sunday fishing: Penor Bridge (estuary)

29 July 2007

Location: Penor Bridge, Kuantan Pahang.
Line Up: Jojie, Seli , Amriez

Last week (Sunday,22nd Jul) was my “no fishing” Sunday. I had to take my son to his kindergarten because they were having a Family Day . Eventhough, the event took place at Balok beach, I didn’t bring any fishing set.

Well, Today was a payback time. This time, we were hoping to catch some fish instead of GPs. Ostat and BabyFace had different agenda, so we had to split again.

This trip, actually happened in mistake. We were supposed to fish at Belat River using a 10 footer fibre with no engine rented from a friend’s friend. But after 2 hours waiting, the man hadn’t show up. We tried to reach him by phone, but there was no answer. So we changed strategy. We just fished on the river bank. We spent an hour and decided to head to Penor to fish at my cousin’s fish pond. Bad luck stormed upon us again. The pond was empty, there was no water in it. My cousin just emptied the pond due to parasites attack.

So, jojie suggested, we should go to Cherok Paloh, and we all agreed. On the way to cherok Paloh, we had to cross the Penor Bridge. From the distance, we saw an old man was casting his bait from the bridge. So we decided to stop and have a look on it. To our surprise, the man managed to land 5 Cermins, and dozen of cencarus.

After chit chatted with the old man, we decided to try our luck here and the trip to cherok paloh was cancelled. The kind old man was happy to share some of his baits with us. The baits, fish fillet (soak in anchovy sauce) were used and surprisingly the fish like it.

Kitang were plenty. After 4 hours of fishing, we took home 3 kg of kitang and other species like red snapper, bolos , and cermin . I believed, there are white barras terrorizing the place as I witnessed them on their hunting mission ( jojie called it killing-spree) . And, there were also needle fish (todak, crocodilus) , and they were the bad one. When you reel in ( to hook new baits etc), they will chase your line and cut away your hooks… it happen to me at least a dozen time.

Here is some info on Kitang
Family: Scatophagidae (Scats)

Order: Perciformes (perch-likes)
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
FishBase name: Spotted scat
Max. size: 38.0 cm TL (male/unsexed; Ref. 6028)

Environment: reef-associated; amphidromous (Ref. 51243); freshwater; brackish; marine; depth range 1 – 4 m

Morphology: Dorsal spines (total): 10 - 11; Dorsal soft rays (total): 16 - 18; Anal spines: 4; Anal soft rays: 13 – 15. Ground colour greenish. Juveniles with a few large roundish blotches, about size of eye, or with about 5 or 6 broad, dark, vertical bars. In large adults, spots may be faint and restricted to dorsal part of flanks. Body quadrangular, strongly compressed. Dorsal head profile steep. Eye moderately large, its diameter somewhat smaller than snout length. Snout rounded. Mouth small, horizontal, not protractile. Teeth villiform, in several rows on jaws (ref 43044).

Biology: Inhabit harbors, natural embayments, brackish estuaries and the lower reaches of freshwater streams, frequently occurring among mangroves. Feed on worms, crustaceans, insects and plant matter (Ref. 7020, 44894, 48637). The dorsal, anal and pelvic spines are believed by Philippine fishers to be venomous and capable of inflicting wounds (Ref. 6565). Used in Chinese medicine (Ref. 12166). In Hong Kong live fish markets (Ref. 27253). Marketed as fresh (Ref. 12693).