Oct to Dec 2006 - Barras and Pond fishing

2006 Oct to Dec Archives... Some NICE BARRA

The last days of 2006... 

were spent fishing. Most were short trips. The weather was wet all the way and I knew the fish were not going to be in a hungry mood, but I still went fishing anyway. I think it's the expectation of catching a fish that makes fishing so fun.

  On 26th Dec, I brought my kids to the Punggol pond, but it was raining the whole time, and we caught nothing. In fact, many there caught nothing, and when the guy lifted the net, he had to scoop up more than 40 dead or dying fishes from his nets. Poor chap. 

My kids having some fun waiting for the bite that never came, but they had fun anyway

Then on 28 Dec, despite the rain, I launched the boat and fished for 2 hours in water that looked like milo. But I saw some action in an Ubin river, where I got some good bites, but lost the fish to the snags. These rivers are hard to fish man, especially in the rain. 

Here I am in the rain, trying to coax my fish out of the snag, but to no avail, my line snapped eventually

But the next day, 29 Dec, was better. The rain finally stopped! So even though I had a meeting till 3.30pm, I launched the boat with my guest angler, the notorious INVISIBLE MAN (actually this guy was on MC, hahaha...), and we had a great time pulling in the hungry fish in one hour of fishing. 

Here's a small ray I landed, just right for a small family's sambal ray dinner

For obvious reasons, the invisible man couldn't appear on camera, so I had to pose with two of his fat grunters (we caught more than that, of course). 

It was constant action the moment we dropped anchor, I guess the fish were hungry after so many days of rain

So we ended 2006 on a high at least. I actually started 2007 on a high too! With a short family trip, we all landed some stuff. Here's the 1 Jan 2007 customary trip, and I'm holding up a grunter while my youngest kid plays with a Croaker. 

The family came on board, and caught some stuff too!

I fished again on 6 Jan 2007, but I'll leave the story till the next time I get my hands on a laptop. Happy New Year!!!

14 Dec 2006 - 10 minutes of fishing while on holiday

- Haha... I'm actually on a short holiday on an offshore island. Brought my small telescopic rod and a few lures, so I just popped out of my hotel room after dinner, made a few casts, and caught a GAROUPA!!! Took some pics and threw it back.

The horizontal angler was present watching me cast my lure and he suggested casting on my left, and that's when I caught the garoupa, using an 8cm pink nilsmaster invincible. 

How's this for a quick Garoupa???


Btw, made a memorable first hole in one on Saturday 9 Dec 2006. OK, better go back to my holiday...

2 Dec 2006 - Monsoon Season? Bite Window getting smaller?... The Day of the Monster Fish!!!

Out for a full session of fishing today with Norman, John, Philip and Chng.
The bite window was going to be small today cos of the mono-directional outflowing current, so I tried hitting the Barra zone early, but was a little too late.

Bites were indeed slower, partially due to poor tide conditions and poor weather the last few weeks (too much rain). Anyway, I lost a few good bites, strong takes, and caught a few small fish at the first spot when Norman struck into what was to be the best fish of the day... a healthy one kilo Barramundi -- his first wild Kim. 

Norman and (the late)John with a Beautiful Barra

Anyway, we shifted around quite a bit but found the going slow, until the Mud Channel provided some entertainment when I landed a Malabar Red Snapper and a decent Garoupa.

But Philip was going to encounter... MONSTER!!! As soon as I landed 2 sting rays, and John added another ray, Philip's drag started screaming at high speed!!! Fish on? Or was it a speedboat?

Seeing this happen before, we immediately upped the lines and I proceeded to follow the boat around in order to save Philip from getting spooled out. We could already see the metal at the base of his spool.

Finally, we slowly caught up with the submarine and Philip started retrieving line. Unfortunately, after the fish turned and ran again, the line snapped. Sigh... it turned out that Philip had tightened his drag to the max until no line could come out. It was his first time fighting a big fish, he said, and he didn't know that the drag was supposed to allow the fish to run. Sigh... I guess we all have first times. If his drag setting had been ok, we could have chased the fish with the boat till it tired itself out, but nevermind, I guess we'll have to target the monster another day. And Philip can tell his family about the BIG ONE THAT GOT AWAY.

Poor catch, but quality fish at least 

After this encounter with a Spooler Outer, I think I'll go target these buggers during the next few weeks. Watch out for my report on the MONSTER of UBIN landed!!!

1 Dec 2006 - Short boat trip with Bren - Brendon passed his pleasure craft license recently, so he took leave and we decided to go fishing on the boat.

It turned out that Brendon's good feeling was right. At the first spot, we fed the fatboys till, as I expected, the Wild Saltwater Barra struck! My custom made Siakap Rod went into full bend as the Barra went for a run. Good speed too! After a few moments, I knew the fish was tiring as the fish surfaced near the boat. Beautiful Barramundi man!

Brendon helped with the landing and we spent a while admiring the fish. 

A good sized Barramundi for a family dinner!

Soon, we ran out of bait so we topped up the bait, caught a coupla insignificant fish, and then at Cliff Valley Brendon caught a healthy Estuary Cod.

We called it a day early cos we both had family duties. Another wild Barra for the record! Tomorrow going again. Yeah!

30 Nov 2006 - Freshwater and Pond escapades

- Did some small time pond fishing at Punggol with my younger one and landed a Mangrove Jack. Not much action there on Tues 28 Nov, but still fun for my kid. 

A young angler in the making? With a magnificent Mangrove Jack!

Today went with Bryan to do some lure fishing at a few freshwater locations and landed a few Peacock Bass, and lost a few too. Quite a fun morning. 

A nice Peacock Bass ready for release 

Tomorrow and Saturday will be doing boat fishing. Hope for a decent catch and fine weather.

Short November 2006 update


- Due to lots of golf, inclement weather, and lack of internet access cos I'm hardly in the office during Nov to Dec, here's a very brief update of my fishing activities.

Did lots of short morning trips to the reservoir to spin for Peacock Bass, went to a pay pond at Yishun and one at Punggol. (Both had plenty of fish that were relatively easy to catch. With good variety at the Yishun pond too.) 

Here's my younger daughter posing with another lure caught Peacock Bass... notice the metal spoon I'm using?

Like I said, the weather was quite bad, with fierce afternoon thunderstorms, so I spent some time checking out the Ulu parts of Singapore for land-based fishing. 

Landed a nice Malabar from one of our Northern Swampy locations, but I'm not going back there again!!! Plenty of sandflies. 

I also entered a fishing competition at Keppel Club, landed a 2.2kg toman which was no where near the winner's 6.5kg toman. But was glad to be there cos I managed to rekindle an old friendship with an old primary school friend Berlin, and he introduced me to another fishing fanatic Bryan. By the way, my friend Berlin was the overall champion for that competition, with the 6.5kg toman. 

Overall, the land-based fishing has produced some pleasant surprises, I even enjoyed an afternoon watching people swim for dazed fish at the Seletar Dam after the water was released... quite huge fishes actually surfaced cos they couldn't take the saltwater. Song He, Toman and Peacock Bass... what an interesting sight! 

Well, since the golf club's closed today, I think I'll go fishing now. Some boat trips coming up, stay tuned for the fishing reports... though I'm afraid the recent storms might have slowed down the bite. But a bad day of fishing still beats a good day at the office!!!! 

2 Nov and 4 Nov 2006 - Freshwater escape.

 For a change, and some variety, I decided to explore some freshwater spots since I had time to kill on Thursday (2nd Nov) morning. So I headed down to one of our legal reservoir spots with some lures to target Peacock Bass, but I didn't expect to be so successful.  

When I first arrived at the spot, I saw a sign reminding anglers that only artificial baits were allowed. No fears, I had my arsenal of lures ready, and so I tied on my trusty Hydrotiger and started casting...
and casting.... till my arms were a little tired, but still no take, so I walked down the path to another fishing section, and saw a little surface action. Still no fish showed interest in my lures, so it was time to change. 

I took out a metal spoon and cast, and with my second cast, which was a poor cast that didn't go far, a violent strike shook my whole rod the moment I moved the lure. FIGHT ON!!! 

There was a clear jump and flash of colour as a good sized Peacock Bass cleared the water. After a good fight, when the fish tried to snag me in the weeds on several occasions, I had the fish on dry land... what a nice fish! 

Peacock Bass can be pretty good fighters but from what I know, they're not really good eating, so I set about to release the fish, but a guy fishing beside me asked for the fish, so I gave it to him. 

The next few casts were also rewarded either with fish or good strikes and several misses. But I did manage to land at least 10 Peacock Bass (threw most of them back as they were tiddlers) but I managed another good sized one which was taken by the guy beside me again. 

Here's the two 'keepers' ... beautiful colours!
Introduced into local waters a few years ago, the Peacock Bass (from South America) appear to have taken over our waterways. They seem to be breeding in huge numbers too, judging by the number of tiddlers I landed. 

Many tiny ones like these were caught and released 


I had a fun time landing the Peacock Bass and gave Sunny a call, remembering that he wanted some Peacock Bass for his private pond, so we arranged for another trip on Saturday to catch Peacock Bass to stock his pond.

Before I left though, I spotted an angler landing a fat Soon Hock and couldn't resist taking a pic. 

Now THIS is what I call a nice eating fish... hard to catch on lures though, but definitely possible

Anyway, on Saturday (4 Nov), Sunny and Des (briefly joined by Wee Boon) came down around 7am to the spot and I showed them the artificial baits that worked best with Peacock Bass, and then the action began!

We didn't catch much at first, but a Japanese guy using a metal spoon started by landing a good-sized Peacock Bass, and gave it to Sunny. Then we all started landing Peacock Bass in various sizes, and I added another good-sized Peacock.

Des was fighting a nice Bass when it was suddenly attacked by a Toman near the shoreline, and the fish was bleeding badly when landed. That was exciting.

Anyway, soon the box was full of swimming Bass, and we headed down to Sunny's pond to release the fish. (And of course do some fishing)

The Bass were released, with some casualties of transportation, and some of the Bass immediately tasted the wrath of the resident Tomans, as huge splashes and injured fish were soon spotted around the pond.

We wasted no time catching Tilapias and using them as bait. Of course, Tim and Bob were there and several Patin and Rohu were landed, and I landed many Pink Tilapias and fought several BIG FISH!!! Most fish caught were released again, except those which floated up again soon after release.

Overall, fishing in freshwater provided a refrshing change from the usual boat fishing. And the action was good too! Screaming drags all the way! 

Here's one of the smaller Tomans which we tried to release after landing, but it didn't survive, sadly

28 Oct 2006 Sat with Norman, John and Chng.... 7 kilo Barra and Kuraus

 - Out for some serious fishing today, and rounded up the posse at Changi Village before heading out to sea. A great day lay ahead of us.

The first spot was the Cliff Valley and it pulled off some pleasant surprises. Almost immediately after anchoring, I let my line down in the very clear water and settled to eat my Chai Peng with Chicken Chop. I saw Ahmad and Old Man's Boat go past and we wished each other luck for the day.
Then the action began. After finishing my rice, I went to my rod, reeled up my line, checked the bait (all still alive) and cast my line towards the cliff edge...

WHAM!!! My line was running out and the rod was in a good bend. After a good fight, a decent Chior Lor (Javelin) came to the surface, and Norman netted the fish. That was a good start. So I rebaited and cast my line to the same spot.

BAM!!!! Another strong take and this time the fish was fast, changing directions frequently, and when I netted it, I was pleasantly surprised with a decent sized Threadfin Salmon (Kurau).

That's when everyone else got in on the action, with Chng landing several more Grunters and Chior Lors, and John landing Gelamas and Catfish (we were disturbing him about his luck the whole day). Then Norman had a strong tug and after a brief fight, he contributed with a table-sized Chior Lor.
'You're gonna get a Kurau next, just like me.' I said to him,'cos after I got my Chior Lor I got a Kurau...'

True enough, on his next cast, Norman had a good pull and pulled in a slightly smaller but still beautiful Threadfin. 

John shows what a good photographer he is by chopping off Chng's head in the photo... and half a Kurau

After catching so many fish that I lost count, I decided to change spot for some variety. So off we went to many different spots, and I found myself at Tekong, where 2 Garoupas and a Bream were landed on my Hongkong Hook method.

After more shifting a not much action, we finally reached Good Feeling. And the feeling was GOOD!!!! About 5 minutes after anchoring, I had a strong pull and fought a Barra around the 3 kilo mark to the side of the boat, then Norman's line got entangled with my line, and the fish jumped out of the water before shaking off my hook. Well, at least we all got to see the fish, right?

Chng was inspired, so he dropped his line straight down, like mine and soon he was into the fight of his life!!! As he sat there, he felt a slight tug at his rod, and he was telling us to look at his rod tip. Then....

ZZZZZZZZAAAAAAGGGGGGGG!!!!! His rod bent almost to breaking point and his line started screaming out of his reel at amazing speed. This was a huge fish!!!

Norman thought he could be helpful this time and he promptly tightened Chng's drag, thinking that Chng's drag was too loose... and Chng's line almost snapped!!! As the fish was still taking line at maximum drag setting. Fortunately, Chng had the experience and presence of mind to loosen his drag a little so that the hooks wouldn't straighten. He has caught his fair share of big fish before anyway.
SO.... the fight was long, and Chng was pumping the fish in whenever the fish stopped pulling drag, and then, after a good 5 minutes, a huge white shape became visible below the boat.

'WOW!!! What's that?' exclaimed John as the fish came up to the surface.

It was the biggest Barra any of them had ever seen!! (Of course, I've seen many of them before, some even bigger, see my 10 kg Barra pic?) But it still looked beautiful to me. Norman soon had the head of the fish in the landing net and attempted to lift the fish, but he had some trouble cos the fish was so big. Nevertheless, with some help from John, they got the fish into the boat.

'That's the biggest proper fish I've ever caught!!!' shouted Chng. (He has caught big rays and shovelnose rays before, but never a proper scaled fish like this!!!)

We gave high fives all around, and took several pics with the fish. I took out my brass scales to weigh the fish. Chng said, ' 7 kg'... and he was spot on. The fish really weighed exactly 7 kg! Chng said ,'Of course I know, I had to carry that heavy thing while you were taking the photos!'
So here's Chng with the 7 Kilo Barra. 

A Barra this size weighs 7 kilos.

We caught a few more fish, I lost one more barra at boatside... sigh.... but at least I still had several good fish in the ice-box. Chng was definitely the champion of the day!!!
Great trip man!

24 Oct 2006 Tuesday - Mermaid Hunting

- Had to bring the family out on this Hari Raya holiday. Since my wife wanted to bring her friends onto the boat, I brought everyone out for a short cruise and some swimming at the offshore islands. And Bala got lucky with a mermaid. Haha.

First we visited the Aunty's farm, and admired the fish and seahorse. Chatted with Ah Seng (now the diamond man, but also the prawn man of changi) for a while, and he showed us the seahorses for research with NUS. 

Here's the whole gang at the farm 

Then we headed to some clear water area for a swim. I dropped the kids and the gals at Croakie's Island, and proceeded to fish with Bala and Pat in the channel.
Then Bala got lucky.... Ubin had a mermaid waiting for him!!! 

The mermaid takes the bait





Bala helps mermaid Jo out of the water

Then mermaid Jo starts fishing and see what she catches? 

Vegetarian fish 

On the whole, just a fun trip. No mermaids were harmed during the trip, and no fish were caught.

21 Oct 2006 - Saturday land-based fishing

My maid had to fly back to Indonesia today so I sent her to the airport at noon. Then I realized I had a little time left for fishing, and Des suggested a spot in Yishun, so we were soon on the long dirt track in Yishun heading for a swampy area with a pond.

Using live prawns and a float, I had an almost instant strike that left me shocked! The fish just ran and my tight drag couldn't stop it... and then my line went limp. After I wound up the line, I saw that my hook had straightened!!!

After that shock, we both experienced a moment of no bites, and then Des was called by his Home Affairs Minister... 'Oi, your son has woken up and is looking for you...' So off to home Des went, and I'm alone.

Then I cast my line again, and immediately saw a barra strike my bait (the water was so clear), but i missed it. And rebaited, then a huge fish swiped my bait from just 3 metres in front of me, and the fight was on. BIG FISH!!! Turned out to be a big Golden Snapper around 2 kilos. Cast again and got a second one. Both fought hard.

Here's the catch... from the Yishun Pond. 

  2 golden Snappers pose with my slipper... both above 2 kilos... a break from boat fishing?

14 Oct 2006 - Saturday... from bad to good

- Gerald, Hansel, David, Daryl and Kuanwai came on board for some fishing fun (which almost didn't materialize).

After meeting at Gina's to get bait and food, we went to the boatel and tried to launch the boat.

Problem One

The tilt motor was not working properly. So Tsang was quickly called in and his experience showed as he solved the connection problem in minutes. Problem solved.

So we headed to Coney Island for our first spot, and just shortly after anchoring, I took out my chap chai peng and started to eat.

Problem Two

Immediately, I saw an MPA boat headed our direction from a distance, but I continued eating. Then the guy came closer, and I knew trouble was afoot. Sure enough, the MPA guy came out and checked my license and even asked about my lifejackets, and he warned me not to fish in this area because it was in the shipping channel. I was even invited on boat the MPA boat to see his chart, which apparently showed that EVERY spot on this side of the channel was IN the channel, even if I was fishing from THE SHORE. (I decided not to point this out to the MPA guy, and it was the right decision, as he let me off with only a stern warning... phew, no fine.) Problem solved, I'm never gonna stray into problem areas again!!!

Those turned out to be blessings in disguise, because I was forced to move to several of my old spots for the rest of the day. One of the old spots, the Cliff, was firing up.

Gerald was the first one into a nice garoupa, and we were glad the accounts were opened. 

WATCH THE BEND!!! 



A healthy Garoupa

We caught some other stuff, then moved to Ketam, where the fish were really biting! Kuanwai cast away from the boat and landed a Ketam Barramundi. Then I had a heavy pull and it turned out to be TWO fish on one line. Both were quality fish. In one minute, we had a Barra, a Snapper and a Garoupa (the three Kings of Ubin).

A happy Kuan Wai with a wild Barramundi

A good double header of quality table-fare

We caught more stuff like Garoupas and other things, then decided to go for Grunter. So at the fast current zone, I rigged up for Grunter and was happily surprised with a hard pulling and beautiful Malabar Red Snapper. 

Quality Fish like this are wonderful 

And there was plenty of action as I moved around the zone, catching FOGS(friends of Grunter) and finally the Grunter School arrived.

And within 5 minutes, I fought and landed two VERY STRONG drag-pulling grunters, fat ones too!!!

 

Have you tangled with any of these? Strong fish man!!!!

After several more grunters and stuff, we headed back... around twenty good fish were caught. Looks like the bad day turned good in the end, and it still beats the office. 

Here's some of what we caught, gave the FOGs to the tractor man's wife... she was so happy

2006 Jul to Sep Grunters with Norm and John

July to September 2006 Fishing Stories... Grunters save the day

23 Sep 2006 – Usual Saturday Trip. 

Marshall Norman and his brother-in-law retired Navy guy (the late) John came along for a relaxing fishing trip… but the fish did not give us time to relax.

Since the wind was stronger than expected, I did not go for the Snappers and Garoupas I originally wanted to hunt, because I did not know how Norman and John would take to the choppy waters. (Only later when John started talking about his years of experience in the Navy since the time of the British in Singapore did I feel it was OK to go into choppy water… he was a NAVY guy man!!! Able to tahan any type of water conditions.) But the initial choice to go to sheltered waters was a blessing in disguise.

I had a Good Feeling the fish were gonna bite (and Ahmad, whom I bumped into at Raffles Country Club a week or two ago, was talking about the Ubin Barras, coincidentally)… so I tried for Barramundi, and caught two of them. Here’s what happened.

After anchoring nicely over the spot, I proceeded to set my lines around the snag, and I hardly had to wait before I noticed my line swimming against the current, so I picked up the rod, wound in the slack, and STRUCK into what I was expecting, a Barra, and then ZAMMMM! My rod was strained into a full U and the drag was screaming nice and loud. Norman and John were surprised at the strength of the fish… and it took line, I took line, the battle was hard, and the fish was intent on forcing its way back into the snag. I knew there was a brute Saltwater Barra on the other end, and fully enjoyed the tough fight, trying to turn the head of the fish. Eventually, after some anxious moments, we caught a glimmer of silvery gold in the emerald water and Norman started commenting about the size of the fish. It was a nice big wild Saltwater Barramundi. John kindly netted the fish and we let it swim about in the bait well.

Anyway, after the commotion, I settled down to feed the fatboys again, but soon landed another barra around a kilo. I guess the barras miss me. Haha. 

How's this for another exciting Barra episode? Ubin Barras still active! 

OK, enough of barra, time to let everyone catch fish, so I moved to PRIME location and anchored the boat very nicely into the strong wind. Then all the action began!!! Silver Croakers (Gelamas), Eel-tailed Catfish (Toh Sat), Stingrays and Fork-tailed catfish (Ah Sengs) kept everybody busy. A rather interesting Yellow Croaker appeared on my line in the midst of all the action. After catching more than 60 of these, Norman and John were very happy campers indeed! So I told them it was time to go for Grunters (Tepal Pipi). They had no idea how strong a Big Grunter could be, and they were going to find out. 

A beautiful Yellow Croaker appeared, often called Japanese Sea Bass

In strong current, we anchored at the final spot for an hour of Grunter Fishing. Almost immediately after setting the lines, my first rod took a bend and the fight was on. It gave a guhood strong fight in the current, and the sound of drag was like music to the ears, and the first 2 kilo grunter came in. It was an average sized one. I wanted them to see a full-sized one around 3-4 kilos.

There was good action again and several more grunters came in, and finally John’s super long 12 foot rod started bending till breaking point, and I knew a big one was on. John took the rod, tried to pump the fish, and the old reel made loud noises as the fish tried to make several good runs. He couldn’t turn the handle and then quickly tried to put the rod into my hands. Haha… but I had caught my fair share of fish so I passed the rod to Norman who then had a solid tug of war session with the fish.

After a good fight and several exclamations of surprise whenever the fish made a run, a big Yellow Grunter made its way into the waiting landing net. This one was only slightly above average, around 3 kilos. Norman was so happy, he opened up another Tiger. Really, that man deserved a Tiger. John also started telling us about his 18 ft long Shark he caught using a whole chicken when he was in the Navy. And he caught the shark IN SINGAPORE WATERS, just 100m from the SHORE!!!! So what they say about big sharks in Singapore is true! 

Here's how the 3 kilo grunter compares to the Big Wild Barramundi 

Anyway, we caught a few more smaller grunters and rays, and finally decided to call it a day. Everyone was happy, so many varieties of fish were landed, and we gave the catfish away to the boatyard workers who were quite happy too. Fishing in Singapore should be like this, right? Everyone was all smiles at the end of the day. And I was happy with my big Barramundi. 

Two Happy Anglers... no need to buy fish for a month! 

8 Sep 2006 - short trip with the perfect What

- Went to watch the Singapore Open Golf Tournament at Sentosa, and followed Els and Mardan Mamat around the course. I must say Els made a 65 on Serapong look easy man, and his swing is just so fluid. And Mamat has to work on his putting a little, an unnecessary three-putt on the penultimate hole almost ruined his day if not for a beautiful approach to the last hole to set up a birdie.

Anyway, the moment Adam Scott finished his bogey putt at the last, I went to meet Kings, who was confident of getting some What What (See previous story), and we were going on a short afternoon trip to get some HARD FIGHTERS.

Armed with 2 packets of What and 100g of live prawns, we wasted no time and headed straight to the Grunter Zone, and caught a few stuff. Landed some small to mid sized Stingrays which reminded us of poor Steve Irwin, who unfortunately got stung by a Ray in the Chest. So no more 'Crikey!' for us anymore, and I must admit I was a fan.

So of course I respected these rays and kept one for Kings to BBQ AFTER plucking off its serrated stings.

We did land a few Grunters and Kings even managed an oversized Sickle Fish which fought quite well in the current. Well, it was a fun short trip, and we landed our fair share of fish.
Here's Kings scrutinizing one of the Grunters. 

2 Sep 2006 - A Tale of Three Worms

An old friend appeared, back from Malaysia, and we decided to go fishing. But due to the windy conditions, we decided on Grunter again. So Kuanwai (you can see him with his 4 kilo barra caught on fresh sashimi Tuna in one of my old galleries) asked me, 'What type of worms are good?' I said,'What.' He said,'What?' I said,'Yes.'

'Huh?'

'Yes, we should use what.'

You see, there are regular sand worms, Sarong worms (Pun Pun), and Giant Ragworms, also known as 'What What' worms. Sadly, that day, no What was available, so we settled for the Pun. (Seriously, no pun intended.)

But for insurance, we got some live prawns. Kings helped with some sandworms (which are commonly mistaken for the What.) Well anyway, we headed out with no proper Grunter bait but still managed a few good fish.

Around Coney Island, I opened accounts with a good Grunter, then Kings got an interesting Sickle Fish (Chao Xi). And we got plenty from the Grunter Brotherhood (Friends of Grunter... aka Catfish, Stingrays, etc).

So we kept ourselves entertained, and when I moved to a huge rock spot, Kuanwai fought up a good Golden Snapper. And when I had enough of Sangkot, we moved to the Grunter Zone to catch a couple more Grunters and the Grunter Brotherhood.

Sadly, the bait was not right, but we still managed a decent catch despite bad wind conditions outside. It was fun catching up with Kuanwai though.

Here's the catch, notice Kingsley's big Blue Swimmer Crab (Flower Crab). 

26 Aug 2006 - Looks like the grunters are IN!!!

- Brendon smsed me on Fri morning...'Hey! You free for fishing this afternoon?', and the next thing I knew, I was driving to the boatel straight after work ended at 1pm on Fri afternoon.

Brendon had already gotten bait and re-fuelled the boat by the time I arrived, so we launched and headed for Grunter land. The rationale was simple, the wind was simply too strong (as it had been the whole week) to head into open water, so we headed to sheltered waters. And the only fish readily available in sheltered waters, and which I was certain of catching before the session ended at 5pm, was the ever faithful low grade fish, the GRUNTER!!!

Yes, I have to admit that the Grunter is normally a last resort, if you're comparing it to Barra, Snapper and Garoupa, but if you're pulling in Ah Sengs and Eels, a Grunter definitely brightens the day... plus they're quite easy to catch.

Hitting the first spot, we landed some Friends of the Grunter (FOGs)... namely, various forms of catfish, but ... no Grunter. SO we moved to my old Coco-Spot for Grunter. AND THEY WERE THERE! After landing some FOGs, Brendon opened his Grunter accounts with a nice hard-pulling Grunter, then I struck into a real drag-puller. My fish fought hard and deep, but the pressure paid off, and a big Grunter made its way into the net... plenty of FOGs followed, and the trip had to end early cos of time constraints.

So on Saturday 26th, Kings smsed me in the late morning (I originally cancelled my fishing trip so that I could visit my Sister's newborn baby), and so after lunch (around 2.30pm), Kings, Uncle Frank and me were skimming over the waves heading for Friday's spot, but only FOGs appeared. We shifted around a little, and only FOGs obliged, until finally at the Ketamic Kelongs, the Grunters arrived amidst the FOGs.

And of course, just before having to return to the boatel in the evening, the BIG Grunter arrived. The way it fought was fabulous! Wonderful feeling when the rod dipped and the drag screamed... I'll take a big Grunter any day, thank you.

So here's the Big One caught on Fri and the Big One caught on Saturday. Both caught during short 3 hr trips. Both were great fighters! 

Bren holds up his nice Grunter
 

Can you spot the difference? The one I'm holding is the Saturday Champ, while the one Brendon is holding is Friday's Champ.

Well, as long as the wind keeps blowing, I guess Grunters are the name of the game at Ubin!

12 Aug 2006 - AFTER A LONG BREAK FROM FISHING...

I finally got a chance to soak a line. Every Saturday for the past month or so had been filled with some activity like golf or work, and when I realised I had this Saturday free, I jumped at the chance to fish, despite the bad tide conditions.

Sam brought his gang along, David, Clayton, Peter and Suru, and we started the day with high hopes. Unfortunately, many things went wrong. First, I was told that my Garoupa spot was now out of bounds when an MPA boat came and asked me to move away, but they were nice and polite about it and I appreciate their efforts. Then I moved to a deep wreck off Changi, but the current was too strong and I saw that the anglers were struggling with the current, so I decided to go to a shallow spot, but strangely, there was zero current there.

We ended up shifting all over the place, catching lots of nonsense fish like Ah Sengs, Eel-tailed Catfish, Stargazers, Eels, Stingrays and Croakers... just no quality fish. Something seemed wrong with the water, and at my sure-catch spots, there were nets and stuff, which made it unfishable there too... so we ended up at the Snagpile and vicinity, where FINALLY, some Snappers and Garoupas were landed amidst the Croakers and Ah Sengs.

And as the tide turned, the action picked up a little, but all the fish that mattered were lost when either the line snapped, or the hook pulled. But there were some really strong bites!
Finally, we kind of had enough so we called it a day just after five. 

  A quiet day of fishing, but at least we got these

Anyway, it was nice to be at sea again after almost a month on dry land. The feeling was good, and you can bet I'll be out again next week for revenge! I know next week's catch will be better.

1 July 2006 - There are more important things in life...

Catching fish is not always the most important thing on a fishing trip, having fun is. And when the important elements in life come together and go fishing, fun is the inevitable by-product.

The family came along for a short trip to see how my girls would handle rough water. Des came along with Luke and we headed out to some rough water, and the kids didn't even seem bothered, playing with the water, kicking the water with their feet, playing with the 200 grams of prawns I bought from Gina and eating nonsense.

This trip almost didn't materialize, cos I saw dark clouds in the morning and thought a storm was brewing. So we headed to Changi Village and enjoyed a hearty breakfast there. Soon, the sky cleared and by 11am, we were at the boat and the kids were clambering up the ladder and marking their territory on the boat.

At the rough water spot, Des and me settled down to fish while the kids, the maids and the mum busied themselves with getting sunburn and playing with the toys they brought along. They also colonised the flybridge and ate lots of nonsense while watching the dads fish.

Had several bites from small fish, but lost a good pull early on. So I rebaited and let down the line in the same place, and got another smaller pull. Everyone got excited as a small but fat-looking Lao Hu Ban (Tiger Garoupa) surfaced and was promptly put into the live-well for the children to admire. 

A small Tiger Garoupa for the kids' dinner 

Well, the kids didn't get seasick but one of the maids did, so I had to go to calm water, spent 10 minutes there, and headed back to the boatel. I guess an hour of sun was enough for the kids, and I had a golf game later anyway. 

Here's the gang

Apr to Jun 2006 Mersing trip and Ubin updates

April to June 2006 Trip Reports

18 June 2006 - Mersing trip... EBEK!

Ok, I made several fishing trips over the June Holidays (how I miss them… sigh…) and caught some fish. So now that I’m back in the office, I can slowly update my website again. I made some trips on my own boat to the Ubin Tekong region and the catch was not always good (but sometimes good), with the arrival of a relatively weak Southwest Monsoon (Sumatra). I even went to Mersing to target the famed HeyBey (Giant Chermin, Diamond Trevally) and also made a few trips down to the Pasir Ris Pond with the family and some friends.

  Let’s start with Mersing.

On 18 June 2006 (Sunday) , the pro Dave , together with Alex, Kok Meng and me drove down to Mersing Town on the East Coast of Malaysia to target the famous HeyBey, or giant Chermin. We set off from Singapore at around 6am and managed to settle breakfast and bait around 8am at Mersing. Together with deckhand Ali, we launched the small boat before 9 and headed to the spots provided in the GPS.

All of us had high hopes for strong runs, as the last Mersing trip had provided a harvest of more than a dozen large Ebek. SO…. When we let down our first baits around Pulau Besar, you could sense the excitement in the air. I started first with a Snapper, then all of us started pulling in some decent coral fish ranging from Parrotfish, Spanish Flag Snapper (Timun), Coral Garoupa (red with blue spots), Kaci, normal Garoupa, Emperors, Bream, Snappers, and of course the Ninja. 

Here's a Coral Garoupa.. we had several of these 

And yet, the Ebek had not appeared. Despite moving around quite a bit, all we landed were standard table fare and not the Power Puller. Of course, a few big reef dwellers came to entertain, like big Parrotfish and even a beautiful Wrasse (like a Sou Mei) was caught by me. There were three huge pulls and bust-offs which could have been the Ebek or some large Coral Garoupa (which we landed several of), but still no Ebek. 

Does this look like a Sou Mei to you? 

And of course, being Monsoon season, a couple of Dave’s plans were foiled by the rather large waves and strong winds when we tried to switch to the more open water locations in search of that elusive Ebek. Once, he even tried driving into the wind but after getting seriously whacked by the waves, we turned around and hid behind the islands, catching table fare.

Finally, the sun set and we made our way back up the Mersing River to dock the boat with an eskee full of coral fish. We were all rather disappointed with the lack of HeyBey, but come to think of it, a bad catch in Mersing is still better than a good catch in Singapore fishing. We made up for it with a solid dinner at a Mersing restaurant and a quick drive back via the second link to avoid the massive jam at the causeway. 

  Full ice-box is the minimum for a Malaysia trip... good trips would have 3 to 4 boxes

Anyway, the whole trip was rather cost effective as and fun. And we did fill up a whole ice box after a day of action.

But…. Ebek…. Where are you?

3 June 2006 - Sat Morning Trip with Kings and Frank

- only had time for a morning trip and so we only picked 1 kilo of liveys and headed to the Deep Channel.

Water was cold today and saw several charter boats moving in from the Johor Shoal Area and the Changi Naval Base Area, and heard several anglers complaining about the lack of quality fish today.
I admit the bite rate was slow, but we still managed some good stuff like Snappers and a Big Garoupa.

After Kings opened accounts with a small Snapper, Frank also landed a Golden Snapper. Then we moved to Good Feeling and fed the Fatboys. After feeding time, we went back to the Channel and waited for the big Garoupa.

Raju came along soon after and anchored beside my boat. I hope they got some fish after we left at 1pm. Anglers on his boat managed to see us land a few more fish though. Kings struck into a fighter, which turned out to be a good Goldie. 

Kings contemplates the muscle power in this decent Snapper 

Then I finally landed what I came for, a big Garoupa, after a pretty good fight. 

I got what I came for today, a biggie Garoupa, just like last week's 

Then shortly before we went back, Frank struck into a strong fish. 

Frank puts the pressure on a deepwater denizen while Kings waits with the Landing Net

And a beautiful fat Blue-Spotted Ray was landed. 

Fit for the touch pool... a beautiful Ray 

Finally we reached back to the boatel by 1.30pm and I made it in time to bring the kids to Sentosa for a fun time at the beach. Great way to spend a Saturday, right?

27 May 2006- Sat Day trip with Kings, Weeboon, Choonkit, and Foul Weather Karen.

Why do you think I'm home early from my fishing trip typing this report? You guessed right. Foul Weather Karen never fails to bring the foul weather with her and we brought the boat up at 3pm just when the rain hit us. 

Karen waits for the last fish as her friend gathers strength overhead. 

But this begs the question. Did we have a good trip? Of course!!! Here's what happened.
After meeting up at the boatel we went to the aunty's farm and got 2 kilos of prawns on Karen's advice. She was confident of a good catch I guess. Then we moved to the first spot off one of the TJUTS and started fishing.

Kings was the first to open accounts with a Star Snapper, and I soon followed after with a big Garoupa. Then I settled down for breakfast while the rest had some bites and missed some bites.
We shifted to the deep reef in the Channel and Kings landed another Star Snapper and some other stuff like Garoupas. Looks like this was going to be his day again, and I was satisfied with my Garoupa anyway.

After losing 2 more good takes, we moved to a shallow reef off Changi but the whole place was full of nets. We still gave it a brief try and Choonkit was rewarded with a Tiger Garoupa.
But the best was yet to come. Just when we dropped Kings off at the boatel cos he had a workplace meeting, we went to the faithful Snagpile and realized the fish were all waiting for us. Immediately after anchoring, Weeboon grunted (pun intended) and fought a decent Grunter to the boat. 

Weeboon with his Grunter

While taking his pic, I noticed Choonkit striking hard into a good fish and started to go and help him, but then my own rod took a fierce bend and it was a double hookup. Both fish fought hard but Choonkit's came first and there was the unmistakeable scarlet flash in the water as a Malabar Snapper surfaced. Then my Malabar Snapper came up too. 

Choonkit with a Malabar Snapper... exquisite taste and beautiful to look at 

But that wasn't all, Karen got into action with some Javelin (Chior Lor) and then while watching her handle her fish, something strong almost wrenched my whole rod out of my hand with BRUTE FORCE... and the fight was on. This fish was a strong big one, taking line while I tried my best to keep it under control. There were times when I knew my line was at its breaking point but I couldn't afford to let the fish run home so I took a gamble and tightened the drag, and it paid off. I managed to get the fish into midwater but the fight was far from over, taking a while more before it surfaced and we stared in admiration at a beautiful large silver saltwater Barramundi. After some anxious moments with the landing net, the fish was landed. And we exclaimed with joy! 

A wild barra of this size is capable of putting up an amazing fight! 

And after some more fish, out baitwell was a nice sight. 

Notice the Malabar Snapper? Or the big Garoupa? 

Then the rain came as expected whenever Karen came fishing, but we all happily headed back to the boatel around 2.45pm as all of us had caught some decent stuff. 

Here's the customary catch pic 

Here's to more good trips ahead!

20 May 2006 - half day trip with Kingsley on Sat afternoon. It was a day of losses for me even though I had several good bites. Kingsley was the champ though, with several good-sized Star Snappers. I did land one at the beginning ya? 

Kings back at the boatel with 2 of his good sized Star Snappers 

14 May Sunday morning short trip with my brother

After 2 weeks of flu, I just had to launch my boat again. Since my brother was on a stopover en route to Sydney, we decided to go for a short 2 hour morning trip. A 'farewell'trip for my brother, I guess.
And what a great trip it turned out to be. We bought just a few hundred grams of prawns from the Aunty and went to a rocky patch. Almost immediately after setting the anchor, my brother dropped his line and was on to something strong. Turned out to be a big Red Emperor. What a great start! 

Even before I could do anything else, my brother was on to another fish! It seemed as though the fish knew he was going back to Sydney, so they eagerly took his bait. This time the fish fought deep and made some fine runs before emerging from the deep... a good-sized Garoupa made its way into the net.

I was happy for him and started getting bites of my own, but lost a few fish. My bro lost a few more fish before bringing in another BIG RED!!! 

Looks like the Reds are here to stay! 

Not one to be outdone easily, I decided to NOT BE LAZY and tied a proper rig. The moment I let it down, I took out my Nasi Lemak and settled down to eat my breakfast. But the fish didn't let me off. The moment I bit into the chicken wing, my rod took a menacing bend and line started peeling off my reel, a BIG FISH was on! A little chaos ensued as I flung my nasi lemak packet dunno where and rushed to my rod.... my brother was faster and struck for me, and I took over as he grabbed the video cam and handphone cam. He managed to snap a pic and take a video all at the same time! Amazing! I hope he emails me a copy of the video... it really looked fun.

All right, the Garoupa fight video can be viewed here... FIGHTING THE GAROUPA VIDEO, and there's a baitwell video too. 

This one was a tough fish! A real bruiser running like a Russian Tank!! 

After a solid fight, a really fat Garoupa surfaced and was promptly netted. I was satisfied with this one fish, but I was going to receive another pleasant surprise soon.

After resuming my Nasi Lemak breakfast (or what was left of it), my brother struck into another good fish and landed another big Garoupa. Wow! This was a great trip, I thought, and then my reel started screaming and I fought another big bruiser Garoupa to the boat. AMAZING!!! And I was just about ready to go home! 

Jason with his 2 garoupas 



Me and my two fat Garoupas just right for the dinner table

And we took some pics of the baitwell too... live fish are always nice to observe. 

Swimming around, one of them spit out a large Crayfish 

ANd back at the boatel we took the customary pics. 

How's this for 2 hours of fishing? 

We were back at the boatel before 12 noon and had spent only 2 hours fishing (my bro had to pack his bags for the flight and I had a badminton game after lunch)... and I think that was 2 hours well spent! Looks like the fish are back after my long MC period.

29 April Sat trip with Pro Dave, Alex, WeeBoon and Kings

Caught some fish that day, but the highlight must be the nice Malabar Red Snapper that I caught and Dave threw back into the water, hahaha... injured fish, he said.

Anyway, Kings was the champ for the day with several Snappers and other stuff. Wee Boon had a nice Diamond Trevally to save his day too, while Dave and Alex managed some stuff on handlines.

  Only managed to take this pic of the fishes sticking out of plastic bags at the end of the trip cos of bad weather

15 April Sat trip with Kings and the gang... ANOTHER BIGGER ANG GAO? CORAL TROUT???

- Ate the Tiger Garoupa (I cooked dinner for the family a few nights ago and deep fried the Tiger Garoupa... MAGNIFICENT. Cooked black pepper crabs too, but the Garoupa had a really thick fat skin which made it taste wonderful after frying, like Soon Hock.

Well, this Saturday the tide was good for my targets and Kings brought Michael and their 2 gals along, Ariel and Evelyn. We got 200 bucks of petrol and 50 bucks of prawns and were ready for some action.

At the spot 734, some small fish were biting and I struck first with a BIG brightly coloured Golden Snapper which actually put up a really good fight, pulling drag quite a bit. Then Kings suggested a scenic tour for the gals so we moved around a bit and ended up at Tekong, where an old spot produced something quite unexpected.

Just last week Daniel pulled up a Coral Trout which was quite rare in Ubin waters, but this time, when the lines were let down, Ariel's rod took a fierce bend into the water and she struggled with the hard-fighting fish. I thought it was a big Snapper when all of a sudden, a good-sized Ang Gao (Coral trout) made its way into the landing net. What an awesome fish! Beautiful metallic blue and turquoise circles decorated this handsome fish as it swam around in the bait well. 

Kings and Ariel pose with the beautiful Coral Trout 



I couldn't resist posing with my Snapper and the Coral trout too

You don't get this chance very often in Singapore.

Well, anyway, I caught 2 more Snappers before the girls felt a little seasick... so the quick remedy? We upped anchor and made another scenic cruise around Ubin and finally ended up at the SCENIC STRAITS, where the water was wonderfully calm and clear. Everyone was ok and enjoying the breeze when Michael had a savage pull, but the fish was light... only when the fish pulled did it show its strength. Finally, a small Queenie arrived and we decided to fry it along with all the other smaller fish we caught today. 

Mike and Eve pose with the small Queen scheduled for the deep fryer 

Soon, we moved around a little more just for some cruising, but ended up in front of the boatel to make a quick escape in case the dark clouds forming in the distance came too close for comfort. ALready the air was turning cold so we just hung around the boatel.

And surprise surprise, I landed another Snapper while some Grunters came to entertain. Took some final pics. 

Kings puts the pressure on a hard fighting Grunter 

We then headed back early to give the boat a good wash... anyway $50 of prawns was gone. 

  Mike in a relaxing pose with the fish after a pretty relaxing trip. Where did that chair come from???

On the whole, the company was great and those who bothered to fish caught some good stuff. What a beautiful Coral Trout. 2 weeks in a row now with Ang Gao, I wonder when the next one will be landed.

8 April Sat 10am to 2pm trip

- Only had time for a short morning trip this Saturday cos of my daughter's golf lesson in the late afternoon. Fishing buddy Daniel was scheduled to fly off on Monday, so we thought we'd try a short trip in the morning.

I reached the boat early at 0830, pumped petrol and tied my rigs while waiting for Dan... and finally he called me at 0930. 'eh? COnrad? I just woke up leh...'

So Daniel rushed down and we launched the boat immediately, zoomed to the Aunty and headed for Good Feeling... but only the Jacksons and the Fatboys obliged. Still, we hung around, chatting about fishing and Australia... till about noon, when we decided we needed some fish, so we went and got some.

Moved to SK32 first, didn't intend to fish there but Dan spotted some good surface activity. What a good call it was! Anchored nicely the first time and let down the baits.

Dan spotted the Surecatch rod bending slightly and he said 'Bite!', but I noticed it too and told him 'insignificant lah', but as though in response, the whole rod took a huge bend and drag started running. 'NOT INSIGNIFICANT!!!', we shouted in chorus. I struck and the fight was on, the fish had some weight, and I knew it was a big Garoupa. But when the fish surfaced, I was blubbering and all excited... 'Lao Hu Ban!' A huge Tiger Garoupa was struggling at the end of my line. Dan expertly netted it and we were celebrating! This is indeed a prized fish, better than the standard Flower Garoupa (with the orange spots), and the Greasy Garoupa. 

Take a close look at this fish, quite a rarity in our waters until recently, thanks to the building beside the boatel... LAO HU BAN 

The Tiger and the Slipper, to get a clearer idea of the size of this Beautifully patterned Garoupa

Soon, we decided the time was right for table sized fish, and we moved to Seafood City and let down our lines. We anchored perfectly this time too, while another Charter Bumboat was nearby not seeing much action. Then, I experimented with Dan's special baiting method with live prawns and let down my line nicely. While one friendly guy on the other boat was telling us there was no catch, my rod almost immediately dipped and the drag ran again. FISH ON!

After a good fight, the Star SNapper surfaced. In fact, the bites came quite regularly, and Daniel got in on the action with two more Star Snappers. Felt so sorry for the other anglers on the bumboat, they moved off... I hope they got more fish (but there was a storm soon after).

I guess the best was saved for last. Just when I thought we should start heading back, Dan had a slight tug and he struck, but due to his heavy equipment, he thought he didn't have anything on... but guess what fish popped out of the water? A fish I hadn't seen in these waters for a long while now, maybe the waters are getting cleaner. 

A happy Daniel with his farewell gift... not many of these are caught around Ubin waters, so he's one lucky chap! 

A beautiful Coral Trout... small, but still a great fish for our waters

Since Dan had another appointment at 3pm, we decided we had quite enough fish so we headed back, and the boat was up on shore by 2pm. This was a pretty fun trip... great company and amazing fish! 

How's this for a short fishing trip? Leaving enough time for other appointments in the afternoon.

Well, take care back in Australia, Dan my buddy. (He'll be going for the monsters down there as usual... Samsons and 10 kilo Macks.) Maybe one day I'll visit him in Perth.

Well, for a bonus, Kingsley messaged about BBQ dinner and the whole family went to King's place for one of those amazing Saturday evening BBQs again. All the folks were there too, including the famous Horizontal Angler, our familes had fun catching up and playing games, and the food was in top form as usual, a truly good ending to a GREAT DAY!!!

1 April Sat

- Dave and Alex came along, caught a few fish only (fished from 2pm to 5pm cos of a badminton game in the morning), but forgot to take pics. Bad Storm during the trip too, but had fun catching up and talking.