Changi Ah Fong Trip #3 - 100% Conversion rate

This was sort of a last minute boat charter on Ah Fong's boat. Organizer Eric posted up  just last week and since I'm off, I decided to join in. It's been a long time since I fished on Ah Fong's boat, the last 2 times were at least more than 1 year ago. Now fishing on a bigger bumboat!

Set off to buy our live prawns and headed to the fishing grounds. Today the water between Changi and Naval Base was brown, it only changed to light green when we passed the east of Naval Base. So I guess today we would be fishing at south of Naval Base.

Decided to fish using my Shimano Lucanus Orange/White jig with a live prawn. First few spots were very quiet. I somehow managed to foul hook a small puffer fish and nothing else. Low tide was at 12pm and there wasn't much current at where we were fishing. Fishing was unusually quiet by Ah Fong's standards. The fish weren't biting at all till after lunch time. We were drifting at the Eastern Anchorage and I was fishing at the front of the boat with Ah Fong. He had a 2-hook rig with running sinker. Shortly thereafter, he hooked up. It was a big fish, judging by the bend on his fishing rod. Up came a very big Ang Chor (by Changi standards!). I netted the fish and everybody began to fish with earnest! We drifted over the spot a few more times but nothing was biting. Think the current has started to move now.

Shifted to another spot at the Anchorage and again, Ah Fong hooked up. Similar sized Ang Chor was brought up and could see it was partially foul hooked. Seems his 2-hook rig has some 'insurance'! I was still using my Lucanus jig, bouncing on the bottom when I felt a mild tapping. I lowered the rod tip and BANG! Fish ON! The fish was giving me a rather good fight but I just continued cranking without pumping the fishing rod. Up came another Ang Chor about the same size. The fish weighed in at 1.1kg. Woohoo!! I never expected to catch an Ang Chor this size in Changi waters. So glad my Lucanus worked and it seems the Orange/White color is super effective. I remember my big Grouper catch on Ah Heng's boat at Southern Islands was also using the Orange/White color.

Re-baited the Lucanus jig and dropped it over. Within 5mins, I felt some tapping again. Lowered the rod tip but nothing.... Lifted the rod tip and BANG! Immediately the fish darted down and began pulling my drag. I realized my drag setting was not set to STRIKE on my Talica 8II so I quickly pushed it to STRIKE. Even at STRIKE setting, the fish was pulling out line. I could hear Ah Fong shouting "Don't tighten drag too much!" so I released the drag lever a bit. The fish made a few short downward burst and then as I reeled it up, it tried to dash off again. In doing so, it went around a few other angler's fishing lines. Fearing that my line could get cut in the line tangle, I tried hard to reel it up as fast as I could but this fella was really heavy! Finally it surfaced and to my surprise, it was a JUMBO Eng Ko!! I'm shocked!! Ah Fong netted it up and true enough, it was tangled with 3 other lines. Slowly untangled all the lines and unhooked the fish. I'm so happy and I'm dancing a jig in my head!! Hahahahaha..... A couple of pictures and then the fish weighed in at an eye-popping 2.8kg! My personal best Eng Ko!

Around 2:30pm, we headed back into the waters between Changi and Tekong. The waters were still brown/brackish looking and we just drifted towards the jetty. Along the way, my Lucanus got stuck and was unable to shake it free. Unfortunately, I had to pull and snapped the line. Bye bye my Lucanus,.....

Decided to tie a running sinker rig instead for the last few hours. Hooked a prawn on and dropped it over. About 10mins later, I felt the prawn darting around. Really active prawn or it's being chased by something...... Then I felt a sharp tug. I let it munch a bit more than I striked! Fish ON! This fish felt lighter so I slowly reeled it in. Up came a Orange-Spotted Grouper. Not a big fella but when I brought it up on deck, something unusual was in its mouth. Had a closer look..... it was a plastic bag!! Removed the plastic bag and it looks like there's some "stuff" inside the torn plastic bag. I guess this fish was trying to eat whatever that was inside the bag and decided to swallow it! And he was still hungry enough to have a go at my prawn. Unhooked the fella and he weighed in at 800g. Not too shabby!

Other anglers were also beginning to catch fish. Flathead, Gu Hood, Malabar Grouper, Kaci and a few more smaller Ang Chor were landed.

At the end of the trip, the 2 Ang Chor that Ah Fong caught were put in lucky draw to see who gets to bring them home. I opted out since I had my 3 fish already.

It was a good day fishing for me. Although it started out real slow, but I guess I was pretty lucky to hook up all my fish.

3 bites, 3 hookups, 3 fish landed! That's 100% conversion rate!

I've never been this lucky before.............


Gear used:
Rod - Eupro Salty Fighter PE0.8-2.0
Reel - Shimano Talica 8II
Line - Sufix 832 40lb braid
Jig - Shimano Lucanus jig Orange/White
Rig - running sinker 40lb mono with live prawn

Fish ID - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)
              - Eng Ko aka Blackspot Tuskfish (Choerodon schoenleinii)
              - Ang Chor aka John's Snapper (Lutjanus johnii)

Rompin #2 - Day 2 - Red and Black

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Rompin day 2 started early with us leaving the jetty at 730am. Our order of 50pcs of live prawn was also on time and put in the live well. First stop was to catch some baitfish at an unjam. Dropped our sabiki rigs but only a few Tamban came up. Next unjam also wasn't that productive. So we decided to head off to the bottom fishing grounds anyway to try with live prawns and micro jigs.

The journey to the spot took almost 1hr and when we finally reached, we could see it was quite a big, shallow coral grounds. There were lots of floating markers around and the boatman said they were bottom fish cages. So I guess there should be a lot of fish here.

Down went our rigs and the first fish that came up was RED! Everyone was excited that it could be a Red Grouper/Coral Trout but it wasn't. There were some red stripes on it and black markings on the dorsal fins. I'm guessing this fish is still a juvenile. A few of these fish were landed, nothing big. All around the 500-700g range, caught on live prawn. There was also a Parrotfish lookalike that made an appearance.

Some guys were jigging as well and caught a few fish with red body and blue spots. After some research, it seems to resemble the Coral Hind (Cephalopholis miniata). They do look pretty awesome, especially the blue dots on the red background!

This coral area was so snaggy that we lost quite a lot of rigs/micro jigs and lures. The boat was drifting pretty fast as well and we just had to be careful not to let the rigs go out too far. My effort at micro-jigging also yielded another of the unidentified fish.

We spent quite some time on the coral area and manage to catch enough for each angler to bring home a few. After lunch, we headed off to an unjam, hoping to target some Tenggiri. At the unjam, we tried to catch some baitfish again and this time there was more and bigger in size. Hooked a few live ones and spread the rods out the back of the boat. Ron was still holding his fishing rod when a fish took the bait. Fish ON! Immediately the fish went airborne and I could see that it was a Dorado! The fish was subdued easily and landed. Not a very big fish but a welcomed addition to the catch.

In the midst of the hookup, a Sailfish actually jumped out near the boat and everyone thought it was hooked up. But all the rods were quiet. We stayed around for a little while before moving off.

Boatman spotted some birds dive-bombing some baitfish and we headed there. At the edge, we began casting lures out and Ron again hooked up. This fish was giving him a good fight and the rest of us began casting at the front of the boat as well. After about 10mins, the fish was brought boat-side and it was a nice Giant Trevally! After a few photographs, the GT was released. We tried to see where the birds were but the baitfish school had dispersed.

Our last stop was to catch squid. We tied our prawn jigs with a light sinker and sent them down. We drifted over the spot and began catching some nice Green-eyed Squid. Some big, some small. Some of the guys were not careful and got inked big time! Full-frontal squirt of black ink! We made about 6-7 drifts over the squid grounds and managed to hook up 17 pieces. I only managed to hook up 2 pieces and then lost the prawn jig due to a snag.

The wind was beginning to blow and we could see a big storm near land. So we decided to call it a day and pack up and head back to the jetty. Stored all the gear and got ready for the bumpy ride back. And then the heavens opened! Rain pelted down and the waves were getting bigger. Boatman slowed down a bit as we made our way back.

Passed through the storm cells and when we finally reached the jetty, it was only a light drizzle. Our driver was already waiting for us and we still had to pack our stuff in the rooms and divide the fish equally. So the fish and squid were divided equally and placed in a styrofoam box for transport back to Singapore.

We made a stop at Mersing for dinner at the usual Mersing Seafood Restaurant for its signature dish, the Squid stuffed with Salted Egg. We scoffed down dinner as we were all super hungry and then had a nice snooze on the way back to Singapore. Got stuck in a jam (as expected) at JB Customs side all the way to Woodlands. Took us 1hr just to clear immigration and customs at Causeway. Then we were individually dropped off at our homes, with me being the last drop-off as the driver had another pickup in Tampines that early morning.

All in all, it was great to return to Rompin to fish. Although I didn't managed to catch any big fish, was still quite a nice 'holiday' for me and meeting new fishing kakis as well.

I guess that's fishing, some good days and some poor days....

Rompin #2 - Day 1 - Sails and Macks

I managed to join a group of kakis who had a slot available for Rompin. As it so happens, one of them was a kaki that I fished with way back in 2012 at Rompin as well for sailfish on kayaks. So, I was pretty comfortable in knowing that its going to be an easy-going group of kakis.

We met up at E-Waves at Clementi for the transport pickup and went across to JB. Lunch at a Bak Kut Teh place and then to a tackle shop (where else!). The guys bought some stuff while I just browsed around. After the retail therapy, off we went to Mersing first. Reached Mersing and stopped at the supermarket to load up on drinks/water and tidbits. When we finally reached Rompin, it was already 9pm. Checked into our accomodations next to the jetty. I must say the rooms were pretty clean and basic. Air-conditioned and hot water. Spent the rest of the night rigging for the next days fishing.

Woke up and got ready for launch at 8am. Boatman Ah Ren was already there so we set off earlier. First spot was to catch baitfish to catch Sailfish today. Hit a few unjams and caught some Tamban fish to use as bait. There wasn't as many baitfish as the last time I fished in Rompin. We actually spent quite some time to catch enough baitfish to last us the whole day. Gone were the days where each drop of the sabiki would probably yield like 4-5 baitfish per drop. When we had enough baitfish, we went to the Sailfish spot which was close to another unjam. Rigged up the live tamban and let it float out. While waiting, I continued to fish for any baitfish hanging around the unjam. Fishing was pretty quiet till just before lunch when Lawrence managed to hook up a small Tenggiri aka Spanish Mackerel on a jig. Nice size for dinner!

Having moved a few spots, we arrived at another spot after lunch. Out went the live baits and we waited. It was pretty quiet when Philip's reel went off! Then, the reel next to it also went off! Double hook-up! Finally, fish ON! As I was closest to the other rod, the boatman handed me the rod and I just held on as the fish was pulling out line. Out jumped a nice Sailfish and Philip was slowly fighting his fish. Mine was also a Sailfish as it jumped further away. It then sped off on a quick burst of speed and then I felt the line went limp..............not again. Reeled back to see that the circle hook was still attached. Wasn't a solid hook-up after all. Philip was still connected and after about 10mins, the fish just stayed below the surface. When the fish was reeled closer to the boat, we found that the hook had somehow got caught on the tail of the Sailfish and was being pulled backwards. Fearing the Sailfish might be distressed from being pulled backwards, we quickly lifted the fish out of the water for a few quick snaps before returning it into the water to be revived. After swimming it next to the boat for another 5-7mins, it was strong enough to kick itself free and swam away.

This is the 2nd time this month that I've lost a big fish due to poor hook-ups. I think I have more experience losing fish than hooking them. Sigh......................

The live baits went out again. This time I tried bridling my baitfish. I had bought a bridling needle and tried a method I saw in a fishing magazine. Slipped a small rubber band (from my daughter's loom bands) to the end of the needle and pierced the needle through the dorsal part of the fish. Formed 2 loops on the rubber band and slipped the circle hook through it. A couple of twist and then back under the twist and all done! It held up pretty well with the whole hook exposed. Tossed the bait out the back of the boat and it was still swimming pretty strongly. I then went to the front to do some jigging. A few minutes later, I heard a shout that my rod was ON! I ducked under and saw the boatman holding the rod with a fish on definitely! As I was making my way back, the rod snapped back and the fish was gone...... Reeled in and saw that my 50lb FC leader was cut with some frays. Boatman said it was the work of a Tenggiri. Looks like my rubber band bridling did work to entice the fish to bite. Everybody else began to add a wire trace to their leaders and sent out the live baits.

A few minutes later, another reel started screaming! This time it was James' turn. As usual, the first run was powerful with subsequent ones less so. Shortly thereafter, the fish was brought boat-side. A quick gaff shot and the Tenggiri was on board.

We moved to another few spots but no other catches. So we ended the day with 2 Tenggiri, 1 Barracuda, 1 Sailfish caught and released and 1 Sailfish lost.

Over dinner, we discussed with the boatman on the next days' plans. It was decided that we would leave early and head off to do some bottom fishing and then after lunch, head back to the unjams to try for Tenggiri and end the day catching some squids.

Sounds good!

Sport Fishing Explorer Trip #7 - Extended trip

Joined Shawn on an extended 4D3N trip on Sport Fishing Explorer. The other anglers were all his kakis and were all very easy-going. As it was a single group, the catch would all be shared equally at the end of the trip.

As I just returned from a flight, I slept in the bunk all the way till the first spot for fishing which was about 6hrs out.

We started fishing and it was a full moon today. I could see a few squids that were coming up to near to the boat because of the lights. So I quickly grabbed my newly-bought Yamashita squid jig and tied it onto my trustworthy Shimano Eclipse Telescopic rod with Shimano Saros 1000 reel. Flicked the squid jig out and as soon as the jig landed near the squid, I could see the squid turn and headed straight for the jig! The squid grabbed the jig and I just gave a little jerk to set the hooks. Slowly reeled back and made sure it squirted all its ink before bringing it onto the boat. They were small Arrow Squids. Nice size for use as bait. Managed to hook a few more squid when they surfaced. I can't believe how effective the Yamashita jig is. Another angler was also using a squid jig but bigger size and green in color but he couldn't get the squids interested in his jig. Mine was pink and pulling in all the squids!

The first few fishing spots weren't yielding much fish so the captain moved a few times. Even when they tried catching squids using the net, there weren't much around. So he decided to head for another spot to catch bigger deep-water squids. Took a quick nap during the journey and when we reached, we were told to rig the squid jigs for deep water. So I took out my Shimano squid jig and tied it Carolina-style with a sinker. Dropped the rig over and began short lifts of the rod. Soon enough, I felt a few small taps and I set the hooks. Slowly reeled it up and the squids were huge! Some were about 1foot! We had a ball catching those big squids.

Then someone shouted that there's a big squid on the surface. I quickly grabbed my Yamashita jig and tossed it near the squid. It was BIG! Straight away it went for the jig and I let it grab the jig long enough so that I can set the hooks firmly. Once I had it hooked, I slowly brought it up. It was a Green-eyed Squid aka Che Bak. This fella was the biggest I've ever seen! Placed the fella into the live tank together with the other XL Arrow squid. After catching enough squid to use as bait for the night, we headed off to the next fishing spot.

Large Che Bak

When we arrived, we started fishing and began catching Bludger Trevally. Most of them were about 1kg and under. And it seems at this spot, all the fishes caught were Trevallies. So the captain moved to another spot. And we hit the Ang Chor aka John's Snapper spot. A few anglers brought up some decent 4-6kg versions and a few 2-4kg versions. I didn't manage to hook up any.


Woke up in the morning and some of the anglers were bringing up some nice Kaci aka Painted Sweetlips, Ang Kuey aka Crimson Snappers and other bottom fish. I caught some small Kaci to add to the haul and then we moved to another spot. This was an Ebek spot and we switched to using live prawns. One angler was hooked up pretty quickly and brought up a very good sized Ebek, about 7kg. I decided to try using my Shimano Coltsniper jig on my jigging outfit. Tied a pink/blue jig and began jigging. After a few casts, I felt a strong weight and my line began to peel out! Woo hoo!!! Fish ON! My drag was screaming as the fish took off and for some reason which I regret now, I went to tighten the drag just a bit. The fish paused for a while and I began to pump and reel. The fish took off again and then my drag stopped........my heart sank........tried to feel if the fish is still on the line......nothing.
Let out a big scream and all the anglers around also felt disappointed! Reeled back and the jig was still attached. Seems that I might have pulled the hook out of the soft mouth of the Ebek. What a letdown! Lesson learnt: whenever a fish is running, let it run on the pre-set drag. Unless you're running out of line, it's better to let the fish run and tire itself out. And then slow pump and reel. Looks like I'm still not experienced enough when handling big fish. Too kan-chiong!! At that spot, we managed to bring up a total of 4 Ebek and a few Queenfish. The captain also put out a live bait and he managed to hook up a Dorado. The fish gave quite an acrobatic display before being brought to the boat. The captain said he wanted the fish alive so he got the deckies to setup a bigger live well at the front of the boat and managed to transfer the fish into the live well alive. Another angler caught a Dorado also but unfortunately, it had swallowed the hook and was unable to be kept alive.

Afternoon and evening catches were pretty slow, with some spots only yielding huge Marine Catfish. Barracuda were also making light work of our setups as their sharp teeth just sliced our lines clean off! However, we managed to land some Barracuda, big and small.

Managed to take some pictures of the Che Bak in the daytime. Beautiful creature and colors.

Jumbo Arrow squid

Took a nap for a few hours in the night and when I woke up, there was some commotion on the deck. I had a look and it seems an angler had hooked up on something big and heavy. Speculation was it was either a big stingray or the elusive Shovelnose ray. About 20mins later, the fish surfaced and it was the Shovelnose ray. Deckies managed to bring the flapping ray on board and was quickly dispatched. This fella was huge, measuring about 6ft and estimated to weigh 25-35kg.

Shawn also hooked up a pretty rare fish in the form of a Jewfish. Pretty decent size too. Both the Jewfish and Shovelnose ray was going to be on the menu tomorrow!

Decided to sleep and wake up before sunrise to fish. As we pulled up at a spot just as the sun rose, I dropped my light overhead setup baited with squid over. As soon as it touched the seabed, a fish grabbed and ran! Fish ON! Reeled up and it was a Grouper. Looks like a Yellowspotted Rock-cod (Epinephelus areolatus). Shawn who was next to me was also hooked up and he brought up a Ang Kuey aka Crimson Snapper. Both of us re-baited and dropped it over. Again, as soon as the sinker hit the seabed, we were both hooked up. I brought mine up and it was the same type of fish, weighing about 1kg and he got another Ang Kuey. We shouted to the other anglers to quickly drop their baits over. 3rd drop and this time, my rod bent down quite a bit! I set the hook and began reeling up. This fish felt heavy and no wonder, I got a double hook-up of Grouper! Both were about the same size. Other anglers were now getting in on the action. Kaci, Ang Kuey, Spanish Flags and other various reef fish were landed The bite slowed down a bit after 20mins but I still managed to bring up another good-sized Kaci. Wow, the morning session was really hot! We spent another hour or so at the spot before moving on.

Lunch time!

By afternoon, we were already running out of live prawn and also live squid. So captain said we will go catch some more squid after sunset. So we proceeded to the squid spot and began netting. This was a very good spot because every haul yielded about 10-20 pieces of squid.

Soon we had our bait tanks filled again. So off we went to fish for Ang Chor. Since we had enough squid as bait now, we decided to sashimi some fresh squid. Sean cleaned and cut the Arrow squids and they tasted like heaven! Crunchy and sweet with the light hit of soya & wasabi. Mmmmmm.........

Dropped my bait over at the spot and waited. Could see a lot of small nibbles so didn't pay much attention to it. Then suddenly the rod tip dipped and sprang back! Grabbed the rod but there was nothing at the end of the line. Reeled back to find my hook missing! Damn Barracudas! Lost about 3 hooks in the next hour to the same situation. Decided to re-rig to a heavier Dupont line and size 8 circle hook. Other anglers were still catching a variety of fish. One angler had a fish on and the fish made a few loud splashes to show itself as a big Queenfish. After it was gaffed onto the boat, we only realized how big it actually was! It was easily around the 1.4m mark and FAT!

Just around 3am, my rod began to tap. Then it bent down hard and sprang back again. Aaargh! Missed the hookup again. This is getting frustrating. Re-baited and tried again. An hour passed and I was dozing off already when someone shouted to alert me. I saw my rod bending again and I quickly removed it from the rod holder and began to reel. Finally, I could feel the fish at the end of the line. This fish was heavy too. Finally it surfaced and it was a very big Kaci! Possibly about 3-4kg.

At around 5am, the captain said we were heading home. The fish were all taken out of the coolers and laid out. Catch rate was pretty ok only. Was expecting more as this was an extended trip. All the fish were cleaned and divided equally between all anglers.

Queenfish vs catfish

Shark eggs