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. 

2006 Jan to Mar Garoupas and Reds, with Toman

Jan to Mar 2006 Trip Reports and Pics

25 March 2006- The Revenge of Kings, starring Captain Con and Foul Weather Karen ... PLUS a Winner at the Freshwater Fishing COmpetition

 Kings wanted revenge for last week's fishing, where, for the most part, he was reduced to supporting cast. And revenge he got.

This week, me and Karen were the supporting cast as Kings was on a roll, catching good quality fish. I did open accounts with two SHARKS, but then at good feeling, Kings got the Ubin treasure... wild Barramundi.

Kings and Karen with the Barra (notice Karen's friend creeping up behind...) 


And then we moved to 3561394 where Kings landed an interesting Remora. 
These critters normally hang around huge fish... hmmm.

Of course there was the usual food fish, like Karen's Golden Snapper and some Red Snappers. 

Kings holds up a beautiful red Snapper. 

But, with Foul Weather Karen on board, we all knew what was to happen next!!! All of a sudden, a bright and sunny day became dark and menacing. We knew... Karen's faithful friend was here. 

Karen holds up another beautiful Red Snapper ... but look what's behind her!!! STORM BREWING! Now you know why we call her Foul Weather Karen?

So we headed back to the boatel early for two reasons, bad weather and I had a fishing competition in the evening at the club. Thanks, Kings and Karen for helping with the wash up of the boat! Next week again?

Fortunately, the weather had cleared a little by the time we reached the club at 5.30pm. The whole family came along and there was a Children's art competition before the fishing competition at the golf pond.

Sunny and Tim helped out with providing some bait as they were fishing at a nearby pond. (Thanks guys!) And after my daughter claimed 3rd prize for her crayon masterpiece, with fish that floated above the water, and coconut trees planted in water, we settled down to a BBQ and fishing.

And guess what, there were so few fish caught (and mostly by guys who used a string of 5 to 6 hooks, when the regulations allowed only one hook per rod, but I didn't bother to complain... as long as everyone had fun), that when my daughter caught a small 20g Tilapia, she won a prize too!!! 

The winner of the Special Prize!!! 4 year old girl with 20g Tilapia! 

So that was a good day of fishing after all!

18 March Boat Fishing - Couldn't miss my weekly boat trip, but it had to be a short trip this time cos had to send my daughter to music class in the morning. Started off around 11am, and I was really excited about this trip. Why? My wife have me a new Biomaster 5000 for my birthday and I had just spooled it with 14 lb fireline from Gina's place. With 600g of prawns from Changi Village, Kings and me headed out to 7243625 and immediately knew the tide was good. And guess which reel got the first fish??? Yes, the Biomaster 5000, which proved itself worthy as a big Star Snapper tried to enter the snags, I jammed the drag and yanked the fish into open water before loosening the drag to fight the fish properly. 

Applying steady pressure is the key to a successful fight... my Biomaster lands its first fish!!! 

How's this for a big Star? See the new reel? 

After that, the fish started biting on a very regular basis, about one bite every 10 to 15 minutes. Whether we landed the fish or not was another matter.

We did manage several more high quality fish, but the catch of the day turned out to be a Lao Hu Ban (Tiger Garoupa) of slightly under a kilo. This must have been from the batch of 200 000 released last year at loyang. What a yummy fish! 

Notice the pattern on this Tiger Garoupa ... beautiful fish! 

And then we moved to a deepwater spot for fun, and landed more good stuff. Kings even landed a hard fighting and jumping Queenie, while I landed a good-sized Garoupa. 

Garoupas like this one always make my day!!! 

We headed back to the boatel early again cos of a family dinner. And the next week we headed out again (on the 25th March... and Kings got lucky at Good Feeling again, will update that story later in the week.). Stay tuned for The Revenge of Kings, starring Captain Con and Foul Weather Karen. 

Not bad for a short trip, I guess 

17 March Freshwater expedition again!!! Friday afterwork fishing at Jurong. AN AMAZING CATCH!!!

Once again, had a lobang to fish in a lake in Jurong legally, so I packed my poppers and headed down to meet Des and Karen in Jurong where the guard was already waiting for me to check my credentials.

I was the first to arrive and tied a Hydrotiger that was so successful on the last trip here. And guess what happened on the first cast? BIG TOMAN strike!!!! and landed with some trouble cos I was alone and the other two had not arrived yet.

Well, happy problems, happy problems, fireline cut my finger a little, but the thrill and joy was worth it! Then the gang came and plenty more Tomans in all sizes appeared. 

Des landed this beautifully patterned Toman on a popper too 

Well, Karen (thanks for arranging the trip!) had plenty of fun cos she landed over a dozen Toman, but something totally unexpected happened. Because of some previous experience with SUPERMAGICBAIT, I hooked one predator up and almost immediately had a good pull but lost one giant. Then Des followed by hooking a predator as bait and had a shock of his life.

Within minutes, something took the SUPERMAGICBAIT and the fight was on. When the fish jumped, it wasn't a Toman, it was silver. So I said... you got piranha or Arapaima huh?
Des was seriously fighting the fish and the next jump confirmed... BIG BARRAMUNDI!!! in freshwater? we were shocked, but still happy. Landed the fish and took the pic. Below are some pics. 

Freshwater Barra in Singapore from Jurong

Des and I pose with some of the fish. 



Karen and me pose with Desmond's AMAZING freshwater catch. 

We gotta do this again!!! (caught some fish the next day, which was a Saturday, on the boat... good catch too! Stay tuned for the pics!!!)

4 March 2006 - Last trip with my brother Jason before he flies off to Sulawesi to live in a fishing village there and fish with the local fishermen there, hand lining for yellow fin tuna and giant Mahi Mahi.
Jason and Daniel came along, we had some Red Snappers at 5263123 and then had a good feeling, and Jason landed a NICE BARRAMUNDI... the perfect going away present. 

Jason holds up the PRIZE CATCH of Pulau Ubin, a wild Barramundi. Have you ever caught a wild Barra? Shiok right? 

Of course we caught some other stuff and threw back plenty of junk fish. Overall, it was a pleasant trip as usual, with co-operative fish... who's complaining? 

Back at the boatel. 

25 Feb 2006- Didn't fish today cos of my first monthly medal golf game. 
Will fish next Saturday though... some friends have contacted me early already, so a few spaces are left.

18 Feb 2006 Sat day trip with Frank, Kings and Jason... and then the feast later for dinner

Kings suggested a bbq at his place after the fishing trip but at the last minute, his group couldn't make it, but still, Frank, Jason and him came along for a GOOD TIDE DAY. I expected the fishing to be good, and the aim for the day was to get some good variety of fish for dinner... yes, we were still going ahead with the makan tonight and the makan gang had already been mobilised. Now, they were just waiting for our catch to come in.

So was it a good day of fishing? You bet!!! Everyone landed good fish. Here's a brief account of what happened. After buying $50 of live prawns from the aunty, we headed for the MARKETPLACE spot cos the tide was not bad for that spot. When we arrived, the familiar faces were already there, Ah Bee, Raju and the Rockin Angels boat (dunno the skipper's name, can someone email to tell me?). Almost immediately after dropping anchor, Kings opened accounts with a Red Emperor (Ang Kueh) and then I followed soon after. With two nice fish in the well, I settled down to have my bee hoon before moving to the next spot.

Meanwhile, the other three boats went off to their different favourite spots. Let me guess, Raju probably went to Johor Shoal, Ah Bee at the channel between Tekong and Ubin and Rockin Angels towards Tekong (we bumped into a few of them later during the day of course).

After breakfast, I had a GOOD FEELING there was gonna be good stuff, and we moved there. Kings was the first lucky chap at GOOD FEELING and struck into a beautiful strong saltwater barra around the 2 kilo mark. What a beautiful fish it was! And everyone was inspired by the silver and gold muscular fish. 

Here's what Ubin fishing is really all about! A nice big wild Barra! 

Of course my good feeling didn't let me down and on my next cast, I felt a firm pull and was into a healthy barra too! A strong fighter, it came up and was also put into the baitwell. Then Kings bucked the trend with a nice healthy Golden Snapper.

OK, enough of Good Feeling, I thought as the tide began to slow down, time for SK98243, so we moved there, and landed more good stuff like Red Emperors. (Of course, we wasted some bait on plenty of rubbish fish too!!!)Oh, I almost forgot to mention, Frank had a huge pull earlier and drag was going when his leader line parted. Now THAT was a huge fish ... the one that got away for this trip. And Jason had several good bites, only to lose most of them but land one Red.

And by 1pm, we had run out of $50 of prawns just like that, so we made a decision to top up the bait and went to the aunty's farm before heading to the MOUTH. It was the right decision, of course, and this time Kings had a huge pull and strong run, before slowly pumping in a good-sized Malabar Blood Snapper. (This is slightly different from the Ang Kueh) 

Malabar Blood Snapper and Red Emperor (same family)

OK, now after catching the Malabar, Kings then had something strong and fast on the line, and it turned out to be a healthy Diamond Trevally (Chermin), which has a rather fishy smell and taste, sometimes.

OK, then it was time to go to the SNAGPILE, which had been quiet for a while, and here's where Frank got lucky with a nice Golden Snapper. The fish was just lightly hooked on the fibre of the skin near the mouth, luckily the fish came into the net the way it did! 

Frank and Jason observe the moving rod tip which led to Frank's Golden Snapper

The Snagpile never let me down too and I added another beautiful Golden Snapper to the fish well. Seeing the fish swimming in the well is just a wonderful experience. So many colours today! Good size and variety too!

OK, so we moved around a little more but the bait ran out again and we headed back at 4pm to wash the boat and prepare for the FEAST that night! What an amazing meal we had, esp the giant live Tiger Prawns cooked drunk in Cordon Bleu! And the Big Barra was nicely steamed, and the Snappers deep fried like the restaurant style, and the squid, and the amazing array of desserts. We just gotta do this again! 

At the boatel early once again, with some nice fish

11 Feb Sat day trip - 9am till 1pm - couldn't fish the whole day cos of I had to bring the family to Sentosa for the rest of the afternoon. Sat the luge and ate at Coastes and Sakae... but now for the fishing.

Kings, Jason and me were up for a short trip so we zoomed to a sunken kelong and caught some fish. The wind was not as strong as the previous week's and we were hoping for some good catch before going back. We also wanted to explore some old spots which I hadn't been to in a while.
ANYWAY... I've decided to make this update a little educational.

First, let's see some action. (Cos action pics are nicer than dead fish pics anytime...) . Kings was obviously into a good fish this time and his tiny whippy rod was giving a good account of itself. In fact, the fish ran into a hole and was stuck for a while before Kings managed to persuade the Snapper out. 

Check out that tiny rod!!! Even without a fish it looked like there was a fish on the other end. But now there was a real puller on the other end!

After a pretty good fight, Kings landed a beautiful Star Snapper, apparently a pretty good-eating fish that people are only now beginning to appreciate. 

Star Snapper ... so named because of the white spot on its side which resembles a STAR

OK, so there was some action on the boat that morning, but Kings asked a good question when a Tanda was caught... What's the diff between a Tanda and an Onga? 

As you can see, the fish above is a Snapper, but it's actually a Russell's Snapper, identified because of its more uniform scale pattern. Russell's Snappers in Singapore rarely grow very large, normally around 200 grams to 500 grams, although I have landed some up to 1 kilo in Malaysian waters.

The One in the middle is the Golden Snapper = John's Snapper. This fish has a tiny black spot on each of its scales on the body. And also, around the Black imprint on its body is an easily distinguishable white halo (or ring). This Golden Snapper can grow really big, but the 1 kilo specimen is ideal for the dinner table. 

The (Golden) John's Snapper is normally called the Onga in Malay. The Russell's Snapper is called Tanda... and this is where the confusion arises, cos the Golden Snapper's full Malay Name is actually and Onga Tanda (Tanda means fingerprint... see the body of both fish?). So, to simplify matters, experienced anglers have taken to calling the Russell's Snapper a Tanda, while they call the John's Snapper an Onga... when actually the names can be interchanged.

In fact, fish names all over the world have different names in different places. So this is a common problem... I wouldn't really call it a problem but a phenomenom common with language and the process of naming. For example, The Sea Bass in the US is very different from the Sea Bass in Singapore while Australians would have no idea what a Sea Bass is ... but if you tell the Aussies about the Barramundi, they'd nod their heads readily. Tell an African Barramundi and they would look puzzled, but they would easily identify a Perch such as the Nile Perch to you. And If you say Perch to someone from England, he would show you a fish with green and dark green bands with some reddish fins... which would look nothing like our Kim Buk Lor, often called Seabass in NTUC. Confusing enough?

OK, enough of that, the main idea is that we can call a fish any name we want, as long as we stay consistent with those in our geographical location. Take the bottom fish in the photo above for example. To many people, it's a small Garoupa, but the more knowledgeable would tell you that it's a Hind, which is true. But since young, I've been told by the old Pawangs that it's a Ninja. So I simply call it NINJA.

Ok, I'll end with this Snapper shot. 

 

Quiz time: Which Snapper is this?

Russell's Snapper? Fingermark Bream? Golden Snapper? Onga Tanda? Onga? Tanda? Ang   Chor? Ang Chor Kee?

5 Feb 2006 - Sunday morning half day trip - THE REVENGE OF THE CON

- unhappy with my personal catch results on the last few trips, I had to go fishing again! So this time I called the perpetually lucky Jason and Guek, and we did a brief half day trip. (In time for me to get back to shore at 1pm, for my badminton match.)
Aha... the weather was much better today, and we hit 06783zone for our first spot, and it appeared as though we hit the JACKPOT!

I had carefully tied one rig for myself that morning and when I let it down with a live prawn, I really expected action. AND I GOT IT! Once my weight hit bottom, I felt some tapping on my bait and realized my prawn was in a panic, the next thing I knew, there was tremendous weight on the other end of the line as everybody turned and saw, no, heard the line being forced out of my reel even with a tight drag setting.

Till now I still remember the sound of that screaming drag. Three times... ZZZZagg, ZZZZZZagg, ZZZZZZZaggg. And the fight was on less than 2 minutes after anchoring. It was a really tough fish and I had trouble keeping it under control, but soon the fish tired itself out, and as Jason was about to go and get the landing net, he too had a good bite and his fight was on. DOUBLE HOOKUP in under 5 minutes!

So Guek was left manning the landing net. Jason's fish came first, it was a decent Snapper, but my fish was still fighting, and finally it surfaced. What a SWEET thing it was!!! A Sweetlip (Ikan Kaci) this size from this location was a rare catch indeed. And though the eating qualities may be third rate, I fully enjoyed the fight. 

Here am I, posing with a big, ugly looking but Strong-Fighting Sweetlip... my revenge on the fish is complete. Revenge is sweet... lip.

Well everyone caught fine stuff, with Jason and Guek having good fights and landing one nice big Garoupa each. And we decided to try some old spots. After anchoring, another boat with an old man came by and started trying to anchor next to us, but he was really struggling with the wind. Then another big white wooden boat came along , then It's greattt came along, then we decided enough was enough, so we headed home, happy with our pretty good catch. QUALITY FISH MAN!!!!! 

Guek turns on the pressure as the fish tries to head home. In the end, he lands a handsome Garoupa.

Now it's Jason's turn to fight his fish, and he lands a Garoupa too.

4 Feb 2006 - Sat trip to get more garoupas

- Anyway, to cut a long story short, my plans for this trip backfired cos of super strong winds and heavy rain around 2pm.

So we actually managed to fish only from 9.30am to about 1.30pm when I called it quits as I saw a storm approaching.

Moved to many spots, and even ventured to SK01 where Daniel managed to land two nice Malabar Blood Snappers and Jason struck into a nice Star Snapper

But when the winds picked up, we had to hide in Ketam channel for a while, catching nonsense fish like croakers and stargazers... and then we tried going to some other spots but simply couldn't anchor properly cos the wind was too strong. We called it an early day. 

Well, at least we caught these 

28 Jan 2006 - Sat half day trip on New Year's Eve 

- New Year's Eve and we need fresh fish (although the fridge still has what remains of the previous trip's catch), cos fresh fish is always nice for the dinner right? So what to do? Go fishing lah!
It wasn't difficult to round up some eager fishos who also wanted fish for today's dinner, and by around 9.30am, Frank, Jason, Simon, Daniel and Guek were with me on the TrevaBerkley, zooming straight to the spot.

We went to a SK01 first and were immediately rewarded when Jason struck into a good fish, which turned out to be a really fat Garoupa around 2 kg. Then Simon got in on the action and caught a good Garoupa for himself after a mighty good fight.

And everything seemed to be going Jason's way as another big fish took his bait and gave him a good fight. Another garoupa!!!

Here's Daniel holding on to two of Jason's lovely Garoupas ... tonight's dinner

After a while, the tide turned, so we moved to the shallows to target Barramundi. Even before I could let my line down, Jason was tapping the seabed with his weight when a MONSTER fish just SMASHED into his live prawn and took off like a speedboat! All he could do was hold on to his rod as everyone saw a huge U bend in the Surecatch rod he was using. Unfortunately, his drag setting was still for Garoupas and the fish was too fast and powerful, snapping his 35 pound leader before he could release the drag. What a fish!!!! My guess is that it was a Barramundi in excess of 5 kilos. Well, that's the big one that got away...

All went quiet, like it normally does after a big fish escapes, and so we moved to our final location where Frank landed a decent Grunter which he was delighted with. 

  Here's Frank with the Grunter that was going to join him for dinner

Me and Guek caught small lousy fish too, though I had a few losses. Daniel did not too bad with a nice Snapper but burst on a good fish too. Anyway, I think I have to start tying my own rigs instead of digging up old ones from my tackle box.... cos I dropped quite a number of fish due to blunt hooks. We had to go back early to prepare for the Reunion dinner, so I guess I have to get my revenge next week. 

Simon poses with his Garoupa 

10 Jan 2006 – Family trip: Raining the whole day! But managed to stock up on good fish for Chinese New Year. 

Went out with Uncle Frank, Jason, Karen, Marcus and KC on Hari Raya even though it was raining cats and dogs. According to Marcus’ Satellite imaging weather forecast, he said the weather would be ok to fish till about 2pm, when there would be some gusts of strong wind. Of course I trust his weather report! He’s an SIA pilot, he should know.

So despite the rain, drizzle, rain, drizzle, I got out of bed, drove to the boatel, and by 10.30 we were heading towards the aunty’s fishfarm for $50 of live prawns. (Uncle Frank said we better get more prawns, and how right he was!)

At first I thought the Snagpile would be happening, but all was quiet there except some light nibbles and strange bait disappearances, so I moved to Chanel No 5, where Jason landed 2 Golden Snappers in quick succession while the rest of us on the boat looked on. Then another small boat moved in and anchored behind us, and they landed a nice fish, probably a Kim Buk Lor, and then one of them hooked something big, fought the fish for a while, and SNAPPED his rod, losing the fish in the process. We all felt sorry for him too, and then all went quiet at the spot. Any experienced angler would know that sometimes, losing a fish amidst the biting period might mean spooking all the fish in the area. And it happened this time. All the bites just stopped for our boat as well as the other boat.
So we moved on to Tekong despite the overcast weather, but I sensed a short break in the weather so I decided to brave the open water despite the rain. And we were all greatly rewarded!

Surprisingly, during the heavy downpour, some FAT GAROUPAS turned up, and they sent drags screaming and us scrambling for our rods and the landing net. Nobody seemed to care about the rain once the action began! Jason struck first with a FAT GAroupa which bent his rod into a good U, but of course, since Jason was using one of my Surecatch rods, the rod took all the pressure the fish was giving him, and the Biomaster reel performed well. Though the fish fought all the way up, the gear stood the test in the rain and soon a huge brown fish surfaced! GAROUPA!! 

This fish fought all the way up! Jason holds up his fat Garoupa while Karen looks on... yummy yummy!

When we slipped the Garoupa into the net, all of us were excited at the prospect of landing more great fish like that! And we did! I landed one more fat Garoupa, then Karen got in on the action, landing a big Star Snapper which Uncle Frank was very happy with! (It seems the Star Snapper, also known as Hoi Toi Gai in Cantonese, is indeed a delicacy in Cantonese circles, with a 7 star rating, no wonder the fish farmers took the trouble to import the fish from Hong Kong! And the escapees are thriving in our waters now!) 

Karen proudly handles her Star Snapper caught on an old ABU rod and Mitchell reel that's more than 30 years old!

I can’t really recall the order now, but we landed two more good-sized Garoupas, two beautiful Malabar Blood Snappers, and some other stuff. Then at 2pm the gust of wind came as predicted and we had to run back to cover, and in a sheltered cove, Uncle Frank pulled in a Threadfin Salmon (Kurau) while Jason closed accounts with a good Grunter. KC topped it off with a long Pike Conger (Malong) which we cut off at boatside cos it was too troublesome to handle (since we had enough good fish). 

  Check out these beauties swimming around in my fish well!!! Nice Stuff! Quality fish!

Then, after about 5 hours of fishing in the wet weather, we headed to shore early, cos I had to prepare for my younger kid’s 2nd birthday party. At least now our fridges are stocked with good sized fish for Chinese New Year! A great trip despite the weather! 

  Nice catch for 5 hours of fishing? This is what I call quality! The secret to happiness is contentment.

Here's the happy group back at the boatel.

2006 Friends' Writing Contributions

I started a small contributions section from 2004 to 2006, and a few friends emailed their stories to me. I just cut and pasted them here for all to enjoy.

Daniel contributes a report here on his Australian adventures in April 2006

A mighty Mulloway... read Daniel's story below on how he landed this bugger

Hi Conrad,
Just came back from a 4 day fishing trip. The weather wasn't fantastic as it was hit with a cyclone but nevertheless we had the first 2 days of boat fishing and the rest of the 2 days were on shore fishing.
Day 1 we caught a pretty good variety of the highest eating quaility fish as you can see from the day1 picture. We had Dhufish (10kg and 9kg) and baldchin grouper("sou mei")(3kg),Amberjack 10kg and some other snappers and cods.I lost a monster that day, 150lb,using owner 3/0 hooks and putting 16kg of pressure and had the hook straighten. It happen just after I landed the Amberjack.

Day 2 wasn't a good day as we had only a 8.5kg dhufish, a 3kg coral trout and a 4 kg parrot fish. We went in the wrong direction as we were hoping to find new grounds and thus wasted a lot of fishing time.

Day 3 was interesting as I had never really did any beach fishing in Kalbarri as most of my trips were on the boat. That day the wind was 24 knots and the swell was 3m high. Thus no choice but had to do beach fishing as my hand was itchy. Anyway from the picture, see any familiarity? Well very strange and rare occurrence according to one of the locals. I guess the Singapore fish really miss me.

But the best was on the last day, really unexpected, using only 30lb line as the leader and the same old telescopic 14ft rod from our past fishing if you remember the surf casting days, well guess what, this big 21kg whopper turn up, first mulloway in Kalbarri for me landed and according to the local, the normal size is about 4-8 kg, sizes like these are only seen once or twice a year even in Perth. I had no guff, just a box of bait, some hooks and that rod. It took me about 15 mins plus of fight but something interetsting I just learn, the harder you pull the harder the fish fight and cos is on a telescopic rod, I can't put much pressure and also my leader is only 30lb while the fish is at least 40lbs. Thus I manage to control the fish and it didn't seems to feel hook until the last part when it was near the beach. It was hook just on the edge of the mouth, using my modified gang style and also on squid which normaly most anglers don't catch using squid as they normaly use mullet or mullie. Anyway, the fish came and had to pull the leader to beach the fish and when it was on the beach, the hook came off,what a relief and later realizing how small my hook was compared to it's mouth. Well that is an experience as later out of the blue locals started appearing and sending their congrads to me.

Well anyway, that's all for this year fishing in Kalbarri, and I am now trying to enter that picture for the local competition.

BTW, I saw another coral trout pulling up from your boat, I must have strated a coral trout craze now...hahah. Anyway you take care and God bless.

Hope to see more of your fishing pics.
Cheers
Daniel

Pond Angler's Update 4 October 2004 -

 with a little coaxing, I managed to get my friend, an experienced pond fisherman, to share some of his pond fishing secrets. Here's his first entry.

My name is Den the Pond Angler. I love love love two things, no three. I love RACING cars but nowadays no money and no time and no where. Also love FISHING and last thing of course love what everybody love lah, but no need to say.

I always go pond fishing in Singapore. Nowadays only got few ponds got Pasir Ris, Marina South and got some small ponds at Yishun, at Auntys pond and at Jurong and at Farmart and one small freshwater one at Pasir Ris. Also got fishermens village pond at pasir ris beach.

My favourite pond still Pasir Ris becos so big and got some big fish and ok cost. Pond fishing got many styles. Got long rod torpedo floater style, got long rod play parking, got long rod pull slowly, got short rod floater, short rod lure, short rod pull slowly. Easiest style to sure catch fish in Pasir Ris is long rod parking style.

Got many types of bait too. Got Kembong, live prawns, tamban, live fish, lures, dead prawn meat and other nonsense. Mostly I use live prawns becos cleaner but must see what method and what bait working for that day. Sometimes one day the fish all bite live prawns, sometimes the fish all bite kembong. Very funny one.
Most common fish is Kim Buk Lor or Barramundi, then got many other types. Got Mangrove Jack (Chia CHor), Golden Snapper (Ang CHor) , Grouper, Red Drum (Taiwan Ngor), Kim Chew (Golden Pompano), Star Snapper (Hai Kueh Bu), Red Snapper (Ang Kueh), Giant Trevally, Golden Trevally and Diamond Trevally.

Yesterday I go Pasir Ris pond with live prawns play slow pulling at Saudi. Total catch 7 kim buk lor, 2 taiwan ngor and 3 ang chor. Biggest one is Taiwan ngor 2 kg, the rest all good size for eating. Next time I go I report again.

Den

My Singapore Fishing Experience by Randy Moran – 20 August 2004

My job as an engineer has brought me to this island republic where, without a doubt, I have developed friendships and built up fond memories during my relatively short stay. Having grown up around Australia’s Northern Territory, around Darwin and later in my teens, the Cape York area fringing the legendary waters around the upper Barrier reef, I have grown to accept that Saltwater Barramundi are in fact, the most exciting lightgame sportfish to target. Never did I expect, despite all my piscatorial dream adventures in the NT catching wild Barramundi up to 30 pounds, to experience what I would call a true NT experience in Singapore. Here is an account of that amazing trip.

Like on any other fishing trip, I had trouble sleeping the night before, conjuring images of leaping Barramundi and pondering over the lures I would actually use when the time came. I had come to know Clive through a mutual friend, and this local angler sure seemed to know his stuff, as we discussed trolling techniques, yes TROLLING, and lures over dinner one night. He mentioned a place we could troll for Saltwater Barra and I was hooked!

So here I was, tossing and turning the whole night, wondering if fishing in Singapore was any different from fishing the Daly river system or the sprawling Mary river, where on some days, Barra were so thick you’d have to spend more time fighting and reviving fish than actually waiting for them. Of course, there were days that were slow, and a single fish would be considered a good catch. Anyway, I had brought my gear from Australia, and most importantly, my lures.

At 8 am on Sunday morning, I was already at the dockyard, rubbing my coffee-starved eyes, watching Clive launch his little boat. He told me it would be one of his last trips on that little fishing boat, and he was changing his boat to a bigger family boat. Good choice mate! I always say family comes first.

I’ve been told to keep the spot a secret, but the general location is about 15 minutes of high speed travelling north of the dockyard at Changi Loyang. We soon found ourselves readying our lures in the calm water. I went with a six-inch blue Barra Bait, with a 2 foot 20 pound leader, while Clive tied a similarly large black and silver Reidy’s directly onto his line.

Moving at about 5 knots, we settled on a slow troll towards the first known snag, with our lures trailing about 30 yards behind the boat. I had made a comment on how the landscape looked so similar to the landscape in NT, and I mentioned my surprise at finding such rural scenes in the modern day urban jungle of Singapore when Clive made a suggestion that we watch out rods closely, as we were now just over the snag, and big fish could be detected by the fish finder. I found the fishing so much like the fishing I had always done back home, where fish and snags were located over the sounder in relatively shallow water and our lures bumped right into the snag.

I had just decided to hold onto my rod when I felt the first few light bumps as the lures bounced over the snag. Then WHAM!!! My rod was almost wrenched from my hand as a monster of a fish grabbed my lure. Stunned Clive had no chance to move the boat into open water, as was the usual practice, because out of the corner of my eye, I had seen his small rod take the most wicked bend that I thought would snap the rod in two. DOUBLE HOOKUP!

Line was screaming all over the place as we both struck gold at almost the same time. Then the leaping came. First, there was a half hearted head shake in an eruption of water towards the rear of the boat and I almost choked! The head that emerged from the water, with my blue lure firmly entrenched into a corner of its mouth, looked absolutely monstrous. If I thought the NT Barras were big, then this one was a DINOSAUR! The head itself looked as large as a man’s and when it shook its head in a fierce rattle, all I could do was stare into the golden eyes of the biggest damn barra I had ever seen!

Then there was the speed! Drags were screaming in high-pitched whines, and even with full strike drag and thumb pressure, the fish was moving out into open water as though I was on free spool! But heading into open water was the fishes’ greatest mistake. I was still losing line fast and thumbing the spool with a really hot thumb when Clive’s fish leapt clear out of the water and, though only slightly smaller than mine, I knew that his was way over 20 pounds!

We must have crossed over and under each other’s rods over a dozen times to prevent out lines from getting snagged onto each other’s, as the two mighty fish battled fiercely to get away. They must have conspired well, for on more than one desperate moment, our lines came so close to being tangled. And if that happened, not one, but perhaps even both fish would be lost. But patience and good tackle paid off, as slowly, we could turn the fish and pump them in, though not without the occasional run, jump, and headshake.

Mine was tiring faster, perhaps because of its greater weight, and after about half an hour of serious, arm-cramping battle, a magnificent 4 foot long silver Saltwater Barramundi lay exhausted on its side beside the boat. After such an amazing battle, I knew I had to release the fish, but not without a weigh-in. Quickly assessing the situation, and glancing at Clive still struggling with his brute, I decided to quickly net and weigh mine. And what a shock I received. This fish not only broke all my records through the years in Australia, but it weighed in at an amazing 36 pounds!

Clive’s fish soon came in and we weighed it in at 23 pounds, a biggie in every aspect, but 36 pounds? I still shudder when I think of my Barramundi.

When we were both reviving our fish for release, sweat pumping from our foreheads, I suddenly realized that we had struck a Barramundi Bonanza less than 5 minutes after starting the troll. There was the rest of the morning to go. After we watched our fish swim lazily off on their own, we were ready for a second run over the snag. And we were not disappointed. Another five fish made their way onto the scales, with none below 20 pounds, and all were released to fight another day. By the time the morning was done, we were all exhausted and I was convinced that this was, indeed, the most exciting and surprising trip of my life! Saying this coming from an angler’s paradise in NT came as a shock to Clive, who always thought nothing could compare with NT.

Well, surprise Singapore! You’ve got an angler’s paradise in your own backyard!

Best Wishes,
Randy

8 Jan 2004 - No 3 - lureman Chai's second contribution. 

Looks like he's gonna be a regular contributor.

By Chai 7 Jan 2004 Lurefishing (2nd Contribution. Scroll down to read his earlier contribution at your own risk. I don't even know how to edit his stories because of his amazing linguistic abilities! I'll see if I can cut and paste the photo here.)

Wah I surf surf surf Conrad's website until sekali I kena dam big shok man!!! I see myself own photo dam young man. Very skinny lastime too. I think is 1980 something every Friday Conrad alway bring us go marina bay throw lures. He teach me how to throw lures, hold the gao he and oso many times release the fish. Lastime Conrad oso so skinny I see him now want to laugh already.

I remember ah lastime got no money we alway sangkot lure must go swimming one. Oh Ah Bey AH SOM! then poor guy kena rescue the lure swimming in Marina bay. So many times my leg kena cut on stupit banarcels but onetime Conrad leg cut dam bad man alot of blood. Luckly he still can take taxi go home. Then oneday ah, another kaki Cheong kena poke by donno who left some hook lying around on the floor. We kana go SGH see him get rescue by doctor. Then doctor oso scold us say fishing so waste time and then oso can kana poke. Worse part is ah dat day the fish dam on man! almost evry cast oso kana gao he. got big, got small. then sekali Cheong shout aiyo aiyo we oso kan cheong.

Eh? i forgot i suppose to write my own story. Bt lastime we 1980 something catch and let go the fish dam fun, now evryone working no time meet and go together already. sianzzzzzz.

Eh? i forgot again must write today's story. After work today I got 3 hours free i go marina bay throw lures again. I chio another fren Ah Boon go wif me but he sianzz lah kana working OT.

I start near the longkang in front of marina square with black rapala shadrap again and throw in fan shape every ten steps. Yah. this is the hut shelter where lastime cheong kana poke by hook. still down here. this spot dam good we kana many gao he here and i kana one GT here before 2 kilos best catch here man!!!
About 100 over meters still no bite hand abit tired liao walking nearer small longkang in between big longkang and benjamin sheers brige then kana sangkot basket! here got one big rock in front of the small drain sometimes kana gao he but today kana sangkot. shake shake shake oso cannot comeout. then boh pian use lure retriver lah. when lure retriver almost ready my lure sardenly float up heng man!

Then i dring water wah shiok and continues to walking and thorwing my rapala . Little while my lure kana huntum by good fish and fight little while the gao he come up about 500 grams. Quite big already i think i want to bring home cook but then take bus dam difficult so aiya let him grows bigger lah next time i catch him again ok?

After dat fish abit more but tired liaozzz and kana donno why got so much rubbis in the water today. Regret let go the fish already too late. somore if go home take picture can bluff people is 1 kilogram fish. but cannot bluff Conrad lah he oso lastime catch the gao he from here how many years already all standard size one.

After dat no more fish no more bite only got bung bite dam itchy then got ant bite dam pain then i also no mood already then go home lor. next time i tink i keep the gao he. but i tink can throw back lar or else nextime i come here wait no more fish.

Tonight i surf Conrad's page see my old picture oso happy lor, then i write story for him.
tight lines!

from lureman Chai

From Conrad - Here are some pics from our luring days in the eighties. We looked so skinny then.

Second contribution by my friend Ryota a Japanese expat who has been fishing so long in Singapore he is more experienced than he thinks he is. We had good times fishing at East Coast in the past. Looks like he's still fishing there.

-No 2 - By Ryota San 3 Jan 2004 at Singapore's East Coast Pipes

Hello. I am Ryota Tamura Originaly from Japan but now work in Singapore many years. I enjoy fishing from shore and bring my children and colleage along most times. I help Conrad write a story now. Saturday we go Singapore's East Coast to fish at the Pipes jetty where is more desserted and hope for stingray or sea bass with live prawns. Once in a while, after Conrad showed me this spot about 14 years ago when I first ask him where is good to fish in Singapore, I like this spot because less people and sometimes we manage to catch big stingray and sea bass about 2 kilograms. Not always we catch but sometimes luck helps us to catch good fish. Sea bass sashimi also nice.

That day I bring 4 rods 2 long and 2 short and 500 grams live prawns and Gamakatsu hooks very sharp. 2 rods I cast far and 2 rods I cast near the pipes. Water is low at first in early afternoon and no bites. I let my children play in the pools when the tide is low, they use a net and catch small fish. A lot of kaki (oyster in English) but Conrad said cannot eat because risky and can fall sick. My daughter accidenttly fall inside one pool but only wet not hurt.

No bite for very long time then one rod move slowly I know is not current because of erratic movement. Looked like crab pulling I try to strike but never hook the crab and my bait come back half piece.
Sun is very hot and we wait very long and I go and watch a man catching crabs when my colleage look after the rods. He got no crabs that day. Then my colleage shouted my name and tell me one short rod has fish. I run fast and see one rod bending very much and the fish is swimming inside the drain underneath. I strike and the fish pulled the drag and swim more underneath until my line rub on the floor. My rod is too short to put lower so cannot prevent the rub. Then my line burst and fish escape. I think is big sea bass because when sea bass bite here it swim underneath and we caught a small number in the past this way but this one too big I cannot stop the fish.

Then my children ask why my long rod line is so loose and not tight because I teach them line must be tight. I knew the fish has bitten and is swimming inwards from far way because I cast this one far. Yes this one I wind and strike and my line start to go outwards to the open water and many people come and see me catch the stingray. It came in after a while about 10 minutes and quite big about 10 kilograms but I don't eat stingray only catch for fight so I bring the fish towards the beach walking along side of jetty and let him go. One man ask me for it I think but he speak not English but I think is Chinese and I don't understand propery but nevermine I let him go. My children also enjoy and my colleage take my photo too.

Then we fish some more but sun is very hot and when my children complain after some hours almost evening any way so we decide to go home. Is a day with one fish only but is good day
because friend and children and me also enjoy nice fishing and open space because Singapore like Tokyo is very crowded and when we can find free space and time we always happy.

Singapore's East Coast is good. We come again next time. My story ends. Hope you like.

R Tamura

First contribution by my old friend we call the lureman. Mr Chai.

-No 1 - By Chai 25 Dec 2003 Shorefishing - lures

Wah see Conrad's kbl until sliver all comeout. i bueh tahan go and throw lures at spore river myself see can kena kbl or kao he like lastime when conrad and me always throw lures at marina bay.

Lastime we catch fish from marina always throw back one. groupers alot man. but if put in plastic bag and take bus dam troublesome one so we always throw back unless dam good size for makan.

Now he alway go on boat I cannot follow cos alway seasick and vomit. He say got no waves, not choppy but lastime i try with him five minutes already vomit and beg him go to jetty. Now I help make contributions from lure fishing from shore.

okok i get on wif my report. Yesterday i go spore river outside boatquay throw lures for 3 hours. got some fish, very fun still, but scared smaelly so all throw back.

my lures i use rapala shadrap all the way. i noe conrad always like nilsmaster invincible but i say it don look like real fish. shadrap look like asam fish or tamban. ya hor, nilsmaster got look abit like Orh Her mullet, maybe thatswhy so many times he also can catch fish.

i thot going to rain so bring raincoat everything but skali so hot and then got to carry raincoat walk around so troublesome one. luckily cast a few times already kena a small grouper, only a bit bigger than palm size. throw back lor.

i walk to opposite side near the bridge and cast paralal to the wall and then kena sangkot. Basket! luckily brought my lure retriver and save my lure. this one save me alot of money man!

then i neber learn lesson and cast same spot again, then kena sangkot again basket. luckily, shake shake abit the lure float up and safe again.

then i cast away from the wall 90 degrees and wind back fast, and when my lure almost reach back i kena big strike! wah i shouting all sorts of words when the fish take out so much line and swim towards center i thot i kena GT. then i saw the bumboat coming and then kan chiong panick lor. tighten drag and make the fish turn in.

luckily the line can tahan andthe bumboat neber come so near , dam heng man.

then the fish jump, kbl big one about 3 kilos. jump many times then tired liao come near to the wall, then i remember the wall dam high cannot reach the water. basket. i see the fish like peng san on its side come near the wall i also dunno wat to do. if i try to pull up sure snap one so how? one passerby then very helpful tell me he hold my rod i climb down. wah liao he siao or what, the wall how to climb down? nothing to hold oso! but he still help me hold my rod and i boh pian take out my lure retriver try to pull the fish up. i saw conrad lastime also use lure retriver pull up one big grouper from this spot before so i think this one can also.
i thought can and pull up halfway but skali the fish so heavy the hooks also straighten and then the fish fall back in. catch and release haha.... want to cry alreadi what laugh.

everybody also shout when the fish fall back in so dam sway one man! now conrad sure tell me i talking rubbish cos got no photo to show him. this one bigger than the last one he got down here about 3 years ago.
i so sad sit down there and stare at my straight hooks then change the hooks and walk further down and try again.

few more cast then kena another grouper but bigger than first one about 400 g also throw back. spore river still got alot of fish donno why people don fish here. lastime conrad and me 2 hours can get 5 or 6 groupers sometimes got GT or barracuda somemore. Nowadays i come myself also got fish most times, but mostly grouper and baby mangrove jack, i noe is conrad's favrouit fish.

aiya type until hand tired liao, got 2 fish yesterday neber lose lure good alreadi. somemore got fight big kbl but conrad sure dont believe one. onli the people all stop to watch me fight will believe. next time i ask them take picture for me.

i think next week i come and try again. wah liao type fishing story more siong than throwing lures, hand all pain alreadi. next week i try to type one more, see if conrad like this report.

tight lines!

from lureman Chai! - end of report.