Hello everybody. Starting the new year with a blog about my fishing escapades. I've been fishing since young but only recently caught the fishing bug again after reading awesome catch reports in forums like FishingKaki.com. I used to think that fishing in Singapore waters is a waste of time as there is so much shipping traffic around and not very conducive for fishing. How wrong was I!

It took an introductory course in kayak fishing, done with a fellow forumer, M, that convinced me that there are still some large fish around Singapore! I hooked up with M at SAFYC Sembawang one morning and he lent me a Tequila hard shell kayak to go kayak fishing. Having kayaked before, I proceeded to kayak out to a buoy about 30m out just to get comfortable with the kayak. Rounded the buoy and feeling comfortable with the kayak, I returned to shore to load up my fishing gear. My fishing gear consisted of light 2-pc rod and cheap reel that I bought from Changi Village. I was told to rig my terminal tackle as a Carolina rig and we will be using live prawn as bait. So off we went to the fishing spot. Nothing at first so we changed to another spot. M moved off to another spot 10m away and I was about 20m from the shore when I felt a light tap on my line. The next thing I know, the reel was screaming with line peeling out. After that short burst, I managed to reel in the fish and voila, a decent-sized chermin(diamond trevally). I was so happy that with I just plopped the fish on the deck and started to make my way to M to tell him of my catch. I reached his kayak and proceeded to unhook the fish. Feeling stoked after catching my first decent fish, I then turned around to get another live prawn from the bait bucket behind me. Felt my weight shift, and next thing I know, I was staring at the sky and then SPLASH! Into the water I went! Floated up quickly and realized I was still holding on to my fishing rod and bag with my tackle box. M came over to turn over that kayak and stayed beside me. I then tried to haul myself back onto the kayak. Took me a few tries before managing to re-board the kayak. After the initial shock, we took stock of what was 'donated' to the sea. The bait bucket, set of anchor and rope and a bit of my pride! With the bait bucket gone, I had to share M's bait and continued fishing. At the next spot, the current was pretty strong and M decided to anchor up and I tied my kayak to his. After another 30min or so, I had another hookup and it was another chermin! With that, we decided to call it a day and what a day it was!

I was truly convinced that there are still fish in Singapore waters and thus, my fishing hobby was re-ignited.

Gear
Rod - 2 pc Wild Country Adventure Series
Reel - Tica
Line - generic 8lb monofilament
Hook - size 1 J-hook
Bait - live prawn

Lesson learnt: When you want to reach for something behind you in a kayak, always swing your legs out 90 degrees and sit sideways so that you will always be in control of your balance.