First on Handline

It had been a while since my last trip to JB lately due to A having lessons on Sat, and D having swimming classes on Sun. But today, A didn't have any classes, and it looked good to run into JB in the morning. Actually, I didn't have any plans, and was driving around aimlessly after crossing the checkpoint at 6am. Seeing that I had not visited the Rakit for a long time already, we decided to head over there for some morning fishing. D could do some revision there as it was usually quite clean and quiet in the day.

Not surprisingly, we were one of the two groups there that morning. The earlier group left shortly, probably one of the overniters. The tide was at the lowest around 7.30am, and the timing was just right for us to wait for the upcoming tide.

Low tech fishing


Caught on my 20lb handline with live prawn


Yeah, my second Kurau for the year


The fishing was quite dismal, as nothing was biting. I was throwing out live prawns but nothing quite touched it until the todaks arrived around 11am. Seeing the poor fishing, I used my leaders to do some handlining as well. That got me some luck, and I managed to pull up a small Kurau on handline. There was 0 fight as I didn't even know that the Kurau was caught until I pull up the line to check. As for the rods, it was totally quiet. A todak struck on the prawns on my handline that I floated out on the surface. But it was impossible to get todaks on handline as they would release immediately upon feeling any resistence.

I did some luring, but it only got the attention of the todaks. But they would chase it for a short distance and turned away upon seeing me. Very cautious fellows they are. I was hoping to have a first with todak on lure, but that still seemed to elude me so far. It really is not easy to fool them with their keen eyesight.

Dragonflies like to rest on tips of fishing rods. Dunno why

Springleaf

I was feeling adventerous today and drove around trying to find some new spots to try out. I was coming in from SLE and turned out to Seletar Camp to try my luck. Switching on my GPS, I looked around for bodies of water, but didn't have any luck locating any that is fishable. Just as I was driving out around thomson, I saw my GPS indicating a stream leading out from Upper Seletar reservior . Looking interesting, I turned into Springleaf area, a mostly private residential estate.



And there is was, a river-like stream leading out from the mouth of the reservoir. In local terms, it was more "long kang" than anything else. In fact, from the road that I passed by quite often, you could see it. And true enough, there were already some senior citizens doing baiting. At least here, it is not illegal.

I parked the car beside the road and when to recce the area. With my shades, I spotted at least about 6-7 PBs. And at least 2 of them are huge. With my interest piqued, I setup my rod to try some luring. However, the weather was warm and not ready comfortable. A and D were evidently not happy with the place, and I had to make my trip a short one.

I picked an area near to the mouth and tried with my red head crystal minnow. But the lure was too big. I next changed to my small L-minnow and tried again. But there was zero interest and nothing was attacking my delicious looking lure. I gave up and packed and walked back the 200 metres to the car. However along the way, I again spied the 2 big PBs swimming along the edge. The PBs here were sensitive to the presence of humans. Once they were aware about me looking at them, they swam away. Hmm.

The opportunity was too great for me to miss, and I reset my rod again and told A and D to wait in the car. I cast a few times, but again no interest. But there was a heart stopping moment on one cast when I was reeling back the lure. Just 10 metres away, a huge PB gave chase to my lure. When the lure was near to me, it sensed my presence standing on top of the water and immediately made a U-turn. Darn, there went my only chance. I cast for another 5-10 minutes, but got no further luck.

I left the area for the sake of A and D who were waiting for my "5 more minutes". Quite an interesting place. Would try here again.

Macritchie "Lure" fishing

My fishing record here had remained a fat zero at this dismay fishing spot. However, with my new knowledge about PBs being active at the setting sun, I went ahead for yet another try. Never give up, is my Motto.

Reaching there, I was rather late and the already the sun was setting. In 15-20 minutes or so, it would soon be dark and impossible to fish. I hastily rigged up and shot out my fat rap.





Fishing with a deep diver like fat rap is a rather strenous affair, as divers has more resistence and needed more arm power to lure. When it near the banks, it would scratch and drag along the bottom and tend to pick up debris from the reservoir. And one such cast, saw me dragging up a Popper that must have been lost by some lurer here. I left it on the water edge thinking to get it later to dispose of it. However later on, the light got too dim and I couldn't find it. Later, another cast saw me dragging up another diver. It was certainly a new kind of "lure" fishing :)

Just as I was thinking of going back empty handed, I felt a sudden tug. At first I thought my lure was stuck on a rock. But when my lines started spooling out, I knew I had something and it felt strong and good. Trying to tire it out, I played with it and keep the tension taut. I was thinking toman. My Fat rap had previously gotten a toman before. My Green Arrow was a strong rod, and the fish was no fight for it. But to my surprise, the fish made a sudden jump and I saw that it was a large PB. Nearing the bank, I was about to lift it up when it did another ariel leap. This time, it caught me off guard and the lure came off. PB landed near the water edge and was sleeping on the side on the rocks. But before I could pick it up, it recovered and dashed back into the water.

Argh! What a waste. But at least I saw it. It was just unlucky that I couldn't get a pic of it, it being my first ever PB here, and also first on my Green Arrow.

After that, cast and cast but nothing else was biting. It was getting darker and getting impossible to fish. Despite the fish having gotten away, it was a definite endorsement of this area that it was still fishable. Another day...another day.

After cleaning up, it was found to be a duel quiet wave.

1st PB at LPR and new friend

I was having quite a bad weekend with nothing much to show in terms of fishing. This morning short session at LSR yielded nothing. My favourite playground was undergoing some sort of construction and the usual left side of the fishing ground was sectioned off with construction panels, blocking the access. The middle part of the fishing area was rather unsuitable for fishing as it was smacked right in the kayaking training circuit. I was running the risk of hooking some bumbling kayakers at every throw. And fishes were not there despite some focused casting.

"Prawn" fishing


The rest of the day was rather hum drum, until I dropped by a aquarium shop to get a filter for my tank. I took the opportunity to get for D a fishing net and a small plastic container. Due to that, I decided to run by LPR at her request to do some "prawning" ie using net to catch those tiny prawns abundent in the reservoir.

Since I was already there, I did some casting as well to past the time. From 4.30 till 6pm, nothing was biting and I was feeling discouraged at such a unproductive ground. Out of the blue, I saw the man on bicycle again. I had met him last weekend, doing his fly fishing. This time round, we were more chatty and I got to know him quite well. Shah (his name) is quite a regular at CoHo, and in fact, he learnt his fly fishing from the famous Uncle Amin. O_O...wow. He was very knowledgable of the area here, and offered me to fish by his side. I was told that the fishes here would "arrived" once the sun has set. From his account, he caught about 4 yesterday evening at the same time.

Small L-minnow I was using on my soft ryobi bass love rod




His eyesight was very sharp and he spied a moving crowd of Toman babies shifting on the water. When it got into range, we both cast out our lines in an attempt to get them. He got a bite but lost it. I was luckier and managed to hit one tiny toman. D was excited and wanted to keep it at home. We put it into the tiny tank which could barely fit it.

By this time, I was happy that I had broken my "egg" that I had for some weeks.



True to his words, the PB arrived soon when it got a little darker. He landed a fairly good sized PB around 6.30pm. I was impressed and continued to cast out my tiny L-minnow. We weren't sure if the color of the L-minnow was suitable as PB tend to go more for orange/yellow combi. But my apprehension was unfounded and I soon got a hit and brought up a fair sized PB.



I had quite a bit of difficulty taking the pic, as it was thrashing quite strongly and threw out the L-minnow. Then it landed on a small puddle of water and splashed water all over me. Definitely a fiesty one.

It got dark and fishing was no longer possible. But thanks to my new found friend, I am more knowledgable about the fishing here, and would certainly be back for more.

It was a good weekend after all.

New Stuff - Golden Mean Green Arrow

I finally got myself a classic luring rod that I had been eyeing for awhile. Known as the Green Arrow, it is made by a quite unknown company Golden Mean. The rod is only found in Japanese catalog, and is a dedicated bass fishing rod ie luring rod. Only lure fishing enthusiast would know about it. Costing around $125, it not exactly cheap. However when I returned home with it, I found the wordings "Made in China" on it. Everything is made in China these day isn't it?

The rod felt good in my hands, quite light and firm and well balanced. However, compared to my Trusty regno, it is a tad stiffer. ie not for very light lures.

The butt


SIC guides


Reel seat


The rating


Made in China


Comes with a nicely printed rod bag


Eager to try it out, I did my first cast at Macritchie Reservoir. I still haven't gotten any fish here and was hoping that with my new rod, this fact could be changed. However 2 hours later, I was to return fishless. In fact, for the last couple of fishing attempts, I have yet to get anything. Seems like the dry spell is on again. Haz.

Test session at Macritchie Reservoir