Mencandat Sotong

Kuala Terengganu
Saturday 21 June 2008

April to July are normally the season for "mencandat sotong" and people from all walk of life would come down to Terengganu. It has been one of the Terengganu state tourism yearly activities and people could join in by paying certain amount of fee.

Squid Jigs

"Mencandat sotong" is simply catching squids using a simple line or fishing rod with few squid jigs attached to it. The heaviest jig would be attached to the end of line acting as the weight when throwing it to the sea. The jigs have to be dropped until reaching the sea bed, which is normally around 20 to 30 feet deep. Upon reaching the bottom, the line has to be retracted about 1 feet. From that onwards, we have to play the line with upward-downward movement until we feel the bite. Upon feeling the bite, we have to pull the line faster and land the squid on the deck.

This activity is quite costly when in a small group. We have to rent a boat ranging from class C to B. Class C boat can accommodate up to 10 people while class B up to 20 people. The rental for class C boat is in the region of RM200 to RM400 per trip (from 4 pm until 8 am the next day) while class B boat in the region of RM400 to RM600. If we require a simple dinner and breakfast on the boat, an additional fee of RM10 per person would be charged. All the fee is subjected to negotiation when making the reservation. Some operators would provide ready squid lines sell at RM16 to RM20 per piece. Catching squids doesn't require fresh bait but it attract to the boat light and the jigs would normally in the shape of small fish or shrimp.

Our entourage departed LKIM Jetty, Chendering at 5pm and was fortunate enough when nearly all of us managed to catch some squids and had good experienced of mencandat sotong. First timer would normally has either good or bad experience. They either experienced seasick and ended with vomiting for few times or catching the succulent big squids. Few of my friends had succumbed to the seasick and to kill the dizziness, they were all dozed off with the help of gentle swaying of the boat.    

Landing a long and big squid would be a dream to all of the squid catchers. Satisfaction could be seen on their faces with broad smile, even though they could buy it much more cheaper at the market. With less sleep, aching back and low catches; would not deter the "mencandat" lover to come again during the next "mencandat" season.