Land Log VI - St John Island

Though the log title mentioned St John Island, most of our time was actually spent on another island. An island that is not as well known. Don't ask me where is this, I will tell you naturally in the near future, or you can try guessing from the photos, it is quite easy.

We did not go straight to this place as we were trying out around the island. And as what you can usually expect from Singapore southern islands, your line can be easily snagged especially when you cast it out from a rock wall. Most of the islands' perimeter were reclaimed and because of the reclamation design, it is not so friendly to anglers. There are piles of rocks beneath the sea surface that create a slope surface. They function to prevent the sea from wasting away the sand or soil, and also to rob your sinkers.

It was a good start when we first reached the spot. A sizable parrot fish was landed.

Most of the fish were small, but from the fact that they were coral fish, coral life should be quite healthy here.

 

Other than some of the fish which were being fed to the abundant hungry cats on the island, all the rest were released. This was kept fresh to be cat food.

Once a while, there would be yacht sailed over to berth and if we were lucky, the yacht would be loaded with bikini babes.

Everywhere I went, I could find this puffy friend of mine. I suppose it will be worth it for me to learn how to prepare fugu - Japanese term for puffer fish and fugu is their delicacy.

And to illustrate the dozens of hungry cats there, take a look at this photo. If you observe carefully enough, there is an odd one out inside.

And I really wonder how this cute creature can survive on this island with so many of its naturally predators around.

I suppose when a man is on a bewildered island like this, the survival instinct will get stronger. Here is a good example.

And just for the record, the "sea grapes" tasted great. I later found out that they were served in a high end Japanese restaurant too! The negative reaction was not due to the food but what was wriggling on it after taking the bite.

Land Log V - Big Sister's Island

Big Sister Island was chosen as my next island hopping destination.Since we would be chartering a ferry, so I was thinking we might as well camp overnight on the island and could try out the night fishing there.

Finally I could test out my 6-man tent which can easily sleep 10 adults.

It took us quite some time to set it up though. After setting up, we took a walk around the island to look for potential spot for fishing.

And in the end, most of our catch was at the jetty itself where we alighted.

The first fish was non other than one of the most popular fish you can find in Singapore - Todak.

Some of us tried our luck at catching bait fish and there were periods of frenzy when we could catch enough for dinner to feed 10 people.

 

Another usual suspect caught - Garfish.

There were quite a few strong burst off before we managed to land this deep sea bass.

Frankly, I was quite surprised to find this species here. This is a potential good spot but there are simply too many under water structures to properly fight and land a sizable fish from there.

Not long after, we caught this fish from the snapper family which I cannot identify the name.

As the sun set, the bites were getting less, we decided to move on to preparing our dinner with our catch - one of the most look forward part of the day.

Preparing the cooking utensils such as stove and wok to deep fry the fish.

 

We also used some of our multiple purpose baits like prawns and squids to cook instant noodles for supper.

The night fishing was not productive. The jetty spot became a quiet town, so we decided to concentrate our efforts in the early morning. There were mostly small nibbles from fish like this.

But once a while we were rewarded with better edible fish like the silver moonies and rabbit fish.

After our morning actions, we decided to pack up early for the day as there was going to be quite a bit of packing to do. The island is very peaceful and even without the fishing, one can easily find enjoyment in the scenery and the environment.

After bidding farewell to the local inhabitants, the hungry monkeys, we set sail our way back to city life.

I will come back again, and next time it will be on my boat.

Land Log IV - Kusu Island

I have been living in Singapore for more than 3 decades and fishing for more than 2, but I have yet to set foot on our very own southern islands. So I decided to start with Kusu Island - the land of the turtles.

Without doubt, I brought along my fishing gears to try my luck. As I was unfamiliar with the terrain around the island, 90% of the time after I cast out my sinker, I would not get to see it again. Now I understand why the other group of fishos were all luring instead of targeting bottom feeders.

Fed up of tying knots after knots, I decided to just drop my line at the jetty. I suppose that would be a safe bet of not getting my line snagged again. There were plenty of nibbles at the jetty but nothing landed. The size of my hooks that I used for my rigs were getting smaller and smaller as the day went by, until I was using the smallest hook that I brought for this trip. And finally I was rewarded with this - a baby wrasse I think.

It was not spectacular but at least I know what was feeding on my bait. Anyway this was all for the day. Next time I think I should be more sincere when praying at the temple on the island.

Observation Gamma - Tuas

The fishing spots at Tuas waters are foreign to me. So when my friend was looking for kaki for his day trip, I decided to join him so that I could try out the place.

Initially we were fishing near the Tuas reclamation land. Judging from the sounder, the terrain there is very good but there were no bites at all. According to the captain, Tuas used to have very good fishing spots but after the reclamation started years ago, the fishes were much less.

So we moved further south to the live firing islands, Pulau Pawai and Pulai Senang area. Gauging from the sounder and the fish caught, I think there were a lot coral reefs at that area. And some of it are very shallow. Captain who is not familiar with this region may risk landing the boat instead of fish.

While we were fishing among the reefs, I noticed surface splashes a couple of times. Somehow the splashes reminded me of GT whacking surface lures or poppers. I believed those splashes should be caused by the trevally family. Unfortunately, I did not prepare any gears that were suitable to target them, so I just have to come back another day for them.

The catch was not that spectacular so not many photos taken. We landed Chermins, Groupers, and Parrot fish. Those species that I will expect in a terrain like this. This photo is chosen to be posted not just because of the fish itself, but also of what the angler's shirt is expressing.

Hope you guys will enjoy fishing regardless of the results too. Merry Christmas!

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.

Land Log III - Fishing Workshop Part II

The second day of fishing started after our lunch. The current was moderate when we arrived, just the right speed for fishing. My friend was the first one to cast out his line. Within 3 minutes, he landed the first parrot fish.

Soon, I also landed mine. There were many takes and we released all that were too small for a meal like this...

Once our live prawns were depleted, we left to get more baits. These were the total catch in a 2 hour plus session.

After buying baits and settling our dinner at Beach Road army market, we went back for our second half of the "workshop". This time with another friend joining us.

The bite rate was slow but once a while we would be greeted by a sweetlip snapper.

We caught three of this snapper and the last catch of the night was a blue spotted stingray again.

It also gave birth to it's baby but sadly this time around, it didn't manage to survive.

This wrapped up our Fishing Workshop. We had a couple of exciting moments, some long periods of no action and some bite marks left behind by sand flies on my arms and legs which are still irritating me now. With the excellent company, I can say it was a great success!