Date: 23-03-2007 Time: 0110am Rod: Penn Powergraph Surf 12ft. Reel: Penn Jigmaster 500L Line :30lbs mono Rig: Long snood bottom feeder Bait: Fresh Cuttle fish Hook: S/S long shank size 5/0

Will be on leave today so yesterday night went fishing. Weather was bad in the early evening so delay until 9pm when the sky was clear. Reach jetty T juction but not even a single angler there. haha…great…I have the whole place to play..Quickly setup all my tackles n net for squid catching. Tide was coming up pretty smooth but squid was rare. Manage to catch few small cuttle fish as bait. Bait was lasting tonight n I know I have great chances of hookup one.
Tide was already full n current was about to turn…suddenly I heard my reel has a”Tat” sound. Just a short one. I look at my rod tip but nothing move. Thinking it could be my sinker move by the current…I didn’t strike. Awhile later…I saw my rod tip bend a bit….immediately I pickup the rod n strike…Yes…something at the end of my line..Its no heavy but just struggling a bit. The way it move make me think that it could be a conger eel…while winding back..it struggle all the way..Haha…when I surface it…it turn out to be a nice size golden snapper or gerut. Ya…long time didn’t caught this fish…few year I think…I used my rod to lift it up..It weigh about 800g. Hahaha…the best thing is the hook I used was the one that landed the 25kg Cobia. I bend it back when it was slightly open up n change the steel wire for reused again.

Ah Hon n Commando went fishing yesterday afternoon. Around 2pm…”Hon” caught a 2kg barracuda with dead tamban as bait. He was trying to unhook it when two lady who was there watching the procedure ask him..”U want to sell the fish ? How much ? Commando over heard it n say loudly…$20.00 dollar. Both lady say “OK” n handed him the money. Madam U need a plastic bag ? Commando ask…”NO“…I don’t need it…the lady said. Here it goes…She took the fish n throw it into the sea. Hon n commando was stun for awhile..”Thankyou madam…come more often” Commando reply….hahaha…”Wow”  This type of lady must be there more often…so we will be very hard working changing the bait.

Date: 04-03-2007    Time: 10.00am    Rod: Penn Powergraph Surf 12ft.   Reel: Penn Jigmaster 500L   Line: 30lbs mono.   Rig: Long snood bottom feeder    Bait: Dead fresh Tamban.

Yesterday night got a call from “Hong” saying that “Commando” has caught a 6kg leopard ray while the rain was pouring. He want me to go down early to join them. I told him that my place was raining heavily also n I will be there once the rain stop. Around 9pm the sky was clear. I headed down to the jetty but both of them has already packup n went home.I fish alone n was later join by some regular there. No action at all n bait was not lasting. I packup around 2am n take a rest.

This morning I went in again. Quickly set up two sets of tackles n jig for tamban. Manage to get some as this fewdays it was quite rare in the morning tide. Tide was coming up fast while current was quite strong. !0am saw a rod next to mine was bending. I told the owner n he strike but he told me no hookup. While winding in it entangle my line. I release my line for him to untangle it. Now my line was push by the current n was at a 45% angle. Decided to recast so I start winding in my line. Feel alittle heavy at the end of it. While my rig almost surface, the fish made some struggling. Hahaha… it was my rod that caught the fish…The fish must have hookup n sweep across over his line by the current causing his rod tip to shake.. I saw it was a small stripe mackeral while it surface n I use my rod to lift it up. It was about 500g in weight. Hahaha… today was the last day of the lunar new year n I got a small present from the sea dragon king….

Quite a number of years back, a angler nick “commando” caught a 1kg plus grouper. He tie it in the water to keep it alive. The next morning a guy come along jogging. When he saw the grouper, he offer to pay $25.00 for that fish. “Commando” ask him is it for eating? He said no he want to release it. “Commando”  got very angry…what the f….k I work so hard to catch it n now U want to release it “NO” hahaha

One of the night “Four eye” caught a grouper on handline. He then tie it in the water to keep it alive. The next morning when he woke up, he pull the line n saw the grouper only left the head part. What the hell ??? Hahaha… it obvious is the work of the barracuda that lurking around the jetty. This barracuda was caught later by a guy who went there luring.

24-02-2007. This guy caught a 1kg+ grouper on handline. He then tie it below the jetty to keep it alive. The next morning he wokeup the fish is still there. On sunday afternoon he packup n went to take the fish. Whart the f…k? Where is the fish? Not even the string that tie the fish. Hahaha… he search the whole jetty. Ahhhh… find it at the middle part of the jetty. A couple has took it. He confronted the couple. The husband say “I tot nobody one“…hahaha

Bedok jetty 24-02-2007 night. It was very crowded. Manage to squeeze in a spot on the right side to catch squid. Setup a tackle set n casted out also. Current was slow so not much crossing line problem. About 10pm, on the left side Raymond has landed a brown male ray about 5.8kg. I was asking around who’s one next. Will our right side caught one too. Half n hour later a rod beside me the alarm went out. The owner came n strike it. Saw him keep on pumping his rod even when the fish was taking line out. He has just into big game fishing for about one over year. Ever saw him lost some monster before because of using bull strenght to pump none stop n ended with line burst. Since this happen just beside me, decided to help him. I told him not to pump his rod when the fish took the line. He seem to listen n it look good that he is in control. I went to wind in my line so it will be more space for him to play the fish. When I am back I ask him is the fish off the seabed n he answer “yes”. Every thing was looking good n even the gaff was also ready. But when the fish wanted to run again, I saw his rod was fully bend n seem his line is under very tight tension. I ask him is his drag too tight n he say “no”. But within minute, the main line just burst off n the fish was gone. It obvious he has over tighten his drag while fighting the fish. What a waste…It seem he has not yet learn his lesson n our side lost a chance to break even with the left side.

This morning went to bedok jetty again. The front part of the T junction was full with rods erected. No choice have to go the the left side which is empty. Set up my two sets of tackle n casted out. Manage to jig for some tamban. There are another three anglers near me. “Four eye”, Vincent n Eric was fishing over night. The water was at the downtide ending…”Four eye” line was cut by puffer fish. He complain of no more ready make rangoong to use. I decide to help him n took his 120lbs mono handline n tie a set of long snood bottom feeder rig for him. He quickly use it n casted down. Not long after this I notice his rod tip shaking n inform him. He thought that we are making fun of him n refuse to respond. By the time he saw his rod bend, the fish already make a acrobatic jump on the water surface. He strike….manage to bring the fish under control n bring it nearer to the jetty..My gaff was already ready on standby. But when the fish about to surface, it manage to unhook n swim away….hahaha… he pay the price of not respond earlier…he strike when the fish was jumping n the hook could be not properly set in.

Half n hour later…a telescopic rod which was erected no far away from us got a hookup. The owner was far away jigging for tamban. The rod bend into a U shape.. n line was running out.. I got no chioce but have to strike for him. After striking than I realise that the spool only left a few turn of line left…By this time the owner has come over. I passed him his rod. He manage to gave a few pump to retrieve some line but half way his line just gone loose. After winding back, he notice his hook has snap. I take alook at his hook n saw it was badly rusty. No wonder it can snap. The owner insist that he was using new hook.. hahaha….maybe the water at bedok jetty is too salty that even new hook that has casted down will turn rusty immediatly. Yup, U paid the price for stubborness.

December 2000, labrador park new jetty just open about one month ago. I was among the first few to fish at the place. At that time, most anglers fish there only know how to target half beak or small gar fish with float. Didn’t see any one jig for tamban. Me n my buddy Chuan was the first few to used tamban jig over there. When those angler saw how easy we catch, the next day everyone follow. haha…We have a friend who stay at bukit merah n was riding a motor bike. When he know that we are fishing over there during the night, after his work, he will visit us n buy us roti prata for supper. On one of our over night trip the following morning, we have run out of bait. Desprate, Chuan just get some left over roti prata n hook it up on his handline hook then lower it down below the jetty pillar. We were busy jigging around hoping to get some bait fish. Suddenly, “PONG” his handline fly up into the air….with natural respond, Chuan quickly went to salvage the handline spool. I shouted at him to grab the line…. He make a big mistake….he should immediately grab the line instead of  going after the spool. By the time he realise, its already too late….The fish has gone under the jetty n the 50lbs hook snood was cut. I look at him n he look at me….What the hell ???? Roti Prata the fish also take ?????Hahahahaha……now we know there is a new type of bait.

We were fishing on top of a breakwater stone near to the Changi beam. This beam provided the guide line for boat not to get too close to the corner of now changi naval base. At that time this place was just empty reclaimed land. That night only me n my buddy Pau both of us was fishing. Around 9pm something, we encounter a school of big marine catfish taking our bait. One after another rods all got hookup. U can hear the alarm keep on screaming one after another. This 5 to 6kg fishes is not welcome by us as it will just open the mouth wide n let U wind in the line. It’s quite heavy at the end of the line. If we not careful, our sinker might get snag at the rocky edge of this breakwater stone. Another reason is it tend to have a heavy rain after this fishes was caught. It already happened a few time before n tonight might happen again. True enough, the rain start to fall not long after this. It was so heavy that the whole breakwater was flooded. As the place was open area, we only have a canvas to cover our head. The floor was uneven n flooded, so sitting down mean getting the pant wet. The rain didn’t stop the whole night. We only had one choice, squat until the next morning when the rain stop n we packup.

This happened just a few days after the New Changi Hospital was open. Me n my team mate n another guy Fatty went to the Hundyai reclaimed land for fishing. This place has a big reservoir which inside has lots of big n small fishes. There is a high ground opening link to the sea. If the tide is above 2.6m, the water will be able to flow into this big pond during incoming tide n flow out during out going tide. If the tide is lower than that, the water in this big pond is stagnant. If there is a night incoming tide n water flowing in, at the opening part, big red legged prawn up to five inches long will also follow the current n swim into the pond. This secret is not known to many except some regular there. The water at this opening part is only about  one feet deep. U can catch them easily by using a torch to shine on this crystal clear water n search for them. Their two big eye is red color under light n U can use your bare hand just to grab it. Another way is to use cast net. We ever catch up to few kilo on a single trip. For this trip, Pau n Fatty was assigned to do the net casting while me n Hwee was to watch over the fishing rod. Around 1am plus, Pau come over to inform me that Fatty was stung by a white strip eel type catfish on the feet n was very painful. Fatty was stubborn when he netted this catfish n didn’t throw it far away. Instead he just put it aside n accidentally step on it. On seeing his pain, I decided to fetch him to the hospital. Leaving Pau n Hwee there to do the fishing. We reach this new hospital around 2am plus n Fatty was given a jap that cost him $60 dollar. Haha….After this we went back to the spot. As Fatty was driving, the pain was quite bad n he told me he can’t drive now. No choice, we had to stay there until the next morning. He rested until 11am when the pain is better then get up. Pau accompany him while I fetch Hwee back.

On one of my fishing trip to the breakwater of now changi naval base, I accidentally got a hook embedded onto my.leg at the part behind the knee. Still remember it happen in the morning after a over night trip. I was retrieving the line n the sinker got snag among the stone just below the water. I gave the rod a few hard lift n the sinker was out n fly toward my direction. The hook just come straight on me n it was in. Upon seeing the wound, I know I need a operation to take it out as the barb is already inside the fresh. We didn’t bring any steel cutter with us. That place was deserted n only me n my two team mate around. I am the only one driving so its not possible to come out n get help. I decide to do the operation myself. I learn about this medical thing during my 14 years service with the army special forces. I ask one of my team member to go to my car n pickup a new pen knife blade. I burn it with a lighter to sterilize it. One of my hand sqeeze very tightly on both side of the wound so that to numb the area. I took the pen knife n cut a small opening on the spot the hook barb is n bring it out. While I was doing this, my two team mate just look stun. Haha…they just don’t believe I do this to myself. After this I pour some green grass oil on the wound n cover it with a plaster. Haha… it is painful…but after about fifteen minute rest, I am already doing my fishing again..