2011 Log - Gao Tun!!! Conrad's Fishing Facebook Group

Not many blog posts for 2011 because I send most of my pics direct by phone to Facebook. Check out Conrad's Fishing Group if you're interested.   During the Dec hols, the kids came along for some fishing fun at Ubin, where the waters are calmer.  

Isaac with his first wild Barramundi. Nice size too. So easy to catch at Ubin.

The ever reliable Ubin Barramundi will always be fun for the kids.

In the cabin the kids take shelter from a brief downpour.

A nice Golden Snapper came to thrill the kids. Being a strong fighter, everyone was amazed by its power.

 They had fun in wet weather conditions.

This beautiful Mangrove Jack came to join in the fun.

She fought this Grunter which put up a really good fight.

 

Of course the Northeast Monsoon brought in the Trevally schools. Too many disgusting Chermin, but at least they put up a good fight. The Sagais were the real target. Erwin, Chng and Hokkien Pro joined me at the Southern Islands   2011 Septemper, October and November were excellent too.  

The big Sagai like these started coming in around November.  

We got a few, when conditions were right.  

But this has got to be my best fish of 2011, a muscle bound Giant Garoupa that showed up in Ubin amidst a Garoupa festival. A true fighter, it put my light gear to the test and almost straightened my hook. I had to jam my drag on the Spheros in order to pull this one out of the snags.  

  Ubin Lao Di Fang keeps producing these wonderful Garoupas. Everyone enjoys catching fish like these, right?   2011 April - Predicting the end of personal websites    Looks like the end of websites like this is near. In 1999, I formed this website. Then around 2004, personal websites started giving way to blogs and this ended up more like a blog. Now of course, there's facebook, which makes it so easy for me to upload pics and even videos, even when I'm not even home after a fishing trip yet.   So that's where my fishing pics have disappeared to, if that's what you're wondering... FACEBOOK. So until the next big thing on the Internet happens, facebook is where u'll see my fishing updates from now on.   Thanks for following this site for so long, I have received lots of email over the 12 years of this sites existence. It will probably exist as an archive until dear old Pacific Internet folds, cos that's where this site has been hosted ever since 1999.   Take care everyone, it's been a fun 12 years, but I guess age catches up with everyone, and I have to move along with technology. See you on my facebook group (which I'm actually still trying to figure out, haha!) Some recent pics on my fb Conrad's Fishing Group   Erwyn's last trip before he flies off to the US of A. 13 Aug 2011 landed 7 nice garoupas and 8 Snappers.   Here's one I caught, and below that the Anchor with the Angchor.  

Another Lao Di Fang Garoupa

Biggies like these are still around

Caught some nice little Anchor like these.. oops, I meant Angchor. Oh well, both are good.

  Good Feeling is still producing the Barramundi.

Last week everyone on board landed at least one nice Barra, and I topped it off with a biggie Barramundi.

 

Whenever I need to relax, I go to Ubin, park at my Barra spot, and catch beauties like these.

 Landed plenty of good fish in 2011, together with some Mangrove Jacks, Snappers and Kurau, and of course - the mighty Barramundi! Here are twins I landed when everyone was busy catching their own Barramundi.

Aug to Oct - feasting continues, jigging begins

Albertus and his international friends join us for some Ubin fun. B & N are firm regulars now.

On August 20, 2011, we had a change of crew when Albertus and gang joined us at Ubin. Nadine was the champ with a big Garoupa. We all caught some nice fish. Then the traditional meal at Great Atlantis continued.

Nadine can't wait to tuck into her big Garoupa cooked two styles here. This time  Teochew steamed tail portion and the head portion was done Photophores style. Unbeatable!

The happy girl with the fat Garoupa taken off an old double wreck at Pasir Ris.

29 Aug 2011. We landed good fish again and this time it's Kings who can't wait to try out the Wild Caught Steamed Snapper.

3 Sep 2011 was productive too. Lao Di Fang keeps on producing these 2-4 kg Garoupas. 

3 Sep 2011. Here we are back at the boatel With Erwyn gone, Erwin has come to replace him, haha.

Erwin with his 'FBrother' Hokkien Pro

On 17 Sep 2011, Quasimodo joined in the fun. It bit and burst Karen's line, I told her I'd catch it for her, let down my HK Hook and landed Quasi (furthest right) with Karen's hook still in its mouth. Typical Lao Di Fang action.

2011 Oct. Southern Islands. Something took Bryan's metal jig. He had been jigging the whole day. Now he was going to be rewarded. 

An intro to metal jigging for Bryan. His first Garoupa on metal jig at the Southern Islands. Looks like its gonna be the next big thing.

Goodbye Erwyn - special video

2011 Aug 13, Erwyn's last trip before flying off to the States for studies. We'll miss him, and I know he misses us.

So after a hectic few months of fishing, feasting and having tonnes of fun, Erwyn has to go off to the States for his studies. Good luck buddy, and study hard. Come fish with us again when you come back.

2011 Aug, Dexter helps with the Teochew Steamed Garoupa. Farewell meal.

Log - Bryan, Nadine, Dexter and Alan - fishing and feasting

March 6, 2011. Nadine caught a Kurau on her first trip out. Great Atlantis opened and the tradition of eating the catch of the day immediately upon reaching shore began. Big Tua Tao, fresh fish, good beer and BEST company!

During this period 2011 Mar to Jun, Erwyn and Bryan started fishing with me regularly on most Saturdays. The opening of a great Seafood restaurant at Punggol helped to kickstart the tradition of eating our best catch after reaching shore. Prices started low, but recently got higher and higher... gotta start looking for alternative venues.

This trip in April was like most other trips that season. Plenty of good fish, good food, giant tua tao and GREAT company. Kings and Karen regularly joined in the fishing and feasting too.

Lao Di Fang was always firing up with good Garoupas, Mangrove Jacks and Snappers. Then if we wanted Kims we would head to Good Feeling.  There was not a single trip with a poor catch this season.

We were still having the feasting and fishing fun in May. Erwyn and Dexter  were always up to something.

During this 2011 May trip, when the boss found out we had big Whiting (Sua Chiam or Pasir Pasir), he insisted on deep-frying the fish for us, saying it was a chance we should not miss. Indeed the Whiting were wonderful!!!

By 2011 End May, even Chng and Hokkien Pro joined in the Fishing and Feasting as the big Garoupas and Kims never failed to show up. And Erwyn gives a thumbs up!

Here's a close of of the dishes that day. Live Barramundi HongKong Steam, Live Garoupa HongKong Steam, Mangrove Jack Teochew Steam and soupy Lala Bee Hoon.

In 2011 Jun, Erwyn was so happy with his big Garoupa I think he must have taken more than a dozen photos with it.

The fishing was great and the food was excellent. The company was amazing! No wonder we kept going over and over again.

This is how they prepare big Garoupas. Half the fish is steamed Hong Kong Style and the  Head Portion is made into soup - usually it's the Garoupa Photophores Soup which is a soup that is not commonly found and tastes so good, you keep yearning for it time after time. Once in a while, we eat the wild boar that's caught at Lim Chu Kang too - very tender.

In July 2011, the Southern Island Garoupas and Snappers also started firing up and here Kings shows how nice and fat they are.

Nice glistening Snappers are always a welcome catch. July 2011 Southern Islands.

Altogether, this 2011 Mar to Jul period was a memorable period of fishing and feasting. Here's to more amazing days like these!

2010 fishing log - sharks and mackerels

Sep and Oct 2010 - Somehow got my mobile phone camera working again and managed to take some decent pics. Lost a coupla nice photos due to memory card problems.  

Chng expertly handles a gleaming 1.8kg Wild Barrumundi   The most recent trip on 2 Oct 2010 was a Barra hunting trip with Hokkien Pro (cos he speaks Hokkien like a Pro) and Chng. There were signs that Barras were on the bite since the previous trip's catch included 3 Barramundi.   This time, we moved around the whole of Ubin and landed 5 Golden Beauties for our efforts. Chng landed 2, I landed 2 and Hokkien Pro thought he was going home with zero, started singing some sad Hokkien song about bak sai, and then he pulled up the final Barramundi for the day, a fat one too.  

Here's the crammed ice-box after the trip. Can you count the Barramundi heads? The previous trip on 25 Sep 2010 was a fun trip with Norm and his family, and Hokkien Pro came too. Went to a surecatch spot where everyone landed some fish, and then moved to hunt some biggies. A nice Threadfin turned up on my rod, taking prawn meat as bait. And Hokkien Pro also turned in a Barramundi on prawn meat.  

Here's my Threadfin and HokPro's Kim caught within minutes of each other When we moved to our final spot, we landed another two Kims and then called it a day. Looks like the Barramundi are on the bite all around Ubin.  

Here's the group back at the boatel, with a part of the catch   OK, had to put up this pic of David with an interesting oversized Spanish Flag Snapper.  

And here's a tribute to Emmalin and Hiutsuri, victims of bad weather.  

29 May till 5 Jun 2010 Light Game Fishing - SHARK and SPANISH MACKEREL in local waters    Since the oil spill has affected the Changi area, I was forced to fish more towards the South of Singapore, using my smaller boat. And it turned out that some amazing fish were waiting for us.   On Saturday the 29th of May, Richard, Alex, Dave the Pro and me went off in search of some food fish. The target was Coral Trout, Scarlet Breasted Maori Wrasse, Trevally, Spanish Flag Snapper and Waigeu Sea Perch. When Richard went to get the bait from Ah Kow, it was a hunch that made him buy 1.5kg of prawns (500g more than our usual)... and this hunch paid off big time.   When we reached the fishing grounds around reef 40-47, we were welcomed at every spot with a flurry of action. All our target fish obliged in decent numbers, and we all landed Coral Trout, Trevally, etc etc.... until we ran out of bait.  

A happy Richard holding up two of the Trevally back at the boatel - enough fish for our refrigerators and stomachs   At one of the deeper drop offs, we realized a few of our lines were bitten off at the hook, but we had run out of bait and so we had to call it a day rather early.   Notice that boats which return early are normally the ones with pretty good catches cos they have run out of bait. (But of course there are exceptions when one is armed with plenty of bait and would not stop fishing when the action is hot.)  

Here's a closer look at the mixed catch - if you're wondering why we kept those small chocolate hinds, well it's because Richard found an old lady who specially requested for that particular fish, which she eats for every meal ... so we kindly obliged (Now it's called the grandmother fish cos of that)   Another interesting incident took place, where for the first time (not on lure) I landed two fish on a single hook... how in the world did it happen??  

This Perch and this Hind must have been fighting for the same bait... so they end up with the same fate   Anyway, the next day, Dave the Pro got his revenge on one of the line biters when he landed THIS AMAZING SPANISH MACKEREL!!!  

Why do people travel overseas to catch this fish when we can catch them in our very own Southern Islands?   And of course I had to get in on the action the next Saturday 5th June. I came with my light game outfit, ready for a decent biggie, and well, didn't land a Mack this time, but landed his buddy, a Black Tip Reef Shark, which Dave had been longing to eat. (Yes, he loves eating Sharks, that's why he's Dave the Pro.) Well, since I was using a wire leader, I wasn't worried about any fish biting through the line and when I had a big bite on my big bait, I knew I was going to enjoy the fight. Well, looks like the big fish are around if you know how to look for them and how to fish for them.  

A handsome, powerful fish ... one of our plentiful Blacktips  

I always wanted to do this with a Shark, like on a fishing magazine, and now I got my chance   Wow, once you start catching biggies locally, everything else you catch, like Snappers and Trevally, starts to look like bait. Well, till next time, tightlines!   May 2010 Had some fun relaxing trips with friends recently. Here are a few pics.  

Brought Chris, Wilson and Hayden out for some fishing fun... here is a Grunter  

Just had this for dinner, yum yum... another beautiful coral trout. Looks like their numbers are increasing.  

And of course, I had to target this Scarlet Breasted Maori Wrasse, which is extremely beautiful  

How often do you land these two beauties on the same trip? I think I've done it several times now.  

Hard to go home empty handed when the fish are hungry... here's the ice box. Silver Trevally, Snapper, Sweetlip, a couple of Coral Trout, Maori Wrasse etc  

Here's another small catch for a short trip... at least the Trevally cooperated   Well that's all for now! Will probably fish much more in June. Video Experiment. Fought a nice Queenfish, tryin to embed a video on the page. Let's see if it works.   2010 New Year Update - managed quite a number of fishing trips, but my camera phone's memory card gave some problems, and I had little time to update the site.   What's interesting is that a long time fishing buddy of mine (see 1999 log), who started fishing with me since he was a schoolboy, has opened a freshwater catch and release fishing pond in Yishun. Of course, as soon as I saw Samuel's pic in his website (Fishing Paradise), I couldn't help but visit the pond for a look see and a try out.   Kings joined me there and Samuel was a very good host, showing me where the fish were and what method to use. But before that, I must admit that the Black Pepper Crab Bee Hoon at the bottle tree village was wonderfully washed down with some ice-cold beer.   Ah, back to the fishing. Well, some guy landed an Arapaima on lure just before I arrived, so I eagerly set up my heavy gear. (Remember, for a higher chance of the released fish surviving, the fight must not be prolonged ... so light lines are out of the question here.)   Anyway, most of what I caught were Walking Catfish. Some smallish Patin came to entertain too, and I landed a beautiful Gourami (Kalui).  

The staff were very helpful in landing and releasing fish, and I landed this nice Kalui, among others   Overall, I still wish the Monster Fish had been more cooperative... maybe a Red Tail Catfish on my next trip?? Anyway, keep up the good work Samuel!!   Not forgetting boat fishing - while my bigger boat is undergoing a face lift, I managed some nice trips on the small boat at the Southern Islands.   With Chinese New Year's Eve dinner in mind, I took a short trip out to see if I could land some fresh fish for dinner. I got more than what I bargained for, as usual...   We hit a school of decent sized Trevally (Sagai) and had a ball of a time filling up the ice-box... which we promptly topped off with crushed ice. Had one of them for steamboat reunion dinner that night.... delicious!!  

We caught one ice-box full of these on Chinese New Year's Eve, really good fighters on light tackle... a far cry from the usual 3 boxfuls, haha...   Oh well, that's all the time I have for a quick update. Have a Great 2010!!!