Last day of 2012 - Memorable fight.

Daniel and Eunice, with a Longfin Trevally that Eunice defeated after a good hard battle.

To end off a wonderful 2012, Daniel, Eunice and Bryan joined me for some metal jigging fun at the Southern Islands. Somehow, a monster fish decided to turn up for the party, and Daniel will probably remember this New Year's Eve for the rest of his life.

After losing one big fish on 50g jig at the start of the jigging, Daniel upgraded to his heavy tackle and thought that nothing could defeat him, well... watch the video and decide for yourself. Remember, Daniel is using 80 pound line and is used to fishing in the Maldives and in Western Australia where GTs, Tuna and Samson fish are his staple. Yet, this fish left him exhausted. Also take note of how he's trying to hold his spool to prevent the fish from running into the reef below.






What's sad is that we didn't get to see the fish which was only a few cranks away.
Also, listen to what I said just before the line burst. It was so ominous.




Well, I guess that fish will stay there for us to catch next time. The rest of us did have our fun, catching and releasing several GTs. We kept the big Sagais and an interesting Golden Trevally as well as Gold Spot Trevally decided to enter my ice-box.

What a great way to end 2012 though. Good bites and good fighting fish, with good friends and aching muscles.

Fishing in the rain produced rewards that came in Silver. These are big Longfin Trevally.

I wanted one for the road and it came in the form of a beautiful Golden Trevally - my last fish of 2012. Well, here's wishing everybody a Happy New Year 2013! More good catches and aching muscles!

My last fish of 2012! A Golden Trevally on Metal Jig, on a rainy day.

Secret Recipe and 2012 December

Here we are enjoying our fresh caught fish at the floating restaurant.

After coming back to Singapore, I enjoyed several trips with friends and family. One memorable one was an Ubin trip on 22 Dec where the floating restaurant chef revealed his secret recipe for his wonderful Hong Kong steamed fish.

There was another short trip to the Southern Islands where some delightful Parrotfish turned up to entertain us. Then Gentle Cafe really provided gastronomic titillation. Can't wait to go back there, haha.

Karen shows us what a decent sized Parrot looks like.

There were several trips with my nephews and nieces, and we all caught some nice fish like Garoupas and Kim Buk Lors.

Here we are, about just leaving the Marina for a fun-filled trip. 

Jamie was the champion with a nice fat Garoupa. I'm sure she  has a story to tell her friends.

Bryan also had some fun with this Grunter, a typical Ubin fish.

At the end of the day, everybody chipped in to pull the anchor. That's early training!

Desmond and Luke also joined in one day and this time we landed even more Garoupas.

Here's a few of the fish we kept alive in the fish well. Nice healthy fish.

Luke poses with the catch of the day, and it looks like his T-shirt seems to fit the occasion.

And of course, the Barramundi of Ubin and Changi waters turned up to join in the fun.

2012 year end fishing was simple and fun, despite some bad weather.

December Fishing in Victoria, Australia

Plenty of big carp on the Murray River. Kerby behind also caught one. 

The holiday season was here, and we headed down under to stay on a houseboat on the Murray River. Caught plenty of carp, which was great fun for the kids. However, the targets were the natives, namely Yellow Belly and Murray Cod.

After moving along the river and fishing the snags, we finally landed ourselves some nice Yellow Belly.

Here's a fine Callop (Yellow Belly or Golden Perch)

Sadly, the Murray cod stayed elusive. We did get some huge hits which were probably giant Murray Cod, but my 30lb line could not stop them as they powered into the snags even on tight drags. There was even one morning when I locked my drag on 40lb line and the fish could muscle its way into the snag. Next time I target big Murray Cod, I'll be using 80 lb gear.

Of course, after the stay on the houseboat, I stayed in Melbourne and fished the Port Philip area, which I was quite familiar with. My brother and I drove around several piers and caught some nice large squid on squid lures. They seem so easy to catch.

Guess who caught the largest Pink Snapper that day?

No trip to Melbourne would be complete without tangling with some Pinkies right? Unfortunately, out of two charters we booked, one was cancelled due to bad weather. The other one was not very productive, but I still managed the largest fish of the boat that morning, a nice Pink Snapper. Hope to be back there again soon.

Another Coral Trout, more light game fishing.

Landed this beauty right at the start. That makes 2 days in a row I've landed such a fish on jig- yesterday and today.

The usual Saturday trip this time, and after yesterday's exciting short trip, Matt, Ian, Bryan and I were fired up for some light game fishing action.




The weather didn't look good to begin with, but we continued fishing, and the resulting fishing frenzy was thoroughly enjoyable. Now I've gotta go rest my bruised ribs.

Checking that the fish are there, in my holy shirt - the fish can't resist that shirt.

After opening accounts with a nice coral trout, similar to the one I caught the previous day, there was a short quiet period when we waited for a storm to pass. Then the real action began.

Matt fights a strong fish.

Again, amidst the many Queenfish caught and released, Matt caught his first metal jig GT and a nice Goldspot.

Matt with his usual face, and his first GT on Metal Jig.

Bryan and his new record 12 pound GT.

Everyone caught good fish, and all Queens and GTs were returned to the ocean to fight again another day. Ian finally broke the jinx on his popping gear and landed a couple of strong fighters on popper.

Big Sagais were the order of the day.

The Sagais were cooperating and we brought around 7 fish home for dinner - to be split among 4 anglers.

Driving back while enjoying a beautiful sunset.

The fishing and the company was great! We'll be back.

Light Game- Singapore GT, Queens, Sagai, Goldspot and Coral Trout

Hooray! I caught a Coral Trout on Metal Jig

Went out for a short jigging trip with Kings and Bryan. Reached the spot around 2pm and fished till around 5pm. We had plenty of action, with multiple hookups of Giant Trevallys from 3 - 6kg. The Queenfish were also everywhere and became quite a nuisance when we were trying to catch GTs and Longfin Trevally.

The highlight of the day was when I caught a Coral Trout, brought it home immediately, and steamed it for dinner.

Here's the Coral Trout steamed Hong Kong Style.

Basically, we caught and released many light game fish. All GTs (around 10 pieces) were released, so were all Queenfish (too many to count). Only kept the coral trout, two Goldspot Trevally and three Longfin Trevally. In terms of fighting ability, the GTs were clearly the strongest of the lot, with the Queens being the most acrobatic, and the others being pleasant surprises in between.

Here's a Longfin trevally we kept.

First Jig Caught GT

When we first hit the spot, I opened accounts with a Queen. Then Kings started the GT frenzy, with a nice big GT which was released after a few pics. Then I caught a small GT, but it was significant in that it was my first Metal Jigged GT. After that, everybody kept getting hooked onto either GTs or Queens - continuously.

Bryan with one of the larger specimens, promptly released.

The Queens were hitting anything we threw into the water, from stickbaits, to Sabiki, to metal jigs and Poppers.

It reached the point where we didn't even bother with the landing net and started using a pair of pliers to shake the fish off at boatside. Everything was rather chaotic, and Bryan didn't even get an opportunity to finish his lunch.

Here's one of two Goldspot Trevallys which showed up just before we left.

On the whole, this was a perfect trip. Wish there were more days like this. Here's a short video of me releasing a 5 kilo GT I landed after a good fight.

Short jigging trip - Queenfish Party with a GT

Kings caught a hard fighting Giant Trevally today. Released to fight another day.

Headed out around 1.30pm today and fished at the jigging zone for a while. The Queenfish were everywhere and we kept landing and releasing them, until Kings hooked up a stronger pulling fish and we knew it was a GT. He was secretly hoping for a Mack, haha. Anyway, all the fish we jigged up were released.

Did a few minutes of bottom fishing, landed three nice sized Cheng Yi (Parrotfish) and kept them for dinner. We were kept very busy today. Fish were jumping all around the boat. It was very exciting indeed. Here's a short clip of me releasing a Queen.

Simple Ubin trip today

Beautiful weather for fishing today

The weather was perfect today,and the kids wanted to go fishing again. Bryan joined in this time, and we had a late start, 800g of live prawns, and tried Lao Di Fang first. There were a few decent takes, but only one nice Garoupa and one Waigeu Sea Perch were landed, so we went to Good Feeling.

Bryan posing with the kids at the front of the boat.

Over there, the Barramundi were not as cooperative as before, but a few good Garoupa and a nice Golden Snapper joined us. Dylan landed a big Cuttlefish too, and that was the signal for lunch, at 3pm.

A simple catch for a short fishing trip

We zoomed off to the floating restaurant and had two of the Garoupas and the Cuttlefish for lunch. Yummy as usual. I think I could make this a habit. Simple Saturday fishing trips like this make the work week worth it. Next week, however, I'll probably go for some serious trips again.

Here's Berkley tucking into the Yummy Garoupas. 

Sweet Jiggin Spot, Ubin Barras and Lower Seletar Reservoir

Barras still common at Ubin. Kids still having fun.

I brought kids out fishing again at Ubin on Saturday and the Barramundi were still obliging. The sad part is that I lost a big Barra at boatside when it jumped and threw the hook. The good part is that we ate one other Barra at the floating restaurant and enjoyed the fresh mussels and calamari. Overall, an excellent trip. Heavy rain and strong winds kept us at the restaurant until dark when I could slowly make my way back to Punggol. Spent the next day cleaning the boat thoroughly.

Had a half day trip with Bryan at our new spot and the fish showed up  as scheduled.

Armed with Cast Fighters (shhh... don't tell anyone how effective these lures are), Bryan and I went to our jigging hotspot and landed several BIG Longfin Trevally. Each was about the length of my proper blue ice-box, with some even longer. These fish fight hard and the Hunter Stick was given a good workout, together with my biceps and forearms. I was hoping to try out my new formula for Black Soybean Sauce with Leek and Onions and I did just that the next day. It was so delicious, I added this dish to my Home Menu.

Inspired by the Fried Black Pomfret with Black Soybeans, leek and onions I had a few days earlier, I did my own sauce for a fillet of Trevally and it turned out beautifully.

I was free early this morning so I did some luring, and managed to Catch and Release this young Peacock Bass.

Anyway, the new Jigging spot seems great so far. I'm sure there's more to come.

Metal Jig Success - GTs and Ubin with the Kids



Went out with the kids on 13 Nov at Ubin, landed a few nice Kims and a big garoupa that didn't have a chance to get a proper pic before we ate it at the floating restaurant, haha.

The Kids waiting at the front of the boat

Waiting for the bites at the back of the boat

Hong Kong Steamed Garoupa

On the 12th we had a trip to the Southern Islands for some light jigging. Bryan contributed the pics and short write-up.

Nadine with her first ever GT. On a metal jig too.



Bryan with a 10 lb Giant Trevally - GT for short

Here's what Bryan wrote:

Today's fishing started slow. Couple of groupers over what seemed ages while drifting. Then when we decided that the bite was too slow we shifted to some reefs and were all rewarded with specimens that were delivered on metal jigs. I was the first to score on a 10lber GT which delivered a blistering run which turned my spool hot, followed a double hook up of smaller about 5lber GT with Nadine. Totally stoked for her as it was her very first fish on jig. Kingsley too was not left out as he delivered a solid ebek on jig and finally to round off the day con took an ebek just over the kilo mark. 

Bryan shows that it's all about the shorts

Kings makes the Hunter Stick Gang proud with a decent Ebek

Madai and Jigging fun

Went Southern today armed with lures and caught a nice Garoupa on Madai. Sagai were not very cooperative and we only landed a couple of them.

Landed this to make up for a bust off just before this fish.

We lost some good takes but managed to make up for it with a few decent fish.

Right at the end Ian had a positive take on his popping gear and landed a nice Longfin Trevally

Shark Fever

Went out for a short trip with Kingsley. Intended to catch some Longfin Trevally (Sagai) but since Kings brought some balloons along, we ended up using most of our catch as bait for sharks. Had four solid hookups on 50 pound tackle, lost one possible Giant Garoupa which made it to the rocks, lost a monster that bit right through the 80 lb wire leader, lost another 5 footer which took the biggest Sagai bait, and landed the final 4 footer which we released after some pics. It was an enjoyable trip indeed, especially when the shark fever ended and we headed to the Best Spot.

Here's the Sagai we used as bait to hook up a five footer lost at boatside.

Here's what's left of it.

Here's a video of the fight with the smaller 4 footer we caught and released. Enjoy!!!

We're gonna bring more balloons next time.

Here's the Blacktip we released to fight another  day.