Kayak fishing with the kids

Since it was the school holiday, I decided to bring my 8-year old & 5-year old daughters kayak fishing. Brought my Hobie and Airis kayak for the excursion. Pasir Ris is the safest waters for beginners as the waters are calm and protected within the blue barrels.

Tied a tow line on the Airis and attached it to my Hobie and off we went with her on the Airis. Headed out to my usual spot and started fishing. I let each one use one of my Shimano telescopic rod with a simple Apollo rig. I used a size 1 circle hook with dead prawn as bait. As she held the rod in her hands, I could see the rod tip beginning to get taps. "Small fish" I said to myself. But as all eager kids do, they are quite happy to cast out the line, wait 1 min, then reel back to check. She did this a few times, and began to feel disheartened after each retrieve. I told her fishing is about patience and leaving the bait in the water increases the chance of the fish to find the bait. The younger one was pretty happy sitting in the kayak and splashing water around while waiting for the fish to bite.

Shortly thereafter, a fish took the bait and the rod bent a little. She was so excited and started to reel the fish in. She managed to reel it in without much trouble and it turned out to be a palm-sized John's Snapper. I unhooked the fish and let her hold it. I then told her that for fish this size, we would release it so that it can grow bigger. She agreed and gently released the fish over the side of the kayak.

Meanwhile, I had a few nibbles on my rod and I quickly passed the rod to my youngest and asked her to reel but unfortunately the hook came off the fish.

I rebaited the hook for my eldest girl and she cast out the line. After 10 mins or so, her fishing rod was nearly snatched out of her hand as a fish took the bait. Fish ON! I told her to hold on to the rod tightly and slowly reel. She tried hard but this fish was giving a good fight. Slowly she managed to bring the fish to the surface and it was a table-sized Kaci (Painted Sweetlips). She was so happy to see the fish. I unhooked the circle hook and let her hold the fish. She asked, "Do we release this size of fish as well?". I said, "It's up to you. We could release the fish or we could bring it home for lunch." She had a think and said she wants to bring it back home to show the family. Settled! Put the fish on the stringer and we continued fishing.

We hooked up a few more undersized fish and was quite happy to release them. She was getting the hang of fishing from the kayak. As it was approaching midday, we decided to head back. She asked to paddle back on her own so I untied the tow line and followed her from behind. She handled the kayak pretty well all the way back.

                                          Going tandem on the i9s

Pan-fried the fish for lunch and she said the fish tastes sooo goood!!

Then she asked,"When are we going kayak fishing again Dad?"

Gear used:
Rod - Shimano Eclipse Telescopic 3-4kg
Reel - Shimano Saros 1000F
Line - generic 20lb braid
Bait - mussels
Rig - Apollo style

Fish ID - Kaci aka Painted Sweetlips (Diagramma pictum)