2004 July to Sep - Last few trips on Ranger, first trips on New Boat

Jul to Sep 2004 Fishing Reports and Pics

9 Sep 2004 and 11 Sep 2004 - Went on Thurs and Sat, where the new boat saw its first Garoupa and first Snapper.

  Thurs was a relaxing trip with Pat, Clarence and Jes. A fish was landed at every spot we went to. But the most notable were the boat's first Grunter, first Red Emperor, and first Garoupa (really good-sized) ... all landed by me. 

HOT ACTION! Putting the pressure on a deepwater fighter while it takes drag in powerful bursts 

Landed! Table sized garoupa... You know what they say... behind every successful angler, is an understanding lady 

Check out what years of anchor pulling have done to the biceps! My wife pointed it out to me. GROSS! With a baby Red Emperor here about to be released (burp. oops)

On Saturday, Felip, Reuben, Jeevan, Ling, Wee Boon and Francis came along. We actually landed a good mix of fish. I opened accounts with a nice Barra at Good Feeling on the first bait. Reuben opened with a garoupa. Then the Balloon Gang turned up and we moved to a spot near the boatel to wait for Wee Boon and Francis, and Jeevan caught the first Golden Snapper of the boat. 

Then we moved to the Snagpile where Wee Boon, Jeevan and me added to the baitwell with more Snappers and Garoupas. Ended with a tally of 1 Barra, 3 Snaps and 4 or 5 Garoupas (not counting other rubbish fish).
Barra Tally for new boat = 5

6 Sep 2004 

- Went on a full day trip with Wee Boon, Francis and Sengkang Sam today. Lost at least 3 good fish, probably barra.

First, I lost a fish immediately after letting down my line. A big one, going by the sound of the drag. The hooks pulled. Shucks. I was just not prepared because the fish struck hard when I was trying to put the rod into the rod holder and I had no angle to strike in time.

Then Francis lost a good fish he had pumped up to the surface. And on the final pump, his rangong flew out of the water. Hooks pulled too.

Then I landed a Barra around a kilo, and everyone was encouraged again. After a while, I landed another barra on handline and Wee Boon got a huge pull. Double hookup. 

But when Wee Boon got the Barra to the surface, they all saw the fish. It was quite big. But the fish pulled its way to the anchor rope, which snagged the hook and the fish pulled free before I could get to the anchor rope.

Then the storm hit, and we spent the rest of the day running from the storm, going to the leeward side of Ubin when the wind came from the northeast, and then going into Ketam when the wind blew from the Southeast. Basically, the storm cloud seemed as though it had a homing device, and we just couldn't escape it to get to the good fishing grounds.

Talk about Murphy's Law, just when we had to go back to the boatel, the weather cleared. But two barras are still better than none. Still the same number of fish as yesterday.

Barra tally for Treva Berkley stands at 4.

5 Sep 2004 - Today was the first fishing trip on Treva Berkley. It was also family day. The aim was to set off at 9am, see who could land the first good fish on the boat, and reach back to shore by 12 noon so that I could prepare for my badminton game.

After some delays at home, we finally reached the boatel about 9.30am. I had to fetch my dad, and I brought my wife and one of my daughters along. It was going to be Treva's first boat fishing trip.
After launching the boat at 10am, we went to the Aunty to get bait and bumped into Ah Bee, he was getting bait too. I had a few spots in mind but all were taken up by a few boats. First there was centro, a boat was parked directly over the structure, then there was the Queenie Plains, but there were 3 boats already there, and I went to the Outer Reef, but Ah Bee was there too, though he was over a different structure, so we tried for 10 minutes, but did not get any bites and my daughter was getting a bit restless. So I had to go to Good Feeling, and the feeling was good indeed.

After anchoring nicely over Good Feeling, we let down our lines and I said something about even a stargazer would be good, then my dad pulled in the first fish on the Treva Berkley... a stargazer. Then my wife got a good pull, but did not strike and the drag went for a while before the hooks pulled. Definitely a good fish.

Then my dad struck gold! The first Barra from the boat came, as expected, and put up a good struggle plus acrobatics, before I scooped it up with the landing net. The leader was all frayed and the line snapped just as the fish came into the boat.

Then it was my turn, with a handsome Barra, that fought all the way up and found itself in my baitwell. We all lost a few more fish, but my then I was already satisfied. The target was met, and I took out my precious iced lemon tea and slowly savoured it while watching the two Barras in the baitwell swimming around. Treva also enjoyed watching the fish in the baitwell and constantly gazed at them.
Soon, the sky turned dark with rain clouds, and since it was almost time, we also headed back to give the boat a good scrub. Two Barras for the boat's first trip. Not a bad start indeed! Tomorrow's trip will be a full day trip with Sengkang Sam, WeeBoon and Francis, let's see how that turns out.

3 Sep 2004 - Brought the new boat out yesterday for a spin after work. Didn't bring any fishing equipment, wasted, cos I found a really promising deepwater structure. 

 

Tried to get a hang of the new boat. Took 90 bucks of petrol and 20 bucks of oil to get this baby going. Zoomed around to the fishfarms and old spots, and tried the anchor in 70 ft of water. That was a mistake I only realized when I wanted to lift the anchor.

Anyway, at anchor, I tried out the baitwell... a rather interesting concept, and played around with the fish finder and all the other electronic gadgets. Then, I tried lifting the anchor. At first, with the help of the winch, the anchor budged. Then I turned off the winch and tried to use raw muscle power... and by the time the anchor lay on the boat, I was totally exhausted and even slightly seasick from the strain. Almost fainted man!!! 70 ft with a heavy anchor is no joke. This isn't my small boat anymore, and I'm not getting any younger.

Zoomed the boat around a little more. Brought it to 5200 rpm for a while and this baby cuts across the water surface like a hot knife through butter. Didn't push her too hard cos gotta break in the engine first. Bringing up the boat was ok. Felt good driving from a flybridge, but I think it'll take many more trips for me to get a real hang of the boat. I think I might try night fishing this coming saturday or sunday with the family. But next monday's got a few friends coming along for a first proper fishing trip.
On the whole, minus the slight nausea from the strain of working the anchor in a choppy sea, I guess the maiden trip of Treva Berkley was a success. Now let's go get the fish!

20 Aug 2004 - FINALLY GOT A CHANCE TO UPDATE - GOODBYE RANGER 17 HELLO TREVA BERKLEY

This month I've been really busy doing lots of things like brushing up on my badminton and golf, and spending time with family. I also have to wave a sad goodbye to my faithful boat Ranger, having served me well for almost 8 years now. I've decided to focus on family outings so I changed my boat to a rather comfortable Bertram style cabin cruiser with a spacious cabin, toilet and flybridge so that there can be more space to relax.

Goodbye Ranger 17, you have served me well.

and HELLO TREVA BERKLEY, my new Flybridge Cruiser

Last few fish on the Ranger

I managed to upload a few poor quality pics of good quality fish caught during the times when I managed to wet a line since the last update. 

Here's my dad with a decent Snapper. 

Dad was the one who introduced me to boat fishing. He had a boat kept under the Penjuru Rd bridge in the 1980s and he brought me out fishing almost every other Saturday night at the Southern Islands. That is where I met Razali, learnt the basics of boat fishing, and learnt to pull the old crowbar anchors. We had a great time during that period (1983-1990). Now, with my own boat, it was time to return full circle, and bring dad fishing.


Here's me with some fish like the usual Barra, Snapper and Garoupa. (Check out the biggie garoupa on the bottom left) 

and here are some garoupas, snappers, grunters and GT 

Typical catches of Garoupas, Snappers and Grunters. 

BUT I'VE GOT TO HAND THE TROPHY FOR THIS SEASON TO SENGKANG SAM! for this magnificent 6 kilo Barra! 

Well that's all for this update. Got more pics of other fish in the cam, but that will have to wait till the next update. Will be busy trying my new boat out, finding relaxing fishing spots to just anchor and sip some iced lemon tea or have some Tiger with buddies.

2004 Apr-Jun Desmond, JJ and a hidden Luke

Apr to Jun 2004 Fishing Reports and Pics

5 Jun 2004 Saturday– **** Went fishing on the boat with Jeevan and Mikko. Saw Willy at the boatel, he was bringing some clients out to Horsburg. Wished him luck. Launched the boat at 9.30am and got a good mix of prawns from the aunty.

  The tide was rising so we hit Sunken Kelong 1, on the Queenfish Plains, hoping to get some monster pelagics, but all we got was a lost fish by Jeevan. After 20 mins, we moved to Sunken Kelong 2, where some great action took place.

First, my handline started spinning wildly on the floor of the boat and I was soon fighting a brute of a fat Golden Snapper which pulled real hard but finally we managed to ease it into the waiting landing net. Then my faithful rod dipped violently and I pulled up a decent Garoupa. Then Jeevan got in on the action with some great bites, but lost most of his fish. Some baits came up crushed by Snapper jaws.
Then Mikko grunted as he struck into a heavy strong fish … took a pic of the fight … and some good pumping later, a large Garoupa around 2 kilos was swimming merrily in the baitwell, wondering if it had died and gone to Heaven, surrounded by FOOD (live prawns). And Jeeves soon got a good bite, struck firmly and brought in a good Garoupa too.

The action slowed as the current slowed and we moved to Good Feeling, but someone was already there, so we went to Kurau, but no fish turned up.

Shifted to Onga and Centro, but the current was bad, and finally ended up at spot 2000, where some fishes like Snappers, a Sickle Fish, and a Garoupa obliged. Some good action was also seen at the Snagpile, accounting for two of the Golden Snappers. Some cats came out to play and we moved to the Cliff, but someone else was there too, and we waited for them to move off before I could position the boat at the prime spot, then suddenly the other boat came back but we had already anchored nicely. So the other boat had to watch us catch and release a nice Queenie. The fellas on the other boat asked why I released it, I just felt like it.

Then the highlight of the day came as I lost two good bites, feeling good weight from an aggressive fish, and it came down to the last two prawns of the day. Baited up and held on to the line, knowing something big was going to tug strongly, and it did. The take was strong and I was soon fighting a handsome Barramundi, which came to the surface after some good pulling. Mikko helped net the fish and take some pics.

Time was up at 5pm. Bait was gone too… all 1 kilo of prawns used up. We ended up with a baitwell full of beautiful fish … Good variety. Good Size. Completed the cycle with the famous trio Barra, Snapper and Garoupa. The company was good! Headed back and to Changi Village for dinner and beer with the guys! Real fun.

2 Jun 2004- morning trip 10am to 2pm.** Wee Boon, Jo, Dad and me.

Had some battery and phone problems in the morning so the trip was delayed for over an hour. But we soon got the boat running and headed straight to the snagpile, where I immediately opened accounts with a good garoupa. Wee Boon lost a strike too.

Then dad pulled in a slightly smaller garoupa and things were looking better, but everything became quiet, so we shifted from the snagpile to spot 2000, where very soon I landed a Snapper after losing another fish to a snag even after using my lure retriever.

Then the action picked up, with even a stargazer showing its face. But the highlight must be the 3 big fish lost. First was my rod, which took a sudden bend while I was holding it and the fish was huge and strong, but the fish reached home and my line was stuck. Then dad struck into a monster of a fish which he struggled with for a while till the line went limp. Somehow his line was bitten through, so we consoled ourselves saying it was a Barracuda.

If we lose a fish, it's either a barracuda, stingray or catfish. But if we land it, it's a snapper or garoupa .. that's the unspoken fisherman's consolation, now spoken.

We didn't have much time to mourn the loss as my rod was almost ripped from my hands as another monster grabbed my bait. The drag screamed for a moment and the line went limp, the hooks pulled. We spent the next few moments cursing and swearing... all the what ifs appeared.

But Jo soon started with the biggest Snapper of the day! What a beautiful fish! And I closed the accounts with another garoupa before heading back before a storm hit.

At least everybody got something.

1 May 2004- May Day morning trip 10am to 3pm.** Robert, Desmond, Wayne and me.

After the previous week's good catch, Des and gang decided to come along.

After getting 1 kilo of prawns, we zipped to the Snagpile which was good the previous week. The instant bites did not come. But after a short while, Desmond opened accounts with a table-sized Snapper, which was encouraging.

But the bites were slow and we moved to 2K, where my handline started rolling and I pulled up a slightly bigger Snapper. Then my rod took a good bend and some exciting fighting brought in another tough looking Snapper.

Rubbish fish were caught along the way and we moved back to Snagpile where Wayne brought up a huge Flathead for dinner. And Wayne proved that his specially tied rig was effective when he fought and brought up the biggest Snapper of the day.

The bites slowed and we moved around Ubin, trying various old spots like the Temple and Army, but nothing big showed up, and we moved back to Snagpile, where the Garoupas showed up.

Des got his Garoupa first, grumbling about catching rubbish fish when he pulled up a Garoupa and started smiling. Then I got a good bend on my rod, and tightened my drag to prevent the fish from running back into the Snagpile, and got the big brother of Desmond's Garoupa.

Des had to rush back home so we ended fishing just as the water was clearing up, it had been yellowish all morning and the incoming tide was bringing on the bites, but satisfied with our catch of Snappers and Garoupas, we headed back, washed the boat, and went home.

23 Apr 2004- Fri afternoon trip 2pm to 5pm. **** Sengkang Samuel and me.

After work, I decided to test the new Ultegra my wife gave me. Called Sengkang Sam along as he was free.

After launching the boat and buying half a kilo of prawns, we looked at the dark clouds overhead and decided to go to the Snagpile instead of the Sunken Kelong. What a good decision it was!

The moment I let down my line, I had barely enough time to close my bale arm when my rod took a good bend. But when the fish surfaced, we initially thought it was gonna be a bad luck day as a Stargazer croaked at us. So that's the first fish caught by my Ultegra. Sam said some positive things about at least being able to sense some excitement when I let down my line in the exact same spot and this time, the huge pull was unmistakeable and some hard pulling later saw a good sized garoupa come to the surface. This time it was a good fish.

In fact, after that, the bites came too fast too furious as we caught some, then lost some, then caught some more. There were big ones which managed to run back into the Snagpile, and there were those we managed to drag up by sheer brute force.

We ended up finishing our bait rather quickly, with Sam providing variety by landing good Grunters, a Snapper and a Garoupa, while I landed 8 Garoupas myself.

We were quite surprised at the size and number of the fish. Looks like the fish have grown fatter in my absence and they really have missed me. Gotta have more trips like this one!

9 Apr 2004- Fri morning trip 10am to 2pm plus. *** Des, Anya and me.

 Since the birth of my second child in Jan 2004, I had hardly enough time to update this website, let alone go fishing. Sorry for the lack of pics - simply no time to scan the photos. Finally, a window of opportunity came on Good Friday and I grabbed this chance to see if I could start my engine.

Upon reaching the boatel, Des helped me un-stiffen the stiff steering, and we soon found ourselves in the water, trying to start the boat. Some patient cranking brought the engine slowly to life and soon we were speeding to the aunty's fish farm to get prawns. The engine sounded as good as ever!

At the first spot, the sounder showed fish at about 50ft depth near a drop-off and we let down our lines expectantly. Anya struck first with a Ribbon Fish, which was fed to a majestic Ubin Eagle.

Then at the second spot, which seemed to have been overfished and over netted, we struck a school of Star Snapper (usually caught around Hong Kong to Southern Japan). That's the fish that's been puzzling Singaporean anglers recently. All they recognize is the Snapper shape and the white spot on its back. Thanks to Mike Guerrin of the Jump fishing page, now we know it's called a Star Snapper. And I've re-verified this name with other dependable sources. We used to call it Peck Tiam. Well, if this fish is here to stay, then more people will slowly catch on to the Star Snapper name.

Anya also caught a Diamond Trevally which gave some excitement and a good fight for its size.
Lots of bites. Finished the bait. Released many undersized and unwanted buggers. But after laying off fishing for so long, I'm glad to find the fish are still around. Even the newly introduced Star Snapper were co-operative. Here're the pics of Des and Anya. 

Anya with a Chermin. Come to think of it, I think Luke was on board the boat too, haha.


Des with a Star Snapper - gonna be a dad soon.

2003 Fishing Log - Barramundi Fever

18 Dec 2003 - Thurs morning trip 9.30am to 1.30pm - Sunny, Adrian and me - several barras, 1 flathead and some small garoupas kept while others were released.***** 

I'm typing this while some barras are making a ruckus in my freezer. We landed several barras, but not as many as during one of the trips early last month (12 Nov). Where size was concerned though, today came out tops. Anyway, here's how a typical 5 star trip goes.

When I got to the boatel, Adrian and Sunny were already waiting for me. So we quickly fuelled up and sped to get 1 kilo of assorted prawns from the aunty. The first few spots we hit were some old spots close to the Queenfish Plains where the structure was there and the fish were there, but all I got were two lost fish (one Snapper was dropped at boatside). Feeling rather pissed, I decided to move to the Sunken Kelong, where I was hoping to redeem myself. Upon anchoring over the right position, I tentatively released my handline, and almost immediately felt a small tug, so I struck and started pulling in what I thought was a small fish. I pulled it slowly, not bothering to take out the landing net and I took a casual glimpse over the side to see what I'd caught when I saw a good sized Barra head pop out of the water. Then came the panic as I struggled to bring out the landing net and the fish started pulling hard. After some Kan Chiong moments, Adrian scooped up the barra and all was calm once again.

Soon after, I mentioned something about Adrian's bait so he took my advice and let down his line. Just when I turned around to get on with my own fishing, he grunted and struck into a good fish. After a brief struggle and a few jumps, Adrian finally landed his first wild Barra. 

Adrian and his first wild barra. 

We then moved around a little and finally I decided that we had found a good spot to anchor. Fish were showing on the sounder and the moment the boat stabilized with the current and wind, I let down my line again, only to pull up a good Kim. Then I pulled up a Flathead with my rod. And then all hell broke loose just as a gust of cold wind hit us!

First, Adrian, then Sunny, then me, then Adrian again, then me, then Sunny, then I can't really recall what happened cos everyone started pulling in barras around the 1.5kg to 2 kg mark, with some double hookups and plenty of acrobatics. The next thing I knew, I was picking up dead prawns lying on the side of the boat to use as bait because I didn't want to waste any time getting live bait from the well. And with one dead prawn, and among the action, my rod took a full U bend and line started screaming out of my reel. Big ONE!!! This brute fought really well but with maximum drag pressure, a magnificent big barra was brought to boatside. We estimated it around the 3 kilo mark and it sure looked bigger than the other barras! 

Nice healthy wild, almost 3 kilos of Golden muscle! 

The action was good. At one point, the fish started becoming a little cautious, and Adrian was missing some good bites. But he persisted, and I remember a moment when he got a small bite and we saw the line moving around in the water. A fish was swimming around with Adrian's prawn in its mouth! I told him not to strike till the fish pulled, so we watched the line move in wide circles as the fish seemed oblivious to Adrian's hook. Finally, the fish decided to make a break for it and Adrian wound down and struck hard, connecting into yet another fine Barra.

Finally, after landing 16 barras in a brief moment, all went quiet and I took a breather at the front of the boat while Sunny noticed that we had almost run out of bait. So we moved to Good Feeling to have our Nasi Lemak and then zoomed back to the boatel to take the customary pics and weigh the big barra. About 5 of the barras were already above 1.5 kilos and the big one weighed in at 2.5 on the rusty scales which Adrian commented was inaccurate. So the fish might have been heavier yah? 

Adrian and Sunny pose with the morning's catch. Fun trip!!! Can you believe that this is considered a poor catch compared to several earlier trips when we could land about 40 Barras per trip? (but released more than half of them)

Gave the engine a rinse and gave 2 barras to the boatel guys for their help. It was then that Sunny noticed we still had a bit more bait but it was all hidden under the barras in the bait well. But anyway, I'm contented with the catch. How often do you run into 16 good sized wild barras in a short fishing trip? Sunny also gave a good first outing to his new birthday reel and Adrian landed more than just his first wild Barra. Excellent outing!!! Next week is Christmas so here's an early Christmas gift from the sea. Probably will take a Christmas break and resume fishing closer to the New Year.

12 Dec 2003 - Sunday picnic at East Coast with the family. Cast out a line with live prawns as bait and got some puffers. Had lots of fun with them! 

Me and my daughter contemplating Fugu... but released it.

11 Dec 2003 - Sat last minute trip 11 to 4 - Sunny, Ted and me - barras and garoupas *** -

NOTE-WATER TURNING COLD PROBABLY DUE TO CHANGE IN SEASON, BITE WINDOW VERY SMALL

Almost didn't go fishing today due to a bad connection to the bilge. After tinkering with the wires a little, and with a little useful advice from Yew Seng, the bilge suddenly decided to cooperate. Nothing was wrong with it except for a bit of loose contact and old fishing line.

Sunny came to the boatel with Ted, his son, intending to fish at the boatel's jetty, but got more than he bargained for. We had some fun at the fish farm viewing big garoupas, wrasses and barras at the fish farm and she gave us some secret BIG GAROUPA bait to fish with FOC. Must have been Sunny again.

Anyway, at the sunken kelong, Sunny tried the secret bait and even before I had threaded my line through my rod, he was on to something BIG!!! We had no doubt as to what fish it was, a BIG GAROUPA. After some serious tug of war, with extreme pressure put on the fish by Sunny, and a big U bend in his silver ringless rod, a huge Garoupa head emerged next to the boat. 

Sunny and Ted, with a fat Garoupa. 

This was fatter than the one Sunny landed last week too. And it looked a little strange, like the Barramundi Cod shape yet coloured like a normal Red Spotted Garoupa. The SECRET big garoupa bait proved itself once again, just like in previous trips.

Shortly after, Ted hooked onto something strong and I was about to help him when a Barra grabbed my bait and ran. DOUBLE HOOKUP! Mine came to the surface and was netted after some acrobatics, while Ted's was landed after managing to tire him out (he was complaining about a painful arm after the fight).

We moved to several other spots, Tree, Good Feeling and another Sunken Kelong where we landed more barras and garoupas.

Kept a total of 5 barras and 2 really good sized garoupas, giving the boatel helper a Barra for his efforts, which he was visibly happy about. Took some pics, then Sunny cleaned the fish while I washed the boat and checked the bilge again, working fine!

Just found out it was Sunny's birthday too, guess the BIG Garoupa was his birthday gift from the sea. Happy Birthday Sunny. 

Barras and Garoupas like these make a decent trip! 

6 Dec 2003 - Sat full day trip 9 to 4 - Sunny, Tim, Bob, Yonghui and me - 5 barra, 3 garoupas and 2 snappers kept, the rest were released to fight another day. ****

This was a pre-scheduled trip and we got 1.5 kilos of prawns from the aunty. The wind was very strong today but we still managed a decent catch. In fact, yonghui dropped 2 barras at the surface, and one of them was easily 3 to 4 kilos.

The first spot we hit was the Sunken Kelong, where I landed 2 barras within the first 10 minutes of fishing. Lots of assorted fish were caught there but most were released, including a John Snapper by Bob. After shifting around the sunken kelong a bit, Sunny cast into the drop and got rewarded with a big Garoupa, which looked beautiful in the bait well.

I caught a few more barras and a good sized garoupa, and we moved to Good Feeling, where Yonghui struck a good-sized barra in a matter of a few minutes. He landed this one. Then when he cast again, he waited for a short while before he got a few taps on his rod. He struck and connected well into a BIG fish, which started stripping line off his multiplier and put a good bend in his heavy duty boat rod. Then the fish headed for the surface and when it jumped, all of us looked in amazement as a huge barra around 4 kilos cleared the surface and threw the hook. What a waste. Anyway, the bites slowed after that and we decided to escape the wind by heading to Sunken at Ketam and a few other related spots where a Snapper was pulled up. The Gap produced a slightly bigger Snapper which caused me a bit of panic when I saw it was only lightly hooked outside the gill plate. Luckily managed to boat it with the landing net. 

Yonghui with a table-sized Garoupa. Sunny and Yonghui pose with the day's catch.

Then, we moved to the Rock to finish the remaining 5 live prawns. Brought up the boat and Tim and Sunny cleaned a few fish at the boatel, which we promptly ate at dinner over a few beers with the wives and kids at Pasir Ris. We ate two of the barras and two of the garoupas which the restaurant owner kindly cooked for us at a small cost. A pretty good day of fishing, we managed to finish 1.5 kg of prawns quite rapidly. It's days like this that make me keep coming back over and over again.

5 Dec 2003 - Fri morning short recce trip - solo - assortment of fish, of which only 4 table sized garoupas were kept. Used the echo sounder and plotted 3 very promising underwater structures around Ubin. Will probably try them at different tides to fully assess their potential. Lost a huge drag puller at one spot after the hooks pulled. That spot will definitely be on my hit list! 

Des and Wee Boon. pics courtesy of ubin expert des. story below. 

29 Nov 2003 - Sat morning short trip 9 to 1 - Wee Boon, Desmond, Sunny, Ted and me - 4 barras and 1 really good sized mangrove jack + several small garoupas which were released.***

On Friday night I was starting to feel a little better after a bout of flu, when Sunny smsed me about fishing on Saturday morning. Rounded a few kakis and the trip was on!

Everyone turned up punctually at the boatel and we headed straight for the prawn aunty where Sunny worked his usual charms to get us a whole kilo of prawns in assorted sizes. Then we zipped over to the ever productive Tree where I was surprised to find nobody anchored there yet. So we baited up and slipped our lines into the water. Des struck first with his handline and pulled up Russell's Snapper which was soon followed by a good sized barra after some anxious moments during the fight. Then my own handline started rolling about and I pulled in a barra to boatside, but some hesitation with the landing net gave the barra enough time to shake the hook off and swim back to its home, what a waste!

Anyway, the bites immediately slowed after I dropped the fish and we moved to one of the submerged kelongs I remember from years past. No sooner had we dropped the anchor when I had a good pull on my handline, but lost the fish after a few seconds. Wee Boon suddenly grunted and we knew he was hooked onto a big one, as he started struggling with a fish that was trying desperately to return to its safe haven. There was a really good bend in his rod, I must say! That fight took a while and soon a magnificent mangrove jack pushing the 2 kilo mark was eased into the waiting landing net.
We moved the boat around the area where we lost several bites when I finally struck 2 barras in a row on my handline and Sunny pulled in a gleaming barra after observing where I was throwing my bait. Ted also did well with a garoupa at that spot. Saw Ah Bee move into the area and they pulled up a bubu (fish trap) with some garoupas, as the excited anglers on his boat were shouting 'Wah! Gao He!'. Said hi to him when we finished our bait and were heading back. 

Our day was done at around 1 pm cos Desmond had to go for classes and we had run out of bait anyway. Plus, everyone was contented with the decent catch, especially today's champion Wee Boon with his prized Mangrove Jack. Cleaned the boat and scaled the fishes at the ramp. A pleasant morning trip altogether!

24 nov 2003 - mon half day 12 to 4 - sunny, bob, tim and me - barras and garoupas.*****

MORE THAN 40 Barras today!

Was feeling under the weather on Sunday when Sunny messaged me and asked whether I was going fishing on Monday afternoon. Told him I was sick. Then on Monday morning Bob called and asked if I wanted to go fishing. He managed to convince me that I could relax on the boat so we decided to meet at the boatel at 12 noon. Sunny managed to escape from a meeting and meet us at the boatel.

 After some snags at the boatel, we were finally in the water around 1230hrs and went to get bait from the aunty. Somehow, whenever Sunny goes up the fishfarm to pay the lady, she seems to give us more prawns than what we pay for. This time was no different. Must be the 'leng zai' effect.

Hit the first spot, now nicknamed Tree and started out with great expectations. But after about an hour, we realized the fish weren't biting. I had a few good pulls but failed to hook up on one and lost the other one to a snag. Tim opened accounts with a fat Greasy Garoupa which impressed with its size. Then I struck a Barra. Then the action picked up as the tide opened the window for biting period. Bob and Sunny both landed one Barra each and then, after a few more misses, the bites stopped. Moved to Good Feeling and after a few minutes, I felt a good take on my rod and my line went limp. The fish was swimming up. Wound furiously to catch up with the fish and when I felt weight, I struck hard and the fight was on. After some good pulling of the drag and a few jumps, I eased a good sized Barra into the landing net. Then, just as I was looking at the fish in the net, my handline started rolling about on the floor and I grabbed the line. It was a good fish. Nice red-spotted garoupa landed on handline. Then we ALL started catching Barras non-stop and releasing them because we did not want to spoil the spot.

Sunny and I, back at the boatel with two of the fish. I kept my promise not to post pics of the whole catch in order to keep the spot safe from others.

Later, the bites stopped and we moved to Kurau, where Sunny landed a Garoupa while trying to clear a bird's nest on his multiplier. Saw a ship heading our way and we scooted off to the Marina for a trial docking. Just in time too cos a storm hit immediately after we had settled down in the canteen of the Marina. Probably the fiercest weather to hit so far this season. Sunny's trying to persuade me to get a membership there. Total 4 barras and 3 garoupas for the bag, the rest were released. Not bad for a short afternoon of fishing. Less barras than most of the previous trips this month, but still, the Garoupas more than made up for it. 

Samuel poses with a barra set for release, into our stomachs!

20nov 2003 - thurs half day 1 to 5 - sam lee and me - barras and a baby garoupa which was released. One barra weighed in at 2 kilos. The others were around a kilo. *** 

That's me putting a bend in the rod.... ending up with a 2 kg Golden prize. 

18nov 2003 - Mon half day 1 to 5 -sam liu + andrew + sunny + ted - barras and a baby garoupa which was released. *** 

Andrew and Samuel with some Barras from the trip. 







12nov 2003 - wed full day 9 to 5 - sunny and gang - barras, solefish, flathead and a baby garoupa - *****great trip, with several barras released to fight another day. Another day with over 40 Barras.

Bob with Barras 

Caught a beautiful sunset. One of the joys of boat fishing. 

08 nov 2003 - sat afternoon trip 2pm start - wee boon + sunny + kelvin -garoupas and strange looking snapper type of fish -** 

07 nov 2003 - fri full day trip - sam lee + daniel + david - garoupas, snappers, chermin and queenfish -*** 

 

Sometime in early nov 2003, Desmond landed a couple of nice Diamond Trevallies. 

I also can't remember when I caught these, but this was in the camera together with the november 2003 pics, so I thought I'd put them up. 

011103 - Here are some recent pics I managed to snap with my hp. 2 Ubin Barras with Rachel, and Wee Boon with a 16 kilo ray caught on light gear. 

 

Wee Boon and his 16 kilo Ray 

231003 - Trying out a handphone camera. Went out to test my new fishfinder and my (pregnant 7 months)wife caught this barra in under 5 mins at the spot. Went back there the next day and I landed one myself while Des brought up 2 trevallies. 

I think handphone camera technology is still sub-standard. Will have to keep scanning standard photos until camera technology catches up.

130903 - Here's one of the 3 Snappers landed during a short trip on the 13th of Sept 2003 with Johnny and the Chan family. 

090903 - Sailfish in Pahang on 9 sep 2003. Wee Boon and Kingsley also caught theirs. 

Sailfish from Rompin, quick photo before release. Sky Chong delivers the goods.

2003 First Quarter Big Barramundi

Early 2003 Log- 

Samuel, his dad and a friend came for a nice Ubin trip where I landed a 5.6 kg Barramundi. We landed an assortment of fish at the edge of Ubin like GT and the Three Kings - Barra, Snapper and Garoupa. Wife and kid met us at the docks.

Jeevan and gang joined us on another trip where I landed a solid Threadfin Salmon on a handline which jumped up and hit the canvas top when the fish struck. I had stuck it under an icebox. What an interesting start to 2003.

2002 updates - Australia

2002 - first half log- A Spotted Eagle Ray turned up. It did an aerial battle and fought superbly. Caught a small Jewfish when showing David some new spots for him to try in his new DX20. Janice and Yifang joined me for some fun in the sun. Daniel and I did some night fishing - landed the usual Ray and Grunters. Two big Garoupas showed up one night. Baby grows a little bigger.

Late 2002 log- Clarence came along and we landed some Grunters. Snappers are disappearing all around Ubin. A pretty good Giant Trevally showed up in November... but not many fish are appearing. Flew to Australia and rented a houseboat to stay on the Murray River. We figured out how to catch those delicious Yellow Belly which look a little like Barramundi. Caught plenty of wild carp to feed the Pelicans (the wild carp are seen as an invasive species in the Murray. The Aussies see these fish as pests. Baby is turning into a toddler and having fun in Australia, picking berries and fishing.

2001 Sep to Dec Baby goes fishing and updates

2001 September Log - Samuel and his dad came along for a couple of trips, Des and I kept running into nice Snappers, I landed a nice fat Garoupa at the Snagpile one morning with Brendon and David, my dad came along for a fruitful night trip with many Snappers ... that was when I could feel the prawn panic just before the Snapper hit the bait. Very exciting times indeed. Finally, I brought my newborn with me to the reservoir, and I caught a baby toman on an Abu Toby.

2001 Oct log - Brendon and Sengkang Sam came along and we fished the Ubin rivers. Showed David some new spots where he landed a nice Kim. David Kang and partner joined me for a comfortable night trip where he taught me the secret of cod liver oil... landed healthy snappers that night. Mel came along and got some fish too, including a decent Snapper. Baby made her first friend - Adele.

2001 Nov to Dec Log - End of year garoupas are coming in. Guek Fa and I landed the usual Ubin fish like Kims and Garoupas. Caught a big che mak Squid. Kuan Wai had fun at First Kelong spot. Barracuda caught on lure at Fairy Point rock when I noticed a school of small fish being harassed. Tossed a lure and WHAM! It hit - not nice to eat though. That's the last cuda I'll ever keep. Felip and my godson Reuben came along for some light action. Brought baby for a walk at Marina Bay.

2001 April to August Newborn Baby

Fishing Log -

Ok, here's what's been happening. I got married in November 2000, went to Mauritius for a major fishing trip cum honeymoon, moved into my new house in Sengkang, gave my boat another overhaul (which prevented me from fishing for 3 months)... and made my wife pregnant.

But the fishing's been great lately, perhaps it's due to the long break that I took from fishing. Nah, I'm just bragging. Seriously, although I've only managed trips no longer than 3 hours, the fish have been more than co-operative. Here's a brief summary.

Let's see, I bought 3 crabnets and brought my pregnant wife crabbing from the boat. You can see the results above. Does she look pregnant? You'd better not tell her that. Then there were the brief evening trips with Brendon and Desmond. Brendon's been having some luck with the yellow grunters and snappers. He even caught a Giant Trevally off Ubin. It was only a baby, of course.

Then there was an evening when Wayne caught a big Garoupa. And another evening when the fish just wouldn't stop biting and I got a big 2.5 kg Garoupa and a 3 kg Silver Javelin (Chio Lor) and a Snapper while Desmond got 3 Snappers. We were happy to go back to shore in under 2 hours cos we know when enough is enough.

Then I had a happy reunion with my old fishing buddy from the Grant era in the mid 1980's, Eng Joo. I almost couldn't recognize him, and neither could he me, I think. Life has been good to us, I guess. Anyway, even while waiting for him to come, I caught a 3 kg Queenfish just 50 m from shore and I knew it was going to be a good day. That day, I managed to land a 65cm Barramundi and some other fish, but Eng Joo was the champ with a 1 kg Coral Trout which almost got away, but he grabbed it in time.

Then there was this short trip with Kelly (a guy, by the way). See the Barramundi he's holding up? We went to my place straight away and steamed it for dinner. Mmmmmmmm mmmm.

I would say it's been rather eventful lately. But wait till you see what the next roll of film has in store. It's still in the camera, by the way. I brought my wife out for a 45 minute trip just off Changi and she hooked onto a ... (see what she caught, in the next update).

Oh ya, I just bought a scanner too. Still not sure how it works... as you can see from Picture Gallery 18, the fuzzy one. Ok, till next time, fish well!!! The Phenol thing has happened before, don't worry about it, things should be ok soon.

A most interesting thing just happened to me in August. I became a father. Can you spot my baby girl's picture among the pictures of fish? That's her first ever photograph.

I've still been fishing regularly but have been unable to bring friends out fishing for full day trips because it's simply too tiring. All my trips are now no longer than 3 hours as I'm usually contented with my catch. Samuel has been joining me quite frequently after school for short evening trips.

Furthermore, it's not nice going fishing when there's pressure from fellas who desperately want a good catch.
But to maintain my boat, I might have to bring some friends out on full night trips at least once a month from now onwards. I only go on one full cost-sharing trip a month. That's just to help me defray the cost of the trip and not even half a month's maintenance costs.

Of course, there's no guarantee of fish. I'll still be sarcastic and I'll still be trying my best to be the one who catches the most fish on the trip. So I guess my offer only applies to diehards. Are you sure you're still keen? If so, you can still try to email me.

As for usual fishing pals, don't worry, nothing's changed. Some trips are free, some cost you lunch, and some cost you a million dollars!!! Muahahahaha...

Brendon has been joining me for night fishing at the yacht club, and we got some grunters. Can you see the big Garoupa he is holding? That was caught by me just hours before my baby was born. Brendon had called me up after my wife had some contractions. We went to KK but the doctor said it was a false alarm and told us to go home. That was when Brendon called and told me he had a GOOD FEELING, and had bought some milkfish to try for biggies.

My wife told me to go ahead and fish cos the baby wasn't due. So I met Brendon at the boat and we went to a spot near Ubin. That's when I landed this nice big Garoupa. 

When we reached back to shore, my wife called me and told me that she was having contractions again, and this time it was for real. So I rushed home, took a shower, and went to KK again. Shortly after, my baby girl was born. Looks like Brendon's Good Feeling was right. Now I call that spot GOOD FEELING and I have been landing Barras, Snappers and Garoupas from that spot consistently.

Nikki and Eudon show off their Snappers while Clarence proudly poses with a baby car seat he managed to land after a long struggle. He offered to give it to me but it wasn't the right colour. At the bottom is me at home with Baby.