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Fishing outsea in Singapore - May 2009

novrain

By novrain
in Saltwater

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novrain Newbie

novrain

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Posted

hi guys

just got back from a trip back to singapore on tuesday and while I was there, managed to squeeze in 2 fishing trips.

it works differently in singapore. we'll charter the boat and the boat man will take us to his spots. we each have to bring our own fishing gear and stuff.

anyway we left my place at about 7 and picked up a friend on the way and headed towards punggol. that was where we were going to take off from. its not one of those big boats like you see here. its more like a single cabin boat with space for 6 fishos and 1 boatman.

got on the boat at about 830 and headed towards a nearby floating prawn farm to pick up some live prawns. picked up about 1 kg of good-sized prawns, all alive and kicking and chucked them into the live well.

then proceeded to head out to our first spot. we headed for a breakwater and anchored just a little further out where there was a slight drop off. the water was really bad that day and it was just still. i think we got caught in the neap tide. it wasn't too deep where we were fishing, probabaly only around 8m of water. all of use were using the paternoster rig, pinned the prawns in the tail and sent them down.

there were lots of nibbles and most of the prawns came up with bits missing, ie. tail or legs etc. couldn't really get a strike on anything. they were probably just small fish chewing away. I wanted to downsize to a smaller hook but then couldn't be arsed.

another boat came by and anchored couple of meters away. you can see it in one of the pictures below. we stayed on at this spot for another 20 or so minutes. I was about to switch to a lure and see if I could get anything by casting towards the breakwater but the boatman suggested switching spots so we all pulled up and left.

friend of mine finally hooked on and pulled up a small fingermark snapper. it was released to fight another day.

headed to another spot further out in the channel. apparently this was suppose to be a hot spot for grouper (think we call it cod here) but the current was too strong and even with big heavy sinkers, the current just pushed all the lines out and we all got tangled. again hooked up on some slightly bigger fingermark but nothing else was really happening super frustrating. we left this spot not long after.

anchored up and headed to another spot. we were all getting really bored at this stage when suddenly my dad's line just went berserk and starting taking line! it was his first time using an overhead reel so took a while for him to get used to it. the drag was just going out ...zzzzzzz...... and all of a sudden it just went loose. upon pulling up we saw that the braided mainline had given way... such a pity.

in fact this happened to dad most of the day. either it was the hook straightening or the leader breaking.. it just wasn't his day. he hooked onto another fish and just when he saw colour, the line snapped. ah well...

then as things started quietening down, another friend's line just took off. this was fought slowly and carefully and when finally boated, it was a good sized 'ka chi' i think it's a sweetlip although i could be wrong. this went into the ice box.

got tired of sitting down so i climbed to the front of the boat where there wasn't a shady top. it was ridiculously hot out the front but at least I had my own space. changed over to a 6" soft plastic berkley powerbait and tried for a good half hour but nothing took it. finally swapped back to the live bait.

i knew there were fish and i was determined to get one so i was really concentrating whereas the rest were like sitting around chatting. suddnely i felt a 'tap' on my line. so i tightened the line and went .. 1,2,3.. and struck.. all hell broke loose.. the fish just went crazy and started peeling line off. i had to loosen my drag a couple of times as I was only on 8lb main? and i think 20lb? leader, wasn't sure. anyway he just took line like it was nothing and I was just hanging on. finally managed to get some pumping action and saw some colour. the anchor line was just on my right and I was afraid it was going to get caught up. then just as the rest were reeling up their lines, this fish headed to the back. saw a big white flash and snap.... i was like WTF!!!! pulled it in and saw my bloody leader had snapped. i was like FARK!!!!! never knew what it was but possibly a threadie i believe...

anyway i re-rigged with a different brand leader (berkley this time) and stayed at the front in the bloody sun. patience brings rewards and it wasnt long before I got another 'tap'... this was a bigger tap and i struck.. wasn't a zig zag type of fight but more of the heavy cluggy type. finally brought a good sized grouper to the side. went about 2.5 kilos and went straight into the ice box.

this got everyone excited and my friend joined me at the front. however, nothing else happened for the rest of the day. we anchored up and headed to our last spot. we landed a catfish which after careful deliberation, went into the ice box and the after more deliberation, went back into the water. got a couple more small groupers and snappers which all went back in.

finally called it a day and headed back to the jetty. all in all a good day out albeit the sunburn..

headed out another day after that to a local fresh water reservoir where there were peacock bass - its like a family of the chiclids or something. i've never landed one before but i know they fight like hell. they look very pretty and i've got some friends who keep them as pets. they're like mini piranhas in tanks and snap away at anything. bait isn't allowed so we casted lures and flies but gave up after 45 mins. it was just too hot.

anyway, that was the fishing part of my trip back home. everything else had to either do with eating, drinking or shopping etc etc...

thanks for reading but hope it kept you entertained

rgds

Merv

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