Biggest Grouper So Far

Caught this by walking my last prawn. Groupers love to hide in corners to wait for their prey and simply couldn't resist a swimming target! Armed with this knowledge and technique, I'm looking forward to bigger targets...

Biggest snapper so far

This is my third try here at 6-pipe for sea bass after the last defeat - due to inexperience fighting drain wars... Though I did not catch one yet, I have a feeling my sea bass is closing in...
Last round, I caught a hotlips. Today a snapper! What would be next...?! I certainly hope a seabass - of any size will do!
Jeremy cycled by to visit me. Had a good chat and he helped me modelled the snapper. :)

Still waiting for my sea bass...

Spent a few hours today at six-pipe waiting for my ellusive sea bass.

Because of the construction at the sea side, I believe the fishes are spooked. So I went further up towards the highway to fish. This is not the best spot but at least, I reckon the fishes here will bite.

I suspended a line from over the highway and cast another line from the side of the drain.Within minutes of casting the side line, a hotlips shown here bit! But after that, it was quietness all through.Well, i'm consolated with at least this catch.

Mr Sea bass, till the next time. Wo zhong you yi tian deng dao ni.

War Declared with Sea Bass of 6-Pipe

Went fishing at 6-pipe with a bag of live prawns.
Originally intended to cast out into the sea. But because the jetty was crowded, I fished at the long-kang side instead.
The time was 1pm and it was at its highest tide of 3m.
I lowered an apollo rig with size 1 hook and live prawn into the opening of the 3rd drain with my 10ft rod. I used a super heavy weight so that it would not drift into the drain. The water flow is super fast.
Within minutes, the bell rang. Upon retrieving I saw the prawn 3/4 eaten.
I changed in a new live prawn and re-lowered. Within minutes, bell rang again! I retrieved line and found the hook missing!
I retied a new hook and re-lowered the 3rd prawn. Within minutes bell rang again!!! This time, it was hooked on. A big fish! It fought hard. After a short fight it dash right into the covered drain. Must be a sea-bass!
Now the tragedy... because I was ill-prepared to fight a sea bass and was using only thin 30 pound line, it snapped on abrasion with the cement drain edge.

This is my first close combat with a huge sea bass. It is indeed a formidable enemy. Cannot be subdued easily. Not even the 3kg stingray I just caught comes close in terms of its fighting strategy and spirit. Basically, sea bass won resoundingly today!

It simply means I must grow stronger. I'll return with a stiffer rod and way thicker line and better fighting strategy. May the best man / beast win the next round. May God set the stage for the next big match. For now, I must indeed admit defeat.

New spot big hopes

Decided to try a new spot today. Somewhere relaxing - able to read and fish at the same time. So I came to this water breaker outside the prawn fishing place. It has a tree near by where I could take shelter and and still close enough to the rods.

It was high tide (2.8m) at around 9am. I fished with kelong sotongs and dead prawns. At around 11am, my 12 feet rod with a sotong bait rocked violently. I rushed up to retrieve it but there was already nothing on the line. It must be a big fish that got away. I was disappointed and changed to a better hook. But now I also know this is a good spot and sotong is a good bait!

At around 12 plus, my 5 feet rod rang slightly - like a small fish bit. But as I jerked back the line, the weight was tremendous! Then the fight of my life began. This thing on the other end was really strong and though my drag was very high, it still managed to pull some line away. But after a tedious fight, I finally managed to see this stingray and then land it on the rocks. Then carefully I brought it onto the land.

This guy must be aroung 3kg. Biggest for me so far. I know the bigger ones can go beyond 10kg. But I believe this is a good orientation for me!

This is really a good trip. Learned many things. Also observed a man who caught sand worms skilfully. Must try one day.

I'm also very pleased with my 5 ft rod, braided line and daichi hooks. They are truly trustworthy. I feel like switching to daichi hooks for good!

Anyway, looking forward to my next trip to this spot!

Final photo ready!!!

Yeh! Caught a sicklefish today at jetty outside road safety park. I always thought this is "barren land". But today it proved me wrong. Decided to try this place out again because there are simply too many nets set by fishermen around Carl's Jr jetty.

The fishing trip started off not looking well. Besides catching one whiting, I was retrieving empty lines all the way from the time I started at 7plus.

But I kept in mind what a Malay man told me recently - there'll be a 2 hours stretch where no fishes will bite, but after... they'll start biting! So I persevered... up till the last sand worm!

So this one was caught with the last sand worm at 11am (1 hour away from low tide at 1.6m today at 12pm)

Any way, I'm still trying to find "Ah Lim" - the illusive guy who sells sand worm at East Coast park. Can someone tell me how to find him!!! Now that Mark's shop is closed, I need new supplier!!!

OK, with this fish caught, I'm now finally able to print out the last few photos for putting into my photo frame... My office will look so much nicer :)

Grouper the classical way

Remember in my previous post, I shared about seeing a guy catching a grouper in a particular way? Well I tested the method out on Monday (23/11). The only difference is that I used kelong sotong instead of live prawn. And it worked! I caught this small grouper at the same spot where the other guy caught his grouper. It bit when I was pulling the bait up. So now I know groupers attack moving targets! (As well as where they like to be hiding...)

Also had great fellowship with David Moser - fishing and eating pigs trotter together. And not forgetting to pray for each other... :)

Making a come back...

Decided to fish at 6-pipes after all the failed attempts at Carl's Junior. I knew the tide will be high at 10am. So hoping to catch something - since I reckoned fishes are most active near the canal openning at this time.

True enough, caught 2 medium sized blackspot tuskfish (website said the meat is good!) with my small hooks used for catching whitings. They bent the rod alright and the fight was fun. Finally I caught something!

A couple of men came at around 10am with a thin 5-ft rod and a packet of live prawns. One man went to the corner of the 6-pipe canal and hooked on 2 live prawns on 1 hook (size 1/0 I think). By jiggling it, he caught a medium sized grouper! He said he caught sea bass this way too. One day I must try this method here!

Anyway, my finished all my baits and I left at around 11am. 6-pipe: I'll surely be back.

Long-eyed Swimming Crab

Day visit to the kelong

Spent a relaxing day at kelong... :)



(Man feeding groupers)

(Chermins swimming but not mine)

All night long; All day long

(teenage grunter caught at first cast; gave to malay friends)

(a beautiful sicklefish caught by my 12 feet; returned to sea)

(Riana and her beautiful emperor fish - she caught a few other!)


(Ma Qian and her whiting; became bait later...)

The trip started last night with a stop at Mark's to pick up worms and live prawns. Then I proceeded straight to 6-pipe as there are often sightings of sea-bass there (they eat live prawns!)

The campaign started promisingly with a strong tug on my 10-feet 5 minutes into the first cast. A teenage grunter (photo) came up. It definitely gave a good fight. I thought the night was going to be good. But it turned out to be a really quiet night. Not even catfishes - only one came up. Of course I thank God that there are no catfishes. They are a nuisance.

I packed up at about 1230am and went to Macs to freshen up, have a double cheese burger with hot milo, and watch soccer on their big screen. Felt tired and retired in the back seat of the car.

The alarm woke me up at 630am. After freshing up, off I went to Carl's Jr for part two of my campaign.

When I reach there, I discovered that all my live prawns except one died. The pump must have died in the middle of the night.

After fishing a while alone, Joshua and his kids joined in, and then Riana and Maqian! Riana and Maqian were such good fisherwomen that they each caught a few fishes and our little "fish tank" was filled with fishes!

The trip ended with a good KFC meal with the Doulos girls.

Thank God for everything.

1 fried 1 steamed

Steamed silver biddy

fried threadfin bream

12 feet and 10 feet each score 1 !

Interesting fishing experience.

Caught the biddy first with the trusty 10 ft rod. The rod did not shake at all. But as I retrieve the line, a good sized biddy came at the end of the line!

Then caught the bream with the new 12 ft rod. This time, the entire rod fell sideways like something has given it a huge tug! Turned out to be the biggest threadfin bream I've ever caught. :)

12 feet; feel confident!

(small flathead returned to sea)

(12 ft rod from Mark's; Decommissioned after 2 use because joint too tight - then spoilt!)

(Monday) Was not a good day to fish - rapid water flow and cold waters.
But Roland, Joshua and I still met up to fight our fate at Carl's Junior Jetty. We were armed with prawns, worms, and sotong!
I felt extra confident because I was armed with a new 12 feet rod! Bought it from Mark's on Sunday.
True enough, I was the only one who caught something (with the 12 feet rod) - a small flathead. Better than nothing!
Near the end of our fishing trip, Ah Hwa turned up. Happened that all 3 of us knew him separately!
So I made it amply clear to him that we are all from the same church. And I passed him my namecard and suggested he visit us on Sunday. I certainly hope he will!
Ah Hwa, if you are reading this, we love you!

Steamed

Karyn, Peng Peng and I enjoyed this for lunch today. :)

Another huge sicklefish in 2 weeks

Praise God. He has been good to me.

Another huge one landed this morning at Carl's Jr at 8 plus using frozen sea worms as bait (works every time). This one is slightly bigger then the one caught 2 weeks ago.

This guy did not put up much of a fight while I was reeling in, but struggled hard when it came right in front. For a few times, it just took the line and dived. I have to struggle with it for a while.

After lifting it off the waters, I secured it with a fish keeper hook and returned it into the waters to keep it alive. Because it was hooked on the lips, it was still very active and it remained alive all the while in the waters and even after I reached home!

One surprise was that I discovered the Daichi hook was broken at the tip! Thank God it did not escape. This lesson tells me always to keep the lines tight while fighting fishes!

I used kelong sotong too in this trip. But it did not yield anything. Instead it attracted puffers. I still have 3 packs in my fridge! Maybe will bring them along for the kelong trip that I'm likely to take with Thomas (a church member) later this month.

Big enough

Caught 2 silver biddy on Monday morning with sarong.

The bigger one is my biggest record for silver biddy.

This guy though smaller than other fishes, gave a better fight.

Anyway, steamed them on the same day. Definitely delicious.

At least something

Arrived at about 7am. Within a short time, the sky was pitch dark and the wind swept strongly. Thank God all my things are secured.

But I chose to battle on. I put on my trusty raincoat and got myself ready for the rain - which turned out to be only a drizzle.

I fished with left over baits of worms, prawns and a whiting. It is the whiting that yielded result.

This stingray bit my second serving of the fish fillet. But there was no ring. Only when I retrieved my line did I realised there was something heavy at the other end.

At first, it just felt like a piece of really heavy dead weight. So I just kept pumping it back. But as it was really heavy, like it was "scraping the bottom", I started suspecting that it might be a fish.

Finally, I felt some jerking. I started to get excited but stayed calm and kept on pumping back. At times, it felt like it got "sunken". But as I pulled hard, it gave way slowly.

Finally, I saw it! This "small" stingray! I thought it must be something bigger given the drag it produced.

Nonetheless, I'm grateful the trip yielded some excitement and some thing to bring home. :)

Steamed Cao-Xi

Looks ugly but taste alright. Not as good as grunter, but one should give thanks for fresh fish any time.

Way BIGGER Cao Xi :)

Caught a way bigger Cao-Xi this morning! Am I happy. :)

I picked David (Moser) up from his home at 6.30am and off we went to the Carl's Jr jetty - my favorite spot - for good reasons (nice sunrise, quiet and often serves up good fishes)!

We fished with sea worms. I didn't catch anything in the beginning. But David caught 2 whitings for me to use as baits.

But I pressed on with the worms with my 2 longer rods. Finally, the rod shaked slightly at around 9am - it was high tide (I think around 2m). I striked and realised there was something heavy on the other end.

As I retrieved it, it did not fight much but boy was it heavy. I was quite certain it was a sea creature because of its slight jerks. But as the "creature" came nearer to shore, it started to fight. Once, it managed to overcome the drag and swam away. But of course, it finally gave up and as it came closer, we realised it was a beautiful and huge cao-xi (or sicklefish).

As it was gut-hooked, I was more confident about lifting it out of the water by the string.

It was a beauty, we were both impressed and started taking pictures... Thank you GOD!

Now David is convinced that there are big fishes in our waters. :)

We finished the trip at 10am with a good breakfast at Old Town. The sharing was great and we managed to put in some prayers...

Cao Xi

Nice drizzling morning.
Came here to Carl's Jr Jetty at 7am and set out to fish with sea worms from Mark's. They were fat and juicy.
Caught 2 whitings. Fillet one for fishing (no catch) and kept the other for future trips.
By 9am, the bell on my 10ft rod rang. Not very violent but obvious enough.
So I striked and started retrieving. There was definitely something significant on the other end! :) But it did not fight like the other fishes. It gave short spurts.
Finally, I saw it! A beautiful Cao Xi (sicklefish).
1 or 2 weeks ago, I saw another man catching 2 of these at this same jetty - 1/2 hour apart.
So I set up for another bite.
But by 10am, when there was no more action, I went home satisfied.
I've seen this one being landed a few times, but never by me. I always wondered when it'll be my turn. Today happened to be my turn! :)

Staff Retreat - Prawning

Best staff retreat so far. We got the girls to try out prawning. Can see Peng Peng enjoying it. Can catch and can eat - who don't want?

Dead Silence...

Reached Carl's Junior Jetty at around 6:30am.
Happy that it is totally vacated.
Started fishing with my 3 rods. Used worms and prawn meat.
The tide was really strong and the weights kept on drifting to the right.
Anyway, I fished till 11am and there was not a single major catch.
In fact, nearing 11am, even the baits were not taken at all by small fishes. All the baits were intact when retrieved!
Well, fishes have their fasting and holidaying days too.
PS: The dawn scene is just as nice. And weather was great. :)

Delicious

Roland and Malua came over for dinner last night. Steamed the grunter for them. Turned out the Malua is a fish lover. I'm happy to enjoy it with someone who love it!
Btw, the fish was really good.... :)

Marvelous Catch

Couldn't believe I caught 3 good sized fishes in 2 hours!

Left home early at 6am. Had a leisurely ride to Carl's Junior jetty. The ride was especially pleasant as the roads were quiet and cool.

When I reached the jetty, I saw a big group of Malay boys there. They must have fished overnight. As I set up my 2 rods, they were singing to the accompaniment of guitar. Their singing was melancholic and beautiful!

I used the frozen worms I prepared and also prawn meat.

After sunrise, Winston joined in.

Then the fishes started coming.

First was a good sized biddy. It took the worm.

Then a grunter bit too! It took the worm too. The rod, though secured with the reel to the fencing, must have rocked so violently that it tipped over, falling into the water! The Malay boy who was next to the rod quickly grabbed it for me. Thank God for him! Otherwise I would have to say sayonara to one more rod!!!!

Then my kids came and I started packing up. But as I retrieve my line, I found a scat attached to it! It made no noise though the bell was attached.

All in all, scored 3 in 2 hours. My best result in my fishing career.

Thank you God for an exciting morning.

New Equipment - cheap and good

Purchased for myself a 5. 5ft rod (surecatch, $12) and a reconditioned reel (okuma, $10) at this shop which I just discovered at Ubi Road - Winston brought Josh and I there.

Got the new rod because I simply have no confidence that my old 6ft telescopic can handle a major catch!

Got the reel as a spare. It is old but looks fierce. Don't play play.

Next time to get cheap equipment, will go there!

Cool man!

Josh took this picture of me fighting a fish last Monday.
Just by looking at the way my 10ft rod bend, you know how fierce the fish is.
Anyway, you would have guessed (since you did not see the picture of the fish!) that I've lost the fight.
I was simply too impatient and pulled too hard and the line broke. It must either be a stingray or grouper because these 2 have a way of getting itself lodged on the seabed when hooked. I should have simply waited for the fish to move again. Nevertheless, even that would not promise the catch.
Anyway, I used a filletted whiting for this bite. They always work. :)

Mixed Feelings

(Mini-jetty outside Carl's Junior East Coast)

This is a place of mixed feelings.

Most of my prized catches were landed here. For example, I landed 2 grunters here, one bigger than the other. I also caught a large mantis shrimp here. Other than these, I caught small delicacies like sting ray, flounder, sweetlips and whitings here.

This is indeed a great spot to fish.

However, I lost my rod here as well. Some rouge fish dragged my whole rod away! Of course, it is my inexperience and complacency that costed me the rod and the fish.

All in all, I know I will keep coming back here - near to my house, convenient parking, good food nearby, nice view, and most important - good fishes.

Wonder what will be my next catch? :)