I was fishing with Uncle Thomas one day at a wreck off Penang Island, famous for its abundance of Silver Grunters usually around the Chinese New Year period, which happened to coincide with the North West monsoon this time around.

It was a warm afternoon with little breeze and as usual, when the fish aren't biting, anglers take a nap. We had already landed some decent sized Silver Grunters from the morning session and were waiting for the run off tide for another feeding session in the evening.

Out of boredom, I decided to try jigging for some kembung to see if I could land enough for Assam Laksa for the following day's lunch. On the first cast, I had a take. I was thinking the kembung must be really big for they gave a really good struggle.

When they neared the surface, I was thrilled to find not kembung but three big Threadfin Salmon (Senangin) attached to the bait jigs. Two were in excess of 3 kgs! The fish must have seen my face and got a shock for they made a sudden dash for freedom, both going the opposite direction! Obviously, the line gave way and I only managed to land the small one on the top hook which weighed 1 kg.

Disappointed but not beaten, I tied on a new set of Sabiki fish skin jigs, this time with bigger hooks and thicker line of 20lbs. The set of 6 hooks was divided into half as it would be easier to handle 3 fish at a time. Upon seeing my fish landed, Uncle Thomas also sprang into action.

Each cast with the jigs resulted in a positive hookup and the Threadfin gave a tremendous account of themselves, running left and right and surging down deep whenever the landing net was sighted. The sortie only lasted half an hour and as quick as they arrived, they departed.

In one memorable trip, my fishing buddy Aik Pin and I had a ball catching these marvellous and expensive fish. We were drifting above a wreck known to produce big Tripletooths but as soon as the Threadfin arrived, the baits did not even have any chance to reach the bottom. Every cast caught a fish and the final tally for that hour was 11 Threadfin Salmon.

Threadfin Salmon are a gregarious schooling fish, taking baits with gusto. They seem to be attracted to lumo beads found on bait jigs. This is probably because they mistake these as little prawns and when a group of these beads bounce up and down, they resemble a whole school of baitfish or prawn swimming around, thus triggering an attack from the school. Baits such as kembung (mackerel) fillets or prawns work well as well when fished about 4 - 7 feet off the bottom.

Threadfin are also found inshore in coastal waters off sandy bottoms, hunting prawns, gelama, billis (anchovies) or bulu (sand whiting). Rig up a bait with two 2/0 suicide hooks on the back and cast out as far as possible. No wire is needed but a mono leader of about 30lb is recommended to stand up to the abrasive mouth of the fish.

Threadfin are top table fare and fetch a high price in local markets. They are best steamed when fresh or cooked in assam curry.