Fished at Ubin and Tekong and filmed ONZZ Episode 2 for my YouTube Channel

I was hoping to have a chance at filming another episode of Onzz for my YouTube Channel C LifeStyle and today gave me just the opportunity for that. The fish were very cooperative, and we were able to capture some exciting moments on video. We caught several Barramundi, some Threadfin Salmon, Snappers and Sweetlip. 

Though it rained midway, it wasn't very heavy and just helped to cool us down for the day. I'll try to do Onzz Episode 3 next Saturday at the Southern Islands if possible. Meanwhile, enjoy the video above! 

Thanks to Sally, Beng, Greg and Vanessa for being the cast and the crew at the same time (no pun intended).I had a fun time. 

Dog Rescue Caught on Video!

I was out on a boat fishing trip with my buddies around Singapore's North Eastern waters when one of my friends spotted something strange far out in the middle of the sea. He said there was a guy swimming out in the sea. I thought he was kidding at first, so I laughed at him. I said that the current was too strong at that time for a swim. He then looked very serious and insisted that I take a look for myself.

True enough, when I focused on where he was pointing, I realized that something was struggling in the current out there, swimming in circles. I looked on and it suddenly dawned upon me that there was a dog struggling out there!

Immediately, we started stomping our feet, shouting and clapping our hands to get the dog's attention and I needed to see if it could swim towards us. If not, I would immediately drive my boat over to pick him up. Fortunately, the dog noticed us and I could see him clearly making progress and coming nearer. That's when I took out my phone camera and started filming it. Of course I was clapping my hands and filming so the video quality isn't that great, but the dog comes first.

When it came near, I realized that it had a collar and looked very familiar. It was too weak to climb on board by itself and it had clearly exhausted the last bit of its energy just to reach us. I did not hesitate to immediately drop my phone and reach half into the water to carry him up. It was then that I realized I had met this dog before, at one of the fish farms far up current from us. 

He was returned safely to his worried owner, who thought that he had fallen into the sea and was never coming back again. Fortunately this valiant fighter made it back alive... tired, but alive.

2016 April 16 Fishing Video C LifeStyle Channel Launched

I find it very interesting to observe how people's favourite modes of using the Internet change over the course of time. As one of the pioneer members of a simple Internet Fishing Forum (Spike's) community that slowly became one of Singapore's largest fishing forums, and one of the first fishing website builders in Singapore, back in the mid to late 90's, I noticed that people first started going crazy about email, then websites and IRC (remember that?) and later blogs (which are slowly having to adapt or go out of fashion too) and then Facebook (which is even now starting to belong to a more mature generation, as my kids often remind me). Now we have YouTube and Instagram and Twitter and a whole host of new social media platforms which I am no longer familiar with. I have had to adapt several times. Those who knew me in the 90's would know that I hosted this fishing blog originally as a website on Pacific Internet, and in those days, the hit counters available for my website only ran till 6 digits, so I had the number of hits reduced to zero a short while back. Then when Pacnet had to fold, I had to painstakingly shift everything onto this blog.

Many might wonder why my archives show pictures of such low quality, with thumbnails that cannot even be clicked on. The answer is simple, in those days, the technology only allowed for that. I had to scan in pictures manually. Later, in the era of the early camera phones, many would notice pictures of extremely low resolution. 

I even tried moving on to Facebook, but soon realized that it was going our of fashion too (especially for the younger generation), so I took on that endeavour in a half-hearted manner, as many who tried to join my fishing Facebook group would know (and I sincerely apologise to them). Why this long preamble? Many might ask. Well, as long as I still fish, I would still love to share my tales (and Oh we do know how fishermen love to tell their tales). So now,  I have moved on to start a Fishing Videos Section in my C LifeStyle YouTube Channel, which was launched about two weeks ago.

I also thought to myself, after watching so many episodes of Robson Green's Extreme Fishing, why not start to make a semi-professional fishing series of my own? In the end, at least I get to watch them when I'm older, and remind myself of the good ol' days when we could still catch fish. (Remember, I'm thinking years into the future.) This gave birth to ONZZ Fishing, which is just a series of mini episodes of my fishing trips. Now, whenever I go fishing, and if I can find the time to put together a short video log of the trip, I'll try to create a new episode of ONZZ Fishing. In the meanwhile, since reading seems to be going out of fashion too, I'll quickly let you enjoy the first episode of ONZZ Fishing in my C LifeStyle Channel. 

Note: I've got the FULL VIDEO format or the video broken down into three parts for those who prefer shorter videos. Please don't forget to subscribe to my Channel in order to view the latest videos.

2015 Updates. It's been a while, and an eventful year has come and gone, but life goes on.

First, I would like to add a video of one of the nice fishes caught off Changi in 2015.

2015 Pictures, and a tribute to my dad, the guy who kickstarted my passion in fishing

I haven't managed to post anything till now because the blog had to take a backseat while one major event took place in my life. This year, 2015, I mourn the passing of my father, Reginald Lee, the one who taught me so much about fishing, the one who brought me sampan fishing at the Southern Islands ever since I was a small boy, the one who introduced me to anchor pulling at the age of 12, the one who taught me to enjoy life's simple pleasures, and the one who demonstrated to me the fragility of all that we have. Thank you daddy, and I'll miss you and your weird jokes and fishing tales.

This picture of us was taken in 2004, and my dad had a huge role to play in helping me land this 10 kg Barramundi. Sadly, camera phone quality was not that great back in 2004. Shortly after that trip, dad had a major stroke.

But, as we all know, life goes on, and I resumed my fishing after a short break. Here are some updates of the notable catches in 2015.

This beautiful and strong garoupa caught off Changi was the result of the fight that can be viewed in my video above.

The waters off Changi, Ubin and Tekong continued to produce beautiful and strong fish like Garoupas, Barramundi and Snappers. This Northern area remains great for relaxed fishing, with some big stuff still lurking around.

These Ubin Garoupas are just the right size for steaming, and in my opinion, actually taste better than the ones I catch from the Southern Islands. I find it strange, but years of tasting garoupas from two different areas of Singapore have led me to this conclusion. Maybe it's just me though.

Of course, the Ubin Barramundis never disappointed.

Ubin seems to have a very healthy population of Barramundi, and they never fail to put up a great fight, with heartstopping acrobatics when they do their aerial headshake. On one trip, Bert's dad caught a nice 6 kilo specimen which we promptly filleted and used for a barbecue the next day. It was just wonderful!

We all love double hookups, especially if a Golden Snapper school is around

The Snapper zones around Tekong were pretty productive, and in the right tide conditions, could be very entertaining. Even some red Snapper turned up this season, among the Goldies.

Here's a tasty Red Snapper

Bryan had a surprise when a big Whiting took his Madai while drifting

Overall, the Northern waters stayed productive in 2015, but the Southern waters did not disappoint either. Bryan's big Coral Trout from the South will definitely be a fish to remember!

Look at the smile on Bryan's face. He landed this beauty on a light metal jig.

This should give you a clearer idea of how big that Coral Trout was. We had a full box that day too.

Kings and I were not to be outdone too, with each of us contributing some nice reds of our own.

Most importantly, in 2015, I started to introduce the next generation to fishing, as my father had done for me way back when I was in primary school. What better way to start than with my favourite fish, the Spanish Flag Snapper! Great fun for young anglers, the South produced these snappers in schools. A great place to learn eh?

Leon poses with a catch he contributed to. I think he's hooked now, haha.

It's really about the simple pleasures. Life comes full circle.

He's right where he has always wanted to be. RIP dad.

2015 June. An Aussie outback experience to remember.

In June 2015, I had the privilege of going to the Pilbara in Northwestern Australia to experience Threadfin Salmon fishing like never before. That mud crabs were everywhere was an added bonus.

I met up with my brother in Port Hedland, and we camped out by some rivers with his native Australian friends for an experience that words can never fully describe.

I started by casting for live bait. The tide was really low at first, and I caught several mullet.

When we arrived at the river, the tide was low, and I set off to cast for live bait. As the tide started rising, the fishing began, and never really stopped.

These King Threadfin Salmon started coming in with the tide, and they just kept on coming!

.. and coming!

Almost every cast was met with a huge pull, a strong fight, and sometimes we landed them, while sometimes we lost the battle, but we just had to bait up and cast again and another fish would be there.

When the tide got a bit higher, I noticed mud crabs swimming around just at my feet, and could not resist scooping them in my landing net.

We ate several of these for dinner that night. There was a whole pile of them.

The mud crabs were a pleasant distraction from fishing, but the variety of fish was amazing too, with Mangrove Jacks, Garoupas, Giant Trevallies, Wolf Herring and Blue Threadfin appearing. The Wolf Herring ended up becoming the best bait.

My brother with a muddie he picked from a hole in the mud.

This secret spot of my brother and his friends really seemed like a dream come true! The strongest and most common fish was actually the Blue Threadfin.

These are the Blue Threadfin, which were more common than the King Threadfin, but much stronger.

I want to go back there man!!!

2014 Nov to Dec Catch Reports

Did not manage to get many trips in during the Nov to Dec period because I went overseas for a while and focused a little more on golf. However, I did manage a few good trips with friends.

December, with strong North winds, is a good time for Spanish Flag Snappers and Coral Trout. This is only half our catch, the rest couldn't fit on top of the orange box.

The boys show some of the Sagais.

On the 27th of December, Uncle Frank and my nephews came along for some Sagai, because the fish were around. Unfortunately the weather was not very good and we fished in the wind and rain. We still caught a number of decent Sagais (Trevally) though.

Here we see the boys fishing despite the dark clouds forming overhead

A Goldspot Trevally and Coral Trout came to say hello.

Nowadays, our trips to the Northern Waters frequently see us making our way to the floating restaurant to enjoy our wild caught fish. This time, Bert, Danny and Meng brought more friends and relatives.

That's Bert with LUNCH. Yay!

On the 6th of December, a big group came along and the aim was to relax, while hopefully catching lunch and dinner. Not many fish showed up, but at least we fulfilled our mission, with some decent fish for lunch and dinner. Phew! Yum Yum.For lunch, the moment Bert landed a nice Garoupa, he stopped fishing and looked ready to head to the floating farm for lunch. That's what we did. The food is still rather good but a little pricey. For dinner, it was kinda sad that Great Atlantic Restaurant overcooked the fish a little - looks like there's been a change of chef and owner.

That's us enjoying another garoupa and a snapper for dinner at Great Atlantic (hmmm, didn't it use to be Great Atlantis?)

I landed this fat Garoupa on Madai early in the trip. It was a great start.

On the 5th of December, David, Kings and I headed to the south to try for some reef fish. We got more than we bargained for. This time, the fish were just rushing to join their friends in our ice box. With a slow current, we drifted at Mystery Spot and almost immediately I had a heavy strike. After a nice fight, a fat garoupa surfaced and I had met my target for the day. Little did I know that more was to come.

About 15 minutes later, we drifted to shallower waters, and I struck into a fish that fought in a very familiar way. I asked Kings to stand by with the landing net because something red was about to surface. True enough, a beautiful Coral Trout made its way into the landing net. What a great start!

Wild Coral Trout on my favourite Madai. Yeah!

Soon, the current picked up and we headed into shallow water to hunt for Trevally, but not a single one showed up, so I started to target Spanish Flag Snapper. That's when the queues started forming as the fish were landed at a steady pace until we ran out of bait. Basically we filled the box with Snappers, Bream and a few more Coral Trout. What a day! The pic of half our catch can be seen at the top of this post.

Lucky Meng with a beauty of a Golden Snapper

On the 22nd of November, Meng and Xiao V came on board for some fun with Madais. I had heard that the Golden Snappers were in, so I headed to the Snapper Zone and we landed some. A few Garoupas and a Red Snapper were mixed in with the catch. Conditions were excellent that day!

These girls were truly lucky, landing some quality local fish

I miss the days when we could hit schools of this fish. I'm not complaining about landing one of these though.

Floating restaurant time. Yummy. Axl, Bert, Danny and Winnie came on board and Winnie caught lunch and dinner for us.

On the 1st of November, Bert and gang came along, and Bert was saying that Good Feeling had never let us down before, always producing some nice Barramundi. Luckily, that day was no different. We hung around Good Feeling, landed some Barramundi, headed to the floating restaurant, and continued fishing at Lao Di Fang for some Garoupas. Overall, not many fish were landed but the company was great. So was the Guinness, haha.

Axl landed something that rarely turns up around Ubin... a Spanish Flag Snapper. These fish are common in the south though.

Winnie was the lucky one, landing most of the nicer fish like this gleaming Barramundi.

2014 October Updates - Onga!!

Bryan was asking for some Golden Snappers for his Birthday and so we went hunting for some.

October was a busy month, but we managed to sneak some fishing in.

4th October. First was a simple trip in the South for some deepwater species, and we landed some snappers, garoupas and parrotfish.

Kings was the champ on October 4th with a huge Blackspot Wrasse (which we often call Parrotfish)

Ren Meng also learnt how to use the madai to land a Spanish Flag Snapper

I landed a rather pale looking Coral Trout, but it still tasted great.

On 11th October, we decided to go for some shallow water reef fish in the South just for some non stop action. Indeed we landed plenty of fish that day. Shallow reefs don't often produce big fish, but the action is usually great anyway. Pig faced Bream, mid sized Parrots, Big eyes and Spanish flag Snappers were the order of the day. A decent Garoupa showed up to surprise us at the end of the day.

Bryan poses with some of our fish. 

The happy couple posed with a jigged up Garoupa

On the 18th of October, with the chest freezer full of fish, we had a relaxing trip to our Northern Ubin waters to enjoy our fresh catch at the floating restaurant. Some Barramundis and Garoupas turned up to join us for the meals, haha.

Lay Chin caught this wild Barramundi for lunch.

Yuki, Ding Jia, Lay Chin and Pravin joined me for lunch at the floating restaurant.

25th October. Bryan the birthday boy was wishing for a Golden Snapper present. We landed some. Overall, I made the most out of the Saturdays in October.

A nice looking ice chest filed with assorted fish

Can't get enough of this picture. Always my favourite fish, the Golden Snapper! 

2014 September BIG COBIA DAY!!!

Septembers have always brought back good fishing memories. This year was no different.

The biggest Cobia I've ever landed... what a fight!!!

On the 12th of September, Kings, Bryan and I headed towards open water in the Southern Islands to do some Garoupa fishing. When we reached the first spot, Bryan was quick to land a Garoupa around 2kg on his second drop. I had just missed a bite too.

This spot was famous for big Garoupas so we had our drags tightened, just in case a big garoupa decided to head into the rocks. With my specially rigged bait, I felt a light pull on my flexi rod. Anticipating a bigger pull, I lowered my rod tip and then I felt the line go really taut before I struck and put a full U bend on my rod. The fish would not budge. Instead, with my drag almost locked, the fish took line!

I could not believe what I was feeling, or seeing, for that matter. I thought I had hooked into a giant garoupa once again. Without wanting to let the fish enter the snags, I just increased the pressure on the fish, confident in my setup of 40 pound line and solid Twinpower. It was just brute strength against brute strength, and for the first 15 minutes, I was fighting a losing battle, with the fish just taking more line out of my spool, making some powerful runs in between. All the while I was putting full pressure on the fish, still thinking it was a giant garoupa. My biggest worry was that the fish would cut me off on the rocks.

Then I started to be able to gain some line, and I knew that we had reached the stalemate stage of the fight. When I got a meter of line in, the fish would take a meter out. Sometimes when I got 5 meters of line in (my line had markings to indicate every meter), the fish would take it back out. It was an improvement though. At least I was not losing more line than I gained. By this time, I was resting my rod on my knee and using it as a fulcrum, pressing down on the rod grip to lift the rod tip up, and cranking the reel half a turn at a time.

Finally, I thought the fish was starting to give up as I saw a colour change in my line, and by this time, knowing that the fish was way off the bottom, I loosened the drag a little, just in case. It was the right move, on hindsight, because that was when the fish started going on powerful long runs, and I started wondering if I had even hooked a garoupa at all. This fish definitely did not fight like a garoupa, which by now would have floated to the surface with an inflated swim bladder.

In the end, we finally caught a glimpse of the fish and none of us could believe what we were seeing, a gigantic Cobia was cruising with my hook in its mouth. It eyeballed us, then went for broke on his final long run, taking back almost 20 meters of line. I recognised this as the end stage and asked Bryan to get the gaff ready. I slowly pumped the tired fish to boatside, Bryan got the gaff in, and we both struggled to raise the fish into the boat. Success!

Exhausted, with arms and back cramped, I lay on the boat and rested for a full half hour before regaining some strength to take a few pics and then rested some more. After that, I continued fishing and somehow the Garoupas still kept biting my rig, and we landed a total of 5 big garoupas on top of the Giant Cobia, which we could not properly weigh because my Boga grip only weighed fish up to 15 kg. This fish maxed out the Boga grip so I had to weigh it at home while standing on my own electronic weighing scale. Our estimate was 16kg, but it turned out to be a neat 19 kilograms. No wonder I had such a hard time trying to lift the fish for a pic. What a day!!

You know it's a good fishing day when you can take a picture like this even after Kingsley had collected his share of the catch and rushed off for a meeting. My orange ice box can help gauge the size of these fish. 

Sadly, Kings only took a video at the end of the fight, haha.


Oh yeah, we did catch other good stuff in September.

On 9th September, Joey, Fau and Ismail came along and we finished our bait early with these good fish.

11th September was also good, and Luke had a taste of big garoupa.

Bryan loves September Garoupas too.

And don't forget Ubin, where we landed some nice garoupas, barramundis and snappers.

Ren Meng made her Ubin debut with a Barramundi.

And here's thanks to Danny who did not hesitate to jump into the water when my prop got tangled in some rope. Thanks buddy. 27 Sep 2014.