A group of kayak anglers on a forum decided to hold a fishing gathering at Sembawang Park on Deepavali. I decided to join so that I can meet other kayak anglers as well as exploring new fishing grounds.
It was a great outing as everyone was pretty helpful in sharing knowledge and helping others who are new to the kayak fishing scene in Sg. The morning was sunny with calm waters to begin with. The group basically set off and ended up with 1 group fishing inshore and another group further offshore. I was fishing inshore most of the time. Seeing some baitfish activity about 20m from shore, I decided to follow the ripples and cast out a live prawn to near edges of the ripples. Held the rod and waited. "Tap...........tap tap............" , the next thing I know my rod was bending slightly and I slowly allowed the fish to take the bait further before firmly lifting my rod up. "Zzzzzzzzzzzzz........" FISH ON! The circle hook worked and I was on to my first fish. The fish didn't make any spectacular runs to open sea but instead made circles around my kayak. I think I must've made my rod go round the kayak 8-10 times! I didn't show itself until near the end when I finally saw what it was. Red Drum aka 'Taiwan Ngor'! It didn't have the distinct black spots on the tail, unusual. Anyway, I was stoked to have hooked my first fish so early in the morning. Slid a hook from the fish clip keeper onto the fish and continued fishing. Later I found Billy, who was the other only person using Airis, who kindly helped me with a picture.
After a few casts near the shore again, no more bites and moved on to a open channel. Drifted and had another rod on the rod holder. Then heard "Zzzzzzzzzzzzz....." again and turned around to grab the rod. Fought this fish and it felt a little different this time. Up it came and it was a slightly under a kg Orange-Spotted Grouper. So happy!
As the current and wind was picking up now, decided to head back near shore where I met up with Billy again. He was drifting near the shore when his rod bent over! I could see that he had hooked on something solid. He was trying his best to get the fish out of the snags a few times. Pumping hard! Finally when his fish came up, it was another Taiwan Ngor.
At around 12pm, the clouds were getting darker and I had to leave soon anyway. As Billy was still going to fish a while longer, he had to take back his fish and stuck them on his small fish clip attached to 30lb leader line. After the transfer, as I was kayaking back to launch site, I felt my kayak was going slightly faster. Turned around to check my fish clip keeper and to my horror, my Taiwan Ngor was missing! The bloody swivel at the clip broke off! $#@$#%^&**!*#! All the curses were uttered and resigned to the fact that I practiced Catch n Release involuntary. Luckily I had a picture to prove it! Anyway, Billy was nearby and I explained to him the situation which he suggested we put all the fish into my bucket at the back of my kayak. He said he's going back as well.
The picture of my broken swivel. So there is a Red Drum swimming out there with a very big piece of 'jewellery' in its mouth.
Although I lost the Red Drum, I still had the Grouper on the stringer in the bucket and that was the consolation prize for me.
Gear used:
Rod - Shimano Eclipse Telescopic 3-4kg
Reel - Shimano Saros 1000F
Line - generic 20lb braid
Bait - live prawn
Rig - Carolina style
Fish ID - Taiwan Ngor aka Red Drum (Sciaenops occelatus)
- Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)
