Sunrise

Beautiful sunrise photo taken from Jetty outside Carl's Junior.

Reached there this morning at 6am to watch the sunrise and fish. Left at 9am.

(The grunter below must be a fluke? No grunter today!)

A Bigger Javelin Grunter!

The journey started last night.

After sending the family home from Sentosa, i took off alone with all my fishing and camping stuffs for 24 hours (actually less) of personal retreat.

First stop was Mark's. Picked up 200gm of live prawns. I asked for large ones, which he did give. (Mark was really committed to serve his customers. Open till 11pm!) After that I went straight for 6-pipes. The place was dead silent when I reached at about 10pm. I was the only soul there. I quickly set up 2 reels at the river side with live prawns. Hoping to hit seabass!

Then I proceeded to the sea to do my fishing. And coming back now and then to check my lines. I stayed here till about 3am. Caught like 8 catfish! (What for? I subsequently threw them all away) It'll be some time before I return here for night fishing again. No fun catching catfishes.

As for the seabass... no luck.

Then went to East Coast Macs to wash up before retiring in the backseat of my car. Slept till about 8am when my day started again.

With the left over live prawns from Mark's shop and a small size 6 hook (daiwa), I caught this good sized grunter at the mini jetty just outside Carl's Jr at about 12nn (lowest tide @ 1.1m)! Seems like Javelin Grunters feed at low tide. This is my first delicacy-category fish of this size. I am thrilled. I am keeping it alive with an air-pump. Hopefully, I can bring it home alive.

(Oh, now blogging at East Coase Macs.)

Rainy Day

Went fishing yesterday.
Was drizzling and raining throughout. And for no reason, my raincoat was torn! So got to fish in the cold.
Other then catching an exceptionally huge miserable looking yelloweye puffer - which is of course good for nothing, except wasting one of my good hooks - nothing was landed!
This proves a wisdom: never fish when the water is cold, never fish when the water flow is fast (0.5m per hour or more).
Will rest from fishing for a while (I mean a few days lah!)
Thank God I am saved from the thunder (those who went Synod AGM would understand what I meant).

Sharp hooks work!

Went night fishing yesterday (between 8 - 12 midnight; from low - 0.6m - to high tide) at longer jetty near Carl's junior. And tried out the new sharpen hooks I got from Mark's shop.
By 8.10pm, it hooked up a good-sized javelin grunter!
This guy flipped and flapped the whole while I was trying to reel it in. And it stayed alive all the while that I kept it in the submerged basket. What a fighter.
After this, caught a catfish. Then silence all the way till I went home.
So lesson is, some times low tide then got fish.

The fillet works!

Fish loves fish fillets!

Caught 2 whiting yesterday and fillet them (as per suggested by Joshua) and tried fishing on a float.

The bait was promptly taken by todaks!

Eventually, one got gut-hooked and became my possession. The other escaped.

PS. Anyway, the Bedok Jetty is not open yet, according to Mark. Well, wait some more... I bought some new chemically sharpened hooks. And am keen to test them out!

Night Fishing with Results!

Went with Josh for night fishing after yesterday's EDC meeting. I jokingly told him that if I do not catch a fish of at least 500gm, I'm not going home! That got him really worried because he needs my car to go home!
When we arrive at 6 pipe (left hand side extension), 2 friendly Malay comrades were already fishing there. We set up shop and started fishing! In a short time, my 6-ft rod bent dangerously. In a while, I retrieved a sand whiting of a good size.
Then over the next 2 hours, I landed another 4 good sized catfishes!
All these while, Josh and the 2 Malays could only watch in disbelief that the fishes chose only food presented by me. They did not have a single bite.
Satisfied (me, not Josh!), we packed up to go home. On the way back to the road, we met this boy who has been fishing at the canal side (instead of the sea side) with live prawns. He caught a good 2 to 3 kg sea bass!
He taught us how to catch sea bass: (1) Use live prawns; (2) use thick lines; (3) use good sharp hooks that can set; (4) come on days when the low tide is not to low and high tide is not too high; (5) wait like siow.
I was inspired! Josh was incinerated!
I gave Josh 2 bigger catfishes and my newly bought lantern as consolidation...
This is the first night fishing trip for me that yielded something. God thank you!
PS: One more thing, my 6-ft telescopic is finally decommissioned. The tip broke off. Time to buy a new one (:

One more Silver Biddy!

Fished at jetty opposite road-safety park on Monday morning.
The guy there said that since this is the first sunny morning after 2 days of rain, the fishes must be feeding.
He was right. There were quite some actions. First, caught the silver biddy above. Then a flounder which I released since it was too small. Then tried cable-car fishing using tamban. The tamban was being dragged away, but the predator did not hook on.
Left hurriedly at 12nn because wife needs car.
It was a good trip.