5 pounder happy meal

[don't worry, Toman was released. It wasn't made into happy meal]

It has been a while since we have done some PB fishing, so this Sat, we all got together to do some. This would be CK first time to a PB spot. KT brought along friend KI and by the time he drove round half of Singapore to pick us, it was already quite late. I think we were there around 6.45am or so. The sky was already quite bright.

But no matter, because the fishes do seem to come out rather late this time of the year. The sky seemed a little dark and it was rather windy. When I first saw the water, the water kind of murky due to the rainfall these few days. There was a strong up river current so the water wasn't exactly calm and was kind of moving and rippling.

We had to spread out as there were 4 of us. The regular baiting uncles were already at the corner. I fished mainly in the middle while the guys move further up to the river mouth. This morning, I didn't see much fish splashes from my side. But the other guys do see quite a bit nearer to the mouth. Round 7.30am, I was lucky and got a strong take. And when it started to dive into the weeds at will spooling out my line effortlessly, I immediately know that it was no PB, but a Toman. For a moment it got me worried as it swam into a bunch of weeds and I couldn't control it away from it. Suddenly the line went slack and I thought I lost it. But then the line went taut again and sprang to the other side on my right. Again it went near to the banks trying to squeeze into some holes. But I was lucky that there wasn't any complicated undergrowth or wood below otherwise it would surely be a goner. At one point, my braid was tangled up round a small branch. I could only hold on to my rod with the little branch trying to tire the Toman.

After after 3 minutes or so, it did got worn out and I was able to lead it to the river bank. CK was at my side taking video of the catch. He also helped me to get the boga ready in case I needed it to lift the Toman up. But when I tested the leader, it seemed strong enough to just yank it up on the bank. With that, Toman was landed. By then, KT and KI came to my side to help out.

On the boga, it read 5 lbs. That is slightly above 2 kg. We took some photos. This Toman had beautiful purple stripes and was rather gorgeous. After photos, it was released.

I went on to land another feisty PB. Later I learnt that KT also got a PB but lost it before he could get it up on the bank for photos. CK and KI didn't get anything this round. The expert PB lurer came around while I was busy with my Toman and went near the river mouth. From KT account, he was catching them effortlessly again near the river mouth. With just a normal looking river2sea minnow. Hmmm.

Good day!

Group photo with Mr T

One day, KT will have one of his own

My fiesty PB that was foul hooked near the fin