Unexpected catch - Hello Mr Barramundi, long time no see!

Decided to go for a short session at Changi Boardwalk. Wasn't trying to catch any fish, only practising my casting using a baitcaster.

Armed with my Shimano Curado baitcaster and a pack of Squidgy Slick Rig, I began casting around the boardwalk.

The wind was pretty strong but the soft plastic had enough weight on it for some nice casts. Worked my way along the boardwalk, casting in and around the bottom structures.

Tide was on the way down and the wind got stronger.

On one of the casts as I was retrieving the soft plastic back, I felt a thump. I thought I had hit a snag then I felt the soft plastic "moving away". Quickly set the hook and it was FISH ON!

The fish jumped, showing itself as a Barramundi. Not big but he was giving a few nice leaps out of the water. I was so afraid of it throwing the hook. Managed to control the fish and landed it.

Woo hoo!!

Unexpected catch on a soft plastic! Ecstatic!!!

+++TIPS+++
When using lures/soft plastics, it's essential to try to aim your cast right at the edge of structures, be it rock bars, submerged boulders, boardwalk pylons, mangrove roots, fallen trees...etc.

It's risky and expect to lose a few lures from casting so close to snags. But the gamble is worth it as fish will surely hold very close to a structure for protection and also predation.

Try different types of retrieve - slow retrieve, short hops, side twitches....etc
+++TIPS+++

Gear used
Rod - Berkley Nomadic Travel Trigger PE0.8-1.2
Reel - Shimano Curado 201HG
Line - generic 20lb braid
Bait - Squidgy Slick Rig iFish Series (Red/White)
Rig - 15lb FC leader to soft plastic using a Kreh loop

Fish ID - Barramundi aka Kim Bak Lor aka Siakap (Lates calcarifer)

Kuching Ocean Shadow Trip #1 - New fishing destination

Signed up for my first trip to Kuching after missing out last Sept.

Around this time is supposed to be the opening season for fishing in Kuching. Target fish were big Ang Kuey and Tenggiri.

Surprised to see that the jetty below is where we are going to board the boat Ocean Shadow. River was swollen due to heavy rains the last few days.

Cloudy skies as we set off on our trip. 

Reached fishing spot after 6hrs and it was night already. Boat anchored up and we began fishing for Tenggiri using wire traces with a ranggong rig. Bait was frozen sardines. Decided to try out my 3-ganged hooks without wire trace. Wind and waves were very strong and made the boat rocky. Cannot tahan..... went below deck to sleep.

Awoken by commotion of fish caught. A kaki managed to hook this big Ang Chor.

Was a pretty quiet night with only a few fish caught, a lot of Ah Sengs though!

Morning came and we set off to our bottom fishing grounds. Daytime is targeting Ang Kuey so change to my heavy setup and using Apollo rigs. Tried out my 6/0 circle hooks on the rigs. Bait was frozen squids. We did catch some live squid at night and used some cut fresh squid too.

The boat will circle the spot to find the mark and then do a drift over the mark. Each drift would only last 1 drop. If you're hooked up, then great. If not, then wait till the next drift.

First up was table-sized Ang Kuey. Some kakis were lucky to get double hookups!

Groupers were also feeling hungry. Can see here how the circle hook is nicely pinned at the corner of the fish's mouth.

Orange-Spotted Groupers here have a slightly different markings from the Groupers back in Sg. Same species but different habitat? Or different species altogether?

Travelling to different spots throughout the day. Most of the fish caught were Ang Kuey, Groupers and a few XL Kaci.

2nd night anchored up again to target Tenggiri. Was told that the water wasn't conducive for Tenggiris as it was too 'dirty' due to the rains recently.

But still we tried. Throughout the night, we only managed to catch 3 smallish Tenggiris. My baits went unmolested yet again.......

Called it a night after midnight.

Around 5am, was awaken by shouts that fish were biting. A kaki had hooked and boated a nice Stingray and a few other fish. Then just before sunrise, everyone began hooking up! This fish was giving us a tough fight. The first fish was gaffed and it turned out to be a Bludger Trevally.

Soon my rod began to buckle over. Quickly grabbed it and strike. The fish was on and I began reeling in. It was taking some line out when suddenly it came off! Damn it! Reeled back to check my hook and everything seem to be ok.

Re-baited with squid this time and waited. Tap-tap-tap... I free-spooled for 5secs before engaging the drag and strike. Fish ON! Started reeling in and just to make sure, I did 2 more strikes. Reeling halfway through, the fish was off again! Can't believe it, 3 ganged hooks and still can't get a solid hookup.

Tried again.... this time, the fish took the bait and ran. Engaged drag but line was still going out. Slowed down a bit then suddenly a big jerk and the line snapped! £*$&!"%! What the hell??!

++ +TIPS+++
Always check the terminal gear even after you have lost the fish. It might tell you why you lost the fish. It might also be weakened after the bust-off. Make sure leader, knots and hooks are all still in good condition.
+++TIPS+++

Checked the rig, line snapped at leader. Quickly tied a new ranggong rig but now using 2-hook setup. Baited up and waited. Tap-tap-tap-tap.....STRIKE! Fish ON! Gave it one more strike for insurance. Fought the fish and finally brought it up on board the boat. Nice fish!

Action lasted for almost 1hr and we caught 11 fish in total. We lost quite a few fish too due to their hard-fighting nature and also bad luck.

After breakfast, off we went drifting again. Hit a good spot that had us bringing up quite a number of Ang Kuey and Groupers. I had switched to regular 6/0 hooks now.

After lunch, dark clouds were forming and the wind began to pick up. Shortly thereafter, it began to rain. And it just got heavier! The heavy rain lasted for almost 30mins and continued to drizzle for the next 2hrs. 

Nice set of chompers!

Woke up from afternoon nap and the sun was shining again. Continued fishing and some solid fish were hooked up.

As the sun was setting, we headed off to our final anchoring spot for the night.

Tenggiri setups came out again but we were catching only Ah Sengs! Big ones at that! No other fish were biting. Then around 1am, the boat captain informed us that we will be heading back to the jetty.

Took 6hrs to get back to the jetty and that's the end of our trip.

Fish was brought to the freezing facility for sorting and dividing.

 Clearer picture of the Bludger Trevally

Stingray

 Big Squid or small Tenggiri?

Total haul from 11 anglers

This trip is definitely an eye-opener for me. Although we didn't catch the Tenggiri that we wanted but it was still a good fishing trip. Looking forward to the next one in May!


Gear used:
Rod - Expert Graphite JigForce PE3-6//Blackmarket Slow Jig PE3-5
Reel - Accurate DPX500N//Shimano Talica 8 II
Line - Sufix 832 50lb
Bait - Fresh & frozen squid, frozen sardines
Rig - Apollo style (day), Ranggong style (night)


Fish ID  - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)
               - Ang Kuey aka Crimson Snapper (Lutjanus erythropterus)
               - Jemuduk aka Bludger Trevally (Carangoides gymnostethus)
               - Areolate Grouper (Epinephelus areolatus)

Southern Island fishing with Uncle Lim #4 - The BIG ONE!

Finally got a spot on Uncle Lim's boat after seeing so many CR on the monster Groupers.

5 kakis this time and we set off early, just as the sun had risen.

Was told to prepare heavy tackle for this trip as we are targeting whopper Orange-Spotted Groupers. Brought my Accurate and PE3-6 rod, 8/0 hooks and 80lb leader. I had set the drag on the reel to a point where with all my strength, I could only pull out a bit of the line.

Tried out my air cushion and it works like a charm! My butt is going to have a comfortable day today!

Reached our spot and hooked the live bait on with a ranggong rig. Dropped the rig over and waited. Was bumping the seabed occasionally when suddenly the line went tight. Damn, stuck onto the seabed. Pulled hard and my 60lb main line leader gave way. So lost the whole ranggong rig plus the bait. Haiz...

Rigged up another setup and sent the live bait over again. Shawn, who was beside me at the front said he was feeling the fish nibbling. He waited and then strike. But he didn't managed to get a hookup and lost the bait. Then one kaki at the back of the boat hooked up. It was a biggie as the rod had serious bend! When the fish surfaced and boated, boy was it big! Estimated around 9kg. That got everybody excited!

I continued bumping the bottom but somehow got snagged again. Darn it! Pulled and lost the whole rig again! As I was re-rigging, Shawn had another hit but failed to get a hookset again. He was cursing his luck.

Onto my 3rd rig and started fishing again. The guys at the back managed to hookup a few more Grouper around the 1-2kg range. I don't know what's wrong with me today but I got snagged yet again! @*#&*$*@#*!. Ran out of ranggong and my size 10 sinkers. Had to borrow one of Shawn's ranggong and resorted to using 2x size 6 sinkers. This is crazy! I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I let the sinker touch bottom and immediately do 3 cranks of the reel. That should be sufficient to let the bait swim just right off the bottom.

Wasted 3 precious live bait already. Dropped the 4th one over and this time, cranked 4 times. By this time, the 3 kakis at the back had already hooked up another 2-3 Groupers, including 1 Coral trout which somehow threw the hook right at the surface.

It was already 11:30am and I still hadn't got 1 bite. Shawn had already 5 bites but missed the hookset on all of it. Then as I was sitting down feeling dejected, my rod bent over almost ripping it out of my hand. Uncle shouted, "Strike! Strike!" which I promptly did and held on. This fish was taking out line still even after I had set the drag pretty tight. Tried reeling but the fish was just powering on. Then the worst thing happened. The fish found a hidey hole and I was snagged! Oh man!!

Uncle Lim saw what happened and asked me to release tension on the line and he began manoeuvring the boat to try to coax the fish out. Shawn took over on my rod and shortly after, he said the fish is out! He reeled a few times and passed the rod back to me. I switched to low gear and began cranking. I could feel this fella was heavy and when he surfaced, he was big! Uncle Lim netted and boated the fish. Woo hooo!!!!! That's a real FATTY!!

The fish weighed in at exactly 6kgs. Uncle Lim saw me panting and said, "This one small fish only, wait till you hook up a 10kg plus fish!". Well, for a 6kg fish, it definitely pulled like a freight train! I thought my drag setting was already too tight but the fish proved me otherwise. I'm stoked at catching my biggest Grouper to date!

The leader near the hook was frayed so I snipped the frayed part and re-tied the hook. As there were no more live bait, I hooked 2 live prawn on the hook and sent it down.

30mins later, I felt some taps on the line. I waited till the rod loaded up before striking. Striked twice and began cranking up. This one didn't feel as heavy and wasn't taking any line. Halfway through the fight, the fish was off! Aaarrggghhh!!! Reeled back to check and saw what happened. The hook tip was bent about 70 degrees! The last fish must've bent it and I hadn't realized it as I was only thinking of the frayed leader. That's why the hook couldn't penetrate. Haizz.......

+++TIPS+++
Always check your terminal rig after fighting a big fish. Make sure leader, knots, hooks are all still in good condition. If any part shows some wear, always re-rig with fresh terminal gear.
+++TIPS+++

After lunch, the fish stopped biting and we set off to another spot to catch some Chermin. I switched over to a running sinker rig and used live prawns. The current was rather strong but a kaki at the back of the boat managed to hook up a nice sized Chermin. I was hoping to catch one as well but my offering wasn't touched. The bites slowed right down and we didn't catch anything after that.

Decided to head back to the jetty and called it a day.

 Our CR

Pretty happy with my biggest Grouper to date and what a fight it was!

Gear used:
Rod - Expert Graphite JigForce PE3-6
Reel - Accurate DPX500N
Line - Sufix 832 50lb
Bait - live bait
Rig - Ranggong style 

Fish ID - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)

Sports Fishing Explorer Trip #10 - Monsoon ain't over yet!!

Signed up for a trip on Sports Fishing Explorer in mid-Feb. Mistake? Hell yeah!

Usually by mid Feb onwards, the monsoon would have eased up a bit but not this season. It was still at its peak and howling winds! With trepidation and a full pack of Stugeron sea-sick pills, I boarded the boat as we headed out to our usual fishing grounds.

Reached the first spot about 5hrs later and the boat was a-rocking! Swells were ranging from 1.5-2.5m and it was hard to walk in a straight line on deck. Started fishing but the bites were few and far between. After about an hour, I threw in the towel and headed below deck to sleep. I even missed dinner!

Woke up around 10pm and it was even worse! Tried fishing for about 30mins and then I started feeling queasy. Parked the rod and headed below deck again! I'm not that desperate to catch a fish at the expense of throwing up! Slept the whole night till early next morning.

After breakfast, the seas were slightly calmer and I began fishing using Apollo rigs. Had a few bites and the first decent fish was caught. A small Spanish Flag snapper. After a while, hooked up another fish. Never seen this fish before but was about the same size as the Spanish Flag.

In the afternoon, we headed to an unjam to gather baitfish for tonight's target, Ang Chor. Out came the sabikis and we started hooking up Selar, Kembung and Cencaru. My first drop yielded a Full House of Cencaru. (Full House means a fish on each sabiki hook) Even though the boat was anchored, it was still pushed back and forth by the wind. So only when we were pushed near the unjams, then we would get the hookups. As we were only going to use Selar, Kembung and Tamban as baits, all the Cencaru caught were placed inside our own ice-boxes. We managed to fill up the bait tanks but some selfish anglers were not doing any bait-catching. They were trying to catch other bottom fish for themselves when an angler managed to catch a table-sized Triggerfish. And these anglers would be the ones happily using the baits for tonight's target fish. Sigh.....

After we had enough baitfish, we moved to another spot for Chermin. Only 2-3 were caught. I somehow managed to catch a small Areolate Grouper as I was using a running sinker rig.

After dinner, we headed to the Ang Chor spot. The seas were calmer now and was manageable. Rigged up my ranggong rig with a 4/0 hook and pinned a large live Selar on the back and sent it down. A few anglers managed to hook up some nice 4-5kg Ang Chor. A few hours passed when my rod tip began to twitch and bent straight down. I jumped out of my seat and began reeling. Felt quite a bit of weight on it and continued reeling. Somewhere as the line was coming back, I felt the weight gone! Darn, lost the fish. When I reeled back all the way and checked the rig, the bait was still there but the hook point was buried in the bait. Damn! No wonder I lost the fish, the hook didn't penetrate the fish because I didn't really strike. The hook was also too small for the large bait that I used. The fish must've mouthed the bait and then let go when it felt the line. What a rookie mistake!!

Replaced the hook with a 6/0 hook and chose a slightly smaller Selar. Down went the bait and waited. 30mins later, my rod started to bend slowly. Picked up the rod and waited. Felt the fish pulling and this time I striked. Twice! Just to make sure! Fish ON! Switched to low gear on the reel and began reeling the fish up. Felt heavy but had to take into account that I was using a size 16 sinker. Finally the fish surfaced and it was a 3kg Ang Chor. Woo hoo! First good catch of the trip.

Over the night, other anglers caught a few Cobias and the icing on the cake was a Shovel-nose Ray. Not that big, around 4ft in length. We fished till about 5am when we had to head back to the marina. I headed back to the bunk to sleep all the way home. When I woke up, the fish had already been cleaned and iced. So no pic of the Ang Chor.

Not a great trip as the waves and winds were really horrible on the first night. Oh well, some good days, some bad days.....

Gear used:
Rod - Expert Graphite JigForce PE3-6
Reel - Accurate DPX500N
Line - Sufix 832 50lb
Bait - live prawn, Selar 
Rig - Apollo style (day), Ranggong style (night)

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 +++