Sport Fishing Explorer Trip #1 - Under-gunned

While browsing FK website, saw a post looking for kakis to join a 3D2N trip to South China Sea. The dates suited my off days and I thought maybe it's time I should try some deep sea fishing. My reluctance has always been succumbing to seasickness. I've been seasick many times on large boats and I tell you, its the worst feeling in the world! With the experience of fishing for Sailfish at Rompin, I thought maybe my sea legs are slowly getting stronger. Not wanting to take any chance, I loaded up on seasick medication, Novomin for the trip.

Upon arriving at Marina Country Club pier, met up with the organizer Alvin, who showed me around the boat and sleeping areas. The vessel was called Sport Fishing Explorer and it was purposely built for fishing. Rod holders all around the boat, bait wells under every 2 rod holder, 6 deckhands on rotating shifts, all meals and drinks provided and very comfortable air-conditioned bunks. When we set off, I looked at all the fishing gear that was onboard. Uh oh, I felt a sense of deja vu again from my first charter boat experience with Ah Fong. I think I may have underestimated my own fishing gear again! I brought 3-5kg rated rod, Shimano 4000-sized reel with 20lb line and sinkers up to size 8 only! I am totally under-geared, compared to the various types of overhead reels, heavy rods, sinkers that are carried in their own bags and lures of many shapes and sizes. I told myself, "I'm paying tuition fees for this trip!".

Reaching the first spot, I tried my best with my Apollo rig and sent the live prawn down. Even after using my heaviest sinker, my line was drifting out too far. Not wanting to tangle with other anglers lines, I quickly reeled back. The angler beside me kindly handed me a heavier sinker to use. I was thankful and re-rigged with the heavier sinker. Now my rod tip was bending over due to the heavy sinker! Hilarious! Anyway, the rig managed to reach bottom and I waited. The angler advised me not to leave the sinker at the bottom as we were drifting. The sinker might get sangkut (stuck) to the rocks on the seabed and lose the rig. Lift the rig up a bit so it won't snag. Heeded his advice and shortly thereafter, I had a take. Wow, felt like a big fish! I tried to crank the reel but it was taking forever. Finally, the fish surfaced and it was a Eng Ko (Blackspot Tuskfish). Nice 1kg fish. I found difficulty in reeling the fish in because I had to reel up the weight of the fish plus the sinker weight! My rod was not suitable for this type of fishing.

At night, the boat went to catch Squid. The boat has a squid-catching contraption at the back of the boat. For the first time, I saw how squid-catching is done. Lower net, turn off all lights except one over the net and wait. After 2mins, raise the net and voila! The squids are in the net! The squids were supposed to be used as bait for night fishing for big fish. After 4 tanks were full, we set off to the fishing grounds.

At night, the currents were stronger and there was no way my rod would be able to handle even heavier sinkers. So I watched the other anglers fish and then went to sleep.

Next morning, we went to a spot near an anchored ship. We were told to sabiki for baitfish. This I can do! Managed to bring up quite a bit of Selar, Kembung and Cencaru. The deck was mayhem, with so many rods trying to get in on the action! Some anglers were jigging and managed to hook up some small Tunas and Bonitos.

The rest of the trip, I only managed to catch another Orange-Spotted Grouper from bottom fishing. Other anglers were catching quite a variety of fish. Stingray, Cobia, various types of snappers and a whole lot of other fish!

Although I didn't catch much fish, I'm glad I came on this trip. I didn't get seasick at all and the boat is really comfortable and spacious. I would be returning, better equipped and ready for more action.

Gear used:
Rod - 3-5kg
Reel - Shimano Slade 4000F
Line - generic 20lb braid
Bait - live prawn
Rig - Apollo style

Best day fishing ever!

Joined bro B on a boat charter at RSYC after seeing his post looking for kaki. I've never fished on this boat before and found out it was operated by boatman Alex on the boat Spearo.

Reached at launch time and as it turned out, it was going to be 3 anglers only today. B and his wife and myself. Alex already prepared live prawns in the bait well and off we went to the fishing grounds. His boat was fast and in no time, we started fishing. Bro B was using madai most of the time while I opted to fish with the live prawns.

As advised by a tackle shop owner, I had brought with me heavier sinkers as the current was expected to be strong today. Rigged up my gear with size 10 sinker and sent down a live prawn. No hits on the first spot so we moved to another spot.

This spot was near a breakwater and after a few minutes at the bottom, something took my bait and ran! And it ran hard. My drag was screaming and when it finally stopped, I managed to gain some ground. After about 5 mins, I managed to bring it alongside the boat and was netted by Alex. It turned out to be a big Golden Trevally! Man, was I stoked!

Bro B's wife then hooked onto a fish. This fish was swimming very fast as well and as it got closer to the boat, it gave an acrobatic display and jumped out of the water. We called it for a Barracuda and on the next jump, it hit the side of the boat and the hook came out. Somehow, they were quite happy that the Barracuda 'auto release' as they didn't want to deal with the sharp fangs on that fish.

A couple of minutes later, I was on again. But this time, this fish was staying down hard. I had a hard time pulling it up. After a while, I managed to bring it up and the first colour I saw was green. Yay, it turned out to be a Eng Ko (Blackspot Tuskfish)! This fella was heavy too, about 2kg.

There were no more bites after an hour so Alex decided to change spot. As I was slowly reeling my line in, I suddenly felt like my rod was being snatched away from my hand! And this happened when the end of my line was about another 3 meters away. Straight away, the fish jumped and I could see that it was a large Queenfish! It swam mostly on the surface so I managed to bring it to the boat rather quickly.

We moved to a spot near Cyrene reef. I continued to fish and was rewarded with a table-sized Chermin (Diamond Trevally). Bro B managed to catch a few more Sagais at this spot. After which we called it a day.

Back at the dock, I decided to share my catch with bro B as there was too much fish for me to carry home. We cut up the large Queenfish and divided some of the other fish.

I was so glad that my tackle withstood the 'punishment' the fishes dished out, especially the rod. Seeing that the fish I caught today were rather large fishes, I'm now confident that it can handle any other types of fish that we normally catch in Singapore waters.

This is one of my best days fishing in Singapore!

Gear used:
Rod - Shimano TCurve Tropical PE 1-2
Reel - Shimano Saros 2500F
Line - generic 20lb braid
Bait - live prawn
Rig - Apollo style

Fish ID - Eng Ko aka Blackspot Tuskfish (Choerodon schoenleinii)
            - Queenfish (Scomberoides spp)
            - Chermin aka Diamond Trevally (Alectics indicus)
            - Boon Nang aka Golden Trevally (Gnathanodon speciosus)
            - Sagai aka Bumpnose Trevally (Carangoides Hedlandensis)