Spratly Safari

Wow, I hope that gets your attention. This is from a catch report on Spratly found in the Malaysian fishing forum. There are just so many places to fish but so little time and too much commitment in life. Click and drool here.

tag: fishy fun

World Record Freshwater Fish

This is the world's record for largest freshwater fish, at 646 pounds (293 kg). It is a Mekong catfish. Giant fish researchers - led by Zeb Hogan of the WWF and University of Wisconson tried to save it so it could spawn yet again, but it died and was consumed by hungry villagers.

Wow, tom-yam fish head that is enough to feed a whole village. Aloh mak!

tag: fishy fun

Girl Power

A 15 year old girl, Sara Hayward caught a record breaking wahoo off Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico. The fish weighs a whopping 184 pounds. That's not just 30 pounds more than the record, that's 50 pounds more than she herself weighs.

Read about it here

tag: fishy fun

Jellyfish Attack

Multitentacled giant jellyfish of up to 200 kilograms and with diameters of up to 2 meters have returned with a vengeance this season. Fishermen in Japan say they are under siege.

Read about it here.

tag: fishy fun

Creatures From The Deep

I was just looking through old photos on a unfettered Sunday and found this. The fishes here were caught on my first trip to Sabah from a depth of about 100 meters. I don't know what they are and never got around to ask or find out. It does look too weird and colorful to be eaten though! For now, for me at least, it remains as unknown creature from the deep. Any enlightenment out there?

tag: fishy fun

CR 10 December 2005

This is Louis with his first ever chermin (diamond trevally), caught using his newly acquired fluorocarbon leader. He is now a fluoro convert and soon to be addict.

Anglers: Frank, Daryl, Francis, Louis and I
Boatman: Ah Chai
Location: Tekong & Naval Base area
Fishes: 3 chermins by Louis, Frank and I, 1 sweetlip, 1 sickle fish, 1 small snapper, 1 small ray and quite a few grunters.

I was supposed to give this trip a miss but after failing to get a replacement my family decided for me that I should go. What a wonderful family!

Tide Pattern
0645 2.7 H 1252 1.4 L 1845 2.5 H

tag: catch report

Calamari On line

I came across this news, the squid is estimated to be between 30 to 50 pounds. It would make a lot of calamari or enough baits for a record breaking number of snappers and enough ink to last till the next generation. But I am sure the tug of war would be the most memorable - jet propelled opponent.

You will find other fishing news here.

Another squid post here.

tag: fishy fun

What I Want For Christmas

1. A license to fish every Saturday
2. A license to spend $2,500 or so to have a time of my life in Maldives
3. A popping rod and reel for Maldives - Stella and Carpenter will do
4. A new Torsa reel so that for a change I can play with lever-drag

Now I'm not asking too much am I? I hope the right person will read this and do the right thing.

tag: fishy fun

A Necessary Miss

It looks like I will have to give this coming Saturday's trip a miss. Family responsibility must precede fishing so that there will be more fishing and above all more nag-free fishing. As the Chinese says, "You need to let go a long line to catch big fishes". But having say all that I'm sure that I'm going to have a good time with my delightful son.

tag: fishy feelings

Thinking About Women

Just when you think that fishing is largely exclusive to men, the fairer sex is making a quiet invasion into 'mansphere'. They are even into tuna fishing. Check the links below:

• Fly-fishing gets an all-new cast (Telegraph.co.uk)
• New Hampshire Sets Women's Workshop (Buckmasters)
• No embellishment needed to tell this tall tuna tale (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Ice fishing contest moves (Wetaskiwin Times Advertiser)

tag: fishy feelings

Heaven On Earth

This is a photo of the famous west lake in Hangzhou, China. I was there last year and was told that there are plenty of fishes in the lake but you do need a special license to fish in certain part of it. I did not have the time in that trip but it would certainly be heaven on earth to be able to fish from a boat in the middle of the west lake. Perfect tranquility, beautiful scenery, cool weather and a fish pulling at the end of the line ... wow!

tag: fishy feelings

Fishing Tips

These are some tips from FishSA.com that I think are worth remembering:

When playing with fish that jump out of the water, always dip your rod down to slacken the tension of the line and hook as they jump. Fish will use the tension of a tight line to try and dislodge the hook from their mouth. So it doesn't pay to always have "tight lines" !

When baiting a hook, try and use soft bait - if using squid, beat the squid to soften it prior to baiting the hook. Some fish like to "mouth" a bait prior to taking it. As it does this, you will feel a light pick on the line and nothing more. The bite you feel is in fact not a bite but caused by the fish's tail action as it swims away with the bait.

The best way to determine if your hook is sharp enough, test it on your finger nail. If the point holds on the nail, it is sharp enough.

Power and action are two different things. Action describes how the rod will bend under loading. Slow action rods bend evenly from the tip to the butt, while fast action rods bend mostly near the tip section. Power ratings are a measure of how much pull is required to bend the rod. The higher the rating, the stiffer the rod.

category: fishy techniques

Squid Attack

Found this picture at the tackle tour forum. Every sotong has its day!

category: fishy fun

The Mighty Gust

As indicated in an earlier posting, I'm hopelessly addicted to fishing. Now I find myself also hopelessly addicted to this fishing blog. I just, as in less than half an hour ago, came back from a fishing trip and I'm here posting this catch report. I like to think of it as passion and not addiction.

Anyway, last evening five of us took off from west coast and headed for a spot about 2 hours away. We arrived early to wait for the turning tide. And true enough when the tide turned a beautiful golden snapper of about one half kg was landed. Just when everybody was excited and waiting in anticipation of that characteristic snapper pull, the north east wind blew. It blew and blew itself into a fury, the anchor slipped, we were all wet and swells of one to three metres came. It was frightening for me, I never knew that this could happen in local water. We were forced to seek shelter near an island and the passage to the sheltered water was tedious, slow, rocky and grossly uncomfortable. It took more than an hour just to find calm water. The rest of the night saw light rain and lots of catfish, small rays and some eels.

This is for Francis - I did not take photos, no anti-shake will suffice in that situation, I was shaking too.

Now for that badly needed bath ...

category: catch report

2 Hours Away, Pleasure I Hope

I will be off to a rather new spot 2 hours away from the west coast this evening. The last trip to that spot by some friends produced a mini harvest with fishes like snappers and groupers in the 2 kg range. So watch out for the catch report tomorrow.

category: fishy feelings

It Is In The Air

This being the first day of December, I woke up feeling all sentimental about Christmas. It is the season for renewing family ties and friendship, buying gifts, attending parties and church activities. It is also for me a season of less fishing with the monsoon haunting the usual fishing grounds. In fact I will be going on a holiday with my family on Christmas day itself. It will be a holiday without fishing since I will be herded from place to place by some tour guide.

So here is wishing all my friends and visitors to this blog a blessed Christmas and a happy new year.

category: fishy feelings, others