A few days prior, the weather was horrible with rain almost every day. The winds were howling so as a precaution, I brought a windbreaker for the trip. After boarding at Marina Country Club, we set off at 7pm. During the journey to the spot, the other anglers were rigging up their rods. 100lb leaders with size 8 hooks?? And the octopus head was the size of my fist! Shit!! Singapore waters got such big fish meh?? I was really sceptical of the need to use such heavy gear/rigs. Even though some of the anglers advised me to 'upsize' my rig, I politely declined and stuck to my 50lb leader and size 4 hook. If I were to be so lucky to hook up a monster and lose it, then I would say it deserved its freedom!
When we reached the spot, all the anglers hooked up their whole octopus and sent the bait down. I quite happily used my own squid bait. After an hour with no bites, the boatman shifted to another spot. Still no bites at the 2nd spot so we moved again. By this time, the wind was really blowing and it was actually getting cold!
Around midnight, the boatman said we will move to a spot to target Snappers instead of Groupers. So can change to smaller baits. Some anglers used live prawn and some used squid bait. About 10mins later, 2 anglers managed a hookup within minutes of each other. The rod bend showed a sizeable fish at the end of the line but alas, both of them brought up Ah Sengs! The fishes were released with some silent cursing and swearing! 15mins later, it was my turn...... The Ah Seng did some mazy runs which entangled a few lines but we somehow managed to untangle and bring up the fish for release. For the next few hours, we continued to hook up Ah Sengs until most of the anglers decided to go to sleep in the bunks. I also gave up around 4am.
When I was awaken by another angler, we were already on our way back to the Marina. Not a very good trip to end the year...........
