Sport Fishing Explorer Trip #2 - Ready for battle

2nd trip on Ah Jiang's boat. After being totally under-geared from my first trip, I've upgraded my gear to suit the fishing conditions at South China Sea. Armed with the correct gear, I still think I've got lots to learn from the seasoned fishing kakis. As advised by another kaki on the last trip, I went to find a new seasick pill. This one is supposedly non-drowsy and I found it in UK. Will see if works this trip...

My first fish only came late the first night. Turned out to be a Russel's Snapper. Good sized fish. What a fish to break my rod and reel's 'virginity'! As we were doing bottom fishing mainly, fishing with large sinkers is new to me. Been using ball sinkers all this while and now have to use size 10-16 sinkers to get the bait to the bottom. Cranking it up also takes quite an effort! Good thing I bought the 2-speed reels!

The next day, I managed to catch a table-sized Grouper, Eng Ko (Blackspot Tuskfish), a few Spanish Flags and Brown-striped Snapper. Most of the fish were table-sized only, nothing spectacular. In any case, I was just happy to be out in the sea, catching fish was a bonus.

Later in the afternoon, I was at the side of the boat with the bait down at the bottom. Suddenly, there was a sharp pull and instantly I striked! Fish ON! This fish seemed stronger with its pulling power and was taking a bit of line. Slowly I pumped it up and I saw a while sheen. Definitely not the bottom-dwelling species. It turned out to be a Diamond Trevally! Woo hoo! Big one too! It's been a long time since I caught a Diamond Trevally.

Early next morning after breakfast, I continued to fish. This time I managed to hook up another Eng Ko. Bigger version than my first one.

My haul for the trip

While catching this fish, I felt the reel moving side to side on the reel seat. On closer inspection, it seems that the reel seat became loose. I asked Alvin whether is this normal and he said no, it should not move at all! He asked me to bring it back to Gina to have a look.

On this trip, the seas were pretty rough out there. Quite a few anglers and non-anglers became really seasick and were bed-ridden for almost the entire trip! I'm so glad I stuck to my regiment of 8 hour seasick pill-popping!

Although my haul for this trip isn't that great, I'm happy to be out fishing and enjoying the mini-holiday! As usual, the other anglers were scoring big on large fishes of all types. Here's me posing with somebody else's Cobia.

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

Fish ID - Eng Ko aka Blackspot Tuskfish (Choerodon schoenleinii)
            - Chermin aka Diamond Trevally (Alectics indicus)
            - 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)

New gear for local waters fishing

Having seen the rod and reel combo that I had bought for deep sea fishing, I think it would overkill to use that for local waters fishing, not to mention being heavy as well. So I thought I better have another outfit for local water fishing.

I had an eye on the Shimano Talica II series. These were smaller sized overhead reels and also offered the 2-speed gearing system. It fits a bit smaller in my hand but still quite comfortable. The Talica 8 II was the smallest in the series and would be just nice for local water fishing. Ka-ching! Another purchase made.





Now I need a rod with baitcasting version to pair with the reel. As I was browsing FishingKaki classifieds, I saw a post selling a Eupro Salty Fighter custom rod with spiral guides. The selling price was also attractive so I messaged the seller to say I'm interested. So I went to meet him and had a look at the rod. It was a butt-joint rod, PE 0.8-2.0 rod. Condition was pretty good so I bought the rod from the seller.

I also bought a spinning version of Eupro Giant King butt-joint PE0.8-2.0 jigging rod. After watching some jigging videos online, I felt like this could be the next 'style' of fishing that I would try.

For the Talica 8, I went with Fireline Tracer 40lb. I also bought Spiderwire Invisibraid, Spiderwire FluoroBraid and Fireline Crystal for my other smaller reels.

Fishing with kids on Uncle Dave's boat

Since the school holidays were coming up in Dec, I decided to book a boat charter to take my kids out fishing. Having seen Uncle Dave's CR on FishingKaki numerous times, I thought that his boat would be just nice for the 3 of us and his rates were rather reasonable. As I wasn't sure how my kids would handle being in the water, I arranged with Uncle Dave for a half day session.

Turned up at Punggol Marina and proceeded to his boat. Some quick introductions and we were off. We stopped at a channel marker and began fishing for Selar using sabiki. Managed to hook up a few fish and the kids were ecstatic! Put them in the live well and continued fishing. The kids were actually having fun picking up the Selar and 'playing' with them!

After a while, Uncle Dave decided we should go try for some real fishing. Brought us to a spot and anchored up. As I only brought 2 sets of fishing gear, I borrowed one from Uncle Dave. We sent down our live prawn to the bottom. Uncle Dave warned me that this spot is very snaggy and I must be quick on the rod as to prevent the fish from getting into the snags. Short while later, the rod that I borrowed from Uncle Dave started to bend. I quickly pulled it out of the rod holder and yanked it up. Tried to reel it up but the reel wasn't smooth and in the end, the fish snagged me. Tried to yank it but eventually snapped. Dang!

Changed spot and as soon as Uncle Dave anchored up, the live prawns were in the water. Within 5 mins, Uncle Dave was on! Fought the fish briefly, and up came a nice Barramundi. As he was unhooking the fish, my eldest daughter shouted, "Daddy!". I saw the fishing rod was bent and I instructed her to reel it slowly. Soon enough, up came another Barramundi! Wow, this spot is hot! Put both fish into the live well and continued fishing. After another 15mins, my daughter said that her fishing line is stuck. As I held the rod, I pulled it harder. I then felt that there was actually a fish on the line. I passed the rod back to her and told her to reel it in again. YES! Another Barramundi. The kids were so happy!

Just as our session was ending, the heavens opened up. Luckily I had brought raincoats for them. So we headed back to the marina. And to top it off, Uncle Dave gave my daughters each a turn at steering the boat back to the marina!

Thank you Uncle Dave! You really know how to make your customers happy.

New tackle for deep sea fishing

After my embarrassing outing on Ah Jiang's boat, Sport Fishing Explorer the first time, I really needed to get new gear for deep sea fishing.

First up, new overhead reels. The organizer for the last trip, Alvin recommended that I get the Accurate range of reels. I had a feel of his Accurate model and it does seem to fit my hands rather comfortably. He says this reel would be more than sufficient in handling anything from the South China Sea. I did a search online and found that Accurate has launched a new model with 2-speed gearing. The high speed gear would be to reel in more line per crank while the low speed gear would make it easier to crank the fish up. So I went ahead and purchased a brand new Accurate DPX500N.



Next up, rod. As I didn't have much knowledge on rods, I asked Alvin to help me pick out a rod that would pair well with the Accurate reel. We went to see Gina at Changi Pro Tackle to see the range of rods that they carry. After looking through some models, Alvin showed me an Expert Graphite 1-piece rod. It's rated at PE3-6 yet has a sensitive tip. It was also recommended by Gina. So I purchased the rod together with some XL sinkers, ie size 12, 16 & 20!

With the new reels, I had also ordered new braid line from US. I went with a Sufix 832 moss green 50lb for the Accurate.

With my new gear, I really hope that I get to tangle with some biggies soon!

Sport Fishing Explorer Trip #1 - Under-gunned

While browsing FK website, saw a post looking for kakis to join a 3D2N trip to South China Sea. The dates suited my off days and I thought maybe it's time I should try some deep sea fishing. My reluctance has always been succumbing to seasickness. I've been seasick many times on large boats and I tell you, its the worst feeling in the world! With the experience of fishing for Sailfish at Rompin, I thought maybe my sea legs are slowly getting stronger. Not wanting to take any chance, I loaded up on seasick medication, Novomin for the trip.

Upon arriving at Marina Country Club pier, met up with the organizer Alvin, who showed me around the boat and sleeping areas. The vessel was called Sport Fishing Explorer and it was purposely built for fishing. Rod holders all around the boat, bait wells under every 2 rod holder, 6 deckhands on rotating shifts, all meals and drinks provided and very comfortable air-conditioned bunks. When we set off, I looked at all the fishing gear that was onboard. Uh oh, I felt a sense of deja vu again from my first charter boat experience with Ah Fong. I think I may have underestimated my own fishing gear again! I brought 3-5kg rated rod, Shimano 4000-sized reel with 20lb line and sinkers up to size 8 only! I am totally under-geared, compared to the various types of overhead reels, heavy rods, sinkers that are carried in their own bags and lures of many shapes and sizes. I told myself, "I'm paying tuition fees for this trip!".

Reaching the first spot, I tried my best with my Apollo rig and sent the live prawn down. Even after using my heaviest sinker, my line was drifting out too far. Not wanting to tangle with other anglers lines, I quickly reeled back. The angler beside me kindly handed me a heavier sinker to use. I was thankful and re-rigged with the heavier sinker. Now my rod tip was bending over due to the heavy sinker! Hilarious! Anyway, the rig managed to reach bottom and I waited. The angler advised me not to leave the sinker at the bottom as we were drifting. The sinker might get sangkut (stuck) to the rocks on the seabed and lose the rig. Lift the rig up a bit so it won't snag. Heeded his advice and shortly thereafter, I had a take. Wow, felt like a big fish! I tried to crank the reel but it was taking forever. Finally, the fish surfaced and it was a Eng Ko (Blackspot Tuskfish). Nice 1kg fish. I found difficulty in reeling the fish in because I had to reel up the weight of the fish plus the sinker weight! My rod was not suitable for this type of fishing.

At night, the boat went to catch Squid. The boat has a squid-catching contraption at the back of the boat. For the first time, I saw how squid-catching is done. Lower net, turn off all lights except one over the net and wait. After 2mins, raise the net and voila! The squids are in the net! The squids were supposed to be used as bait for night fishing for big fish. After 4 tanks were full, we set off to the fishing grounds.

At night, the currents were stronger and there was no way my rod would be able to handle even heavier sinkers. So I watched the other anglers fish and then went to sleep.

Next morning, we went to a spot near an anchored ship. We were told to sabiki for baitfish. This I can do! Managed to bring up quite a bit of Selar, Kembung and Cencaru. The deck was mayhem, with so many rods trying to get in on the action! Some anglers were jigging and managed to hook up some small Tunas and Bonitos.

The rest of the trip, I only managed to catch another Orange-Spotted Grouper from bottom fishing. Other anglers were catching quite a variety of fish. Stingray, Cobia, various types of snappers and a whole lot of other fish!

Although I didn't catch much fish, I'm glad I came on this trip. I didn't get seasick at all and the boat is really comfortable and spacious. I would be returning, better equipped and ready for more action.

Gear used:
Rod - 3-5kg
Reel - Shimano Slade 4000F
Line - generic 20lb braid
Bait - live prawn
Rig - Apollo style

Best day fishing ever!

Joined bro B on a boat charter at RSYC after seeing his post looking for kaki. I've never fished on this boat before and found out it was operated by boatman Alex on the boat Spearo.

Reached at launch time and as it turned out, it was going to be 3 anglers only today. B and his wife and myself. Alex already prepared live prawns in the bait well and off we went to the fishing grounds. His boat was fast and in no time, we started fishing. Bro B was using madai most of the time while I opted to fish with the live prawns.

As advised by a tackle shop owner, I had brought with me heavier sinkers as the current was expected to be strong today. Rigged up my gear with size 10 sinker and sent down a live prawn. No hits on the first spot so we moved to another spot.

This spot was near a breakwater and after a few minutes at the bottom, something took my bait and ran! And it ran hard. My drag was screaming and when it finally stopped, I managed to gain some ground. After about 5 mins, I managed to bring it alongside the boat and was netted by Alex. It turned out to be a big Golden Trevally! Man, was I stoked!

Bro B's wife then hooked onto a fish. This fish was swimming very fast as well and as it got closer to the boat, it gave an acrobatic display and jumped out of the water. We called it for a Barracuda and on the next jump, it hit the side of the boat and the hook came out. Somehow, they were quite happy that the Barracuda 'auto release' as they didn't want to deal with the sharp fangs on that fish.

A couple of minutes later, I was on again. But this time, this fish was staying down hard. I had a hard time pulling it up. After a while, I managed to bring it up and the first colour I saw was green. Yay, it turned out to be a Eng Ko (Blackspot Tuskfish)! This fella was heavy too, about 2kg.

There were no more bites after an hour so Alex decided to change spot. As I was slowly reeling my line in, I suddenly felt like my rod was being snatched away from my hand! And this happened when the end of my line was about another 3 meters away. Straight away, the fish jumped and I could see that it was a large Queenfish! It swam mostly on the surface so I managed to bring it to the boat rather quickly.

We moved to a spot near Cyrene reef. I continued to fish and was rewarded with a table-sized Chermin (Diamond Trevally). Bro B managed to catch a few more Sagais at this spot. After which we called it a day.

Back at the dock, I decided to share my catch with bro B as there was too much fish for me to carry home. We cut up the large Queenfish and divided some of the other fish.

I was so glad that my tackle withstood the 'punishment' the fishes dished out, especially the rod. Seeing that the fish I caught today were rather large fishes, I'm now confident that it can handle any other types of fish that we normally catch in Singapore waters.

This is one of my best days fishing in Singapore!

Gear used:
Rod - Shimano TCurve Tropical PE 1-2
Reel - Shimano Saros 2500F
Line - generic 20lb braid
Bait - live prawn
Rig - Apollo style

Fish ID - Eng Ko aka Blackspot Tuskfish (Choerodon schoenleinii)
            - Queenfish (Scomberoides spp)
            - Chermin aka Diamond Trevally (Alectics indicus)
            - Boon Nang aka Golden Trevally (Gnathanodon speciosus)
            - Sagai aka Bumpnose Trevally (Carangoides Hedlandensis)

Kayak fishing with the kids

Since it was the school holiday, I decided to bring my 8-year old & 5-year old daughters kayak fishing. Brought my Hobie and Airis kayak for the excursion. Pasir Ris is the safest waters for beginners as the waters are calm and protected within the blue barrels.

Tied a tow line on the Airis and attached it to my Hobie and off we went with her on the Airis. Headed out to my usual spot and started fishing. I let each one use one of my Shimano telescopic rod with a simple Apollo rig. I used a size 1 circle hook with dead prawn as bait. As she held the rod in her hands, I could see the rod tip beginning to get taps. "Small fish" I said to myself. But as all eager kids do, they are quite happy to cast out the line, wait 1 min, then reel back to check. She did this a few times, and began to feel disheartened after each retrieve. I told her fishing is about patience and leaving the bait in the water increases the chance of the fish to find the bait. The younger one was pretty happy sitting in the kayak and splashing water around while waiting for the fish to bite.

Shortly thereafter, a fish took the bait and the rod bent a little. She was so excited and started to reel the fish in. She managed to reel it in without much trouble and it turned out to be a palm-sized John's Snapper. I unhooked the fish and let her hold it. I then told her that for fish this size, we would release it so that it can grow bigger. She agreed and gently released the fish over the side of the kayak.

Meanwhile, I had a few nibbles on my rod and I quickly passed the rod to my youngest and asked her to reel but unfortunately the hook came off the fish.

I rebaited the hook for my eldest girl and she cast out the line. After 10 mins or so, her fishing rod was nearly snatched out of her hand as a fish took the bait. Fish ON! I told her to hold on to the rod tightly and slowly reel. She tried hard but this fish was giving a good fight. Slowly she managed to bring the fish to the surface and it was a table-sized Kaci (Painted Sweetlips). She was so happy to see the fish. I unhooked the circle hook and let her hold the fish. She asked, "Do we release this size of fish as well?". I said, "It's up to you. We could release the fish or we could bring it home for lunch." She had a think and said she wants to bring it back home to show the family. Settled! Put the fish on the stringer and we continued fishing.

We hooked up a few more undersized fish and was quite happy to release them. She was getting the hang of fishing from the kayak. As it was approaching midday, we decided to head back. She asked to paddle back on her own so I untied the tow line and followed her from behind. She handled the kayak pretty well all the way back.

                                          Going tandem on the i9s

Pan-fried the fish for lunch and she said the fish tastes sooo goood!!

Then she asked,"When are we going kayak fishing again Dad?"

Gear used:
Rod - Shimano Eclipse Telescopic 3-4kg
Reel - Shimano Saros 1000F
Line - generic 20lb braid
Bait - mussels
Rig - Apollo style

Fish ID - Kaci aka Painted Sweetlips (Diagramma pictum)