Kranji Reservoir

Went to Kranji in the hope of a PB or two. But alas, no luck at all. The whole stretch on the right, people were baiting until I couldn't even cast without crossing their lines. They even had the cheek to give me a dirty stare when they were breaking the rules.

On the way back, saw some sinkers hanging from the overhead cabling. O_O

For 2008

Baitfishes - lots
ACK - 1
Cencaru - 1
Gelama - few
Queen fish - 2
Todaks - 1
Threadfin - 1
Tengerri - 1 (on lure)

Kelong Info

I have been asked quite a few times. Since I am planning a trip for my friends, putting the info here for the benefit of everyone.

General Info

From Wiki
"A Kelong (sometimes spelt Kellong) is a Malay word to describe a form of offshore platform built predominantly with wood, and can be found in waters off Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, while only a handful remains around Singapore due to rapid urbanisation.

Kelongs are built by fishermen primarily for fishing purposes, although larger structures can also function as dwellings for them and their families. They are built without the need for nails, using rattan to bind tree trunks and wooden planks together. Anchored into the sea bed using wooden piles of about 20 metres in length and driven about 6 metres into the sea, they are usually sited in shallow water, although some can be found in deeper waters. Some kelongs are less isolated, and are connected to land via a wooden gangway. Other variants of Kelongs can be mobile, or may involve a large groups of Kelongs joined together into a massive offshore community."

For Sibu Kelongs, there are 4 kelongs in the region. The kelongs are situated in front of Sibu Island. Sibu Island forms a land mass to protect the kelong from the strong wind and current. From the nearest to the island to the farthest. Ah Fatt, Hotboys, Ah Ngan, Ah Yew. There is no one best. All of them got fishes, since they are like quite near to each other. Difference in the way the kelong is run, from the way you get water, kind of toilet, availability of ice, quality of food and services, comfort of the bed, other additional facilities like playstation and tv and karaoke.

Contact

1. Ah Fatt
+60197120333
http://www.kelongahfatt.com.my/

2. Hot Boys
90294229 (Singaporean owner)
97355644
or
+60197453019
http://www.kelongfishing.com/

3. Ah Ngan
+60197712879

4. Ah Yew
+60137212332

Cost

Rates seem to have gone up from the usual RM130 as of May 08. Now it is RM155/RM95.
Hotboys still $69/$38 (in Singapore dollars) [last checked on 22nd Jun 08]
There is a Jetty fee of RM4.
If you drive, there is a parking of RM4 per day. (hence, if going 2D1N, will be RM8)
Rod rental - RM25/RM35

Booking

You can just call them the day before. State how many pax going and your name. They will pick you at Tanjung Leman Jetty at 9.30am (unless due to tide or some other reasons). There may be periods when the Kelong is fully booked. But normally, it is ok. Weekdays are the best. Sometimes, you may be the only ones there.

Booking Van - Info from Eric Hui
1 Person to contact: Melvin Tay [Van 02-0127851133] Fare: S$360 return trip to Tg Leman-Sin Van condition: More space due to slightly bigger van

2 Person to contact: Wong [Van 02-0127231623] Fare: S$320 return trip to Tg Leman-Sin Van condition: Smaller van

3 When you call the above number, give them the following:

Date going (eg Sat, 6am) and returning (eg Sun, 1.30pm)
The address of the first pick up point (eg Blk xxx, Jalan XYZ)
Number of persons (if they asked)
4 Ask them their price. If they quote you higher than what is indicated above, tell them that you got this contact from a friend who has used their service before at the stated price here and try to get them to give you this price.

5 Pay in full only when back in Singapore.

6 Can get the driver to send back everyone to their homes. Maybe give a small tip for his troubles.

SOP for making the way there and back

Location and map
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=104728955432928655814.00044cd85721d64256f8d&ll=2.189523,104.038124&spn=0.144776,0.20874&t=h&z=12

From Singapore, you should head for the checkpoint at 7am. From there, it will be a 2-2.5 hr drive. There are 2 route to it. I prefer the Sedili route, it being more Ulu and country side. Nicer view. If traffic is smooth, you should reach the Jetty around 9am, in time for a leisurely breakfast. There are some small shops there selling food and clothings and cheap sibu island t-shirts. Even a small tackle shop.

Reaching there, first buy the boat ticket. Then have a coffee and ramli burger while waiting for the boatman. He will usually come around to ask which kelong you going.

From the boat, it is a half hr ride to the kelong. Normally by 10am, you should be there. You will be assigned a bed, and can start fishing. Lunch should come around shortly.

The next day, you will need to pack and get ready around 11am. Lunch should come about 12pm, and then board the boat back to the Jetty. Normally, you should set off from the Jetty about 1pm. From there, you should be able to reach home by 4pm-5pm, depending on the Jam.

Things to pack

1. 1 day change of clothes.
2. Toiletries. Soap, Shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, Towel. But no need for toilet paper. There plenty
3. Sun protection. Sun block, hats, sunglasses.
4. Icebox. You need to bring your catches home right?
5. Other stuff like books, iPod, radio, card games etc.
6. Money. On top of the fee, bring about RM100 will be more than enough for snacking and food along the way.
7. Camera!
8. PASSPORT
9. Fishing stuff

Things provided by the kelong

1. 5 meals per day, free flow of coffe/tea/water, bed. Got even canned drinks or beer if you want. There is one that even sells ice cream.
2. Ice (for keeping your fish fresh)
3. Bait (unlimited supply of sotong meat)
4. Entertainment like Mahjong/Karaoke/TV
5. Electricity. If you need to charge anything, you can. Generator is on at night. Voltage is same as Singapore. 240V.
6. Mobile network is available. You can roam from there.

Normal fishing activity

You can get fishes anytime. But the best times are in the evening 5-7pm, and early in the morning 5-7am. This is the golden period when the fishes are hungry and will usually go on a feeding frenzy. Fishing varies with the current, and water clarity. Also, the moon phase will play a part.

Things to bring for simple fishing

1. Rod
2. Reel (with lines, 15-20lbs more than enough)
3. Sabiki hooks (packets of line with 6 hooks with green and white feathers)
4. Apollo hooks (packets of line with 2 hooks)
5. Squid jig (looks like an articifical prawn with hooks at the back)
6. Float (for targetting surface fish)
7. Sinkers (size 1-2 enough)
8. Scissors and pliers
9. Misc like hooks, leaders (loose roll of transparent fishing lines), swivels
10. A icebox or stryofoam box to bring back your catches.

Things to do if not fishing

1. Play mahjong.
2. Eat and sleep and grow fat.
3. Enjoy the scenary.
4. You can request to visit Sibu Island.
5. Sun Tan.
6. Watch TV.
7. Karaoke.
8. Play Playstation.
9. Take pictures.
10. Read a book.

Safety on a kelong

1. Don't stay at a place where no one is around. Fall in the water, no one will know.
2. Don't use hands to touch any sea creature/fish that you are not familar with. A common poisonous fish is the Rabbit Fish. Always use a plier if you are not sure.
3. Don't walk bare footed. There are always loose pieces of hooks around.
4. Don't fish in the thunderstorm. Your rod is an antenna. (made of graphite)

Rakit Pulau Layang

Jess out of the blue SMSed to go JB last night for Skudai Bak Kut Teh. Even though it was a late night already, I agreed. But we were quite tired out and couldn't quite wake up that morning. Luckily we weren't too late and Jess said to wait for us.

BKT shop. Die die must try


Strange car contraption


Meeting her at Danga, we set off for the newly opened BKT shop around Skudai. It turned out that the shop belonged to her JB uncle. And truthfully, the food was indeed good. But the area was a newly developed one, so the traffic was slow.

Jess cousin asked where we heading next, and Jess hinted that I was probably looking for some fishing spots. We were told then that there was a lake behind the shop and we could go check it out.

That sounded interesting, and I was ever game to try out new areas. While Jess's car was being snow washed, we all bunked into my car and took a ride to recce the lake.

The lake looked interesting enough, but the ground was rough. My Pica had to run on undulating ground to get near the edge of the lake. Walking from there, the ground was soft and muddy. I told the rest to return to the car, and ventured out on my own to get some pics and look see.

The scenic looking lake


I just "crawled" out of the soft sands


Where are my $30 sandals!


Alamak, got swallowed again


But as an ultimate hint of my being overweight, I walked into a soft sandy muddy patch and my entire leg sank into the soft mud. Attempting to lift myself off the ground with my other leg, it too sank into the soft mud. There I was, practically swallowed into the ground up to my knee level. Shawn came over to help and took my camera from me. With a stick that he handed to me, I tried to free myself from the predicament. I realized that I couldn't lift my feet up with my sandals still attached, and had to leave them stuck in the mud to move my leg out of the ground. With my hands, I managed to crawled away from the "quick sandy" area and free myself. Now sandaless, I walked away from the area and found myself sinking into another patch. But luckily, the ground here was not as bad and I eventually cleared away from the danger area. Now my legs were entirely encrusted with mud. Good thing that I had water in the car for washing.

So despite my valiant attempt, I couldn't manage to get near to see the lake after all. There were no other way in and with no choice, we decided to head for some shopping.

I suggested TESCO, somewhere in the Seri Alam area. I was comtemplating to bring them to visit Rakit Layang or not but left the decision till later, pending the weather. From TESCO, Rakit Layang would be quite near.

But due to some freak coincidence, my GPS couldn't power up. Therefore, I had to depend on Jess's phone to do the navigating. And then due to some aweful luck, Jess's phone ran out of battery juice. Therefore, we were entirely GPSless that day, and had to rely on plain old memory for remembering the way.

Luckily the route to TESCO was quite simple, with ample signage on the way. From there with some simple shopping and a much needed coffee, we decided to head for Rakit Layang. In my heart, I was thinking that the fishing would be quite bad, and may end up being a boring activity. But Shawn was keen, and off we went.

Reaching there, the wind was strong and the water choppy. There was a slight drizzle. All signs of bad fishing day. I decided to try out the other floating farm, and called someone by the name of Wak Ju.

Lots of folks today






Hmm..saw some fishing people alighting from this floating platform


Beware of cats


Practically the full view of the Rakit


The toilet


Boat came to pick up and off we go. This farm was further away from the Salleh one. When we set eyes on it, we were quite disappointed. In terms of facility, this was a far cry from the usual Salleh farm. There was only a small shelter, and the place was a shamble. But talking to the people, apparently there were fishes. We checked out the icebox of the various group and saw brimful of various good catches. Wow, I was impressed. But an uncle told us that we missed the fishing window, and that time wasn't a good one. Fishes all gone.

First Tamban, by Shawn


I too got a string of catches


Shawn on a roll


This lucky chap got a Queen


Jess doing weight lifting


Rare catch!


So shiny


A demonstrating her DIY rod


Which GOT a fish


And kept our mouths shut


Plentiful of catches by others






Nevertheless, I rigged up 2 tamban jig. One for Shawn and one for me. While Shawn set off fishing and I was setting up the other, Shawn got some catches of tambans. I thot I saw it wrongly, but they were really Tambans. And Selars and Kekeh. There was something very strange about this place, as I thot it was more of a river kind of water. Later someone else also caught a small Queenfish. Wasn't that fantastic or what?

We jigged for about 2 and half hours and in that period, caught a total of 90 bait fishes. Not bad, I would say. Shawn even had a very good catch of a small ribbon on his jig. :)

Around 6pm, we left the place. I didn't want to return too late, due to the darkening sky. That stretch of road wasn't too safe to drive in the dark. From there, we headed for Permas Jaya for a good dinner, and then to the checkpoint. But to our horrors, queue to checkpoint was a longish jam, and the lorry checkpoint wasn't open. I decided to lead the convoy towards 2nd link. It was a much better choice, and traffic was smooth as anything.

All our catches for 2008

Last Fish of the Year

We wanted to catch the fireworks for the new year. Since the celebration was at Vivocity, the idea was to try to get a glimpse of it from Lab Park. We got there around 8.30pm and by then, the car parks were already full. Apparently, everyone else also had the same bright idea. In fact at the pavilion, the atmosphere was carnival like, with children running all over the place.



I brought along my rods and set it up with a grub. The plan was to do some luring until the final countdown. But the fishing area, were all fully occupied in one long row. I managed to squeeze myself between 2 surfcasters again, the trick being not to cross their lines. The tide was quite low but I couldn't move down the rocks to cast as it was very slippery and dangerous. Luckily, the person on my left moved away and I have a wider casting angle. I must had been doing at the rate of 3 cast per minute, and had gone on for one and half hours. That should put me somewhere between 270 casts for tonight.



Grub finally got stuck in the rocks, and I had to snap the line. Next change was to my trusty crystal minnow. And first cast from this fellow, the line came back with something vibrating like a broken portable massager. I was quite puzzled at first but on closer look, I realised I got a fish. A very small mudskipper. That must had been some record. To think that a fellow that small would go for a lure that big. Having gotten this, nothing else is impossible. I unhooked the tiny fellow and released it.

Feeling all re-engerised, I made a couple hundred more cast. But nothing else was biting till the countdown. Still, I was glad that I wasn't going back empty handed. A fish is still a fish.



The countdown was over as soon as it started. No loud shouting of 8,7,6....etc. All I knew was suddenly, there were fireworks in the sky. But the viewing angle was bad as it was mostly blocked by an island in between. The fireworks were over in 5 minutes. Quite a disappointment for all of us.



After that, everyone was scrambling to get out of the area. Needless to say, leading to a huge jam on the way out. We had to wait in the car for about an hour before the traffic cleared.

Dragon Tooth Gate

What eating too much candy will do to your tooth


I hadn't really try out the new Lab Park Extension during the day, and decided to swing by. But reaching there, people was jammed packed with people, and scorching hot. The new extension was pretty shelterless, and hence I walked a little down the towards the old park.

I managed to find a little spot between two surfcasters just at the Dragon Tooth Gate sculpture, and did some fishing with prawn meat. But totally zero bites at all. And also nothing despite downsizing my hooks all the way to size 8. The terrain here also very trickly. Throw too near, sangkot as there are lots of rocks just in front of the railings. So need to cast far. Water was choppy and I couldn't feel any bites throughout the afternoon. But I spied some small todaks jumping around the water, which was a good sign. Water was quite clear too.

Actually a nice luring spot, standing on the rock


After a while, surfcaster on the right left. I decided to do some luring. So climbed over the railings and stood on the rock for some casting. First cast, saw a todak following my lure. Quite encouraging. But after that, cast and cast and nothing was biting.

The weather took a sudden turn, and started raining cats and dogs. I hardly had time to pack, and we were all soaked to the skin. But the children found it fun and was quite an experience.

*Sigh* Another fishless day.

LPR Ranger

Mr Ranger in green


Just went for a quiet Xmas afternoon in the park. Naturally, I took out my rod for some casting exercise. This place had not been very productive, having only caught 2 Tomans here before. But the terrain was quite flat and shallow with no weeds and hiding place ie. Not likely to have fish.

I played cheat a little and went to the further end for casting, slightly beyond the legal grounds. There the water deeper and had better chance. But along came the Ranger and asked to see my lure (was using a grub). He must have took that I was using live bait. Seeing that it was a plastic thingy, he just gave me a warning politely and asked me to fish within the legal area OR else will book me. I gingerly obeyed, relieved that he didn't give me a ticket.

A group of family with some noisey kids came along and saw me fishing just outside the signboard. Little boy turned around and scowled at me saying "You break the rules!". Yeah yeah...>:(

Merry Xmas Mr Cat

I had planned to head for Ubin Jetty to do a spot of light fishing. But alas, I had a prior meeting that ended a little late. By the time I got to changi, it was already about 8pm. Ferry to Ubin not likely to be still operating. No choice. Decided then to head for BJT, our famous fishing/blading jetty.

It had been almost 2 years full cycle, when all this fishing craze started within me. I was here end of 2005, doing a countdown when I noticed everyone fishing. Someone had gotten an octopus, and I found it quite relaxing and interesting. Today, I wasn't too sure if it would be packed due to the Xmas hols. When I reached there, it was indeed very crowded. But I was lucky to find an open spot, quite near the far end.

But I was absent minded and forgot to buy batteries for my pump. Without that, my live prawns didn't have long to live. Not much of an option, but to use them until they run out of breath and keel over.

Tide was coming up and the weather was unusually nice. We chanced upon our Pica Frnz, Su and Isham. They were camping there overnight along the beach near the toilet area. We chatted a little and I jokingly said to bring my catches for them to bbq. But at that time, still nothing yet.





However, shortly after they left, I got a bite and managed to hook it. Up came a 500-800g Duri that was quite strong for its size. It even managed to spool out my line a little from my Zauber. Not a very good catch, but still Duris are a lot better than the other slimy variety.

After that, I had quite a few dull taps, but couldn't quite get the fishes. It appeared that those at the bottom of the jetty were quite clever, and would just bite at the edge of the bait. Every so often, I would bring up the bait with just the frontal part or the back part nibbled off.

Around 1pm, I ran out of prawns and A and D were already quite tired. We packed and called it a night. I looked for Su and Isham to give them the fish, but couldn't find them anyway near the shore. There were too many campers to single them out.

Recce - Spot at Lor Halus

I had very much wanted to fish today, given that I had not done so for the long weekends. But the tide was unfavourable. The weather was hot and being the afternoon, I didn't want to get scorched by the sun. I drove around and decided to visit the old charcoal factory. The last time there, some shade was possible. However reaching there, water was low like anything. Though I fished for a little while, I gave up. It was just not worth the time. Furthermore, someone else was wakeboarding in the dirty river.





I drove around with my GPS, and chanced upon a possible spot. A few people were fishing there. But the ground was rough, and I had to bash into some forestation to get there. Being lowtide, fishing seemed crazy at that time too.

New Stuff - Boga and Old School Crystal Minnow

I had lost this sometime back and never could find a replacement anywhere else. This was the one that got me my first decent catch of a ribbon at Changi waters. Finally found this at the new tackle shop at Yishun 731. Lure is the old design, with the flat mirror surface. The new ones got all the serrated finishing. Was thinking to buy or not, but since hard to find, got it at about $10.



Also saw that the boga was very cheap at $13, and finally bought my first ever boga. Boga is useful for the weighing mechanism, and not so much for lip gripping the fish. For gripping the fish, a normal plier would do. With the weigh, one could adjust the drag more accurately.

New Stuff - Jigs

Was at Fisherman that day and had gotten some jigs. (Well, I had recently bought a jigging rod, hadn't I?). It was timely to start collecting some jigs. It might just come in handy soon.

Featured here also a jig I got a month back. Duel Salty Rubber. Tried in Kelong but yielded nothing.

Yozuri Blanka 40g




Duel Tamentai 28g




Salty Rubber 40g