Grunters & Grunters

Francis & I took leave today and went fishing at the Changi area with Ah Chong. We fished mostly at the ship channels. Nothing fantastics but I caught most of the fishes. Francis fishing quota ran out and he managed to catch only one grunter.

The Missing Boatman

Last saturday (4/03/07), Daryl, Frank, Adrain, Seng Chee and I were supposed to board Zainol's boat to fish the Tekong and Naval Base areas but guess what? The boatman Zainol did not turn up, I called him close to 50 times and he did not pick up his phone and later on the phone was switched off.

Nevertheless, we found a small boat that was willing to bring us fishing behind Tekong (Seng Chee dropped out) and we caught about 25 small fishes, the biggest being a flat-head of about a kg.

The next day the boatman, Zainol sent me a message giving a dubious and quite unbelievable excuse. I guess this is one boatman that I will not patronize again.

Interesting Bait Rigging

I understand that this is effective for big snapper. Will it work with Singapore snapper?

Sewing

Found this from some webby, I think in this part of the world we don't do enough sewing of our baits. Now where am I going to get a chance to try this out? At the pond with a tamban?

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