Oct to Dec 2004 Fishing Reports and Pics
- 18 Dec 2004 - Nice Diamond Trevally to brighten a quiet fishing day.
- The last trip of 2004 was rather quiet, with Felip and Reuben. Good thing a
strong Trevally showed up together with a few Garoupas for the dinner table.
Let's see how 2005 goes.
4 Dec 2004 - the barras look so small nowadays...
- - after catching the
monster on 11 Nov 2004, even my 3 kilo barra looked small. Good feeling was firing up again with 2 barras, one by Sunny and one by me. Huge stargazer came too,
together with a new friend Mohd Taha...
Moved to a few other places but at the penultimate spot, some Garoupas showed up to entice the stomach at the Cliff, and then good ol Ahmad, Raju and a boat called Chiku came and dropped anchor around my boat... so I zoomed to the Snagpile for a little peace and quiet, actually the radio was on so we were more into relax mode than serious fishing already...
- 5 more prawns? finished fifty bucks of live prawns just like that? OK
back to the boatel for a wash and a magnificent dinner at Orchard hotel
(friend's wedding with great food!!! Soon Hock too! Previous night was Coral
Trout... worth the ang bao) So here are some pics, including Guek with one of
his garoupas.
Cold Water fish on 12th Nov 2004
- After the previous day's success,
Brendon, Raphael and Bryan came on board to experience cold water fishing.
Sharks, Rays and Catfish were caught!!! And there was heavy, cold rain too... sigh,
can't have a perfect trip everytime. But Raphael's 5 kilo white-spotted ray did
give us some kick, and my gaff was put to use after a long rest.
Sambal BBQ Ray anyone? In the end Raphael steamed it and it was wonderful.
MONSTER BARRA TODAY 11 Nov 2004
My favourite photo, even though it's taken with a camera phone and is rather blurry with 2004 technology
This photo stirred up some controversy on internet forums because somebody took the photo from my site without permission (but forgiven) and posted it in a fishing forum. Immediately, two camps appeared: there were stirrers and immature internet users who accused me of photoshopping (while I don't even have that program and have never used it), while in the other camp there were other mature, sensible netizens who were defending me to the bitter end (thank you all).
I didn't even know there was a debate going on surrounding the pic until a friend called me on the phone to tell me about it. I observed the debate for a while, and recognized the 'flamers' to be little kids who had yet to understand internet behaviour, so I just ignored the whole thing and it faded away in a few weeks, as with all controversies on the net. It did make for quite interesting reading and I did have a good laugh when I found out a good buddy of mine was one of the 'trouble stirrers' who was saying it was photoshopped in order to see who was silly enough to jump on the bandwagon.
In fact, another friend of mine who ran the forum at the time also called me up and asked if I wanted anything done with the threads, but I said it was OK to leave them be. Such things were interesting to observe anyway. I was interested in the evolving social media behaviour at the time and noticed that by 2004, there were less 'flamers' and 'kids' than when such forums experienced a boom in 1998. I wonder what the online social media scene would be like in 2010?
Here is an important pic with my dad and my godson Reuben. This was the final active year when we really got closer as I took the chance to bring dad fishing whenever I could. I'm glad I did that.
(Editor's note: a stroke immobilized him in 2005 and he was never able to fish again)
WHAT A TRIP!!! Dad, Reuben and I posing with my Barramundi.
Went around Ubin today with Dad, Jo, Felip, Kings and Reuben. The queenfish plains over the sunken kelong was packed this morning, with all the usual faces, Ah Bee, Raju, Ah Chai, Rockin Angels, It's Great... and many more. At least 8 boats were anchored over a small area at the plains where an old kelong once stood... so we moved away to find a less crowded area, but not after landing and releasing a Queenfish.
Moved to GOOD FEELING and a monster showed up. It was really good AGAIN!!! I was at the front of my boat with a Rangong Rig when a my Surecatch rod bent into a U shape. The drag on my reel started screaming as the fish headed into deeper water and I knew I had a good fish on.
- After a good first run, I managed to slow the fish down with steady drag pressure and got the fish to start circling the boat. As usual with big Barramundi on light line, steady pressure and patient smooth rod pumping action would get the fish tired tired and disoriented, so the circles it swam around the boat would get smaller and smaller.
- We all knew it was a huge fish, but when the fish suddenly decided to head towards the surface for a jump, I almost let go of my rod in shock! I saw the line moving towards the water surface and the great fish made a half-hearted leap which only allowed its head to appear above the water. What we all saw was a monstrous Barramundi head the size of legends emerging from the water in a violent shake. Fortunately the small hook stayed deeply embedded in a corner of its mouth.
- Finally, after about a half hour, the fish came near enough to attempt a landing. But, like a 15kg GT (see 1994 story) I caught many years back, this one simply tore right through the landing net and I had to fight the fish through the loop of the net. We eventually got the fish tired and dad used his experience to stick his hand into the gill of the fish to lift it in. He got a little help from Kings to lift the fish. And high fives went all around!
- Screaming drags and all! The fish broke the landing net too!
Weighed it with my brass scale -almost couldn't lift this bugger at 22 pounds on 12 pound line.
- With a monster Barramundi, the other landed fish like
Snapper and Garoupas were so small in the baitwell. I have to say, this broke my
8 kilo Barra record. Now Kingsley, who has only just started fishing with me, is certain there are big fish in Singapore. Going
again tomorrow.
Here's the winning shot again! My biggest Barramundi at just over 10kg to date.
6 Nov 2004
Not satisfied with Treva Berkley's first Snapper, Jeeves gets the boat's first Javelin... on a rather quiet fishing day. Fortunately everybody landed something decent. Everybody (Jeeves, Guek Fah, Kings and me) was wondering what happened to the waters as the bites were slow. Garoupas always save the day I guess.
Anyway, people often mistake the Javelin for a Grunter (or Guhud). If you take a look at the Javelin, the whole fish is silvery while the Guhud has a yellowy tinge, especially noticeable on half its tail (take a look at earlier pictures in the gallery). And of course, the Javelin fights like a mad horse, as Jeeves can testify. So despite a slow day, some garoupas and a Javelin are still fun, and of course, you know what they say about a bad day of fishing... IT DEFINITELY beats a good day at work!
Looks like the fish are saving their energy for me this upcoming holiday.
30 Oct 2004 - Day trip with Francis, Jeeves, Kings and Sherman.
- Almost
couldn't launch the boat with a relay problem. But the good ol mechanic solved
it on the spot and we soon moved into position over the spot. As soon as we
settled, I had a good pull on my rod, opening accounts with a small but strong
grunter. Then things went quiet, with some small garoupas showing up on Jeevan's
rod and mine. So we moved ... and soon after letting down the lines, Jeevan
pointed out that my rod was into a full U (I was staring at Kingsley's rod at
the time)! I sprung into action and landed a nice barra (seen here in the pic).
A healthy barra while Francis looks on
Then, Francis got a good pull, while Kings took a strong pull, and my handline went rolling... triple hookup on Barra? Sadly, no. Triple miss. Francis lost his fish, so did I, and Kings lost his fish to a snag.
Then all went quiet as the fish were spooked. And after a while, just when bites were coming in again and Jeeves pulled in a Garoupa, the storm came. So, on the advice of Sherman, we zoomed back to the boatel very early... and the storm didn't really hit. But, according to Sherman, it always pays to respect the sea. The fish will be there ... another day.
23 Oct 2004 - Morning trip with Sengkang Sam.
- So many boats were out
today, all fishing the same spots, so we moved to some quieter spots, but they
were either taken up too or there were nets all over the spot. The morning
started slowly, but just when we thought it was going to be a bad day, several
good fish turned up at our last spot to brighten the day. Went back to shore
early with a mixed bag.
Strong pulling Harry Hotlips (a type of Sweetlip) turned up with 2 Snappers and 5 Garoupas! Steamed fish for dinner!!!
Just snapped a pic of the boat for fun while waiting for the rain to stop.
4 Oct 2004 and 6 Oct 2004 - Practiced lots of golf lately to emulate Vijay Singh. Found some extra distance and consistency. Now back to fishing ... Went out on the boat for about an hour and a half on the fourth. Got a Snapper, a Garoupa and a Grunter before a friend had to go back to shore on urgent business. Quite relaxing though. But today (6 Oct) was interesting. For a refreshing change, we (me and daughter) joined Sunny and Tim at a special freshwater location and landed some nice stuff. Song He, Patin, Common Carp and Rohu were landed and released. Here are some pics.
Here's a Patin ready for release.
And Common Carp like this were ... common. Released too! Thanks Sunny and Tim!
