My car servicing was up and I had to run into JB to visit my workshop. Pat had a stretch of leaves and joined me for the trip. We were planning to do some simple fishing after my servicing. I thought to go to Kulai Nanyang Fish Farm again. The last two times there, I had returned with a substantial zero. And it wasn't that the place has no fish. They are there in fact, and will sneer at me every once a while with some big splashes in the water. The local folks there seemed to know how to catch them and they were landing them quite frequently, right under my nose.
The last time, someone was doing fly fishing and was pretty successful, I must say. The short two hours there, I saw him landing about 4-5 Patins on fly. At that time, I wasn't into fly fishing and didn't think to observe how he was doing it and what fly he was using. Today, I had packed along my fly rod and gave it a try. As the farm wasn't too crowded, I had ample space to do my casting. All the flies I brought along, I tried. But all I caught were some branches behind me once a while.
Pat wasn't doing too well for his float fishing either. When we arrived, the man only gave us bread to fish as he didn't have the kng then. Although there were some bites, the fish quickly released them before we could react. But the local certainly know how to catch the fishes and was regularly bringing them up. It might be due to their customised concoction of the kng they had prepared.
After an hour plus or so, the ladies got bored and gave us another half an hour to fish. I admitted defeat for my fly rod and switch to my Sakura for some float fishing. I had a brief bite on the last minute but the fish was smart and released it quickly. Pat too had a nugde but again didn't connect. We left the place defeated. But while chatting with a local chinese guy beside us, we were told that there is another catch and release pond nearby. When we heard the word "arapamai", we all dripped saliva uncontrollably. On the way back, we did a detour to find the place but missed it. But with a carload of unhappy ladies, we better head for shopping and food else we won't be able to return in 1 piece.
Information about the fishing pond
He should be a teacher, with a whip like this
All the magic flies that I tried. None worked
With my fly rod
Back to baiting...guys opposite us having a field day
Com'on....bite please
Serene pond
People beside us got one
Took a while to coax it into the net
About 5 kg
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Showing posts with label fly fishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fly fishing. Show all posts
Monday, August 03, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
KFC - Bedok Reservoir Surprise
This weekend, there wasn't much in the way of fishing. But Andrew messaged me asking if I was doing anything. I suggested to try-out fishing at bedok reservoir as it was near his place. Even though he is staying very near to it, he had not been there before. Another reason for us not going there often is due to the insufficient parking lots. Getting a lot there is quite impossible at times. But today, we were surprised that there were free lots around. From the car park, it was a short walk to the boardwalk. We settled down at the bench.
As the boardwalk was rather crowded with quite a number of people fishing, we went to the right side of and fished on the rocky banks instead. Lots of people were baiting quite openly. We fished for about half and hour and there wasn't any action. Water was clear and I couldn't even see a tiny fish. From past experience, this wasn't a productive spot. However, someone on the boardwalk left on his bicycle and we were shocked to see him holding on to 3 large PBs. I ran to him and asked for some photos which he gamely obliged.
We were almost on the verge of giving up and returned to the bench for some snacks and drinks. Andrew said to try the middle of the boardwalk and I agreed. From the high vantage there, we could see some blurry image of a fish deep in the water. We identified it as Tilapia from the white/pinkish body. To our greatest surprise, the fish reacted by turning its body when our flies swam across. Excited, we continued to try to get its attention.
While Andrew was back at the bench to get something, I saw the tilapia inching forward to my squid fly as I dragged it past. I instinctively gave a yank. At first, I thought I had hit a rock as the fly was near the rocky bottom. But the line started to move to my delight. I peered down to the water and confirmed that I had a hookup. Excitedly, I shouted for Andrew to come help to get some pics in case the fish throw the hook. Tilapia on fly is quite unheard of (at least for me) and I didn't want to go back without any evidence. I fought the fish for a while which was fun on my new light rod, my 4 piece sakura. Andrew climbed down the banks and help land the fish. As we were deciding what to do with it, by the time we put the fish back into the water with a cord, the fish was already out of the water for a long time of 5 minutes. I was impressed that the fish was still quite fiesty and didn't die after such a long time out of water. They are definitely very hardy. A crowd had gathered and was impressed with our "big" fish.
We returned to fishing when Andrew saw another Tilapia in the water. As he had some bread with him, he quickly changed his rig to a small hook with long leader. Tossing out, we waited and went back to chit chats. Suddenly, I saw his limited edition cabelas bending and a fish was definitely on. Guiding it up to the surface, it was indeed the tilapia that we saw. For a tilapia, we were surprised that the fight was quite fiesty with tugs and water splashes. I held on the rod while Andrew again climbed down to land the fish. Crowd by this time had return again, puzzled by this 2 guy with the furry bait.
We decided to keep one fish alive and let ZW have it for his 3 feet tank. The other, we decided to Cnk for the dinner table. I had never eaten a tilapia before. When we arrived at ZW home, we decided to cook it immediately. It was surprisingly good eating and didn't have the muddy taste. Not bad at all. No wonder they do sell tilapias in Sheng Shiong. As it turned out, quite an unexpected outing and an enjoyable evening fishing with Andrew. I was really expecting nothing and results like this is quite pleasant.
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Sunday, April 26, 2009
Road To Becoming A Fly Fisherman
My fly fishing rod had only been sparingly used ever since I bought it some weeks ago. Today, I wanted to do more pracitising at it and went to LPR after D's swimming lesson.
It was hard to find a big enough area where I would not pose a danger to passer-bys with my flying hook and line. My technique was still quite raw and I couldn't do my cast properly and spent like half hour trying and trying. It was Roll cast and False cast practises. Even though I had a fly at the end of my line, it wasn't catching anything. I was mainly focusing on the casting part and didn't try to animate the fly too much.
Fly casting was hard work and I worked up a good sweat under the hot sun. But the weather took a turn and suddenly, rain appeared to be coming. I stop my fly casting and changed to my spin rod. With the charlie that was given by Jimmy, I tossed it out. But the execution was miss timed and my lines didn't go quite far. But to my surprise when I started luring it, I got a hit immediately. It was as though that the PB was eyeing it and when it started moving, it decided to go for it.
It was a small PB and I quickly put it into a plastic bag, thinking to give to ZW later. I brought it home and put it into my temporary tank. But I made the silly mistake of changing the water entirely thinking that PBs were quite hardy. But I think there must have been a drastic change in the PH, and the PB died shortly after. (after 3 hours)
Late afternoon, I had to run some errands of returning library books and all. When all was done, it was around 6. I had the urge to run to a reservoir to attempt to get a fish on my fly rod. OC said can because I bought her a new scissors, so I zoomed to macritche and started on my fly fishing.
I hadn't successfully got a fish here except for the big one that got away before I could photograph it. I used the fly that I had tied as a demonstration at LSR. The passer-bys were all eyeing me like some alien from outer space. I heard many people asking "what's that fellow doing?". Casting away for around 20 minutes, I suddenly had a nip at my fly. To my delight, there was a huge PB just about 10-15 metres away from me. I hastily tried to cast over to the region again but my fly line got all entangled in my Kan cheongness and I had to waste time unraveling it. When I next cast again, I couldn't see the PB anymore. But after trying for 2 times, wham! and I got a hit. I was so excited that I shouted out to A and everyone walking pass. But the excitement was short-lived. I was holding on to the fly line and didn't know how to control the fish with it. The fish exerted a strong pull and broke my 8lb leader! I was dumbfounded. First time I had a PB breaking my 8lb leader.
But the whole episode gave me hope although I was sore from the chance of scoring a first on my fly fishing rod. I hastily tied another fly, this time using the gotcha that Jimmy gave me.
It was back to casting and casting again and my hopes were raised when I saw some smaller PB giving chase. But it was only another 15mins when I got a hit again. This time, not a small one as well. Again, I was inexperienced at how to control the fish. In my clumisness, I accidentally released all the spare fly line at my feet and the fish had a moment of free run with the hook in the mouth. This would usually be a critical mistake for fishing. But luckily the slack didn't cost me my fish and the hook up was firm. I shouted for the camera and slowly coaxed the fish to the bank. Holding on to the leader, I had landed it.
With that, I have now become a full fledged fly fisherman :). All without much lessons or coaching. It was also the first time I had a fish photographed at Macritche resrrvoir. My previous attempts here were quite fruitless but my opinion of this place had changed. In a short time alone, I saw so many PBs. There would definitely be more sessions here to come.
It was hard to find a big enough area where I would not pose a danger to passer-bys with my flying hook and line. My technique was still quite raw and I couldn't do my cast properly and spent like half hour trying and trying. It was Roll cast and False cast practises. Even though I had a fly at the end of my line, it wasn't catching anything. I was mainly focusing on the casting part and didn't try to animate the fly too much.
Fly casting was hard work and I worked up a good sweat under the hot sun. But the weather took a turn and suddenly, rain appeared to be coming. I stop my fly casting and changed to my spin rod. With the charlie that was given by Jimmy, I tossed it out. But the execution was miss timed and my lines didn't go quite far. But to my surprise when I started luring it, I got a hit immediately. It was as though that the PB was eyeing it and when it started moving, it decided to go for it.
It was a small PB and I quickly put it into a plastic bag, thinking to give to ZW later. I brought it home and put it into my temporary tank. But I made the silly mistake of changing the water entirely thinking that PBs were quite hardy. But I think there must have been a drastic change in the PH, and the PB died shortly after. (after 3 hours)
Late afternoon, I had to run some errands of returning library books and all. When all was done, it was around 6. I had the urge to run to a reservoir to attempt to get a fish on my fly rod. OC said can because I bought her a new scissors, so I zoomed to macritche and started on my fly fishing.
I hadn't successfully got a fish here except for the big one that got away before I could photograph it. I used the fly that I had tied as a demonstration at LSR. The passer-bys were all eyeing me like some alien from outer space. I heard many people asking "what's that fellow doing?". Casting away for around 20 minutes, I suddenly had a nip at my fly. To my delight, there was a huge PB just about 10-15 metres away from me. I hastily tried to cast over to the region again but my fly line got all entangled in my Kan cheongness and I had to waste time unraveling it. When I next cast again, I couldn't see the PB anymore. But after trying for 2 times, wham! and I got a hit. I was so excited that I shouted out to A and everyone walking pass. But the excitement was short-lived. I was holding on to the fly line and didn't know how to control the fish with it. The fish exerted a strong pull and broke my 8lb leader! I was dumbfounded. First time I had a PB breaking my 8lb leader.
But the whole episode gave me hope although I was sore from the chance of scoring a first on my fly fishing rod. I hastily tied another fly, this time using the gotcha that Jimmy gave me.
It was back to casting and casting again and my hopes were raised when I saw some smaller PB giving chase. But it was only another 15mins when I got a hit again. This time, not a small one as well. Again, I was inexperienced at how to control the fish. In my clumisness, I accidentally released all the spare fly line at my feet and the fish had a moment of free run with the hook in the mouth. This would usually be a critical mistake for fishing. But luckily the slack didn't cost me my fish and the hook up was firm. I shouted for the camera and slowly coaxed the fish to the bank. Holding on to the leader, I had landed it.
With that, I have now become a full fledged fly fisherman :). All without much lessons or coaching. It was also the first time I had a fish photographed at Macritche resrrvoir. My previous attempts here were quite fruitless but my opinion of this place had changed. In a short time alone, I saw so many PBs. There would definitely be more sessions here to come.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Fly Me To The Moon
My latest acquisition:-
2nd hand set at $300. Rod: 3 pcs Harvest (Korea made), Reel: Orvis BattenKill 3/4 Large arbor. Line 4 weight.
I had succumbed to the dark side, where anglers fear to thread. Although not yet officially a fly angler, my gears are ready to rock and roll. Just need to add fish.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Advent into fly tying
Thompson "A" Vise
I happened to come across someone selling off his fly tying vise. It looked interesting, and I was thinking of doing some fly tying myself. Although not into fly fishing, the use of flies in out waters can do wonders. Peacocks can be effectively gotten by charlies and clousers.
So I managed to get hold of the vise for a $50. This was an authentic D.H Thompson "A" vise. Though I was not an expert in this, I had heard the name many times. Therefore, the vise should be quite expensive originally. Searching on the Net, the vise would cost about $100US.
My fly tying materials
I drop into Coho the next day, asking for some fly tying materials thinking just to tie a clouser. I left the shop spending another $50 for a bobbin, fly tying materials, threads, beads (for eyes), crystal flash, size 2 mustad hooks and special glue for finishing the joints. Coho was nice to let me try tying one myself and taught me the ropes on the techniques, and I managed to tie my very first clouser.
A nice lady intro me to a fly tying set, which actually cost only $105 thereabout. I had already spent that much, and only got materials for tying clousers. :(. The set looked not bad at all and came with a nice guidebook on fly tying patterns.
Flies that I have now
Clousers
Charlies
I happened to come across someone selling off his fly tying vise. It looked interesting, and I was thinking of doing some fly tying myself. Although not into fly fishing, the use of flies in out waters can do wonders. Peacocks can be effectively gotten by charlies and clousers.
So I managed to get hold of the vise for a $50. This was an authentic D.H Thompson "A" vise. Though I was not an expert in this, I had heard the name many times. Therefore, the vise should be quite expensive originally. Searching on the Net, the vise would cost about $100US.
My fly tying materials
I drop into Coho the next day, asking for some fly tying materials thinking just to tie a clouser. I left the shop spending another $50 for a bobbin, fly tying materials, threads, beads (for eyes), crystal flash, size 2 mustad hooks and special glue for finishing the joints. Coho was nice to let me try tying one myself and taught me the ropes on the techniques, and I managed to tie my very first clouser.
A nice lady intro me to a fly tying set, which actually cost only $105 thereabout. I had already spent that much, and only got materials for tying clousers. :(. The set looked not bad at all and came with a nice guidebook on fly tying patterns.
Flies that I have now
Clousers
Charlies
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