Captain's Blog # 6
“My big fish must be somewhere.”
Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway Nearly every male angler I’ve had onboard asks the question, “How big do the Sails get in Kuala Rompin, compared to other parts of the world?” Frankly, it’s tough to get Sails over the 50kg mark in Kuala Rompin waters. That being said, over the past couple of seasons, we have boated a few Sails that were conservatively close to the 50kg mark– obviously not an official weigh-in by the IGFA but after catching well over 5000 Sails and fishing in these waters since 1998, I'm fairly confident about judging the weight of a fish both by handling as well as by sight. The best opportunity for landing a “big fish” in Kuala Rompin would be September to mid-November during the annual anchovy run, and it was during this period that the majority of the Sails pictured here were caught.
Choosing Tioman Island as a venue for overnight stays, has provided many opportunities of targeting larger adult Sails in the 40kg and above range in the blue waters (averaging 110ft) around Tioman FADs.
Large Sails have also been caught and released in the shallower water around Rompin (abt 65ft) but there's a much better chance of finding Sailzilla in Tioman without the distraction of marauding juve Sails baitballing and hitting nearly every bait cast in Rompin waters.
The world record for the biggest Sail is 221lbs or just over 100kg (Ecuador, 1947), so to get a Sail over the 60kg mark in Kuala Rompin would be significant….& one over 70kg would be termed a Sailfish "grander" since there are no known captures recorded above 200 lbs since 1947 (68 yrs ago)! The one that came closet was a 199 lbs Sail in 1968 (47 yrs ago).
For comparison, this is a list showing the IGFA World Records for Sails in other parts of the world:
Pacific Sailfish
1. Ecuador. 1947. The world record for men is a 100.24 kg / 221-pound Sailfish taken by angler Carl Stewart on 130-pound test line.
2. Panama. 1968. The women’s all-tackle record is a 90.5 kg / 199-pound fish taken on 80-pound test line.
3. Hawaii. 1983. The Hawaii State record is a 119-pound / 54 kg fish taken in Kona, and a 113-pound / 51.4 kg fish taken in Lahaina Harbour, Maui in 1979 aboard the Sport Diver with Capt. Tad Luckey. A 100-pound / 45.5 kg fish was taken in 1986 with Capt. Dave Hudson.
Atlantic Sailfish
1. Lobito, Angola. 2014. During the 10th annual Lobito Big Game Tournament in March 2014 Angler Marco Couto hooked a 64.6kg (142.6 lbs) Atlantic sailfish that surpassed the previous All Tackle Sailfish World Record of 141 pounds
Stacked up against these statistics, I can confidently say that Sails in Kuala Rompin have surpassed the Hawaii State record of 119lbs / 54 kg as we have over the years released at least 2 Sails well over the 50kg / 132 lbs mark.
A couple of pics (see below) show the size I'm talking about but nothing’s better than a TBF Release Ruler to rebuff the skeptics. The TBF Release Ruler takes fairly accurate measurements boatside w/o having the fish hauled onboard.
Bluesails Sportfishing's mission is to hunt down Sails surpassing the sweet 60kg /132 lbs mark each season.
