Giant Squid Attack & SW Luring - Ah Fatt Kelong

I had not been able to join Eric for his previous 2 kelong trips, and we decided to do one come August. Last Sunday, I got the message that we would go on National Day itself. I replied, "ONZ".

However, it was expected that the kelong would be packed, and we would definitely encounter the infamous causeway jam. So, I made plans to go over as early as 6am, in order to try avoid it. But alas, as we drove from our home in Marsiling just before 6am, we already were joining a long queue to the checkpoint. But luckily, I was able to clear it within half an hour. But Eric's group wasn't so lucky. I was sure they got the jam full force.

That day, I was feeling under the weather. Just 2 days ago, I had a staff down with flu. As I had spoken with him quite often, I felt myself catching the flu. It started with a sore throat, a dry cough. I tried to self medicate by drinking lots of water. However, on Wednesday, though I wasn't too sick, I wasn't feeling too good either. To make matter worse, I had to go for boat fishing after Kelong trip. Stressed!

So on the drive up from the checkpoint, I had to visit the Loo often. Along the way, I detoured to Kota Tinggi to find a restroom. Because of that, we actually made it to Leman Jetty around 9.20am, via the Sedili way. But we were still early compared to Eric's group. But they weren't too late, and arrived around 10am. I got meet Ann's husband, also Eric, for the first time.

Machiam wedding dinner


The boat had to alight some passengers at hotboys, and we found to our dismay, that hotboy's was quite empty. On reaching Ah Fatt, kelong was packed to the brim, with the kelong in danger of tilting over. Eric even commented that that was the most people he had ever seen in a kelong. For a veteran like him, that was saying something.

Rods all over


We fixed up our rods, and proceeded to start jigging for bait fishes. But again, Tamban were quite sparse. In fact, I only caught 1 for the whole trip. But I was getting lots of KeKe (Pony Fishes), which I casted some out for live baiting. I was also pulling up Emperors on Tamban Jig without bait. Strangely, the usual "Orange" fish was not abundant this time. Todaks also took a back seat, although some were around. A cast out a float rig for them, and there were some runs, but it was far between. Live baiting totally no action, and live bait came back still intact. No big fishes were also sighted. Current was strong, as this was a new moon. And wonderfully, weather was just superb. There was an inkling of rain, but the rain never did come, and the weather remained cool and windy, just nice for a day of fishing.

Inconsiderate neighbours behind.


However this trip, I was highly irritated with the amount of ciggie smoke all around. As we were bunked almost right in the middle of the kelong. The wind brings us whiffing all the smoke. Fishing folks seem to relate relaxing fishing with smoking at the same time. With my challenged respiratory condition, the smoke really made my breathing very laboured, and I coughed quite persistently.

Fishing also was quite a difficult affair, as there were rods all over. There were lots of time spent on unravelling tangles and crossed lines. Seeing the condition, I attempted to try squid jiggin in the day. I took out my trusty shrimp hunter, and went around the kelong dropping my jig to test water.



Ann was first to hit something of interest: a very huge Emperor. I hurriedly took a pic, but unfortunately, her eyes were closed. :P

"Giant" Squid attack


Eric posing with "Giant" Squid


For myself, lo and behold, what luck I had. At one corner of the kelong, something took my jig ferociously and started peeling out my lines on my Zauber. First I thought, sangkat...but no, it was liftable. Then I thought, maybe a fish took it. The fight wasn't like any whimpy strike of a small sotong. My rod was doing a U bend and I fought hard to pull the thing up. It was a joyous sight when it broke surface. It was indeed a squid, and a giant one at that. I took my squid back to our quarters for some photo. Eric saw it and was amazed at my squidding skills. Unfortunately, Ann, Ann's husband and Eric's Dad did not get to see it. Everyone on the kelong also was very impressed with my lucky haul. I thought I saw some folks proceeded to squid thereafter. :). But after that, no more luck. But then again, I didn't try very hard as I went back to Tamban jigging and all.

Fearful children of night "Giant" Squid


So that was my lucky strike #1. Soon it was evening, and Eric prepared for parang hunting. I asked him to informed me if there were parangs around, as I had not been very productive with this and wanted to try more. But before that, I went around with my Yozuri again, and dropped my jig all over. And once more, I got lucky. Another strike, and again, no small fellow. It was about as big as the first one. This was at the far corner of the kelong. On my way back with the caught, everyone was shocked at the size of the sotong once again. I think from then on, I must have become the "sotong king" for that trip.

Eric and his parang


This time round, the kids saw it, as well as Eric and Ann's husband. After photo taking, Eric said that he had gotten some parangs. His Dad was in the midst of an action, and he was videoing it. But unfortunately, it dropped on the way up. Eric took over, and managed to get a strike on another parang. Wow, this luring thing was definitely working. I immediately consulted him on the rig, and took out my newly acquired pin minnow and started to setup. I did a few cast, and gosh, the action was very good at one of the corner. I thought the hit rate was like 1 strike for every 5 cast. Very very effective.

Small Barra on lure


My first haul was a tiny barra. The strike from them was much lighter. I got a few strikes on parang as well. The strength of the load, was definitely indicative of a parang. But first 2, I didn't get the chance to see it. It head shaked it way out of the lure. The next one, I saw it did an aerial jump, and that was the end. The last one, I already got it under the kelong. Started hauling it up, and it wiggled free. How frustrating!!?



Around the late night, there was a sudden splurge of fireworks from HotBoys, presumably to celebrate our National Day.

So, for all my efforts, I only managed to get 6-7 small barras on the pin-minnow. But one wrong cast saw my pinny hit the roof and flew off. Argh. I tried to replace it was my red-head rapala. The trick seems to be the shiny surface. I did get a tap but that was it. Another cast, I was luring back, and suddenly the line went limp. Line broken at the swivel end. The barrel weight was quite nasty on the line on the swivel. That might have caused it to break. I next changed to my under used lucky craft darter. I thought that looked a little like the pin minnow. And I got a strike and up came a small barra. I was really tired by then, being almost 12am. I decided I really need to sleep and unfortunately had to leave the parang hunt till the next morning.

Our inconsiderate neighbour was playing mahjong and smoking their lungs away just next to the sleeping kids. I really quite irritated with them. A went over and asked them to move to another place, as the kids were coughing and having difficulty sleeping. Surprisingly, they immediately snubbed out their ciggies and stopped the game. After that, the air was much fresher, and I managed to catch some shut eye.

Badly taken pic of my 2 footer Barra


Very soon, it was morning again. I woke up around 6am after some desparately needed sleep. I took out my crystal minnow and went around casting for parangs. At one far corner, I got a lucky strike, and dragged up a wiggling 2 footer barra. This trip, I seemed only to attract barras. Interestingly, I could lure without any wire and the barras couldn't cut off. Seemed that the lure itself protects the line from being cut.

Next morning 1st small sotong


Next morning 2nd small sotong


After that, it was already bright, and luring stop being effective. I went back to squidding and got lucky again. But this time, I was using my 2.5 inch shrimp hunter, and only managed a smaller sotong. 3 minutes later, I hauled up another one. A was pretty excited and passed the rod to her for trying. And she hitted another one within another 3 minutes. What a good catch rate. Unfortunately, after the 3rd sotong, the action stopped.

Bottom fishing yielded nothing. Even small hooks with sotong baits were not taken. The fishes must had changed location. Live baiting also no result. I decided to clear up the stuff and packed early.

Overall, this trip was my most successful salt water luring ever. Coupled with the lucky haul of sotongs, surely a most memorable one. :)

So tired.


Eric with nice fish. (Blue and Gold Fusilier)
http://www.fishbase.se/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=918


Small fish in Parang stomach. Looked EXACTLY like the pin minnow!


Eric's catches on Lure


A big selar on Jig. The other groups caught quite a few this size also.


The children having fun "torturing" the fishes. I scolded them, but they retorted, die already..>:(


Mahjong was more hot than fishing


The fruitful luring spot


Innovative Bait Well


This guy was featured in Rod&Line before


Beautiful Kelong skies


Big Selar


Beautiful fish


My fish my fish!


The fishes tremble in fear when these 2 fish :)


I caught bucketful of these. (Ponyfish)


This is a Kembong, said Eric


I love kelong food. (actually, this trip, the food was quite bad)

Small fish action - Lab Park

I think today I solved a great mystery of life. That of: What has been eating my bait in Lab Park when I go there fishing, before getting my lines snagged in the merciless rocks. After D swimming lessons, tide was a good timing at about 2.30pm. So natuarlly, good for an afternoon spot of fishing. But the problem was (and a big one), it would be too darn hot. Lab Park seems to fit the bill for a shady and comfortable place. Only if I don't get snagged, that is.



Reaching there at around 11.30am, the rocks were all exposed. I thought of fishing near at the Park end, near to the Jetty. From the low water, there was a section where the rocks were quite sparse. From that angle, I could cast near to the Jetty at the mid section. Also from the low water, I could see where the algaes were growing. Not a bad place I would say.





I rigged up a size 8, small hook apollo and baited with some prawn meat from yesterday's leftovers. First cast, already got bites. But pulling up the lines, baits all gone. I did some experiment, and I found that the baits were eaten up in 10-20 secs flat after the rig hit the water. That was some mightly fast action. My suspicions were that there must be very small fishes that were doing that. I changed the rig to a size 3 tamban jig, and baited with prawn meat again. This time round, same bites, but I managed to catch the culprit. Pulling up the line, a Wrasse. I was to go on to get a few more, 1 of which was a fairly big one (Seagrass Tuskfish). No wonder I couldn't even get these fellows on a size 8 hook. Their mouths were super tiny, and even a size 8 wouldn't fit.



I also did a spot of experimentation with grubs. With my apollo rig, I pinched 2 white grubs on it and lure it back and forth. But unfortunately, nothing at all.



At the end of the session, I counted 6 in total. I also got a silvery fish, but the lead weight got snagged at the sea wall. I yanked it free, but the fish fell off and dropped on the sea wall to roll back to the sea. Lucky bugger. Couldn't quite ID the fish, but it looked like a Gelema.





Andrew gave a tinkle and asked to go for Shermaine's WuShu competition at Toa Payoh. We packed and met him there. There was a drinks machine featuring a "mystery" drink. My curiosity was piqued, and I slotted coins for one. Out came a Marinda Orange. :)



Wushu comp was interesting, and there was an outstanding girl that scored 9.5/10. Fantastic. Another highlight was a tiny boy (Looked P3), and he did a very impressive combo of Kungfu stance. I think he scored like 8 or there about.

Recce - Helipad

Golf course


Cafe


I had read about this secret fishing spot, known as the Helipad at Tanjong Rhu. It was also notorious for a Gay hangout, sometimes known as the Gay beach. I think this was about the only spot that I had not discovered in Singapore. After some digging around, here was what I found. For people driving there, the car could park at the golf course near to it ie Marina Golf Course. Of cos, I had not been there before, since I not into golfing. But this was a driving range. So, it was quite a good find to enter the Golf Course and find that one could just drive in like this. There wasn't any security post requiring to see membership card. Parking was convenient and free, and there was even a cafe for a quick drink and bite.

Barricaded


Barricaded


But luck was not with me. All around the golf course, the place was closed for construction so tightly that there was totally no way to walk in. We tried a few entry points, but all were barricaded by metal fences. I even went round the condo at Tanjong Rhu, but there was just no possible way. The way via East Coast Park, I hadn't tried. But given the zestlessness of the lock down, I wouldn't be surprised that it was covered as well.

Nice fishing spot. Problem is..where to park?


Here also barricaded


But the exploration brought me to realize that just round the condo, it was quite a nice spot for fishing. Difficult thing was the Parking: all double yellow lines around. Another thing was that now the water quality would be quite bad. Not likely to have many fishes here anymore due to the construction work to dam up the whole place and turn it into a fresh water reservoir. Well, in future, this might just be a good spot for PBs.

No fishing


I gave up on the attempt to touch down on the Helipad, and moved away to CV for dinner. Along the way, while crossing the bridge, I saw quite a school of small fishes nibbling at the rocks. (I think they were mullets). Tempted, I rigged up my rod with small hooks and got some prawn meat. But it wasn't effective. I think mullets don't go for prawn meat. Then A pointed out that there was no fishing allowed. Quite surprised, and I looked and it was true. There were No Fishing signs on both sides of the bank. Darn, another spot gone. I gave up and packed, and then proceeded for dinner. Why why why?

Fishing at Sg Tepi

Firefly trip

BaitLess Fishing - Six Pipes

I was clearing leave today with work kind of slow in the office. The plan was to hit Six pipes for an early morning fishing and then back home, and perhaps visit the firefly cruise that night. So after dropping the kids off to school, we popped a coupon and headed down to Changi V to get baits.

But unfortunately, all the tackle shops were closed. Even the market also not opened. Without much choice, I decided to try Six pipes anyway, baitless.

We reached there after getting food from CV around 8.30am. Tide was really really low, so much so that I think it is only maybe 2 feet deep. But weather was just beautiful, nice and cool. I rigged a tamban jig and dropped it in the water. But it couldn't even stretch the full height of the leader. I cast it out then hoping to have luck on the retrieve. The water was on the coming in, and gradually got deeper. A man was casting net. But we all know that it was quite a fruitless time to be fishing. But nevertheless, I cast and cast, and kept trying.





So, it was my lucky day, when something took the jig. It fought a little, and out came a nice grunter. Not big, but good enough for me that morning. The fishes seemed to be coming in then. Not long after, I got another small fish. (glass?). But at 9.30am, the sun started coming out. I thot it was enough and packed.

Not too bad for a baitless, lowtide morning trip :)

Where the Fish? - LPR

Just went to LPR for a after lunch picnic. Didn't quite expect anything. Reaching there, weather was the "after the rain" sort. Field all muddy. I had never seen any PBs here, and today was no exception. The other catches I got were 2 tomans there some time ago.

Few people were there fishing as well. But the place was generally quite quiet. I cast about 20 times, and I gave up. Really like quite a bad spot for fishing here. Water quite shallow. No cover for fishes. So, the attempt was like quite fruitless.



There was an interesting episode of a bunch of monkeys coming down from the forest to steal the loaf of bread from the uncle beside me. When his back was turned, the leader rushed in and grabbed the bread and ran away. Man managed to chase after the monkeys to get his bread back. Quite funny actually.

Monkey came back and tried to target our bags. We had some fruits and durians that we brought to LPR. I took my rod and cast my lure at them to frighten them away. It worked and all scramble out of the path. Instead of fishing, I could have done luring for monkey :) If I really wanted, I believe should have been able to hit them. Might be fun. >:|.

Fishing the Low Tide - Six Pipes

It had been quite a boring day. I had to wait till 3pm before I could drive out with the car. But tide timing was quite wrong, and then was about the bottom of the low tide. I went Changi V for a quick bite, and to top up some fishing stuff. Driving towards east, since D wanted to cycle, we stop by Six pipes.

By the time we were there, the weather was already into the cool evening. After all, it was raining mostly in the afternoon. We picked a spot near some group of Malays and a chinese uncle. Chinese uncle packed up and left after a while. The place at that time was ready very nice for fishing, no hot sun and all that.

Since it was low tide, the pipes were all exposed. However, the water was still quite deep, as the jetty led out a distance from the beach, although not as long as Betty Jetty. I rigged up an apollo with small tiny hooks meant for whitings on prawn meat. That proved to be was quite a successful strategy for that time.





First cast, and I immediately got a hit with an spangled emperor. That lifted my confidence, and the fishing was looking not too bad. Few more cast, I had some bites, but no hook up. Then there was another catch of a tiny Pasir2.



15 minutes into the fishing, I got strong take, and even my line was pulling out of my Zauber a little. The fish surfaced and from the distance, it looked like a sicklefish. I was delighted, but on closer look, it was a very good sized Wahbee. (Silver Biddy). I had never seen a Silver biddy that big. So, it was really a good catch.

By then, the group of Malays were quite impressed and began chatting with me. One of them had earlier on had a catch of a good size Duri, and I helped him to remove the hook. After that, we were all quite friendly. I peeped into their pool of catches, and there were 2 1kg+ duri and some small catches of snappers and others.



I next got another good take with a strong pull. When it broke the surface, it was a small stingray. I snapped some pics and released it. They were all quite surprise that I would put it back. But it was a baby, and I thot the good thing to do was to let it go.



Fly past rehearsal during the fishing


After that, another Pasir2, and then that was it. Malay group had a very good catch of a Golden Trevally on Tamban Jig. Luckily I didn't comment on why they were using tamban jig. Quite a surprise that they were actually catching fishes by leaving it there.

My last catch was some branches, and since I had to go out with TC for another session, we packed and bidded the Malays goodbyes. From the looks of it, they would be camping there overnight.

TC came to pick me at 10pm and off we went to Ponggol Jetty to try out for squid. From my research, I "discoverd" that PJ was a squidding spot. Reaching there, I was quite shocked that the Jetty was filled with lots of people. There was even a big group right at the right end, completed with a ground sheet as a shelter. We picked a spot facing the bright light from the police spot shining into the water.

The water was clear, and from the strong MH light, we could see all the way to the bottom right to half the length of the Jetty itself. We rigged up and went about trying to hit some squids. But alas, the action wasn't there. Moved the jig left and right but nothing was touching it. I was using the Yamashita that I had just bought. Thinking to try some bottom fishing too, as I had some remaining prawn meat with me. I left the squidding rod with the squid jig in the water, and went about tying up an apollo at the lighted area, next to the police post. Not bad at all. There was even a table to work on :P.



After throwing out the line, I went back to attend to the squidding rod. When I reeled up the line, I thot that my jig had collected some rubbish at the end. Bringing it up halfway, I realized that it was in fact a very small squid. I let out a yell and happily landed the squid. Wanting to take some pics, I brought it to the lighted area. But the squid unsuspecting fired a load of water at me and caught me head on. Good thing I think it ran out of ink. (probably been caught for a while already). TC came over and snapped some photos, right next to the police post signage.

After a while, TC got bored and decided to call it a day. As my last attempt, I spied a mud crab crawling around the bottom and heading my way. I purposely located my squid jig on its path and when it went over it, I gave a jerk. Jig caught the crab squarely under it belly, and I managed to lift the crab out of the water. But alas, crab was too heavy and dropped back midway. Some folks saw it and gave a shout. At least I had witness. After that, I packed and we were out of the place around 12am. I thought that it was a promising place, except that perhaps the place was too noisy and crowded today, hence squids all hiding.

New Stuff - Yozuri squid jig

I mistaken this for a Yamashita, as they were laid side by side at the tackle shop. Only realized that it was a Yozuri upon closer examination. Not sure how this compare to the Shrimp Hunter series. But it did get me a tiny squid at PJ.



Also got myself a bigger sized white grub for more "shaky worms" experimentation.

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. :)

Recce - RSYC

Not exactly a recce trip. But we were headed for lunch, led by a colleague. It was amazing how hidden this place is. Right in between the PSA containers and the old Macdonalds at West Coast, there was this marina.

I didn't think they would allow fishing here. A quick check on the water saw some schools of half beaks. Water was quite dirty due to the proximity to the big boats. But given the little fishing pressure here, it might be productive.

Lunch was not too bad, and quite inexpensive. Shall be back again.







Father & Son boat...how touching.

Miserable tryout again at Lab Park

I was hoping for a more fruitful trip, this being my 3rd attempt. But still, the grub was not working. There were less snags this time, as I retrieved it fairly quickly after the lure sank and hit the bottom. But tide timing was not too good. The water was already receding. I tried for a while and gave up. Things were definitely not lookin up. :(