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!!!