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.