Lost Squid - PJ

Seeing that tonite was a good tide at around 11pm+, I decided to do a little squidding at PJ. The last time, I was there with TC. It wasn't too productive, but I had gotten a tiny weeny squid.

Tonite being a friday nite, I wasn't expecting the Jetty to be crowded. But it was occupied by a bunch of angler friends. They had setup themselves on the end of the Jetty, completed with lights. Looked like they would be there till the morning.

I rigged up a single squid jig and only took that from the car. A and D settled themselves next to the police post, where it was brightly lit. Since the ends were occupied, I just squidded around the aisle.

As the jig dragged across the floor, there were many confusing taps on the lure, due to the shallow water. The jig was probably rubbing against the sandy floor. But one thing good, the bottom wasn't too snaggy, although some particular area, got some stones.

10 minutes into the squidding, I got a solid take. I wasn't too sure but the lines felt loaded. It might just have been rubbish. But pulling up, there was indeed a normal sized squid. It did the usual squirting of water. But when I lifted it up barely 1 feet, the tentacles slipped from the hooks and it splashed back into the water. My jig umbrella hooks must be quite blunt already. Maybe I should stop using this pink Yamashita. So far, it had produced nothing.

Thereafter, I guessed for the next hour or so, totally nothing. Suddenly, for some reasons, mosquitoes started coming out to attack us. I had a few bites, and I was worried that D might be bitten. Hence, around 10.30pm, I packed up and decided to leave the place. Hmm...so far, not very lucky with this PJ for squids. Squidding in Singapore really tough.

Recce - Ponggol Right, and a First at Lab Park!

I had gotten tired of getting Peacocks, and didn't do my usual visit to LSR. Instead, after D's swimming, I went for a quick recce at Ponggol End. I had visited the Jetty before. But I heard that to the right side, there were lots of places to fish.

Ponggol Jetty. Hot hot hot


Beach front


Leading to the river mouth


At the river mouth


Desiree was here!


True enough, it was a big area on the right side. Some beach front, ending with some sea walls leading to a wide river into Singapore. Aha, this must be the way in to the river that I would past by on the TPE. Interesting. A found some petai, and went about collecting them. I trekked further in until it got quite far away. The whole stretch was indeed a big place. But the main problem was that this was quite a rough fishing area. The Sun, would be mightly hot, and getting fried was a sure thing.

No fishing at ECP


I next move on to East Coast Park to see if I could try fishing from a sea bund. But to my surprise, there was actually a No Fishing sign. I didn't know that there was No fishing at designated area. Must be a new ruling. The explanation was for the wind surfer's safety. Hm, I quite agreed that with fishing folks around (especially with long rods), it would be a safety hazard.

D had her lunch here and we waited till she was done before continuing the search for fishing ground. Singapore is just running out of fishable areas. With not much options, I headed for Lab Park again. I think to date, this would be my most friendly and comfortable fishing place.

Best Jigging corner


My first Lab Park Tamban!


Today, I tried the Jetty, being quite a cool day. The sun wasn't very hot today, and I was able to stand there for a couple of hours. My plan was to try some jigging for Tamban. So setting up the rod, I went in search for Tambans. After trying about 10 spots , moving from one to the another, it was always coming up empty. I got quite discouraged for a while, until there were some Malays at the other end started to hit some. Wow. Given the assurance that it was quite possible, I continued to jig and jig. I moved closer to the spot to improve my chance. There were 2 young boys (around pri5/6) who were jigging for tambans too. Their Dad was just standing one corner looking. They got quite a few of the Tambans and were very successful in the jigging. All the uncles there were put to shame. I was very impressed and commended them on the good job. I sneaked closer to their spot, and managed to hit my very FIRST fish at Lab Park. A Tamban. :). Great! That broke my Zero record here. I went on then to get a few more...ending with a total of 5. But what precious 5 they were.

Queenie!


The 2 boys got lucky again, and pulled up a nice fish. A Queenie! Wow...but it was a small one. They thot it was another Tamban. I went to them and told them that it was a Queen fish and was a good catch. With their permission, I took a photo. :)

After that, all the Tamban action went dead. I had enough and move back to the seats at the park. I tried to do some baiting. But even though I cast quite far, it was still snaggy and I lost 1 or 2 rigs. I also rigged my "shaky worms" and repeated casting again no effect. My bait rig got a small bite and I quickly took the rod and gave a strike. But the problem with this place is that you cannot retrieve the line slowly, else it would surely snag. So on my quick retrieve, I wasn't sure if there was a fish. But midway, My reel did a ziiiip for 3 secs, and then went dead. Argh! There was a fish and a strong one to pull out my line like this. (drag was quite high). Another one that got away.

After that, it was getting late. I packed up and went for a celebratory dinner for my Tambans. :)