KFC - Hit By Double Silver Bullets

Waking up early this morning, Pat and I visited the famous river. Getting there was not so easy, but after some monkey swings and leopard crawls, we arrived at the location in the dark. Setting up our gear was getting quite challenging but after some fumblings with our touchlights, we managed to start our first cast before the sun comes up.

But after 10 cast or so, nothing was biting yet. I was at the rocky area doing when Pat suddenly came behind me like a ghost and showed me his first big catch of a PB. It was his biggest so far. Strange that I didn't hear any splashes but he said it was so noisy. Hmm, the sound might have been blocked by the big tree in between us.

For me, nothing was biting my furry friend and I was starting to wonder about this location when something swooped up and hit the fly with a mighty force. My braided lines were peeling off and when the fish got close, it was another surprise of a Sebarau. Woot woot. This is my 2nd in such a short time. And bigger this time. Again congratulary rounds of photo takings for the sweet memories and then Sebarau went back home.

Pat went further up the river and missed a strong take. I saw him bending back to form a nice arc with his rod. I was about to take out my camera to video it when the fish was lost. From the initial fight, it was definitely a prize one. Too bad.

Next fish for me was a PB. Although not big, this fellow was in the prime of health and gave me a thumping good fight. After that, things started to quieten down after that. This morning, the river was rather still and the water not flowing. That might have affected the catch rate.

Times was almost up when my final few cast got on to a solid take again. This time, my reel again sung as the lines peeled out. It was noticably longer and the fish fought harder. Fish went left and right. When it surfaced, I was elated to see another silvery bullet. This one was the biggest and a beautiful specimen with a clear black mark cover the silvery scales. I tire it out and then it was hoisted to the grassy ground for photo taking. My biggest ever.

Although not very high catch rate here today, but the quality of the catch was remarkable. Good morning exercise for me and Pat. After that, it was to the SHH coffee shop. Indeed the aroma of the coffee there is better. AFter a decent breakfast and chit chat about the fruitful morning, we went home after a beautiful start to the day.

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KFC - My Birthday Present

Looks very NZ isn't it?

We almost didn't go this trip as ZW wasn't sure if the trip was confirmed. SMS was sent to me at 12am to ask if the trip was on. But that time, I was already in ZZ land and only woke up to check for time at 1am. That was when I saw the message. That morning, seeing no reply to my SMS wake up call, I called in only to find him sleepily on the other side of the phone. "Trip is on", I said. With that, he hastily got his things together and came around to pick me.

First PB that fell for my shrimpy

He was so hasty that when we reached the location, he discovered that he had forgotten his reel. Alamak! Therefore he ended becoming my fishing ahmad and helped me with my photo shooting. It was still quite dark when we arrived. To our surprise, the spot seemed very quiet and still and there wasn't any disturbance on the water that would excite us. I tried around a few places and didn't get any reaction. But thinking that the place near the canal would be best, we parked ourselves at that area to keep casting.

This one has a golden sheen

How to look cool while fighting a fish

Unusual greyish tone PB



The sun keep came up quite shortly and soon it was bright as day. Quite a number of early morning joggers came by and there was even a woman sitting there meditating. Then, we saw some fly fishermen coming to our location. I recognised one of them from my last trip to NSLK. But this bunch were rather experienced and only a few cast later, they had big splashes on the water. I was impressed and tried to edge nearer to them to get to the fishing zone where they got the fishes. But actually that didn't matter. It seemed that the PBs all just woke up and started coming out for breakfast. I soon started to hit on one after another all over, as good as the fly fishermen were doing. PBs here are no smallies, and quite a number are of decent size.

Ho Ho...I finally got you!

Hee Hee...Hee...Hee...

It felt like holding a pure silver ingot

When are you done with the photos? Asked the Sebby

I was doing like about 6 PBs already when my next fish hit on my shrimpy fly and pulled out my reel for a few seconds. Wow, that was certainly a fish on steriods. To my surprise then, when it surfaced, it had the characteristc black mark on the centre of the boday over its silvery gleaming scales. It was a Sebarau! I had quite a bit of difficulty to land it as it's thrashing was quite uncontrollable and I was most fearful of losing the prize catch of a lifetime. Seeing the danger, I quickly held on to the leader and lifted the fish up high on the ground away from the water. It was securely landed. Gleaming gleefully, I couldn't believe my good luck that I had finally had this rare specimen of a catch in Singapore waters. This was the best birthday present I have had. "Take a few more pics!", I told ZW. It was definitely not an everyday reservoir catch.

Last one for the road

AR, the fly fishermen that I recognised came over to talk to me and fish along side after that. He finally recalled seeing me at NSLK few weeks back. It was fun to make new friends when one goes fishing. We have a common goal and that is what make us ticked together.

I totalled 9 fishes that morning before I decided to leave. It was certainly an exhilarating morning. Well worth all the trouble to wake up early and deprive ourselves of our warm beds. Every once a while if you try hard enough, you would be rewarded with a catch to remember for a lifetime. This is just a moment. More stories for my grandchildren and my fishing buddies. ZW was so full of regret that he had forgotten his reel. However with results like this, we will be back.

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