Hound Needlefish

Went to Bedok Jetty this morning. It was drizzling so less people... good! So set up shop with 2 rods and 2 hand lines. 4 chances!

Soon 1 unknown fish bit but got away. Then, 2 todak bit when I was away at the toilet. Thank God for Ah Boon who helped me retrieve the lines. One escaped and the other is this one in the photo.

Later, when I was pulling in my hand line to call it a day, another todak bit the tamban on the line. I quickly let it loose so that the tamban can run and swallow the fish. But the todak escaped too.

I thank God that this is an eventful day.

PS: 1 lesson learned today... Always use new hooks. They are sharper and increase your chance of a hook-up.

A catch is a catch

Has some left over live prawns from last night fruitless trip at Kelong Walk, so went to exhaust the ammunition this morning at 7am at mini jetty outside Carl's Jr. The live prawns lured nothing but the dead prawn meat landed this one.
This guy may be small but very strong. Once hooked, it buried itself sturdily under the sea-bed such that it created a "sunkut" feeling for me. But I was not about to be tricked. I left the line alone and once in a while pump it in. Finally, I pulled directly on the line and it gave way. Happy to land my first stingray. Small, yes, but it will be an experience for me to deal with it's bigger cousins next time.
Finished the morning at 9am with a delivious breakfast at Old Town Cafe. :)

Todak caught

This (bigger) 2kg "todak" (or hound needlefish) was NOT landed by me... unfortunately. But by Ah boon. Spent $5 to buy from him to show my sign of a good supportive customer. The other smaller one is caught by me though.

I have another bite by a queenfish. But it escaped because I did not tie my knots properly. From today onwards, I am going to use good lines and tie my knots so dead that even godzilla cannot escape!

Bedok Jetty is CLOSED!!! =(

Went early in the morning (around 6am) to secure a place at the jetty. By around 10am, a group of workers came to announce that the jetty is closed for renovation! (What is there to renovate? If they add a toilet, I'll be grateful!)
So, for the next few months, will have to say goodbye to queenfishes....
Hopefully, other places will not become too crowded as a result.
Anyway, packed up and went to the "jetty" besides Carl's Jr. Caught a palm-sized flounder. Otherwise, very quiet....

How to catch a queenfish

Twin catch, again!

This is the 3rd twin catch this week! (See previous posts for 1st two)
But of course, this time, it is the most precious catch so far - queenfish!

Actually, there was an earlier bite this morning which got away because my hook came loose. After that, I retrieved all my hooks and re-tied them.

The second bite (which is first fish I caught) was nabbed with live prawn on a drift line. Live prawns are like "magic bullets"! :)

The next fish was caught after I changed the rod to the opposite side as the fishes seemed to be coming up from there all the time. True enough, the switch paid off.

PS: Gave left fish to Karyn and right one to Josh...

Catch report: Date - 17/11/08; Time - 1200; Venue - Bedok Jetty; Low - 0740, 1.6; High - 1340, 3.2

Catfish attack!

Actually quite disappointed to catch these "low class" guys. Reason: they are not like the gramourous "up class" deep sea fishes that travel the oceans which we usually see in pictures. Furthermore, though edible, the fact that their meat needs some processing with asam and lemon juice to remove the "ba-wu" (smell) gives me the creeps.
Nonetheless, here are the few consolations: (1) They gave a good fight on the line - helps train my skill, (2) They are big enough to make a meal, (3) I saw them swimming around in a fish tank at a Chinese restaurant - hey, no bad!