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| As of August 2013, Ah Fatt Kelong @ Sibu and the rest of the Kelongs near Sibu Island has been evicted and dismantled. Ah Fatt Kelong has since relocated to Penyabong besides Pulau Acheh. As of 2015 the new kelong is fully operational and receiving guest. A write up of the kelong at the new site will follow soon. |
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| Ah Fatt Kelong is one of the 4 kelongs you can find within the vicinity of Sibu Island on the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. Ah Fatt kelong is the northern most kelong along the string of 4 kelongs. This Kelong is run by a team of Chinese Malaysian crew, they can communicate in Malay, Chinese, Hokkien and simple English. Same as the rest of the kelongs, you'll need to pre-arrange with the kelong that you're coming onboard so that they can prepare your food and make sure that the ferry service pick you up at the Jetty. The kelong will also let you know the timing of the ferry at Tg. Leman jetty. For info on driving to Tg Leman from Singapore read this. For information on Tg Leman and the ferry service read the write up on Hotboys. |
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Ah Fatt is one of the larger kelong in Sibu and that equates to more fishing area. In the image above it shows the fishing platform on the north west side of the kelong. Below is another image of the same location. The structure to the right of the image is the kitchen of the kelong. |
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The next 2 images show the boat docking deck for ferries. This one is on the western side of the kelong facing Malaysia mainland, there is another boat landing deck on the eastern side of the kelong as we shall see further down. You can fish off this platform but there isn't many rod holder as you can see. To fish here, I leaned my set up on the benches which you can see in the image, but I almost had the rod pull into the water by a little barracuda. So if you want to fish here make sure you get a string or rope to secure your gear incase a big fish decided he want your multi 100 dollars kit to decorate it's souvenir case under the sea.
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The next 2 images show the fishing deck. This one is on the southern side of the kelong facing Hotboys and the rest of the kelongs. There the frontage of the southern deck is pretty wide so many people can fish here. The are also many rod holder available and this is one of the plus point for Ah Fatt kelong. You have to note that the current around the Sibu Kelongs flow north to south and south to north, therefore north and south frontage of the kelong really defined how many people can really fish on the kelong.
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Another shot of the southern front of the kelong. There are these two large fishing hole you can see in the image. There are many small fishes in it and for some specific species like the rabbit fish, its much easier to find them hanging around the stilts in these hole, especially those holes nearer to the kitchen. |
| The next two picture show the eastern deck of the kelong, the deck is pretty wide and there is even a little shed for you to take cover when the sun is too strong. As you can see for the images, there are plenty of seating available on this platform, so if the fishing is slow at night, this is a good place to seat down have a cup of coffee and talk cock sing song. Immediately behind this deck is the other place where the ferry unload it's passenger. You can see the top of the boat that ferry people around in the second image down. |
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| Below is an image of the showering and toilet facilities. No shower here, I am afraid. To take a bath, you gotta fill the tub that can be found in each of these cubicles with freshwater from a hose. And when filled, you just use a scoop provided and bath with the water you have. The toilet is also in the same cubical, and it has a sea view too. The Kelong believe in going green and everything is recycled :) |
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The generators are behind the 3 cubicles to the right. Behind the generator room there is a walkway which you can fish from too. Unfortunately I did not manage to take a shot of that. But from the back of the generator room you're connected to the back of the kitchen unit. The image below show the fishing platform behind the kitchen. And there you have it, that one round around the fishing platforms on the outside of Ah Fatt kelong. |
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| Some things commonly seen on kelong. The two images below shows the the preservation of fish by salting, this is traditionally how salted fish are made. The fish are gutted, salted and dried under the sun. They are also often seen stored in the generator room as it's hot (kinda like smoking salmon) and there are no fries in it. Fish species used are Golden Trevally (Boonang), Emperor, Queen Fish (Sam Po Kong) and barracuda. Cuttlefish and squid are also frequently dried on the kelong. Some of these are sold and other are dried on the request of the kelong guest who caught these fishes. They will collect on the next trip they're back. |
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There is a live well provided by the kelong, but you need to do your part filling it up before you take anything out of it. Be "automatic" and you'll be okay using this shared facilities. The share live well is the one show in the image above. And you can see the happy little "to be baits" herring swimming around in the picture. If you're those that don't play well with others, then the solution is to bring your own live well. Bring your own submersible pump that got a head power of at least 12 to 15 feet, a 10 to 12 meter power cord and a little kiddy swimming pool. And you're in business. The image below show one of such setup, since it's your own little pool you are free to use it as you like. In the image the party who own the live well decided to throw in their bait fishes, a tarpon (upside down on the right), a barracuda ( upside down on the left), a live squid (black thing near center left) and a couple of large Needle fish/Gar. |
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| Next comes the dinning cum office area. You make payment for the kelong at the office, they sell some fishing supplies like sinkers, hook, lures, etc. for those that might forget to bring these items. You can also get soft drinks from the office. Besides the office you can find the free flow counter that serves free coffee and tea black. Boiled fresh water is also free flowing and free. Ice is free too (when its available). |
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| At a corner of the dinning area, is a board with pictures of past catches, kinda like a "Hall Of Fame" kind of thing. This is a good place to learn what are the species present around this kelong. If you do catch anything worth putting up, you can put up your pictures too. You've earn your bragging rights if you catch anything comparable or large than what is on the board. Just ask the kelong hand to help you put it up. |
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Next, the sleeping quarters. Like all kelong it's open concept double decker bunk beds. A plus point for Ah Fatt kelong is in this area. Each row of beds is fixed with two auto-rotating fans and electricity is available 24/7. On a hot and stuffy day (or night), the availability of these fans will decide wether you have a bearable trip or a trip where you're walking around perpetually dripping with sweat in the day and swimming in your own perspiration at night. |
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| For "Preferred Customer" that carries the Ah Fatt Kelong Gold Card ( Frequent Ferry mileage accumulation), you can get allocated to the outer most row of beds that faces the southern frontage. The advantage of these beds are that it comes with a dressing table that allow you to prepare your rigs sitting up right, place your food, drinks gear, and most importantly watch your rod while seating or lying in bed! |
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| The service and food in Ah Fatt kelong is comparable to the rest of the kelong. The fishes you find here are also of those you commonly find in the water around this area. I have heard that Ah Fatt (and also Ah Yew) provide better fishing but that doesn't hold true in my opinion. Given the water at Ah Fatt is deeper than that of Hotboys, the 4 kelongs are located geographically too close to really make much difference. In my opinion it's more about learning the characteristics of the water surrounding the kelong and knowing where to fish, when to fish and what to fish for, that will put an anglers ahead on any of the four kelong. This is the reason why on all of these kelong, you can always find a few gurus that always manage to catch big fishes. And they usually only go to specific kelong, that is because these guru have spend much time on the kelong learning and trying before being able to get such results. |
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~ The End ~ |
