Boarded the boat as usual and as I was removing my rod bag and stuff, I somehow got my sunglasses entangled and next thing I know, SNAP!! My sunnies broke! Aaaaarghhh!!!! Trip haven't even start, already broke something. Haiz! Had to ask the deckhands for some tape to do some emergency patchwork. Hopefully, it'll do until the end of the trip.
After talking to Alvin, found out that on this trip, there's going to be only 9 anglers. Yippeee!! This way, I can move around the boat to fish. We set off and got our usual live prawn bait at Changi.
After immigration clearance, we steamed off to the fishing grounds. I took this time to catch up on some sleep to hopefully last through the night.
We reached our first spot at around 9pm and started fishing. Using live prawn and Apollo setup, I managed to snare a spot at the back of the boat. An hour later, I caught my first fish. This fella was giving quite a pull and I easily reeled him up on my Accurate DPX2 reel. It turned out to be a Kaci aka Painted Sweetlips, weighing about 1.5kg. Re-baited and sent it down again. 10mins later, I got another hit. This time, it felt heavier and reeled in another Kaci. 2kg version!
Other anglers were also getting a mixed bag of fish. A few 4-6kg Ang Chor (John's Snapper) and Ang Kuey (Crimson Snapper) was boated and soon the bite slowed down. Boat captain decided to move to another spot and we began fishing again. But the fishing was also slow so the captain decided to spend the next few hours catching squid as bait.
Took the opportunity to catch some sleep while the deckhands were catching the squid. Early next morning, started fishing using some dead squid strips. Again, a mixed bag of fish was boated. I caught 2 Ikan Tanda (Russell's Snapper), 2 Spanish Flag, 3 Kee Fish (Brown-striped Snapper) and Ang Kuey.
Moved a couple of spots, and by afternoon, we were at the Trevally fishing ground. I changed to my spinning gear with running sinker rig. Current wasn't too strong so a single ball sinker was sufficient. 2 anglers at the front of the boat were the first to hookup the Diamond Trevally. These fish really can give your gear a good workout! Then another angler at the back of the boat was hooked up. It's actually advisable to reel up your own line once these fish are hooked because, if the fish runs uncontrollably, it will tangle up all the fishing lines in the water. And you'll then have to spend 10-20mins just to un-tangle the whole mess.
As I was holding my rod and reeling it in to check on the bait, I suddenly felt the line went slack. Damn! The line was cut at the braid. I was thinking it must have been the work of a Todak or Barracuda. So I decided to try jigging with my new Shimano Coltsnipers 55g jigs. After a couple of up and down jigs, the line went slack again! Can't be I'm so unlucky to get snipped off twice in a row! I checked my rod and found out the reason. My rod guide at the tip has cracked and resulted in a sharp edge, thus cutting the braid line easily when I was pumping the rod up and down. Resigned to the loss of the brand new jig, I went back to my bottom fishing gear. Luckily, as another angler was reeling up his line, it got entangled with my cut line and I managed to salvage the line, with the jig still attached!! Yay!
In the evening, we moved to another spot for Ang Chor. Baited up with live squid, I sent the ranggong down. 10mins later, my rod bent down hard. I quickly removed the rod from the rod holder and strike. Fish ON! This fella was quite feisty, taking out a bit of line. I switched to low gear and pumped him up. Up came a 2.5kg Ang Chor! Nice!! Next 2 fish was also Ang Chor and 1 Ang Kuey. The bites were pretty hot at this spot. There was also lots of squid swimming around the boat. Every time I bring my bait up to check, a squid would come and grab it. So we just use the net to scoop the fella out to use as bait as well! Alvin was using his squid jig to very good effect. He caught 5-6pcs using the jig. I tried using a jig with a prawn threaded through it but only managed 3pcs. As I was looking for the squid, I heard a shout that my rod had bent over again! I quickly dropped the squid jig and grabbed my rod. Gave it a strike and began pumping. This fella was heavy as well and quickly switched to low gear. Slowly, the fish surfaced and it was a large Grouper! Woohoo!! After re-baiting, I went back to hunting squid. Unsuccessful but it was fun catching the squid! I will get my telescopic rod rigged up with the squid jig for the next trip.
As the night progressed, the biting slowed down and we moved a few places. With each spot change, the other anglers were heading to sleep. I powered on through the night! At this particular spot, each time I reel back to check on the bait, I find that the hook is missing from the ranggong rig! This happened to me 4 times and another angler 3 times. Later the other angler caught a small Kaci and when we saw the fish, we could see some slash marks on the side of the body. We gathered that the Barracuda is the culprit, attempting to eat the hooked fish and also biting off all our baited rigs! One of the deckhands managed to hook up a Barracuda and I reeled it in.
I also missed a few bites around 3-4am, rod bent but when I tried to set the hook and reel it in, the line went slack. Reeled back and only left half a squid. The fish just missed the hook. Lucky bugger!
Approaching sunrise, I was slowly nodding off when my rod clicker went off! I quickly grabbed the rod and strike. This time, it was a solid hookup. I managed to slowly reel it in and it was a fish that I've not caught before, a 2kg Gu Hood (Grunter). Very nice silver body with distinct yellow tailfin and anal fin.
Re-baited and waited again. As I was holding the rod, I could feel some light bites. I didn't care as much and just waited for a proper take. More smaller bites and I just gave a quick strike. Didn't feel anything so I continued to wait. But the light tapping continued. So I decided to reel back to check but suddenly the line got stuck. I tried to pull in different directions and finally, it came out. I reeled it in and it still felt a bit heavy so I thought maybe it was a piece of coral. As the rig surfaced, trailing behind it was a fish! Just under 1kg, it was a Cloudy Grouper.
Around 8:30am, it was "Lines UP" and the boat headed back to Singapore. As the deckhands were cleaning the fish, I could only get snapshots of the fish being poured out. No nice arrangements.
All in all, this was the most bountiful trip for me. I caught close to 20pcs of fish and mostly table-sized, with the exception of 2-3 larger ones.
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| XL fish by other anglers; Diamond Trevally, Cobia and Queenfish |
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| Alvin's catch |
My total catch for the trip above!
Gear used:
Rod - Expert Graphite JigForce PE3-6
Reel - Accurate DPX500N
Line - Sufix 832 50lb
Bait - live prawn / live squid /
Rig - Apollo style (day), Ranggong style (night)
Fish ID - Cloudy Grouper (Epinephelus erythrurus)
- Ang Kuey aka Crimson Snapper (Lutjanus erythropterus)
- Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)
- Kee fish aka Brown-Striped Snapper (Lutjanus vitta)
- Ikan Tanda aka Russell's Snapper (Lutjanus russellii)
- Tee Boon aka Spanish Flag (Lutjanus carponotatus)
- Kaci aka Painted Sweetlips (Diagramma pictus)
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