April-May 1999 Update

From left to right: That's Clarence happily holding two decent-sized Snapper caught within seconds of each other; John with a table-sized Barra at night; Yup, that's Chris Soule with what's probably his last Singaporean fish to date, a Garoupa; Clarence with a hard-pulling Giant Catfish (tastes like Tenggiri too!!) and some Snapper; Desmond with a solid 2 kilo plus Garoupa, many seasoned fishos' favourite fish; Guek Fa with a nice pre-dawn Barra. JUST LOOK AT THOSE SMILES!!!

So what's your favourite...

...fish? Well, locally, I've got two categories of favourites: Best Fighting; and Best Eating. My favourite fighter would undoubtedly be the GT, such a pity huge specimens are so rare in our waters. However, the favourite eating fish would be the Garoupa... such tender, tasty, white flesh...mmmmmmmmm mmmm.

Amongst the rarer local species would be the Blackspot Tuskfish, Leopard Coral Trout and the Scarlet Breasted Maorii Wrasse of course... these are delicacies with tender white meet.
 
But realistically, if I had to choose a favourite fish that is reasonably abundant in our waters and has good fighting as well as eating qualities, I'd choose the Snapper. They don't only fight well and taste good, but they look good and are dependable (as in, there's a high chance of catching them) as well.

Sometimes, while fishing locally, I try to remind myself that beggars can't be choosers, so even the odd Catfish might bring a smile... and sometimes there's even a little tender spot for the much-despised Stargazer (or Kukup) too.

Whatever it is, to each his own . If you say your favourite fish is the Eel, I'd say "Good choice!" coz it's only right that we all grow to respect each other's views, be it on Favourite Fish, Catch and Release, Most Effective Rig, or Most Powerful Deodorant.

From left to right: Desmond with a highly-prized 2.5 kg Threadfin Salmon or Kurau and an assortment of fish; Just the usual overnight Northeast stuff like Barras, Mangrove Jacks, Snapper and Garoupa; Daniel with a dawn Garoupa; Chermin are rarely caught at night, but this one went against the norm; Sunset Sweetlip make a perfect calm evening; Des and me back at the boatel in the morning with plenty of good-sized Garoupa from 1 kg - 3 kg, and a Barra to top it off. 

People often ask me whether fish bite at night...

... "What do you think?" I would reply. Well they obviously do. But sometimes I have had to wait the whole night at a spot without a single bite and then suddenly, as the sun appears, WHAM WHAM WHAM, the bites start coming incessantly, at that very same spot!

 

But at other times, I have had to wait the whole hot day without a bite, and when the sun goes down, POW!!! a monster shows up.

What can I say? Well some spots do fire up at different times of the day and some spots are strictly "Day Spots" while other spots are labelled "Nightspots" not nightspots as in Boat Quay and Mohammed Sultan Road. (Stale Joke Alert!)

For variety, I go for both day and night fishing. Girls I know, on the other hand, seem to prefer night fishing as daytime fishing can get pretty hot in Singapore. Which type of fishing do you prefer?