Catch With A Prize

After work, I went to punggol pond with the intention of fishing for an hour or so before heading home and I caught a 2.5 kg grouper that was tagged (a chinese new year promotion) that came with a $58 prize money (see the red packet in my pocket). In addition, I caught 4 'drum-fish' of about a kg each and all that in less than 2 hours. I am happy!

Lost and Found

I had a dismay trip with Ricky on the eve of the Lunar New Year and so decided to seek some satisfaction at the pond. I was early, in fact the only one at the pond at that time. I spinned at the usual spots but my labor was not rewarded at all. I then decided to try out the unpredictable spot at the central cage and again there was no result after two spins. I decided to cast and park and take a break. As I was putting the rod into the rod-holder there was a violent pull and as I was totally unprepared the whole rod flew into the water and disappeared.

To cut the story short, a friend came along and I borrowed his rod and landed one snapper and to my amazement at the next cast I managed to retrieve my rod, the line had burst but the rod and reel was in working condition. The rest of the fishes were caught with my lost but found rod. I caught a total of six fishes; one was given away (not in the picture). I lost 3 barramundi on the fight but I will be back ……..

Changi With Ah Chong 9/2/2007

Took leave and went with Frank and another 3 guys to bottom-bash Changi. We caught 28 fishes but alas they are really small. The biggest is a sweet-lip of about 1kg not counting the almost almost 2 kg catfish I caught. Anway the campany is great.

Another 3 Hours At The Pond

Nothing much but quite satisfying.

Good Time & Good Buddies

A Late Catch Report

SSL10272, originally uploaded by HenryKoh.

This was a Sabah trip in September 2005. It was a very disappointing trip for me, given the hype and anticipation of 'one drop one bite' fishing in Sabah. The weather is the culprit; it was too rough and makes it impossible to fish at the trench. The fishes for some reason were not biting at the shallower water. 6 out of 8, not including were suffering from seasickness. Infact one guy slept for at least 90% of the trip. I was sleeping much more than my usual; just too depress to get up and fish. Will I go back again? Likely, but next time it will be with less expectation and longing.

Not Bad For 3 Hours

No chance to fish the sea and thus decided to try the pond instead. Eight fishes for 3 hour is not bad I guess. The secret I guess is to work hard - spin here and spin there!

Changi By Night

Last Friday (19/1/07), Daryl, 2 other guys and I went on a night boat trip to the changi and tekong area hoping to catch the remnants of the red snappers that escaped from the fish farm. Ours was the only fishing boat in sight and the reason became obvious over time – the fishes were not there or were not biting.

The result of one sleepless night:

8 red snappers (500 gram or smaller)
2 sub kg golden snapper
1 x 500 gram grouper
A few small eels and catfishes

Mekong Catfish

I have not posted here for a long while basically because I have not been fishing and that's another story altogether. Anyway I was at the latest catch and release pond in Singapore to try out the infamous mekong catfish. I managed to hook one that is about 20kg on a short rod of about 4.5 feet and a small 1000 equivalent reel loaded with 15lb fireline. It put up an impressive tug of war.

category: catch report

Will It Happen Again

We had a lousy trip on Ah Chai's boat last saturday, 6 of us and we landed 3 diamond trevallies and a table size snapper. Francis and I lost a trevally each. Well, at least I caught the snapper. Francis is having a period of draught in fishing lately. Francis if you are reading this, my offer of Sabah still holds.

Frank's recent trip to Sabah had me dreaming impatiently of our impending trip and I hope that this trip will be as good as previous trips. These pictures sure bring back sweet memories:

tag: fishy feelings

Things I learnt From Pond Fishing

Recently I have been aggressively fishing the ponds. I have caught countless fishes, memorable among them were a 5 kg barramundi, a 4 plus kg snapper and a 3 plus kg GT. I did learn a couple of things about fishes particularly from a particular pond that had crystal clear water on one of the day. I observed the following:

1. The fishes may be there but if they are not in the mood to bite nothing will seduce them, you can lure quickly or slowly or throw a bait right in front of them or switch from live prawn to dead prawn to fish meat and they will just ignore it or scuttle away.
2. If they are in the mood to bite they will dash from some inconspicuous cover and take your bait as if their life is dependent on it.
3. Some fishes will come and inspect the bait and will teasing use their tail to knock the bait and then scuttle away, giving you false bite detection.
4. Fishes like snappers and barramundi in contrast to expectation will take the bait and stay still and not dash as expected.
5. Fishes, at least in the pond, bite less when water is crystal clear and when the day is hot.

What do think? Comments? Observations?

tag: fishy feelings, techniques

Eventful Event Pond Session

I saw the posting on fishingkaki that a bunch of people were gathering at the event pond at Ponggol on Wednesday 16/8 and so I went down to make up the necessary number. There were 11 of us and all had high hope of catching something big.

My first rig was a 2-hook rig with split shot and tamban bait. On spinning back on my second cast there was a violent pull, I paused a second to allow the fish to swallow the whole bait and strike. The fish dived for the nearest structure, I tried to pump it away, my reel was peeling line and the drag on my cheap shimano spinning reel was rough and jerky. I was fearful of tightening the sticky drag but fortunately my pumping actions managed to steer it away from the net and the fish performed a series of aerial display - it was a huge barramundi. I had a tug of war with the fish for the next 10 minutes or so and a kind soul helped me land it with the net. The barramundi was about 5 kg. Unfortunately while he was helping me with the net, his rod which was on the floor was pulled into the pond. The rod was retrieved ultimately but the fish on it was lost.

All hopes sky-rocketed. About 5 minutes later someone landed another barramundi of about the same size, I like to think that it is slightly smaller. Then it quiet down, only a few golden promfets were landed.

About an hour later, I was spinning live prawn, and there was a huge take and I fought the fish for about 30 seconds and lost it. I spinned live prawn again and was rewarded with a 4-5 kg GT which took me at least 15 minutes to tame. Two other GTs was landed by others shortly and it quiet down again.

The rest of the 3 hours was rather uneventful and a few of the anglers finished the session with zero catch.

I gave the barramundi away and release the GT back to the pond.

I enjoyed it because I was using 10 pound line and it is a novelty for someone like me who is used to clanking heavy weight from the deep using 65 pound outfit.

tag: catch report

My First Fish On Popper

I went with 4 other guys to a private luring and catch and release only blue water pond somewhere in Neo Tiew. It was 2 hours of hard work! The fishes are plenty but they just refuse to take lures. Well, I did manage to catch my first fish on a 40 gm popper, a giant trevally and another on a berkley glup.

tag: catch report

Long Time No Sea

Have not been fishing for a while, at sea that is, but have been doing a lot of pond fishing. It is regressive for me but it is kind of fun and a good quick fix for the addiction.

Recently went out with 5 other guys on Raju's boat. The catch was not that fantastic but I did catch the biggest snapper and the only diamond trevally.

tag: catch report

Impressive Snapper

Could not go on a long range trip over the weekend and so decided to go drifting with Ricky (aka Ah Eng). The catch rate was poor, only 5 fishes were caught:

two 3kg plus snappers by me
one 500 gm snapper by me
one star gazer catch and release by me
one 1.5kg grouper by Ricky

Well, the snappers fight were impressive and I am glad I ou-fished Ricky and so overall it was a good trip for me.

tag: catch report