Seven Sea Conqueress Trip #2 - Groupers Galore!

Joined another trip on Seven Sea Conqueress in Dec. Hoping that it'll be better than the one I had last year.

Started our journey at 8:30am and got our live prawn baits. We took about 1.5hrs to get to the first fishing spot, which was in front of East Coast Park. Started fishing but there was no bites. Shifted 3-4 spots in the area but still no bites. There was the odd small fish hooked up but nothing else. I had a small bite and when I reeled it in, here's the result:

Seems like a small fish took a bite on the live prawn.

Everybody was getting frustrated with the lack of fish so we had our lunch and we finally moved to another spot at 12:30pm.

This time we were fishing in front of the Tg Rhu area. We were drift fishing amongst the anchored ships when finally someone hooked up a nice Orange-spotted Grouper around 2kg. Then a few others hooked up in succession.

Current was slightly strong but I still could use my trusty Shimano Lucanus Orange 100g jig. This time I put a live prawn on the hooks of the jig. Lowered the jig down and waited. Felt a tug but when I released some line, the fish didn't take the bait properly and the hook failed to set. Re-baited the rig and sent it down again. A few minutes later, the tug was stronger and I just kept reeling. FISH ON! Felt quite a bit of weight on it and slowly reeled the fish to the surface. Another Orange-spotted Grouper around 1.5kg.

The boat was re-positioned for another drift and I was all ready. I had 2 bites on that drift but was unable to get a proper hookup. Disappointed, I tried positioning the prawn higher up on the hooks, hoping to get a better hookup rate. 3rd drift I had another tug and I quickly reeled. Felt some weight initially then the fish was off again! Darn it!

Other anglers were hooking up the fish on Apollo rigs with good success. As the current became stronger towards the afternoon, I too had to change to Apollo rigs to keep the baits right at the bottom. But that was the only action I had after that.

We stopped fishing at 4pm as it was going to take 1.5hrs to get back to the marina.

Quite a fruitful day, even though the fish only started biting towards the afternoon.

Total catch - 33 Groupers.

Took my one and only Grouper back for dinner!

Gear used:
Rod - Eupro Salty Fighter PE0.8-2.0
Reel - Shimano Talica 8 II
Line - Fireline Tracer 40lb
Bait - Shimano Lucanus 100g Orange
Rig - Leader to jig

Fish ID - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)

Changi Ah Fong Trip #4 - Waited for the ONE...

December is usually a quiet month for fishing due to the monsoon rains and unpredictable weather. A trip was available on Ah Fong's boat and I boarded the boat as usual. It has been cloudy the last few days and today was no exception. Got our usual live prawn bait from the kelong and made our way to our first fishing spot.

Ah Fong said there are some Selars around and we stopped to use sabiki for them. I tied on my 1 and only sabiki rig and tossed it near the channel buoys. A few jigs but nothing. Then as I was reeling the rig up, felt the tugs of the Selar. Reeled up and had like 5 of them on the sabiki. Small sized fellas and into the bucket it went. Alan dropped his Apollo rig and was rewarded with a nice Ang Chor on the first drop! Talk about lucky! I then dropped my rig over again and brought up another 4 fishes. I was slow in reeling it up which caused the sabiki rig to get horribly entangled. Not wanting to spend the next 10mins untangling, I cut and tossed the sabiki.

+++ TIPS +++
Once you feel the fish hooked up on sabiki, reel it up. If you leave it in the sea, hoping to catch more fish, the fish that are on the hooks already will tend to swim around and tangle up the whole sabiki rig. Untangling a sabiki jig is a real HEADACHE!!
+++ TIPS +++

The other guys were still catching the Selars so I changed to my usual Apollo rig. Decided to rig a small Selar onto the hook, hoping to tempt a predator lurking around the buoy. Because Ah Fong was manoeuvring the boat close to the buoy, I was careless when I did not notice my line had gone under the boat. I suddenly felt a big tug, thinking I had hooked up but it turned out my line had snagged the propeller under the boat. I had no choice but to snap my line. Got a telling off from Ah Fong!

Eric was still catching Selar when his fishing rod took a heavy bend! As he reeled up, the rod sprang back and his sabiki rig was gone.... Looks like a predator took a liking to the fishes that were hooked on his sabiki rig. After a while more, we left the Selars to find the big fish.

We moved around quite a few spots before Ah Fong decided that we will go into shallow water to fish after lunch. Shallow water means fishing inside the reclaimed areas near Tekong. I switched my rig into a running sinker rig as the waters in there were only 4-5m deep. A few anglers began catching some juvenile Ang Chor, which was a good sign that the fish were biting. Then a few table-sized fish were being caught. Then finally, I felt a light nibble and I free-spooled my reel. I let the fish take out some line before engaging the drag and strike. Turned out to be small juvenile Ang Chor. Feisty fella.

Re-baited and continued fishing. Changed to the next nearby spot. At this spot, a few other varieties of fish were caught, ie Parrotfish and a Orange-Spotted Grouper. Then it was quiet for a while. When Ah Fong signalled to reel in to change to another spot, I suddenly had a vicious take on my live prawn! Fish ON! I shouted that I had hooked up and began fighting the fish. This fish was taking out some line on my reel and I could feel its quite big. Played with it for a short while until it was tired. As Eric was about to net the fish, it sped off again taking some more line. Slowly worked it back towards the boat and successfully netted the fella! Woo hoo....a 1kg Ang Chor!

After some pictures, I iki jime the fish in the fish cooler box as Ah Fong doesn't want the deck to be dirty. Successfully inserted the wire to "close" the fish too. Looks like I'm getting the hang of it.

We continued to fish around the shallow waters with a few other fish being caught. But after 4pm, the bite shut down and the dark clouds were forming. We decided to head back to the jetty early.

Total catch for the day - not spectacular but still enjoyable.

Even though I caught only ONE fish, it did help cure the fishing itch for the time being..........


PS - One of the fishes caught in our local waters - Toadfish

Gear used:
Rod -  Eupro Salty Fighter PE0.8-2.0
Reel - Shimano Talica 8 II
Line - Fireline Tracer 40lb
Bait - Live prawn,
Rig - Running sinker

Fish ID  - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)
              - Ang Chor aka John's Snapper (Lutjanus johnii)

New lines for the new season

The monsoon season is almost upon us and usually around this time, it's not advisable to go deep sea fishing as the waves/winds can make the seas very rough. So I'm taking this opportunity to put in new lines for my heavy gears.

To de-spool a reel, I would just attach a metal rod to a drill. Scrunch up a piece of paper onto the metal rod and tie one end of the unwanted line around the paper. Then turn on the drill and spin away! Guide the unwanted line as it spins on the paper until you reach the end. Then just slip out the paper and line off the metal rod and trash it. Done!

First up is my Accurate DPX500N. Been using Sufix 832 50lb (Green) braid line since I bought the reel in 2013. I had "reversed" the line last year so I thought it's about time for a change. Since the Sufix 832 has not failed me, I decided to stick with it but changed the color to white. Filled up using a 300yd (275m) spool.

Next up is my Shimano Talica 8 II. Again, I stuck with the Fireline Tracer 40lb braid since I had no problem with it so far.  Full 300yd (275m) spool.

Since I had my DIY spooler out, I decided to change the line on my Shimano Saros 1000F reel which had Fireline Fluorobraid. Going lighter so spooled it up with a Sufix Fuse 8lb (blue smoke) for use at ponds or kayaking. As its a small reel, I spooled in only 90m, which is more than sufficient for pond or kayak.

All done!

+++ TIPS +++
How often you change your fishing line will depend on how often you fish. You can 'prolong' the use of your fishing braid by simply "reversing" the line. Normal braid lines come with 125yards or 300yards. I normally use the 300yards spool for my heavy tackle reels. So the first 100yd of braid line is used most often, leaving the remainder 200yd barely used. So what I do is I "reverse" the line so that the unused portion now becomes the front and the used portion goes to the bottom. I do this after 1 year. This gives me a lifespan of about 2 years worth of fishing from one 300yd spool of braid.
+++ TIPS +++