Log VIII - Lake Chini

The definition of a captain is the person in command of a boat. The definition of a boat is a vessel for travelling over water. Question is: If you are in a command of a canoe - which is a vessel for travelling over water, are you considered a captain? Whatever the case, I shall put it inside my captain's log.

Lake Chini is Malaysia's second largest natural lake. One of the more famous tales about Lake Chini is the legend of a dragon as the guardian of an ancient lost city which lies in the lake.

We went there during the monsoon season. Though the water area was larger with the heavy rains, the water colour was milky brown because of all the soil  that was washed into the lake. There were many types of aquatic plants growing out of the water.

It was quite an experience to canoe in this kind of environment. It gave us the feeling that we were in some deep jungles. The plants were big and tall, and we had to paddle through narrow water paths with giant aquatic growths beside us. It seemed like we were back to the Jurassic age.

Sometimes the lake opened up to huge areas of vegetation growing on water.

Exploring Lake Chini by canoe was tiring but extremely exciting and rewarding as we were able to access areas that cannot be reached by boat due to narrow straits of water. It was a totally different kind of experience when you are gliding so near to the water surface in the wilderness.

Of course we tried fishing from the canoe but there were no actions at all. We also tried a few casts at the small wooden jetty where we launch our canoe but the lotus leaves kept getting in the way.

Our trip here is to find out whether Lake Chini is a good fishing ground. Though no fish was caught, we gained something else - a very unique experience in nature. And thanks to my co-captain who helped to navigate the canoe while I was taking all these shots.

Lastly, here's a gift to those who have trypophobia (密集恐惧症).

Land Log IX - Mandai

There are many hidden 'treasures' in Mandai. So one fine day, we decided to explore this place to see whether we can find a good fishing spot. I also needed footage for my video - the one that I had posted in my previous post.

The journey was not easy. It brought back memories to the days when I was still in the army.

The difference was, this time I was carrying my fishing rod instead of my rifle and lures instead of ammunition. We passed by a couple of lakes and tested our lures. There were a few strikes on our surface poppers but did not manage to get a hook up.

Diving lures were not suitable at certain places as there were lots of weeds especially at places like this.

Weather was hot and our water supply was running low. We decided to look for shady areas to fish instead of acting hero and fish under the scotching sun.

When we arrived at a shady spot, there were a couple of bright orange gourami playing around in the shade.

They show no interests on any of our lures. After a few more casts, a couple of surface strikes and misses, we decided to call it a day. Though we did not catch anything today, I had a few nice shots and footage of the area. The scenery was nice and indeed it is a treasure. Hope more natural places like this can remain untouch and not develope into another urban area.

Observation Epsilon - Pekan

The main agenda of going to Pekan this time is to take aerial footage for my video. The video title is 'The Meaning of Fishing'.

I can still remember when I first started fishing about 20 years ago, it was for the food. As I was only relying on my meagre pocket money and income from odd part time jobs, I would try to make every fishing trip worthwhile. I bought a set of fishing setup off the shelf of a supermarket and was thinking to myself, how many fish could I catch in order to write-off this 'startup costs'. The value of the fish caught was always weight against the money I spent on buying bait. At first I would keep a mental count of my expenditure but as time went by, I realised that it didn't matter to me whether the fish I caught could worth more than my bait anymore.

It was only after sometime that I decided to buy a proper fishing setup. Of course not to mention that I broke my first fishing rod when my line got stucked in some tree branches during casting. As usual, with a budget constraint, I chose a very cheap reel and rod. But at least this setup was much better than the one off a supermarket shelf. I had a small tackle box the size of my palm with six compartments, it was the one that came with the supermaket setup. It held all the fishing tackle I had at that time. For bulky items like a styrofoam float or sinkers, I would just put them in some recycled plastic bags together with my fishing reel when I travelled around to look for fishing spots. It was not surprising that I didn't make much progress in my fishing 'career' with these kind of tackle and limited knowledge.

The break through came when I was enlisted into National Service and maybe because of fate, I was posted to Brani Naval Base. If you asked anyone who had fished in BNB before, he will tell you that it is a fishing paradise. The fishing was simply fantastic! We did not require expensive baits like live prawns, and by the way, live prawns were a luxury to me during those days. I always envy those anglers I saw at the jetties using live prawns as bait while I was using some soft and squishy prawns that I dug out of my mom's freezer. In the base, I didn't even need to steal my mom's dinner ingredients anymore, there were plenty of chicken and night snacks in the cookhouse kitchen, and they worked like a charm. I would bring back enough fish for my family to cook for a whole week after every duty. There was one extraordinary night that 47 sea bass were landed! It was something that I would always remember. With conditions like these, duty nights were easy to pass and my army days ended in a blink of an eye.

Though with quite an experience in fishing paradise, my fishing knowledge was still limited. My knots were still not properly tied and many fish were lost due to this incompetency. After I came out of the navy, I went home empty handed for almost all my fishing trips. Even if there was something, it was catfish or some juvenile fish that was so small which couldn't even fill a cat's stomach. I could not get used to the pathetic catch I used to catch before I was enlisted in the navy anymore. It was really really demoralising and I was on the verge of giving it all up. But then I still could see other anglers catching fish. I kept questioning myself, why they were able to do it and I couldn't. During that period, it was also about the time when the internet became more widely available to people. I tried to search for all the information I could find on the internet, and I bought knot tying books too. It was then I realised that contrary to the common perspective that fishing is just about a rod and line, there was so much more into it.

The flood gates were open. The more I know about fishing, the more interested I was to test the newly learnt skills and techniques out. I also explored deeper into more remote potential fishing spots and discovered another side of this city country that I had not seen before. Though my catch did not improve instantly, in fact it remained sucked still most of the time, I was somehow happier and did not feel that demoralised anymore. Perhaps it was because I know that eventually one day I would be able to unlock the secret to fishing if I kept on persisting.

Along my fishing journey, I met a lot of friends and gurus, and I benefitted greatly from them. They had accumulated decades of fishing knowledge in their specialised field and were kind enough to impart their knowledge to me. My perception of fishing had totally changed too. Fish is not viewed as food anymore. They are my companion now. Though some of them may still sacrifice themselves as food for me and my family, I am and will always be grateful to what they have taught and given me.

The video will tell the rest of my story.

Land Log VIII - Bintan

Nirwana Resort at Bintan is one of the first few locations that I recce to conduct the Novice Angler Course. The selected location must have the following criteria:

1) Bait fish can be caught there.
2) Squid can be caught there.
3) There are some chances of catching a fish of reasonable size (>1kg).
4) Accommodation is available and comfortable.
5) Fishing area is well lit and safe.

Now let's see how many of the above does Nirwana Resort fulfill.

Early morning we took a long stroll from the resort to a jetty that is extended about 400m out into the sea.

The water condition looked good. As we approached the end of the jetty, we could see a huge mass of shadow underneath. At first I thought it was the clouds casting their shadows on the water surface but on closer look, they were bait fish! Millions of them!
(Item 1: Bait fish can be caught there. CHECKED)

The above is a specimen of the bait fish. However we did not know whether this is a good sign because if there were millions of them, does it mean it will take one millionth of a chance for a predator to take our baits?

Anyway we tried using them but there were no takes for the whole afternoon. So we called it a day and went back to the comfort of our room. The room was clean, air conditioning was cold, there was a mini fridge and the bed was simply... I felt like sleeping already even as I flashed back.
(Item 4: Accommodation is available and comfortable. CHECKED)

When night came, we went back to the jetty again to try our luck on squids. The jetty was guarded by a super huge K9. I think it was about the same height as me when it attempted to stand up and launched itself at me. Anyway I'm still alive now writing this blog, all thanks to the security guard that was trying very hard to calm the K9 down which by the way the dog's name is Maradona.
(Item 5: Fishing area is well lit and safe.)

We caught 3 and used 1 as bait. The squid bait was basically untouched throughout the whole night and we felt the bed calling for us again...
(Item 2: Squid can be caught there. CHECKED)

Next morning we went back very early even before the K9 ended his shift. This time it became much friendlier and that's when we knew that he was named after a great soccer player. We changed our fishing strategy. We brought the bait fish to where we felt the predators would be. After we caught our bait, we walked a distance away from the densely populated bait fish area and drop our lines down into the clear water. As I was just going to get some tackle from my bag, I heard the screaming sound from my reel! I turned my head and I could see that my rod was rocking violently and then pivoting on the handrail it was resting on. The next thing I know, it splashed into the water!

I was rooted to the ground when all these happened as they all happened too fast within a few seconds and my rod was gone. I rushed to the side of the handrail and watched my setup sank into the depths. The fish pulled the rod a couple of meters and it stopped. My setup had hit bottom and got stuck! I could still see a faded yellowish silhouette of my rod. Thinking that I may still have a chance to retrieve it back, I jumped into the sea, dived down towards the silhouette and yeah! I got back my setup back! The fish was gone though. Lesson learn, get a bright colour fishing rod so that you may still have the chance to see where it landed even if it sank into the sea. *just kidding
(Item 3: There are some chances of catching a fish of reasonable size (>1kg). CHECKED)

So it looks like this place fulfill all the aspects of a suitable fishing ground to conduct the Novice Angler's Course, BUT... everything here in this resort is so so expensive! I do not think this is sustainable. So let us look elsewhere...

Log VII - Tuas

This is my first self drive trip after 1 year. Since the yacht that I have ordered has not arrived yet, I decided to rent a boat to brush up my skills first and at the same time cure my fishing itch. The trip started well. The first spot we went to produce a good size grouper on our first drop.

We were having consistent takes on our baits but it was not long before one of us lost a huge golden trevally at boat side and spooked all the other fish away. So we moved on. I realised that Singapore really makes full use of the sea. They basically reclaimed land all the way till it almost reached the port limit. There are really not much sea space for you to explore without exceeding the limit at Tuas area.

So we just had to make do with whatever spots left within the boundary. And once again, beginner's luck proved itself.

She caught quite a few groupers and not to mention that she lost two. Both were powerful runs and ended getting up stucked as those areas are full of rocks and dropoffs everywhere.

Once a while when I did not need to manuveur the boat, I would also fish. My friend passed a tiny prawn to me and I was thinking, what can this small prawn attract. Usually I will go for bigger prawns, the bigger the better. But since I was given this, I used it. In less than a minute after I dropped my line into the sea, it got stucked. But when I tried to pull it free, the line started to screech out of my reel. Fish on!

After about 5-10 minutes of tug-o-war, this was brought up.

It weighted 9.5kg. What a fantastic start to this year! And I should thank my friend for giving me that tiny prawn.

When the day was going to end, we could see dark clouds and felt cold winds. A storm was brewing in the distance so we decided to start travelling back to Raffles Marina.

We kept looking out to the distant clouds that were coming nearer to us and wondered whether we still had some time to fish just a bit more. And so we really did fish a while more and caught this.

It was not that spectacular but it was his first trevally. It was something for us to celebrate about.

Anyway we did not beat the storm. We were caught in the middle of it and some of us were drenched. Luckily the rain died down slightly when we reached the Marina so we could unload our stuff easier and still able to take a shot of our total catch.

It is always fun and a blessing to be able to have a day out fishing with friends. Whatever catches that come along the way is a bonus. Lastly, I cooked half the face of that giant grouper at night for supper. It could feed a family of six!

Back with a Vengence!

Wow! Time really flies! It has been a year since I last posted. It's not because I have stopped fishing, but I was simply too busy setting up a fishing school called My Fishing Frenzy Academy.

The above is the logo of the academy. Let me do some explanation of how this logo comes about. The abbreviation for My Fishing Frenzy Academy is MFFA. If you have not noticed these 4 characters in the logo yet, let me guide you through. The character 'M' is the fish head. Both 'F' characters formed the fish body. They are handed. And lastly, the character 'A' formed the fish tail though I may agree it looks like a tick. Yup in fact it's a tick. I used a tick to improvise that as a tail.

So what do you think of my logo? Please leave your comments below.

By the way, I have been travelling around to look for places that are suitable for students to learn fishing. The locations must be suitable according to the students' level, so it is not easy especially budget is one of the major considerations as well. For the next few posts, I will recap all the places that I've gone to for the past 1 year and finally come out with the final destinations to conduct fishing classes. It was tiring but definitely enjoyable!

In case you are wondering what this academy is about ---> www.mffa.com.sg or you can click on that red fish eye.

Observation Delta - Pekan

These were the conversation that happened over the dinner table of a cosy restaurant in a small town in Malaysia.

"Hey today all the guys lose out to the girls on board, even myself. What happen?" Ah boy exclaimed as he picked up another slice of sashimi and put into this mouth. "This is nice, is there olive oil inside?"

"I think I have to observe how they jig tomorrow. I maybe jigging too fast perhaps. By the way, this ebek fish head curry is real nice. Let's catch more." WL exclaimed as he started to visualized how the girls were jigging today.

"The cobia was so stubborn, I thought it surfaced already but it went straight down again. How irritating!" complained J, making a frustrating look and stamping her feet.

"It is really outstanding that they could stand the choppy waves and caught the biggest and most number of fish on board." comment one of our more seasoned angler, T. "And I caught nothing..."

"Perhaps it's because of the excellent training by the instructor few weeks ago at Lazarus Island in preparation for this trip?"

Catch the action here and you will know what I'm talking about.