Last day of 2012 - Memorable fight.

Daniel and Eunice, with a Longfin Trevally that Eunice defeated after a good hard battle.

To end off a wonderful 2012, Daniel, Eunice and Bryan joined me for some metal jigging fun at the Southern Islands. Somehow, a monster fish decided to turn up for the party, and Daniel will probably remember this New Year's Eve for the rest of his life.

After losing one big fish on 50g jig at the start of the jigging, Daniel upgraded to his heavy tackle and thought that nothing could defeat him, well... watch the video and decide for yourself. Remember, Daniel is using 80 pound line and is used to fishing in the Maldives and in Western Australia where GTs, Tuna and Samson fish are his staple. Yet, this fish left him exhausted. Also take note of how he's trying to hold his spool to prevent the fish from running into the reef below.






What's sad is that we didn't get to see the fish which was only a few cranks away.
Also, listen to what I said just before the line burst. It was so ominous.




Well, I guess that fish will stay there for us to catch next time. The rest of us did have our fun, catching and releasing several GTs. We kept the big Sagais and an interesting Golden Trevally as well as Gold Spot Trevally decided to enter my ice-box.

What a great way to end 2012 though. Good bites and good fighting fish, with good friends and aching muscles.

Fishing in the rain produced rewards that came in Silver. These are big Longfin Trevally.

I wanted one for the road and it came in the form of a beautiful Golden Trevally - my last fish of 2012. Well, here's wishing everybody a Happy New Year 2013! More good catches and aching muscles!

My last fish of 2012! A Golden Trevally on Metal Jig, on a rainy day.

Secret Recipe and 2012 December

Here we are enjoying our fresh caught fish at the floating restaurant.

After coming back to Singapore, I enjoyed several trips with friends and family. One memorable one was an Ubin trip on 22 Dec where the floating restaurant chef revealed his secret recipe for his wonderful Hong Kong steamed fish.

There was another short trip to the Southern Islands where some delightful Parrotfish turned up to entertain us. Then Gentle Cafe really provided gastronomic titillation. Can't wait to go back there, haha.

Karen shows us what a decent sized Parrot looks like.

There were several trips with my nephews and nieces, and we all caught some nice fish like Garoupas and Kim Buk Lors.

Here we are, about just leaving the Marina for a fun-filled trip. 

Jamie was the champion with a nice fat Garoupa. I'm sure she  has a story to tell her friends.

Bryan also had some fun with this Grunter, a typical Ubin fish.

At the end of the day, everybody chipped in to pull the anchor. That's early training!

Desmond and Luke also joined in one day and this time we landed even more Garoupas.

Here's a few of the fish we kept alive in the fish well. Nice healthy fish.

Luke poses with the catch of the day, and it looks like his T-shirt seems to fit the occasion.

And of course, the Barramundi of Ubin and Changi waters turned up to join in the fun.

2012 year end fishing was simple and fun, despite some bad weather.

December Fishing in Victoria, Australia

Plenty of big carp on the Murray River. Kerby behind also caught one. 

The holiday season was here, and we headed down under to stay on a houseboat on the Murray River. Caught plenty of carp, which was great fun for the kids. However, the targets were the natives, namely Yellow Belly and Murray Cod.

After moving along the river and fishing the snags, we finally landed ourselves some nice Yellow Belly.

Here's a fine Callop (Yellow Belly or Golden Perch)

Sadly, the Murray cod stayed elusive. We did get some huge hits which were probably giant Murray Cod, but my 30lb line could not stop them as they powered into the snags even on tight drags. There was even one morning when I locked my drag on 40lb line and the fish could muscle its way into the snag. Next time I target big Murray Cod, I'll be using 80 lb gear.

Of course, after the stay on the houseboat, I stayed in Melbourne and fished the Port Philip area, which I was quite familiar with. My brother and I drove around several piers and caught some nice large squid on squid lures. They seem so easy to catch.

Guess who caught the largest Pink Snapper that day?

No trip to Melbourne would be complete without tangling with some Pinkies right? Unfortunately, out of two charters we booked, one was cancelled due to bad weather. The other one was not very productive, but I still managed the largest fish of the boat that morning, a nice Pink Snapper. Hope to be back there again soon.

Another Coral Trout, more light game fishing.

Landed this beauty right at the start. That makes 2 days in a row I've landed such a fish on jig- yesterday and today.

The usual Saturday trip this time, and after yesterday's exciting short trip, Matt, Ian, Bryan and I were fired up for some light game fishing action.




The weather didn't look good to begin with, but we continued fishing, and the resulting fishing frenzy was thoroughly enjoyable. Now I've gotta go rest my bruised ribs.

Checking that the fish are there, in my holy shirt - the fish can't resist that shirt.

After opening accounts with a nice coral trout, similar to the one I caught the previous day, there was a short quiet period when we waited for a storm to pass. Then the real action began.

Matt fights a strong fish.

Again, amidst the many Queenfish caught and released, Matt caught his first metal jig GT and a nice Goldspot.

Matt with his usual face, and his first GT on Metal Jig.

Bryan and his new record 12 pound GT.

Everyone caught good fish, and all Queens and GTs were returned to the ocean to fight again another day. Ian finally broke the jinx on his popping gear and landed a couple of strong fighters on popper.

Big Sagais were the order of the day.

The Sagais were cooperating and we brought around 7 fish home for dinner - to be split among 4 anglers.

Driving back while enjoying a beautiful sunset.

The fishing and the company was great! We'll be back.