq mesti dicari atau pulang minta pertolongan sambil itu mereka mohon pertolongan Allah supaya Rafiq dapat ditemukan semula. Tindakan mereka masih belum berhasil dan harapan bertambah tipis kerana ribut petir serta hujan lebat datang tiba-tiba.
Keadaan bertambah kelam kabut. Mereka mendapat semangat baru apabila melihat Ketua Kampung, Pak Misran ayah kepada Rafiq datang seorang diri menaiki motosikal tetapi aneh pakaiannya tidak basah.
“Rafiq hilang?” beliau bertanya pendek sebaik saja meletakkan motosikalnya.
“Ya tok,” jawab Azizul tenang sambil memerhati ketua kampung itu pergi ke bawah pokok jejawi lalu melaungkan azan dengan suara yang kuat.
Mereka berpandangan tetapi dalam hati turut sama berdoa supaya Rafiq dapat ditemui.
Atas kehendak Allah jua lima minit selepas azan, Rafiq muncul sambil mengheret dahan pokok mati dan berhenti. Beliau hairan melihat Azizul dan ayahnya ada di kawasan tasik itu.
“Kamu ke mana,” tanya Azizul.
“Kan kita sama memancing di laut, tetapi bot kita karam. Aku bawa engkau ke pantai. Ini engkau yang aku heret,” jawabnya keletihan dan rebah tetapi disambut dengan pantas oleh ayahnya lalu dipulihkan.
Rafiq dibawa pulang dengan satu misteri. Azizul yang membawanya ke laut dan ketua kampung tidak basah pakaiannya ketika meredah hujan lebat menjadi cerita penduduk kampung berhampiran dan misteri kumpulan yang tidak dapat dilupakan.
Tetapi bagi Rafiq apa yang berlaku pada dirinya adalah nyata dan pulangnya semula kepada kumpulan rakannya juga nyata dan benar berlaku. Hanya Allah yang mengetahui perkara benar.
An Amazing Cabo Tale of a 300-Pound Mystery Fish
by Doug Olander
courtesy Joe Estrada
Huge louvar nearly fills the transom of the charter boat, with a 9-foot beam.
Just after sunup on Thursday, November 1, not far off Cabo’s famed arch, Estrada and two buddies — Wayne Tauer and Greg Graham, also from San Antonio — were headed offshore on Dr. Pescado II, when something not right caught their eye.
As they drew near to something at the surface, they began to make out what seemed an impossible shape -- longer than a man, a fish shaped remotely like a mahi but looking far different was swimming in circles. The bright red/orange/pink fish was like nothing they had ever seen.
The anglers learned later that their prize was a louvar. Louvars inhabit warm seas around the world, generally living in deep ocean waters near the surface where they feed on jellyfish. They’re known to grow quite large, and Estrada says they figured this one to be in the vicinity of 300 pounds. (A much smaller louvar was caught off Cabo in the mid-90s.)
They managed to gaff their fish and secure it to the boat’s swim platform to take back to Cabo. (The capture of this fish, by the way, is recorded on video.)
“These boats don’t carry ice!” Estrada says, with a tone of amazement. He didn’t want their catch sitting in the sun all day.
They had started in when — of course — they ran into fish. A major dorado bite and their skipper persuaded them stay out to catch some dodos. The captain said he’d find a boat to take the mysterious monster to Cabo for them and have it put on ice there.
And so he did: Another charter boat, the Marina II, came by, and the big fish was transferred via a buoy, all shown on the anglers’ video. “Our skipper, Oscar, told the other skipper to take it back for us and put it on ice. You can hear him saying that on our video,” says Estrada.
So the anglers stayed out to spend a few hours fishing for dorado.
Meanwhile back in Cabo, the scenario unfolding was very different indeed from what the group had assumed. The amazing fish (having lost its small scales off the front so it was now half brilliant chrome and half pink) was hung up and reported caught by the Marina II.
A photo quickly began circulating that showed the fish and next to it (considerably smaller) a man holding a chalk brag board listing the fish by its Latin name, slightly misspelled, with a weight as 300 pounds, and the angler as Josue Moreno (also listed as captain).
That photo and the story quickly went up on various websites. The erroneous report on a Pisces Sportfishing blog was subsequently corrected when Tracy Ehrenberg of the Pisces Fleet learned what really happened.
A while after that, Estrada and his group returned to the dock, anxious to see their mystery fish, get photos and start packaging up filets. They were shown the photo I mention above — and that was all that remained of the louvar.
“They had filleted the fish and divided it up among everyone at the marina! The crew of the Marina II claimed they had caught the fish, so it was theirs to give away.
“But what could we do?” laments Estrada. “We were in another country. The fish was gone.”
Could the other skipper have thought somehow he caught it? Estrada says maybe, but he’s very audible on the video made during the transfer referring to their fish.
It might have been less galling had it turned out that louvars are nasty as table fare, but “I found out that they are really good eating. And I love to cook fish,” Estrada says. “That was heartbreaking.”
But when all is said and done, the angler ends on an upbeat note. Regarding their week of fishing out of Cabo: “We had a blast!”
Source: http://www.sportfishingmag.com/Cabo-300-Pound-Mystery-Fish
New Zealand Fishing News
September 2012 edition
Writtten by Grant Dixon - editor NZ Fishing News.
It is a common enough expression for people to suggest taking kids is the future of our sport, but many just pay lip service to it.One who has gone beyond this is Parakai School’s Cameron Tamatahi-Davies (Mr T to his students!) who set up Fishing Academy NZ (FANZ). Cameron for two years now has shared his love of fishing with a bunch of students who gave up their own time to learn a little of the skills required to go fishing, along with its associated etiquettes and ethics.
Cameron involved a number of people from the community as well as NZFN staffers Mark Kitteridge and Grant Dixon in FANZ, helping broaden the participants’ knowledge.
Recently Mark spent a day on the water with the kids of FANZ and came away with some great shots and a nice story. One of the students graces the cover of this month’s magazine and story is quite inspirational as it shows how one person has gone from talking about TAKF to actually doing it.
The lead story this month also involves someone who has been instrumental in getting many people out onto the water, both in a practical and theoretical sense.
Sam Mossman spent a few days recently in Wellington and reacquainted himself with some of the Cook Strait residents courtesy of Pete and his charter vessel Daniel.
Pete is a bit of a legend in the capital’s fishing circles. He is involved in not only the tackle and charter boat scenes, but also hosts fishing classes as well. Over the years he has also contributed many articles to NZ Fishing News with landbased fishing one of his fortes.
There is a bit on fishing baits in this issue. Whangaparaoa charter skipper Damian ‘Damo’ Clayton takes a look at some back to baits basics while Adam Clancey explains why molluscs and crustaceans make good baits and how to apply them to your hook.
‘Flasher rigs’ go hand-in hand with baits and this month’s reader contribution from John Flynn gives a step-by-step guide to creating your own sabikis for a range of species.
One of the growing aspects of recreational angling is kayak fishing. This issue John Eichelsheim shares his first ‘yak fishing experience with a bunch of keen North Shore clubbies while regular kayak contributor Stephen Tapp tells the tale of a great trip to the Three Kings aboard a mothership. Taking on kingfish and ‘puka from a large vessel can present its challenges, let alone from a narrow ‘canoe’.
Also at the Three Kings this month is Mark Kitteridge. On his annual Pursuit charter trip, after a slow start the first two days, it all came together on Day Three. Mark’s story of that day’s action just makes you want to be there.
Staying with the gamefishing theme, Graeme ‘Bonze’ Fleet gives us part II of his Offshore Odyssey, this time concentrating on Bermuda where he was part of the marlin magazine team presenting the marlin ‘university’, as well as covering the action from a couple of big gamefishing tournaments.
Freshwater readers have not been forgotten. Herb Spannagl shares his shooting head’ techniques while Peter Langlands explains why he looks forward to sea run trout time, coming up just prior to the start of the trout season proper.
In his fair Chase column, Greg Morton checks out the canal action for trout and salmon while peter Shutt interviews Laurie Claringbold and his early involvement with the Waitati salmon hatchery.
The ITM Fishing Show’s presenter Matt Watson, now a veteran of over 200 episodes, presents part two of his chosen Top 10 episodes which throws in a couple of surprises.
Boats reviewed this month include the 9-metre Allenco Rod Baron as well as Kingfisher 625 Centre Console bound for charter work in Samoa. A range of the Pro-Hunter lures are also reviewed in the Tackle test section.
If you are looking for a good gift for Father’s Day, there is a double page selection of possible options, and at the very worst you can sign him up for a 12-month subscription to NZ Fishing News.
Fishing News is available from newstands nationwide. Subscriptions Phone 0800-113-441
Rare fish found in Northland dive site
Lindy Laird
Something Fishy: It's rarely seen in New Zealand waters,
but is it a unicorn triggerfish or a scribbled leatherjacket.
Northland's
marine reserves, wrecks and reefs are increasingly becoming home to fish species
from sub-tropical waters.
Five new or rarely seen species have been spotted at east coast dive spots during the past two months but the latest has scientists differing on whether it's a scribbled leatherjacket or a unicorn triggerfish.
The rare fish was captured on film last week at the Canterbury wreck near Deep Water Cove, Bay of Islands.
It joins a list of recently seen yellow boxfish, black-spot goatfish, eyestripe surgeon fish, two-tone wrasse and damsel fish.
Northland Dive partner Julia Riddle posted the photo taken by Charlie McVicar on Wade Doak's website discussion forum to try to find out whether the 50cm fish was a triggerfish or leatherjacket.
Te Papa marine biologist Andrew Stewart thought the long dorsal spine on the fish pins it as an Aluterus scriptus, or juvenile scrawled (scribbled) leatherjacket. Those spines become smaller as the fish grows, he said.
"I have also seen a photograph of another one, caught in the Northland area by a commercial vessel.
"It is a relatively rare find, and is only known in the New Zealand region from photographs," Dr Stewart said.
Five new or rarely seen species have been spotted at east coast dive spots during the past two months but the latest has scientists differing on whether it's a scribbled leatherjacket or a unicorn triggerfish.
The rare fish was captured on film last week at the Canterbury wreck near Deep Water Cove, Bay of Islands.
It joins a list of recently seen yellow boxfish, black-spot goatfish, eyestripe surgeon fish, two-tone wrasse and damsel fish.
Northland Dive partner Julia Riddle posted the photo taken by Charlie McVicar on Wade Doak's website discussion forum to try to find out whether the 50cm fish was a triggerfish or leatherjacket.
Te Papa marine biologist Andrew Stewart thought the long dorsal spine on the fish pins it as an Aluterus scriptus, or juvenile scrawled (scribbled) leatherjacket. Those spines become smaller as the fish grows, he said.
"I have also seen a photograph of another one, caught in the Northland area by a commercial vessel.
"It is a relatively rare find, and is only known in the New Zealand region from photographs," Dr Stewart said.
The species, found in tropical and subtropical inshore
areas worldwide, usually around reefs, grows to a metre long.
Malcolm Francis of Niwa thinks it's a close relative of the leatherjacket - the unicorn triggerfish or Aluterus monoceros.
"Both species have been recorded before in northern New Zealand waters but are very rare. They are semi-pelagic and associate with drifting seaweed and logs, hence can travel long distances on ocean currents," Dr Francis said. The artificial reef created by the Canterbury wreck at Deep Water Cove has become a magnet for warmer water species. Last Saturday, divers spotted a small turtle.
Mr Doak said a valuable amount of information was being collected by recreational divers coming across new and rare species in Northland dive spots.
"Wrecks provide a huge range of habitats within a short range. So do offshore islands, even if close inshore," Mr Doak said.
Some experts are putting the increase in warm water marine life down to the La Nina weather pattern which has heated the ocean around New Zealand by up to one degree.
Te Papa's Dr Stewart said records and species which have either been photographed or collected this year indicate there has been a "pulse" of warmer water species into New Zealand's northern waters.
Malcolm Francis of Niwa thinks it's a close relative of the leatherjacket - the unicorn triggerfish or Aluterus monoceros.
"Both species have been recorded before in northern New Zealand waters but are very rare. They are semi-pelagic and associate with drifting seaweed and logs, hence can travel long distances on ocean currents," Dr Francis said. The artificial reef created by the Canterbury wreck at Deep Water Cove has become a magnet for warmer water species. Last Saturday, divers spotted a small turtle.
Mr Doak said a valuable amount of information was being collected by recreational divers coming across new and rare species in Northland dive spots.
"Wrecks provide a huge range of habitats within a short range. So do offshore islands, even if close inshore," Mr Doak said.
Some experts are putting the increase in warm water marine life down to the La Nina weather pattern which has heated the ocean around New Zealand by up to one degree.
Te Papa's Dr Stewart said records and species which have either been photographed or collected this year indicate there has been a "pulse" of warmer water species into New Zealand's northern waters.
Article Source: http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/news/rare-fish-found-in-northland-dive-site/1051566/
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