Ubin Fishing - 17 Dec 09

I have not been boat fishing for a couple of years mainly due to my lack of "sea legs". In the past, my trips on boats saw me "chumming" the water. Not the best sight which is why I avoided fishing on boats as much as possible.

I was really bored with pond fishing and wanted to do something different. I asked my fishingkaki, Ah Lau (Old Man) Andrew, on whether he was keen to go on Thurs. He agreed and a couple of calls, the boat was booked for a day's fishing off Ubin.

When I got up in the early morning to move off, it was raining heavily....Uh Oh....but since we're committed, let's just go for it. Met up Andrew and Guan Seng at Punggol Marina and by 8.30 am, we're off on the boat captained by Ahmad.

Wasnt a really great day...the fishes must be on vacation! We moved from spot to spot and no bites whatsoever except for some tiny nibbles. Andrew did catch a small grouper but Guan Seng and I caught absolutely nothing, except for some insignificant nibbles. Could it have been the rainy weather, tide change or our fishing rigs?

Ahmad tried his best to bring us to different spots and by 3 pm, he decided to try one last spot for some small "gelamas" which are just 15 cms in length but taste good when steamed. We had to change rigs to small hooks but the gelamas werent home! This was getting stranger that even the spot for small fishes yielded nothing? Global warming perhaps?? We were staring at the abyss of not catching anything!

At about 4 pm, Andrew and I finally managed to hook up something of substance. 2 grunters weighing in at 1.5 and 2 kg respectively. We werent zero fighters. YAY! Guan Seng did not hit anything big but did catch some smaller fishes.

As the dictum goes - "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work". Not sure that I agree with this completely but yesterday was not great in terms of catches but the fun and fellowship was good. It was a good time of just going out and not thinking of work.

Didnt bring the boys as the boat was just large enough for 4 adults and I felt that the boys were just too young to handle a whole day fishing on a boat without bathrooms. So they will stick to fishing at ponds and lakes. Will be bringing them tomorrow to recce the opening of the Bottle Tree Park Catch and Release pond. Should be interesting to see huge Mekong Catfishes and Arapaimas been hooked up. Stay tune.

With Evan when he was just 5

Dug up some old pixs and saw one with Evan reeling in a fish at the now closed Fisherman Village at Pasir Ris beach. It was his first fish, a Golden Promfret or Kim Chew, and pretty exciting for a 5 year old boy.

For Lucas, 2 weeks back, I help him reel in a whopper ACK weighing in at 3 kg. He reeled it in pretty good for a 8 year old. Well Done, Lucas. Will definitely take photos of him with his catches the next time around.

Quite a lot of ponds or for that matter, landmarks or familiar places that we have grown up with are now gone and consigned to history. Really sad....My old place at Zion Road where I grew up is now demolished and on it, another ubiqutious high end condomanium. My favourite prawn noodle stall at the now demolished Covent Garden food centre is no more! The old freshwater ponds with names like Oriental, Yeo Chung, Tampines, Singapore and Woo Peng at Tampines where we fished when we were young are now replaced by HDB estates.

Pretty soon, the fishing ponds at Pasir Ris and Farmway will also be gone like the freshwater ponds of old - for the "advancement" of society.

Squidy Rocks 2

The picture is of another trip where I hit 2 KBL (sea bass/barramundi) with the squidy and a rubber lure manufactured by Panther Martin. If you look carefully, I had placed the rubbers on the fishes. The 2 biggies weighed in at 4.5 and 3.5 kg. The smaller one came in at 800 gm. Wonderful fight especially with the sea bass doing acrobatic jumps.

Squidy Rocks

A couple of months ago, a fellow fishing kaki introduced me to the squidy lure that is designed and made in Australia. Read from his post that this squidy is the next "BIG THING" in fishing and from his CR (Catch Report), it seems that it was working.

First thing on my mind was "Is this too good to be true?". I was a baiter using real squid, prawns and fish meat. It was effective but your hands stunk after that. My friend was so confident that I would catch with these "wonder" lures that he gave me a pack.

First time to the pond and I was a zero fighter!! Cast until my right side of my body was numb. No bites. Called him and told him the result and that I would stick to baiting. I asked him what was the length of the lead line to the lure. He said about 0.5 metres! My lead was less than 20 cm. Perhaps that the reason and I was willing to try one more time but if I catch nothing, it will be back to baiting and smelly hands!

Next trip was something extraordinary. I was at the Pasir Ris Pro Pond with my 2 sons and I was catching fishes like they were on drugs! I hit 7 fishes within 1.5 hours! The fishos around me, who were not catching anything much, were totally amazed. They were baiting and when I showed them the squidy, they were astounded and told me "Like this also can catch??".

Frankly, I felt embarassed and told my sons that we were going to call it a day! We had another 1.5 hours to go but I felt that it was enough for all of us.

Must say that squidy rocks. The picture is of the 7 fishes on the squidy lures. The feeling of the fish hitting at the lure is also very different and I have swopped being a baiter to a lurer. I am totally convinced and I dont have smelly hands anymore!

Fishing With Evan and Lucas - 24 Nov 09

This is my attempt at creating a blog. Named it "Fishing with my boys" simply because I wanted to write a diary of my boys and I fishing. I had fished from the age of 8 and it has stayed with me since. My earliest memories of fishing was at the old Tampines freshwater ponds where my brother and I went early in the morning and stayed till the evening fishing for grass carps, song (big head) carps, soon hocks and the occasional aruans. My boys has a Ninetendo Wii fishing game which is pretty authentic but somehow or rather, it's just not the same, if you know what I mean!

Anyways, it was pretty tense at home cause Mum was getting them ready to do their Mandarin (bless MM for finally saying that the teaching of Mandarin had far reaching negative consequences but that's another post). Decided then and there to take the boys out to Pasir Ris to "ventilate" their brains and to let Mum relax.

Drove over to Pasir Ris and decided to fish at the pro pond as the main pond was pretty crowded. The boys ate their dinner at Arnolds whilst I set up the rod. After dinner, they came over and we chatted over many things - about Mandarin, what they were doing during the day, scolded them for been rude to Mum etc....Generally getting to know what's on their mind. Fishing was incidental but spending time with them was my primary focus.

The "great outdoors" - if you can call Pasir Ris park that - was compelling especially outside of the confines of the apartment. Our kids are so self sufficient in their own worlds of the Internet, electronics toys and games, school work that we miss out on just chatting and knowing each of them. Was indeed a relaxing time just to chill out with my sons. I hope that when they are grown up that they would remember these times and spend it with their own children.

For the record, we hooked up 2 ACKs weighing in 3 kg and 1.5 kg and a 1 kg KBL. Nothing sensational but just spending time with them was felt like hooking up a 200 lb black marlin!