2007 Jul to Nov - a second boat at RSYC

2007 Jul to Nov Updates - then flew to Changsha for a work trip.

22 Nov 2007 - Good day out

With our fishing confidence buoyed by the previous day's catch, Dave, Alex and me went for another afternoon trip. And this time, I went over to Gina's at Changi Village and individually selected each prawn. And I made sure I had enough prawns.

By midday, we were at the selar jigging grounds cos Alex was keen on some Selars. Indeed we caught a whole bagful of Selars and Kunings in about an hour. And now it was time for proper fishing.

First we tried the MJ Reef, hoping for some Mangrove Jacks, but only some small fish obliged. I did land a Parrotfish and a Timun though. We moved around quite a bit but still the bite rate was not that impressive till we reached Reef 47 (quite near reef 40 from the previous day). The moment I let down my line, the bait was taken even before it had hit bottom. The fish was strong and I knew we had hit jackpot for the day. A big Timun was landed and then a Tanda (Russell's Snapper). The thing about the Tanda at this spot was that each Tanda was BIG!! This was not normal for local waters. These Tanda looked like the ones we caught at Rompin or Eastern Banks. Monster Tanda! Soon, Dave and Alex were all onto good fish and triple hookups were the order of the day.

Check out the size of these two Snappers. One is a Russell's Snapper and the other is a Spanish Flag Snapper

As we landed fish after fish, mostly Snappers of various sorts, I started commenting aloud that we should be getting some variety such as Sagai (Trevally), and true enough, Alex was soon into a strong pulling fish and he said 'Sagai' even before landing the fish. And yes, when we finally saw the fish, it was nice.

Then I was thinking to myself that it was about time to land some Coral Trout since the bait was running out, and then WHAM! A strong fish hit my bait and I was fighting a real brawler of a Coral Trout. Dave knew that I was fighting a Coral Trout when he saw me using some strength to fight the fish to boatside, and when I got the fish into the boat, the feeling was SHIOK! And to add icing to the cake, Dave soon landed another Coral Trout! That's 2 Ang Gao within minutes of each other!

Check out this beauty! Coral Trout

Here's a pair of beautiful Ang Gao to top off the catch

This time we caught much more than the previous day, with great variety too! There were Tanda, Timun, Waigeu Perch, Sweetlip, Parrot, Coral Trouts, Queenfish, Sagai and Bream. And by 5pm, it was time to call it a day. Every last bit of bait was used up, and we even tried Selar as bait but the fish decided to call it a day too, so we zoomed back, washed the boat, and split the fish among us.

Guess we don't have to buy fish for quite a while.

I'd have to say this trip was above average! Real good fun! Will try again next week.

21 Nov 2007 - long time no see

This marked my first trip out to sea for a proper fishing trip in about 4 weeks, and boy, were the fish hungry!

Richard, Dave, Alex and me met up at around 1pm for our short afternoon trip at the boatyard. By 2pm, the boat was over Deephole2 when the action began with 2 good sized Spanish Flag Snappers (Timun), yet the action was not fast enough, so we shifted about till we reached Reef 40. That's when most of the action took place.

Now here's a solid Timun! Good eating fish

We kept landing a good variety of fish in quick succession. These were mostly Timun, with some Parrotfish, Sweetlip and Bream. Occasionally there would be a strong pull and the first Scarlet Breasted Maori Wrasse was landed by Dave, and then I had one on my line that was really strong but as I was lifting the fish into the boat, the hook pulled and the fish fell back into the water. So sad... I saw it swimming away into the depths.
Anyway, not to be defeated so easily, I threw my line to the same spot and voila! A heavy fish was on the line and I knew what fish this was. True enough, after a nice brief fight, a beautiful Scarlet Breasted Maori Wrasse (SBM Wrasse), a cousin of the Soumei, surfaced and was promptly landed. Hooray! I have to admit that's the first SBM Wrasse I've landed in Singapore. (Caught a number of them at Merimbula in Australia a few years back and I'll never forget such a beautiful fish.) Well, seeing one in Singapore was a good sign!

Here are two of the beautiful SBM Wrasse

You want to know how the SBM Wrasse tastes like? See the picture below.

I got my maid to cook this the moment I reached home, and it was eaten in minutes

Anyway, we caught some nice fish, and ran out of bait quite quickly (didn't buy enough I think) but we headed back to the boat yard around 5pm with smiling faces. I guess the catch was not too bad for a short trip.

Notice the 3 SBM Wrasse? Yes, Dave caught another one

A standard catch for a short trip to the reefs

10 Nov 2007 - Saturday outing with the family -

Upon special request from my captain, I am now writing my first fishing report.

On this fine Saturday, my personal pawang decided to take the family out for a day of fun at a fren's private pond. While the 2 kids fed rabbits and geese nearby, my pawang and I were kneading gardenia bread into balls and ground-baiting the area. We had a competition to see who can throw the furthest. Of cos my man beat me.. but by a little bit only lah.

First catch was a rather large tilapia, caught by my younger daughter who got sick of feeding the geese. Then, to everyone's surprise, Conrad put a huge hook through the fish and flung the poor guy to the centre of the pond. My maid was still mumbling "so big, catch what?" when suddenly the rod bent and Conrad's white marker started swimming away swiftly.

Of cos he got so excited and struck and got the bugger hooked. "Big fish!" he kept yelling. All of us crowded around, and were thrilled to see a giant toman thrashing near the surface of the water.I could hear Conrad's drag screaming everytime the fish ran. So, we got the fish. Here it is.

Princess and the Pea, plus Big Fish

Next I got a little bit bored and decided to start a bread frisbee competition. This time I won, hands down haha. That guy has no technique, just brute strength. Or maybe he purposely let me win lah. Or else tonight he will get it haha.

After a while I caught a huge sucker fish. I was quite upset with the grotesque looking thing hanging on my line. But my pawang just knew the correct words to say. That guy is a real smooth talker man. He said "Hey, it's a really good quality sucker fish. It's a Plecostomus!" (Of cos I din spell this by myself) "It will be really useful in our pond. The pond needs a sucker fish of this size."

Ok, that did it. I was in a good mood again. Then I thought I can return the favour by praying for another big fish for my hubby. True enough, not very long after, Con's rod bent and he was yelling away as usual. See the next catch. Con said it's a good quality catfish. Sounds so familiar.

Nice Patin ya?

Soon after that, we happily left for home. Both toman and patin were safely released back to the pond. Sucker fish made its way back to our pond. It seems very happy cleaning our pond.

THE END

27 Sep 2007 - finally a chance to do my monthly updating. You know the saying..."If the fish are biting, what the hell are you doing on the computer?!!"...

I've been really busy the last few weeks, fishing and buying another boat (yes, now I run 2 boats), moving house, eating quality fish, buying goldfish, etc. But the answer is YES, I've been fishing and getting good catches, and that's why I haven't got the time to update till now. I'll dump the pictures in first and tell the stories if I can find the time soon.

Tekong produced a good number of Kim Chew (Fairprice calls it a Golden Pomfret but it's actually a Permit)

The Northern Waters are still productive, where two separate trips produced good variety and a school of Kim Chew probably swam in for the month to take cover... landing a number of those recently.

I was talking on the phone when this Queenfish bit and almost dragged my rod into the water together, and I almost lost my handphone too. Tried to release him but he died.

The Kim Chew are still around apparently, and the Northern shallow waters off Tekong, facing Pengarang, are producing them in good numbers. I might head there this Saturday again.

Of course I tried my new boat out at the Southern Islands. Even without the canopy, we braved the elements and were rewarded for our efforts. The fish in the South are mostly reef dwellers, and I think they are more abundant than in the North, so now I know I can focus on Barramundi in the North.

Here Kings shows a typical Spanish Flag Snapper - Timun - plentiful in Southern Waters, and good-eating too

When Kings wants a ray for BBQ, he gets a ray with his new-found super ray bait technique

Of course I've saved the best for last. In the latest two consecutive trips, very nice Coral Trout were landed. I think I know where they live now, and the season is about to begin.

Here's the first one landed on the new boat. How's this for a 2 kilo Coral Trout?

Basically, when the water is good, the catch can be really nice. An average catch of ten Snappers and plenty of Garoupas and Parrotfish is not rare. Now I've really got fish to last a month!!

Here's a sneak peek into my ice-box... basically quality stuff!!

Here's Fishing Expert Dave, Kho and me with some samples of fine fish on our most recent trip. Note: here's another, smaller, coral trout, smaller than the one caught the previous week (the one in the previous picture), but still great!

VERDICT: The fish are out biting in the North and the South! What are you doing on the Internet???

30 July 2007 - really short trip to cure the fishing itch ...

once again, the four letter word prevented me from fishing the last two Saturdays, my designated fishing days -- WORK. So on a hectic Monday, when Mr MCKing smsed me to go fishing after work, I said "sure".

After knocking off at 3.25pm, we met at the boatel around 3.45pm but had to wait for Ahmad to shift some boats around before I could pump petrol. Still, by 4.20pm we were zooming to Aunty's farm for 300g of live prawns. Had to be back by 5pm cos the boatel closed at that time on Mondays, so we tried to zoom to the GT spot but suddenly my engine cut off by itself. This went on for a while and, on a hunch, I switched my petrol tanks, and we were on our way again. Though we could only put in about 40 minutes of effective fishing, in the words of MCKing,"It sure feels good to be out at sea on a weekday!"

Okay, at the spot, I started tying my rigs and we soon baited up and let our lines down... shiok feeling man! The anticipation of a fish striking our baits just took away all the stress of the previous 2 weeks. Don't you just love fishing? No fish , no problem.

So, we waited, trying out different tactics, and then I just HAD to receive a work related call. In the middle of my conversation, MCKing suddenly struck and a huge bend formed in his rod, and I didn't really pay attention to the poor chap on the phone, while helping to land a healthy Golden Snapper.

"Wow! That's a nice fish! Hmmm... was I on the phone?" I sort of remembered being on the phone, haha... priorities sorted out.

I had to pose with the fish for obvious reasons

Straight after landing the fish, we zoomed back to the boatel as fast as we could and managed to get the guy just before he closed the gate. Phew! Gave the boat a rinse and MCKing was nice to invite me over for a fresh fish dinner, but Monday was dinner at my mum's so I had to give it a miss, maybe Saturday man!
Anyway, in view of recent events, I really couldn't help reflecting on this: life's really too short, so if there's anything you'd like to do, do it. (before it's too late). Things like family, personal passions like fishing... hey , these are the serious things in life! So if anyone asks me to go fishing on a whim, my fishing rod is ALWAYS in the car.

Though I caught nothing this time around, this super short trip really felt like GOOD MEDICINE for me.

14 July 2007 - short afternoon trip with Kho -

after running some errands in the morning, I finally found myself free in the afternoon, so by 2pm, Kho and me were zooming out to try to land a biggie.

At the sandy spot, all we landed were Sharks and Puffers, and of course Catfish, so we made a quick move. I tried to go to some deep reefs, but the wind was really strong and proper anchoring was almost impossible with the current going against the wind at the spot, so I had to go to a shallow reef.

That was not a bad decision. When we let down our lines, there was some light action and I caught a small Coral Snapper which was promptly released... it was a good sign of a healthy reef. True enough, a short while later, while I was filling myself with delicious Otah and Tuna buns (thanks to Kho), my thick rod took a MONSTER BEND!!! And got me scrambling and injuring a toe and bleeding... but I didn't even notice until after the fight. The fight was strong, even on heavy gear, but the fish once again turned out to be smaller than expected, yet the fight was extraordinary. You guessed right! I managed to land another decent Giant Trevally! Lovely powerful fish.

Here's a small but turbo-charged GT... have you tangled with any of these?

Then, while we were talking about getting a fish with colour (like a Reddie), my light rod took a dip and a good fight was on! Good drag pulling and heavy headshakes were providing great entertainment, and after a nice fight, a bright red shape came out of the deep. It was indeed a BIG RED! Hooray!

Lovely fish, lovely fight... oh the joy of fishing!

Of course, the weather started turning bad and after three hours of fishing in choppy waters, we made the decision to head back to shore instead of facing the storm. We'll be back!

Aha... on Sunday 15 July I made a short trip... to Jade Palace restaurant and ate a delicious Alaskan King Crab... the deadliest catch! It was yummy!

If only we could catch these .... haha... only the head left after we were done with the long legs

7 July 2007 - bad water conditions...

The water was bad today, just after a heavy downpour, and the low salinity level was obvious in the kind of fish that were being landed. Yet, when I moved to the outer reefs, I still managed a beautiful Parrot Fish, and good size too!

Of course we landed some other small stuff, but on the whole, besides a strong drag-puller lost by Kings and a gigantic fish that jumped near the boat, busting Gerald's rig in the process and giving everyone rapid heartbeats... the action was not as good as we hoped. Well, still fun to be out at sea.

2 July 2007 - CnR pond fun

Just for fun, Matt, Terrance and me went to a CnR pond to kill time and enjoy some big fish fight. I used my tiny Shimano Slade with 4 pound line, together with my thin telescopic rod, and had a pretty fun time.

We started off trying several different baits from Goldfish, to Bread, to stinky leftover bait from the previous anglers. And finally, after quite a long while of trial and error, we found the secret combination (won't spoil your fun by revealing the secret bait). And Matt opened accounts with a really fat Pacu.
Then I got my Pacu.

Here's one fat Pacu set for release

In fact, we started landing quite a fair bit of Pacus and I was hoping for a different fish when I suggested that the next person to catch a fish would buy the rest a beer. All agreed and after a short moment, my rod took a huge bend and a big fish cleared the water at the opposite side of the pond. It was a big freshwater Barramundi. It provided good fight on light line and was soon landed for pics and released after I managed to revive the fella.

Here's a nice big Freshwater Barramundi set for release

While enjoying the beer, Matt was still complaining that his one Pacu was worth $50. Nevertheless, Terrance and me landed more Pacus. And finally I said I wanted more variety when I had another nice pull and landed a Patin.

Here's a Patin for variety

Soon, I had caught and released enough fish so I wanted to go back, after one last fish of course, and a big Pacu obliged. But during my fight, I noticed that Terrance had hooked up into a really large fish that was hugging the other end of the pond. This was the ONE! The giant Mekong (or Chao Praya?) Catfish was finally here.

After a very long fight, I finally helped Terrance land the big bugger and we took pics with the fish before it was safely released.

Huge Catfish... and this is still a small one compared to those found in the Mekong Delta. Still a good way to end the trip. 

After that, we had a nice meal at Punggol and I bought some succulent durians home. Yum Yum. Overall, the CnR pond can be considered a fun place to tangle with big fish, and I'll probably be back again. 

2007 Apr to May - DURIANS and Fishing Log

April to May 2007 - Giant Garoupa and Kurau... Wow!

30 June - a nice Threadfin Salmon

- went with Kings and Norm and the whole gang! 9 of us on the boat this time around, and there was plenty of action, but the quality wasn't always good.

Stingray Man was lucky for the day with a good Threadfin Salmon

Altogether there were more than 50 fish, none were wasted. All were eaten, including the catfish. I landed a big Gemang (Giant Eel-tailed Catfish) which was my excitement for the day.

Here's a pile of fish about to be sorted

But I guess the highlight of my day must have been the closing of the National Stadium that night. After taking a shower at home, my whole family made our way down to watch Australia defeat Singapore in soccer, then stayed for the fireworks and closing party at the National Stadium... Boy, do I have fond memories of this place. At least we did the Kallang wave one last time.

Berkley enjoys some seaweed as we watch the proceedings

20 June 2007 and 23 June 2007 - trip with friends

On the 20th, Kho came along and landed a nice Golden Snapper.

Kho is finally convinced there are still fish in Singapore

And then, at a fast current spot, I had just set my bait when my rod began to twitch. "Small fish," I said. And then (whenever I say that magic word, something big goes...see the GT story on the left) my rod went into a huge bend.

"What SMALL FISH???" everyone else shouted. The fight was on.

The fish took drag and was a real fast swimmer. And when I tried to pump it in, I could feel true power. This felt like a big fish alright! Then, after a good fight, the fish surfaced and surprised everyone, it was a pretty decent sized GT just slightly over a kilo, and it fought like a 5 kilo fish!

GTs are really strong fish, and when they get to this size, I guess the power begins to emerge. Well, here's another Singapore GT... not big, but still strong.

Great fighting Giant Trevally junior

Then on Saturday 23rd, though a few guys backed out at the last minute, we still went fishing. Han came along and we caught many Tiger-toothed croakers (which are quite good-eating too).

Han holds one of the five tiger-tooth croakers we landed that day

And then there was a storm, and then I started catching good fish almost non-stop all around Changi. Caught two big Golden Snappers in a row, then two decent Sweetlips, then Han caught two Grunters, then I landed a big Silver Croaker (fish of the month). Total... 17 good fish + 20 other catfish and other stuff. Looks like a good season of fishing.

Here's a peek into my icebox full of quality fish... good way to end the holiday season... now it's back to work

19 June 2007 - Trip with Felip .

Felip called and we went out for a trip in windy conditions. Despite the rough conditions, we had a good conversation, reminiscing our 16 years of fishing together. I used to follow him on his boat when I was still in Secondary school. Amazing how time flies! Now we both are learning to strike a balance between work and play, and that's why we fish.

Oh ya, we both caught big Snappers each.

Here's a hard pulling Snapper I landed using Selar flesh (the Selar I caught at Sembawang beach a few weeks back... saw the pic?)

True A-grade fish... Golden Snappers

15 Jun 2007 - short trip with Bren

- managed a short trip with Bren and landed a nice Silver Croaker and Grunter, and plenty of other stuff, some strong fighters too.

Bren and me pose with another rare SILVER CROAKER... been eating them, tastes good!
31 May 2007 - Vesak Day short morning trip with Kings for Silver Croaker, and then a short pond recce trip in the afternoon with Wayne

After dropping my wife off for her morning round of golf, I did some putting practice, then headed for the boat to tie some hooks and wait for kings. He came at 0830 hrs and we zoomed off for bait and headed to the place we landed Silver Croaker at just a few days back.

Over the spot, I had a good bite just 10 minutes after setting my lines, and fought up a very nice table sized Garoupa.

Another nice Garoupa for dinner

Then caught some catfish for Sam, and then some Gelama (Bearded Croaker), and then around 10am, the real target appeared. I had a good pull, and enjoyed a nice fight from a pretty big Silver Croaker, and when the fish surfaced, it was simply amazing. It's really a beautiful fish!

Here's a nice big Silver Croaker to join my Garoupa for dinner

Mission accomplished, so we headed back by around 11am.

Here's how the Silver Croaker matches up to our standard Gelama (Bearded Croaker)... see any differences?

After washing the boat, fetched the wife from the club, she played well... then fetched the kids, went to some shopping centre, then still felt an itch to fish, so I managed to get Wayne to join me on a recce pond trip, paid $10 for an hour of catch and release fun.

Here's Wayne trying to release a nice Grass Carp I caught after a fun fight

But we did see a huge Catfish being landed, and I made a mental note to come here again.

28 May 2007 - Trip to the Beach

just for fun, I brought the kids to Sembawang Park Beach, and while they played with sand, I walked to the jetty where I used to catch crabs (wonder if there still are crabs here), used some dead prawns as bait, and soaked a line.

Not many bites, except from some small fish, so I switched to tiny hooks and landed some weird brown small fish about 4cm long on average. In fact, I caught about 5 of them in total and threw them back. Then one tough fish took my bait and I had some fun fighting up an unexpected Selar.

Then a Tamban school came along for a short while and I managed to foul hook a few of them. I think they'll make good bait, haha.

Here's the day's catch, still very fun for me.

Who says you need big fish to have fun?

26 May 2007 - Usual Saturday Trip, unusual fish makes an appearance...

 Des brought young Luke, Wei Khong brought David and young Joel, and we headed out for a day of fishing fun.

At the Changi reef, the action was quite hot, but only poor quality fish were landed. Plenty of Chocolate hinds turned up to give young Luke some thrill. Of course there were Russell's Snappers too, but the big fish were not to be found, so we shifted to a deep reef for Garoupa...

But no big Garoupa turned up, only Khong's rod took a nice pull and he managed to land a pretty good sized Waigeu Sea Perch (Deepsea Barramundi).

Khong shows us his Perch

We moved around quite a bit, trying to find the good stuff, but finally had to drop Kings off early cos he had an appointment with his wedding planner. (will we be seeing less of Kings soon? I wonder...)

Anyway, short on petrol, we moved to a deep channel rock again to wait for the big ones, and finally some good stuff appeared.

I was sitting beside Luke's rod when it took a violent shake, and so I struck for him and passed him the rod. Young luke fought the fish valiantly to the side of the boat and we landed what looked like a Mulloway (jewfish),(But I did some research and found that it was a different species of Croaker, a Silver Croaker... which is a rather rare (locally) relative of our Gelama (Bearded Croaker) and the Tiger Tooth Croaker. SO.... here was a silver croaker (My Ubin Jewfish record still stays intact, haha) of a nice size, and into the baitwell it went.

Here's Des and young Luke (only 2 yrs old) with a rare Silver Croaker (Father and Son Combo 1)

Then Joel struck into another Silver Croaker and fought it up to the boat.

Joel and his Dad David pose with another Silver Croaker (Father and Son Combo 2 - notice both boys are wearing similar colours)

And as we tried to settle down again, Khong got busy once more with a strong fish at the front of the boat.

Khong takes his time enjoying the fight of the fish

And here's what he landed, a slightly Yellowish Grunter, but still a decent Grunter

So we still landed some nice stuff after all. Yeah!

19 May 2007 Didn't intend to fish today cos had badminton training in the morning, but Kings managed to tempt me to go on a Stingray hunt so that we could have a nice ray for the exciting Saturday evening BBQ at King's place.

So by 2pm, we were on the flybridge cruising towards the sandy patch where I knew the stingray lurked. Almost immediately after anchoring, the fight action began, with several fish over a kilo.

I opened accounts with two Jahan (Giant Catfish) over 2 kilos each and placed them in the blue well for Sam. Then Kings had a good take and a fish fought well. When it surfaced, we whooped for joy when we saw a HUGE flathead. This is really the best fish for a BBQ, nice firm tasty flesh. SHIOK! (This is a highly prized food fish down under, but so far it hasn't caught on in Singapore, so luckily there are flathead that grow to good sizes in Singapore, cos people don't target them here, haha.) Anyway, that fish was really the champion dish for that night's BBQ. Well done, Kings!

Here's Kings with the best fish of the day, a really good flathead

Not to be outdone, I landed a few more Jahan and a Gemang (Giant Eel Tailed Catfish) for Sam, and then my light rod took a great bend and I thought the ray had arrived, but when I struck, the drag went in bursts, and I could feel violent headshakes, so I fought the fish carefully, and was pleasantly rewarded with a big Grunter.

Here's a biggie Grunter to add on to the BBQ

But of course the best was yet to come. At closing time, my stingray rod finally took a huge pull and the line started flowing out smoothly. This was a good ray, no doubt about it. Our staple for the BBQ was finally here.

After a decent fight, the perfect sized white-spotted ray surfaced and was promptly de-barbed and put on ice for the night's feast.

This was the icing on the cake, after a pretty good short afternoon trip... a nice BBQ sized ray

12 May 2007 - Melvin and gang came on board and his dad was the champion of the day, 

... with many Russell's Snappers, Timun, Fusiliers (Hang Tze He), and all sorts of coral fish.
The fish were small but the bites were plenty, and the highlights of the day included a baby GT on lure, plus another slightly bigger GT lost after the hooks straightened on the lure.

When Baby GTs (Giant Trevally) like this appear, we know the water condition is not too bad

Of course, I landed some good sized stuff like a nice Parrot Fish from one of the rare clean reefs from Changi waters and a Handsome Golden Snapper to top off the pile of fish.
Here's the catch, not many big fish, but plenty of fish nonetheless.

1 May 2007 - Labour Day fishing with special guests Wilson and Renee from Montana.

Wilson has experience as a fly-fishing guide in Montana, and we enjoyed a good day out at sea, sharing fishy tales.

In fact, Wilson opened accounts with a nice Garoupa. Then the action began. Sherman was very proud of his big Golden Snapper which we had for dinner that night. Of course there were misses, but Con delivered the goods again, with a Garoupa and a Golden Snapper too. Kings was not to be outdone, and contributed a good Grunter to the tally. But the fishing was just the sideshow, the guys went on some sightseeing cruise and even stopped at the farm to enjoy a chat with the Aunty.

Here's the cruiser at the farm, with Ariel manning the flybridge

Con holds up two of the Golden Snappers while Wilson and Renee look on... these Snappers are good sized for the Ubin area

And of course, after a fun trip, everyone helped with the washing up, and we headed the King's place for a nice dinner and white wine.

Not many things beat the taste of your own freshly caught fish, especially a nicely steamed Golden Snapper

Bon voyage, Wil and Renee... who are off to Myanmar. Take care, my friends.

28 May 2007 - Norman, Iggy and Iggy's friends...

came along for a Saturday trip. This trip was not too bad.

The rays of the early sun broke through the clouds in patches. The dark clouds were ebbing away, remnants of the night's storm. A lone flybridge cruiser cut through the waves towards the choppy waters off Changi, with a crew of anxious anglers hoping for a decent catch.

At the deep oceanic rock, Captain Con positioned the cruiser nicely ahead of the structure and, calculating the wind and current vectors in with his mental calculator, dropped the anchor knowing that the lines would drop into the bite zone.

"Lines down!" announced the steady Captain as he whipped out his trusty rangong and clipped it onto his snap swivel. "We're gonna get good stuff here," he added.

Not ten minutes after all lines were baited, Iggy grunted and his rod took a mighty bend. Everyone could tell that line was being stripped from his reel because his drag was really loud. "Must be a big one!" said Norman, as he prepared the landing net. Soon, the fish tired itself out and surfaced. It was a big Grunter over the Kilo mark.

"Good fish there," said Captain Con, as he unhooked the fish and slipped it into the live well.

Iggy puts full pressure on the fish

After that, the action picked up and everyone started catching fish. A big Garoupa was landed by none other than the Captain himself, and someone added another nice Garoupa. Then Con landed a beautiful Golden Snapper soon after. Within a short bite period of one hour, everyone had landed some good fish except poor Ian. But he was going to make some good contributions later.

Iggy and Con hold up some nice Grunters and a good dinner-sized Garoupa

Norman was itching for Barramundi, so he requested that Con bring him to the Barra spot, where Norman had witnessed several Big Barra being landed by Con and other anglers. In fact, Norman had landed a Barramundi there himself, so he was hoping for another one. Unfortunately, the water closer to shore was rather polluted, probably due to the overnight shower, and the bite rate was slow at the Barra Spot. Out of the blue, Iggy's drag was screaming again!

"Hey guys, I've got one!" shouted Iggy as he pumped in something heavy. It turned out to be a fat Blue-spotted ray, one of the tastiest rays around, and this one had meat. So after Captain Con skillfully plucked off the two stings on its tail, the ray was left to swim in the metal well, where it gave birth to another beautiful small ray. Con pointed out that this was quite common among rays and that the baby should be released to grow up, so Norman carefully released the baby into the shallows.

Here's the mother ray (right) with the newborn baby ray in the blue well(left)

"Ok, let's get some action," said Con after a while, and they headed into clean water once again. And just five minutes after setting the anchor in the Grunter Zone, the action began.

Norman was first with a good Grunter, then Ian finally caught his Grunter, and another one immediately after that! There was plenty of fight action because a huge school of Marine Catfish soon made its was under the boat, and double hookups were common. The guys really had fun fighting these big Catfish up to the boat and releasing them.

The guys ran out of bait early and so they returned to the boatel early to wash the boat down and take some pics.

Here's a part of the catch, some fat Garoupas and Grunters

21 Apr 2007... after a 2 week hiatus, I'm out on the TrevaBerkley once again.

Went to Selangor for an intensive badminton training trip with my team, played with Bukit Jalil and some State Juniors, but now I'm back to Saturday fishing.

Fishing pro Dave, his sidekick Alex, Kings and me met up at the boat around 11am and launched the boat for a Saturday afternoon trip. This was going to be a great trip in more ways than one!

After zooming straight to Johor Shoal, we settled down to fish and the water was really calm. Then, very quickly, the bites began. Alex was really on a roll, bringing in plenty of Bream, then I landed one Bream too and we landed a number of them after an hour.

Then Dave brought out the secret weapon, DURIANS!!! 'My goodness! How to eat durians on the trip?' I exclaimed. Well, there's always a first time, and we all dug in. What succulent flesh, what strong flavour, these were perfect durians man. Take a look!

Yummy durians, these are perfect ones, thanks to Dave the Durian Hunter, we really stuffed ourselves with durians till we nearly exploded... I brought two remaining durians home for the family too

After eating our fill, I shifted the boat into the structure a little, and the real action began. It was evergreen Alex again (who, I must add, kindly spliced my anchor rope for me so that now I can use the balloon system efficiently)... who had a strong tug and fought up a hard-pulling Garoupa. But Dave handled the fish for the photo.

Here's Dave with Alex's Garoupa... just right for dinner

Along the way, Alex landed more good stuff like Snappers and even a young Giant Trevally, which can put up a really good fight. Meanwhile, Kings and me were entertaining ourselves at the front of the boat, catching Bream when I lost a huge bite which almost yanked the rod out of my hands, but the hooks pulled, and I lost the fish. I cast to the same spot and didn't catch the biggie, but caught a nice Flathead instead for dinner (delicious fish!).

Here's the Juvenile GT with my Flathead in the baitwell

We moved around a little and Alex even managed a Spanish Flag Snapper (Timun) which he laughed at cos he catches plenty of these in the Southern Islands. Then he had a strong take again and he slowly fought a tough fish to the side of the boat. The unmistakable flash of silver meant a pelagic on the other end, and soon a big Diamond Trevally was in the baitwell.

The Chermin couldn't survive in the baitwell, so I packed it for the ice box

Alex finally agrees to pose with one of his fish... looks like the Snapper are really back!

After a number of fish, I drove the boat to another deepwater spot to target Coral Trout, but no coral trout appeared, just some other good stuff. It started with Alex and a Golden Snapper, then Kings had a strong take, and the fight was on.

Kings shows us how to handle a strong fish

And Kings landed a really fat 2 kilo Garoupa which was actually chasing the Hind caught on the top hook.

How's this for a double-header? Fat Garoupa

I too had a nice bite and landed a healthy Waigeu Sea Perch (Reef Barramundi) and, with a baitwell full of swimming fish, we headed back to shore early. Our stomachs full of durian, and our ice-boxes full of fish.

No Barramundi? Get Waigeu Sea Perch also can, a cousin of the Barra

What a great day! More days like this please.

1 Apr 2007

A meet up with an old friend Razali (see the GT story) under the Penjuru bridge showed that the Southern Island fish are still biting and are as big as ever. Here, Razali's friend holds up a 20kg Garoupa that Razali landed during the night trip. Many big Golden Snappers and Garoupas were landed during the trip, and I brought one Goldie and one Garoupa back for dad.

Here's Raz's small Garoupa, cos my thumb is just as big as the fish, haha

I'll probably go out with Razali again soon, before the June Monsoon kicks in.