Log VI - Captain Q Junior

As the title has said it all, this little fella joined me for the first time for our boat fishing trip.

He had been fishing with me since he was 2 years old, mostly at the kelong though. This time would be a good opportunity to see whether he would get sea sick. I did not want to go far so our first spot was somewhere before reaching Pulau Tekong. I heard it was the Chermin season and that spot apparently is a good spot for this species.

There were a lot of sea birds hovering over that area when we arrived. It seemed like there was potential and we dropped our lines quickly. It was not long before we got our first catch. It was not a Chermin though, it was a catfish. The second one followed not long after, then another, and another. All the boats around us were also catching this slimy fish, so I decided to move on.  The only fish out of the norm was a sizable Chao Xi. Furthermore, it was quite windy at that area and Junior was getting a bit uncomfortable.

We moved on to our second spot near Pulau Ketam. I chose this spot was because it has the calmest water in that area. I suppose that may improve Junior's seasickness. It really did help and with the new found energy back in him, he was asking to go on shore. Since there were also a few female anglers on board looking desperately for a place to relief themselves, I decided to land the boat on a small beach at Pulau Ubin.

After running around the beach for a while, Junior was satisfied and return to his steering wheel. I decided to test his endurance at more choppy waters again since he looked fine now. After we reached the spot, the water was even more choppy than the first one we went to but Junior seemed to handle it well. Looks like he had leveled up on his endurance already after the morning experience.

The bites were slowed, we caught a couple of small groupers, some were released and some were kept. A deep sea bass was also landed. I decided to try my luck as for the past whole day, I was busy taking care of Junior, tying knots and stuff for the beginners on board. It took only about 10 minutes before I landed a reasonable size Golden Snapper at around 2kg.

 

We decided to call it a day after that. And when we reached the marina, a surprise was waiting for me. After the boat was lifted up to be stored on the dry dock, we discovered these.

 

The propeller was chipped off and the fin was broken too! I suspect it was due to landing on Pulau Ubin beach that caused this. It was an expensive lesson learned but yet a wonderful experience as Junior seemed to be enjoying his first day out at sea with Captain Q.

Observation Beta - Pekan

For those anglers who had been to Pekan before, they would know that the river mouth to the sea is unique. It requires certain level of boating skills and knowledge of the place to get out from the river mouth to the open sea safely. When to increase the throttle and which direction to steer is crucial for a safe and fast ride out of the danger zone. So this time round, other than just sitting there trying not to let my butt slammed on the seat too hard, I was also observing carefully how the captain manuveured and controlled the boat.

Other than the skills of the captain, the design of the boat and the power of the engine played an important role in tackling this tricky river mouth situation. The hull has to be able to cut waves, and the bow has to be high enough so that water will not rush in after the boat slams back down into the water after riding a huge wave. The power of the engine is critical to bulldoze the boat against the incoming waves and also to slice through the waves faster, thus reducing the time spent in the risky waters.

From the fact that I was writing this, the captain had managed to bring us back safe and sound from a wonderful trip. First day was fun with lots of squid and small fish actions. I had also learnt how to catch trigger fish which is one of the hardest fish to land. They can grow to quite a reasonable size and strong enough to pull drag out of a light setup. But its mouth is as small as of a selar! This created a challenging task for us for trying to make it our dinner. We only managed to catch two but we were satisfied as the amount was just nice for four hungry stomachs.

We also landed three mackerals which we sashimi half of one of them together with two giant selars for our appetitizer. This dish was prepared in a Chinese style rather than Japanese. Everytime I introduced this to my fellow anglers, they would always enjoy it. Wonder how it tasted like and how it was done? Simply join me on one of my fishing trips and hope that we can catch something that is fit to be eaten raw.

Second day of the trip consisted of mixed feelings. The waves were bloody high at an average of 1.5 metres. Higher ones were easily over 2 metres! This was something not so favourable for such a small boat that we took. It also made casting out of the question, so my popping rod was just out for a ride to catch some sea salt. But the consolation was that we managed to land the biggest Chermin based on my personal record to date. This bugger tipped the scale at a whopping 9kg with the smaller one at 8kg!

As weather was bad, we didn't move around much. We stayed at one spot much longer than usual. Getting around from spot to spot would mean getting ourselves drenched all over again everytime. This was what happened to us when we rode back to the harbour. It was a very wet but yet enjoyable day. Luckily no one got seriously sea sick.