New gear for local waters fishing

Having seen the rod and reel combo that I had bought for deep sea fishing, I think it would overkill to use that for local waters fishing, not to mention being heavy as well. So I thought I better have another outfit for local water fishing.

I had an eye on the Shimano Talica II series. These were smaller sized overhead reels and also offered the 2-speed gearing system. It fits a bit smaller in my hand but still quite comfortable. The Talica 8 II was the smallest in the series and would be just nice for local water fishing. Ka-ching! Another purchase made.





Now I need a rod with baitcasting version to pair with the reel. As I was browsing FishingKaki classifieds, I saw a post selling a Eupro Salty Fighter custom rod with spiral guides. The selling price was also attractive so I messaged the seller to say I'm interested. So I went to meet him and had a look at the rod. It was a butt-joint rod, PE 0.8-2.0 rod. Condition was pretty good so I bought the rod from the seller.

I also bought a spinning version of Eupro Giant King butt-joint PE0.8-2.0 jigging rod. After watching some jigging videos online, I felt like this could be the next 'style' of fishing that I would try.

For the Talica 8, I went with Fireline Tracer 40lb. I also bought Spiderwire Invisibraid, Spiderwire FluoroBraid and Fireline Crystal for my other smaller reels.

Fishing with kids on Uncle Dave's boat

Since the school holidays were coming up in Dec, I decided to book a boat charter to take my kids out fishing. Having seen Uncle Dave's CR on FishingKaki numerous times, I thought that his boat would be just nice for the 3 of us and his rates were rather reasonable. As I wasn't sure how my kids would handle being in the water, I arranged with Uncle Dave for a half day session.

Turned up at Punggol Marina and proceeded to his boat. Some quick introductions and we were off. We stopped at a channel marker and began fishing for Selar using sabiki. Managed to hook up a few fish and the kids were ecstatic! Put them in the live well and continued fishing. The kids were actually having fun picking up the Selar and 'playing' with them!

After a while, Uncle Dave decided we should go try for some real fishing. Brought us to a spot and anchored up. As I only brought 2 sets of fishing gear, I borrowed one from Uncle Dave. We sent down our live prawn to the bottom. Uncle Dave warned me that this spot is very snaggy and I must be quick on the rod as to prevent the fish from getting into the snags. Short while later, the rod that I borrowed from Uncle Dave started to bend. I quickly pulled it out of the rod holder and yanked it up. Tried to reel it up but the reel wasn't smooth and in the end, the fish snagged me. Tried to yank it but eventually snapped. Dang!

Changed spot and as soon as Uncle Dave anchored up, the live prawns were in the water. Within 5 mins, Uncle Dave was on! Fought the fish briefly, and up came a nice Barramundi. As he was unhooking the fish, my eldest daughter shouted, "Daddy!". I saw the fishing rod was bent and I instructed her to reel it slowly. Soon enough, up came another Barramundi! Wow, this spot is hot! Put both fish into the live well and continued fishing. After another 15mins, my daughter said that her fishing line is stuck. As I held the rod, I pulled it harder. I then felt that there was actually a fish on the line. I passed the rod back to her and told her to reel it in again. YES! Another Barramundi. The kids were so happy!

Just as our session was ending, the heavens opened up. Luckily I had brought raincoats for them. So we headed back to the marina. And to top it off, Uncle Dave gave my daughters each a turn at steering the boat back to the marina!

Thank you Uncle Dave! You really know how to make your customers happy.

New tackle for deep sea fishing

After my embarrassing outing on Ah Jiang's boat, Sport Fishing Explorer the first time, I really needed to get new gear for deep sea fishing.

First up, new overhead reels. The organizer for the last trip, Alvin recommended that I get the Accurate range of reels. I had a feel of his Accurate model and it does seem to fit my hands rather comfortably. He says this reel would be more than sufficient in handling anything from the South China Sea. I did a search online and found that Accurate has launched a new model with 2-speed gearing. The high speed gear would be to reel in more line per crank while the low speed gear would make it easier to crank the fish up. So I went ahead and purchased a brand new Accurate DPX500N.



Next up, rod. As I didn't have much knowledge on rods, I asked Alvin to help me pick out a rod that would pair well with the Accurate reel. We went to see Gina at Changi Pro Tackle to see the range of rods that they carry. After looking through some models, Alvin showed me an Expert Graphite 1-piece rod. It's rated at PE3-6 yet has a sensitive tip. It was also recommended by Gina. So I purchased the rod together with some XL sinkers, ie size 12, 16 & 20!

With the new reels, I had also ordered new braid line from US. I went with a Sufix 832 moss green 50lb for the Accurate.

With my new gear, I really hope that I get to tangle with some biggies soon!