ONZZ Season 3 Episode 8 Ubin Fishing with Old Friends

It was nice to meet up with some old friends such as Adrian and Samuel (See my blog archives for posts from around 1999 to 2003.) Pauline and Richard came along and we had a good time with some really hungry Garoupas and Barramundis around Ubin and Tekong.

I also decided to try out some Pioneer fishing tackle for my next trip because they are reasonably priced and seem to be of decent quality and workmanship. Let's see how they turn out. I'll feature some reviews of this particular brand from Season 3 Episode 9 onwards. Next week, I get to test them on some big garoupas of the Southern Islands. Visit their link here: Pioneer Tackle for more information.

Episode 6 of ONZZ in OZ is out! Spanish Mackerel Frenzy and Airborne Macks!

We're up to Episode 6 of ONZZ in OZ now, which is just the morning part of Day 4 of our trip. After that we did some metal jigging and slow jigging, and then we went for Sailfish! (That will be in Episode 7.) I managed to catch some acrobatic footage while recording the fights with the sailfish. Hope to be able to find some time to edit those clips.

Meanwhile, the local scene is also good, with some great fish showing up. I'll be back to editing the local ONZZ Fishing Singapore episodes after I'm done with the Australian trip videos.

Enjoy!! This is really good Mackerel fishing at the Montes!

ONZZ in OZ. Episode 1 is out! Australia's Montebello Islands Fishing

I finally managed to edit the first video for my June trip to Australia's Montebello Islands. I flew to Perth, then to Port Hedland. From there, Jason and I drove to Exmouth (you can try to Googlemap these places), met up with Daniel, and boarded the Kylin.

We booked a fishing safari with Montebello Island Safaris at http://www.montebello.com.au 

and had the privilege of fishing with Captain Matt, and with the crew members Wade and Brad.

We also met several friendly and keen anglers Murray with his two sons Kyran and Ashley, Thys, Neville and Di, Dave and his son David, Wally, John and Allan. It was a real pleasure living on the houseboat for a week with these lovely people. They definitely helped make the trip an amazing one! You'll get to see more of our fishing in the videos I'll be uploading. I'm thinking of:

Episode 1: Journey from Singapore to the Montes, introductions and the first day of bottom fishing

Episode 2: The second day of bottom fishing and some squid-catching fun

Episode 3: Popping and stickbaiting around the bommies on the Nemo, their jetboat. Giant Garoupa

Episode 4: Light jigging, trolling and soft plastics on the Tinny. Coral trout and Macks. Lobsters!!

Episode 5: More light jigging and some engine trouble.
Episode 6: Crazy Spanish Mackerel action. AIRBORNE MACKS!!
Episode 7: Sailfish action on the Kylin. Lures and jigs.

Episode 8: Catching and cooking Mud Crab in the Pilbara. Singapore Chilli Crab.
Episode 9: ONZZ in OZ Montebello season finale: Highlights and goodbyes.

Enjoy!!

Fished on Friday and Saturday. Two days in the Southern Islands.

On Friday, Bryan, Erwyn and Karen came along and we finished 1.2kg of prawns early catching Reef denizens like Parrotfish, Spanish Flag Snappers and Garoupas. Then on Saturday, Kings and I went for some monsters, and got a little more than we bargained for. One of the monsters broke my rod by the way. Watch the video of our fishing adventures here on ONZZ Episode 7. Enjoy!!!

Sweetlip Trip

Was a little sad that I couldn't fish on Saturday cos I had to go back to work. However, I did manage a trip on Monday with Desmond, Isabelle and Darren. Upon hearing that we ran out of bait early the week before, Desmond bought 1.5kg of prawns this time. We used up most of them even though many of the prawns this time around were really tiny.

We hit several Spanish Flag Snappers, some Red Emperors (which were a pleasant surprise) and then ran into a school of solid Painted Sweetlips.

While editing my video for ONZZ Episode 6, I also decided to add in some clips from a small video project I'm working on to feature light jigging in Singapore. Basically, these are some videos I managed to compile from a while back. I really should have filmed more of my fishing trips in the past, but I guess mobile phone technology was not that great then anyway.

OK, enjoy watching ONZZ Episode 6 and my new Trailer.

Strong Southern Parrotfish, and some other nice stuff. With the Hokkien Pro and David.

Today's trip started off slowly, when we faced strong winds in the morning, but after landing a big garoupa and a small coral trout, we found a spot where the parrots were biting. We had lots of fun then! Here's the video!

Southern Islands Revenge Trip.

Erwyn, David and I went to the Southern Islands today to see if we could land any of the monsters that defeated me last week. Our trip was almost ruined this time by horrible weather. The rain was so heavy and the wind was so strong that we had to take shelter in a safe zone for several hours. Even then, it was so cold! I couldn't take out my mobile camera phone to film much of our fishing for fear that the rain would spoil the phone. In the end, at least some reef fish and one big monster fish obliged. Watch our fishing adventure here on ONZZ Fishing Episode 4. 

Southern Islands relaxing handline fishing trip ... interrupted by monster fish!

The Hokkien Pro and I headed down to the Southern Islands yesterday just to chill and relax in the sea breeze, but got a little more than we bargained for. Some monster fish started appearing midway through the trip and I hooked up to them 4 times in total, but landed none even on my 50lb gear with wire leaders. It was hard to film ONZZ Episode 3 with just the 2 of us, and we missed out on some great action scenes simply because both of us were unable to get to the phone camera on time, and it was hard to land the fish and film the process at the same time. I think I need a mounted gopro or something. Well, enjoy Episode 3 of ONZZ Fishing! 

We had a solid Teochew cuisine dinner after that, and I have it in the Unbiased Food Review section of my C LifeStyle YouTube channel. I'll embed the link below too.

Fished at Ubin and Tekong and filmed ONZZ Episode 2 for my YouTube Channel

I was hoping to have a chance at filming another episode of Onzz for my YouTube Channel C LifeStyle and today gave me just the opportunity for that. The fish were very cooperative, and we were able to capture some exciting moments on video. We caught several Barramundi, some Threadfin Salmon, Snappers and Sweetlip. 

Though it rained midway, it wasn't very heavy and just helped to cool us down for the day. I'll try to do Onzz Episode 3 next Saturday at the Southern Islands if possible. Meanwhile, enjoy the video above! 

Thanks to Sally, Beng, Greg and Vanessa for being the cast and the crew at the same time (no pun intended).I had a fun time. 

Dog Rescue Caught on Video!

I was out on a boat fishing trip with my buddies around Singapore's North Eastern waters when one of my friends spotted something strange far out in the middle of the sea. He said there was a guy swimming out in the sea. I thought he was kidding at first, so I laughed at him. I said that the current was too strong at that time for a swim. He then looked very serious and insisted that I take a look for myself.

True enough, when I focused on where he was pointing, I realized that something was struggling in the current out there, swimming in circles. I looked on and it suddenly dawned upon me that there was a dog struggling out there!

Immediately, we started stomping our feet, shouting and clapping our hands to get the dog's attention and I needed to see if it could swim towards us. If not, I would immediately drive my boat over to pick him up. Fortunately, the dog noticed us and I could see him clearly making progress and coming nearer. That's when I took out my phone camera and started filming it. Of course I was clapping my hands and filming so the video quality isn't that great, but the dog comes first.

When it came near, I realized that it had a collar and looked very familiar. It was too weak to climb on board by itself and it had clearly exhausted the last bit of its energy just to reach us. I did not hesitate to immediately drop my phone and reach half into the water to carry him up. It was then that I realized I had met this dog before, at one of the fish farms far up current from us. 

He was returned safely to his worried owner, who thought that he had fallen into the sea and was never coming back again. Fortunately this valiant fighter made it back alive... tired, but alive.

2016 April 16 Fishing Video C LifeStyle Channel Launched

I find it very interesting to observe how people's favourite modes of using the Internet change over the course of time. As one of the pioneer members of a simple Internet Fishing Forum (Spike's) community that slowly became one of Singapore's largest fishing forums, and one of the first fishing website builders in Singapore, back in the mid to late 90's, I noticed that people first started going crazy about email, then websites and IRC (remember that?) and later blogs (which are slowly having to adapt or go out of fashion too) and then Facebook (which is even now starting to belong to a more mature generation, as my kids often remind me). Now we have YouTube and Instagram and Twitter and a whole host of new social media platforms which I am no longer familiar with. I have had to adapt several times. Those who knew me in the 90's would know that I hosted this fishing blog originally as a website on Pacific Internet, and in those days, the hit counters available for my website only ran till 6 digits, so I had the number of hits reduced to zero a short while back. Then when Pacnet had to fold, I had to painstakingly shift everything onto this blog.

Many might wonder why my archives show pictures of such low quality, with thumbnails that cannot even be clicked on. The answer is simple, in those days, the technology only allowed for that. I had to scan in pictures manually. Later, in the era of the early camera phones, many would notice pictures of extremely low resolution. 

I even tried moving on to Facebook, but soon realized that it was going our of fashion too (especially for the younger generation), so I took on that endeavour in a half-hearted manner, as many who tried to join my fishing Facebook group would know (and I sincerely apologise to them). Why this long preamble? Many might ask. Well, as long as I still fish, I would still love to share my tales (and Oh we do know how fishermen love to tell their tales). So now,  I have moved on to start a Fishing Videos Section in my C LifeStyle YouTube Channel, which was launched about two weeks ago.

I also thought to myself, after watching so many episodes of Robson Green's Extreme Fishing, why not start to make a semi-professional fishing series of my own? In the end, at least I get to watch them when I'm older, and remind myself of the good ol' days when we could still catch fish. (Remember, I'm thinking years into the future.) This gave birth to ONZZ Fishing, which is just a series of mini episodes of my fishing trips. Now, whenever I go fishing, and if I can find the time to put together a short video log of the trip, I'll try to create a new episode of ONZZ Fishing. In the meanwhile, since reading seems to be going out of fashion too, I'll quickly let you enjoy the first episode of ONZZ Fishing in my C LifeStyle Channel. 

Note: I've got the FULL VIDEO format or the video broken down into three parts for those who prefer shorter videos. Please don't forget to subscribe to my Channel in order to view the latest videos.

2015 Updates. It's been a while, and an eventful year has come and gone, but life goes on.

First, I would like to add a video of one of the nice fishes caught off Changi in 2015.

2015 Pictures, and a tribute to my dad, the guy who kickstarted my passion in fishing

I haven't managed to post anything till now because the blog had to take a backseat while one major event took place in my life. This year, 2015, I mourn the passing of my father, Reginald Lee, the one who taught me so much about fishing, the one who brought me sampan fishing at the Southern Islands ever since I was a small boy, the one who introduced me to anchor pulling at the age of 12, the one who taught me to enjoy life's simple pleasures, and the one who demonstrated to me the fragility of all that we have. Thank you daddy, and I'll miss you and your weird jokes and fishing tales.

This picture of us was taken in 2004, and my dad had a huge role to play in helping me land this 10 kg Barramundi. Sadly, camera phone quality was not that great back in 2004. Shortly after that trip, dad had a major stroke.

But, as we all know, life goes on, and I resumed my fishing after a short break. Here are some updates of the notable catches in 2015.

This beautiful and strong garoupa caught off Changi was the result of the fight that can be viewed in my video above.

The waters off Changi, Ubin and Tekong continued to produce beautiful and strong fish like Garoupas, Barramundi and Snappers. This Northern area remains great for relaxed fishing, with some big stuff still lurking around.

These Ubin Garoupas are just the right size for steaming, and in my opinion, actually taste better than the ones I catch from the Southern Islands. I find it strange, but years of tasting garoupas from two different areas of Singapore have led me to this conclusion. Maybe it's just me though.

Of course, the Ubin Barramundis never disappointed.

Ubin seems to have a very healthy population of Barramundi, and they never fail to put up a great fight, with heartstopping acrobatics when they do their aerial headshake. On one trip, Bert's dad caught a nice 6 kilo specimen which we promptly filleted and used for a barbecue the next day. It was just wonderful!

We all love double hookups, especially if a Golden Snapper school is around

The Snapper zones around Tekong were pretty productive, and in the right tide conditions, could be very entertaining. Even some red Snapper turned up this season, among the Goldies.

Here's a tasty Red Snapper

Bryan had a surprise when a big Whiting took his Madai while drifting

Overall, the Northern waters stayed productive in 2015, but the Southern waters did not disappoint either. Bryan's big Coral Trout from the South will definitely be a fish to remember!

Look at the smile on Bryan's face. He landed this beauty on a light metal jig.

This should give you a clearer idea of how big that Coral Trout was. We had a full box that day too.

Kings and I were not to be outdone too, with each of us contributing some nice reds of our own.

Most importantly, in 2015, I started to introduce the next generation to fishing, as my father had done for me way back when I was in primary school. What better way to start than with my favourite fish, the Spanish Flag Snapper! Great fun for young anglers, the South produced these snappers in schools. A great place to learn eh?

Leon poses with a catch he contributed to. I think he's hooked now, haha.

It's really about the simple pleasures. Life comes full circle.

He's right where he has always wanted to be. RIP dad.

2015 June. An Aussie outback experience to remember.

In June 2015, I had the privilege of going to the Pilbara in Northwestern Australia to experience Threadfin Salmon fishing like never before. That mud crabs were everywhere was an added bonus.

I met up with my brother in Port Hedland, and we camped out by some rivers with his native Australian friends for an experience that words can never fully describe.

I started by casting for live bait. The tide was really low at first, and I caught several mullet.

When we arrived at the river, the tide was low, and I set off to cast for live bait. As the tide started rising, the fishing began, and never really stopped.

These King Threadfin Salmon started coming in with the tide, and they just kept on coming!

.. and coming!

Almost every cast was met with a huge pull, a strong fight, and sometimes we landed them, while sometimes we lost the battle, but we just had to bait up and cast again and another fish would be there.

When the tide got a bit higher, I noticed mud crabs swimming around just at my feet, and could not resist scooping them in my landing net.

We ate several of these for dinner that night. There was a whole pile of them.

The mud crabs were a pleasant distraction from fishing, but the variety of fish was amazing too, with Mangrove Jacks, Garoupas, Giant Trevallies, Wolf Herring and Blue Threadfin appearing. The Wolf Herring ended up becoming the best bait.

My brother with a muddie he picked from a hole in the mud.

This secret spot of my brother and his friends really seemed like a dream come true! The strongest and most common fish was actually the Blue Threadfin.

These are the Blue Threadfin, which were more common than the King Threadfin, but much stronger.

I want to go back there man!!!

2014 Nov to Dec Catch Reports

Did not manage to get many trips in during the Nov to Dec period because I went overseas for a while and focused a little more on golf. However, I did manage a few good trips with friends.

December, with strong North winds, is a good time for Spanish Flag Snappers and Coral Trout. This is only half our catch, the rest couldn't fit on top of the orange box.

The boys show some of the Sagais.

On the 27th of December, Uncle Frank and my nephews came along for some Sagai, because the fish were around. Unfortunately the weather was not very good and we fished in the wind and rain. We still caught a number of decent Sagais (Trevally) though.

Here we see the boys fishing despite the dark clouds forming overhead

A Goldspot Trevally and Coral Trout came to say hello.

Nowadays, our trips to the Northern Waters frequently see us making our way to the floating restaurant to enjoy our wild caught fish. This time, Bert, Danny and Meng brought more friends and relatives.

That's Bert with LUNCH. Yay!

On the 6th of December, a big group came along and the aim was to relax, while hopefully catching lunch and dinner. Not many fish showed up, but at least we fulfilled our mission, with some decent fish for lunch and dinner. Phew! Yum Yum.For lunch, the moment Bert landed a nice Garoupa, he stopped fishing and looked ready to head to the floating farm for lunch. That's what we did. The food is still rather good but a little pricey. For dinner, it was kinda sad that Great Atlantic Restaurant overcooked the fish a little - looks like there's been a change of chef and owner.

That's us enjoying another garoupa and a snapper for dinner at Great Atlantic (hmmm, didn't it use to be Great Atlantis?)

I landed this fat Garoupa on Madai early in the trip. It was a great start.

On the 5th of December, David, Kings and I headed to the south to try for some reef fish. We got more than we bargained for. This time, the fish were just rushing to join their friends in our ice box. With a slow current, we drifted at Mystery Spot and almost immediately I had a heavy strike. After a nice fight, a fat garoupa surfaced and I had met my target for the day. Little did I know that more was to come.

About 15 minutes later, we drifted to shallower waters, and I struck into a fish that fought in a very familiar way. I asked Kings to stand by with the landing net because something red was about to surface. True enough, a beautiful Coral Trout made its way into the landing net. What a great start!

Wild Coral Trout on my favourite Madai. Yeah!

Soon, the current picked up and we headed into shallow water to hunt for Trevally, but not a single one showed up, so I started to target Spanish Flag Snapper. That's when the queues started forming as the fish were landed at a steady pace until we ran out of bait. Basically we filled the box with Snappers, Bream and a few more Coral Trout. What a day! The pic of half our catch can be seen at the top of this post.

Lucky Meng with a beauty of a Golden Snapper

On the 22nd of November, Meng and Xiao V came on board for some fun with Madais. I had heard that the Golden Snappers were in, so I headed to the Snapper Zone and we landed some. A few Garoupas and a Red Snapper were mixed in with the catch. Conditions were excellent that day!

These girls were truly lucky, landing some quality local fish

I miss the days when we could hit schools of this fish. I'm not complaining about landing one of these though.

Floating restaurant time. Yummy. Axl, Bert, Danny and Winnie came on board and Winnie caught lunch and dinner for us.

On the 1st of November, Bert and gang came along, and Bert was saying that Good Feeling had never let us down before, always producing some nice Barramundi. Luckily, that day was no different. We hung around Good Feeling, landed some Barramundi, headed to the floating restaurant, and continued fishing at Lao Di Fang for some Garoupas. Overall, not many fish were landed but the company was great. So was the Guinness, haha.

Axl landed something that rarely turns up around Ubin... a Spanish Flag Snapper. These fish are common in the south though.

Winnie was the lucky one, landing most of the nicer fish like this gleaming Barramundi.