2nd outing for Newbies 10/06/07

[stickbom!]

Went out on Ah Cheng's boat with the same bunch of friends, except for Alucard who was replaced by Jordan72. Was telling Layman in the morning that the weather looked pretty good and that it would probably be a fine "Salty Rubber day". Well I wasn't that far off! I was the first to hook up and the fish that hit my SR damn near wrenched my rod/reel out of my hands!! It wasn't long before my decent parrot fish was brought on board.

My newbie friends were all using the new Ugly Stik Bluewater/Tiger rods today. They had a much easier time detecting bites, handling large sinkers and not to mention landing some pretty decent fishes. Some of them even upgraded to braided lines and were amazed at the difference it made.

There's must be something about Layman and big groupers Big groupers simply can't resist jumping on his lure!! He was winding up his SR when it got nailed by a nice grouper that put a really good bend on his Major Craft OffBlow.

Both Layman and myself had some pretty monstrous strikes today but failed to hook up on most of them. Layman is now toying with the idea of UPGRADING his twin 1/O Decoy jigging hooks to twin 2/O I landed a total of 3 fishes on my SR while Layman managed about 5 or so.

A small mishap made all of us stop fishing in the middle of the afternoon. One of my newbie friends got his thumb caught in his overhead reel's levelwind while trying to thumb his spool on a snag... and amazingly, he wasn't yelling/screaming in pain (one tough SOB!). Thank goodness we managed to find a screwdriver on the boat and managed to free his thumb before it turned purple

The only female angler on our boat landed a pretty decent grouper unaided today and without much fuss too!! She hooked a big sweetlip during the last trip but had to get some help from the guys because the tackle she was using then wasn't really suitable for boat fishing.

So much for my sketchy report! It was a good day at sea, everyone had fun and caught fish Can't wait to go out again in July

[layman]

overall was a fun and interesting day. though our dear friend had a close shave, but everthing turns out alrite at the end which is the most important!

maybe next time we swap salty. i definitely dont mind getting a good size parrot

but i have to say, this salty thingy is really fancinating in our local water. though so far i have only used in on ah cheng's drifting style, but the hit rate especially for bigger fishes are really impressive. not to mention those smallish arumugam, and even those tiny fishes that constanting nibble on the skirt. so far, i get at least 1 big strike every trip. Now I am tempted to get some lighter ones to try "bouncing" around the bottom while anchored if the current is favourable

twin decoy 2/0... never would have thought i need this type of setup for our local water, but already straighten stock and owner 2/0, and misses quite a few good size fish. which is encouraging and comforting so will probably drop by ao next week, and get some

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by layman

twin decoy 2/0... never would have thought i need this type of setup for our local water, but already straighten stock and owner 2/0, and misses quite a few good size fish. which is encouraging and comforting so will probably drop by ao next week, and get some

GREAT CATCH!!!!!

Guys ... gotta give due respect to our local fishes you know Local fish oredi so hard to get liao .. to lose them due to "techincal" failure is a cardinal sin!!!

[Din]

Mikey dude!!!!Luv the size of dat parrot!!!!!

[stevenseow]

Nice catch there with so many grouper and parrot.

[layman]

Originally Posted by Makaira

GREAT CATCH!!!!!

Guys ... gotta give due respect to our local fishes you know Local fish oredi so hard to get liao .. to lose them due to "techincal" failure is a cardinal sin!!!

you are most right!!!

oh all mighty local fishes, i beg for your forgiveness...
ps: pls come back

yo mike... I will get some 2/0 and 3/0! lets test whats the max size we can get locally without using bait!!!
anyway, also not too healthy to have too many of those "the one that got away" stories....

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by layman

........anyway, also not too healthy to have too many of those "the one that got away" stories....

Stories of "the one that got away" is as old as time itself. That's what keep us anglers coming back for more Just gotta learn from the "why" they got away so it doesn't happen again too often How heavy drag setting are you guys fishing on anyways?

Just curious ... do you guys think circles would work with these jigs or it is simply not worth the risk as you are holding on to the tackle all the time & as such would result in a reactionary strike which would pull the hook out of the fish's mouth when the fish takes the jig.

[MarkR]

Nice catch Mikey!!!

Originally Posted by Makaira

Stories of "the one that got away" is as old as time itself. That's what keep us anglers coming back for more Just gotta learn from the "why" they got away so it doesn't happen again too often

Tell me about it Mak...back to the drawing board now...dropping and losing too many fish recently although bite rate has been very good for me

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by MarkR

Nice catch Mikey!!!



Tell me about it Mak...back to the drawing board now...dropping and losing too many fish recently although bite rate has been very good for me

Dude ..... u wanna soak baits .... you gotta fish like a baitsoaker .... circle hooks .... rod in the holder .. wait for the rod to bend ......

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by Makaira

Dude ..... u wanna soak baits .... you gotta fish like a baitsoaker .... circle hooks .... rod in the holder .. wait for the rod to bend ......

Read u loud and clear Master Mak...funny I just sent u a PM about the circle hook thingy...

[stickbom!]

Originally Posted by Makaira

Stories of "the one that got away" is as old as time itself. That's what keep us anglers coming back for more Just gotta learn from the "why" they got away so it doesn't happen again too often How heavy drag setting are you guys fishing on anyways?

Just curious ... do you guys think circles would work with these jigs or it is simply not worth the risk as you are holding on to the tackle all the time & as such would result in a reactionary strike which would pull the hook out of the fish's mouth when the fish takes the jig.

Mak, I'm using a Blacksheep 250 BC reel which boasts 7 or 9kg of drag I think... never did measure how much drag I'm using all this while but it should be in the region of 2-3kgs tops. Yeah we might strike on the take so circles might be a little tough to use.

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by stickbom!

Mak, I'm using a Blacksheep 250 BC reel which boasts 7 or 9kg of drag I think... never did measure how much drag I'm using all this while but it should be in the region of 2-3kgs tops. Yeah we might strike on the take so circles might be a little tough to use.

Thanks for the response Mikey. Do you use a mono wind-on / shock leader? For a hook to straighten at 2-3kg drag .... ermmmmm ...... a little bit "soft" wouldn't you say?

[stickbom!]

Mak, Layman was using the stock hooks that came with his SR and those were REALLy sharp but thin gauged. They probably work like a charm with Japanese super soft/slow tapered Bay Jigging rods but we are using stiffer fast actioned bc rods so these hooks will spring open very easily. The other hook that Layman managed to deform was a tiny Owner 1/O Cutting Point (pond style hook). We're using PE2 with no.7 & 10 FC wind on leaders. I'm now using a pair of 1/O heavy wire Gosen assist hooks on my SR which I found at Changi Pro sometime ago. Touch wood but problems so far

I guess its a little diff when fishes nibble and you set the hook after it has your bait deep in the throat. For our case, the minute you feel that tell tale tapping on the SR, its "strike like there's no tomorrow"

Yeah I know, I really lack the finesse touch...

That parrot I hooked really set me wondering how bloody hard a BIG mama can hit... honestly, I could hardly control my rod tip when it dipped over! Guess the parrot is now considered the hardest hitting fish in my books for local species Let's see if anything stronger grabs my SR on July 22nd

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by stickbom!

I guess its a little diff when fishes nibble and you set the hook after it has your bait deep in the throat. For our case, the minute you feel that tell tale tapping on the SR, its "strike like there's no tomorrow"

Yeah I know, I really lack the finesse touch...

That parrot I hooked really set me wondering how bloody hard a BIG mama can hit... honestly, I could hardly control my rod tip when it dipped over! Guess the parrot is now considered the hardest hitting fish in my books for local species Let's see if anything stronger grabs my SR on July 22nd

This is pretty much what the freshwater bass fisherman do -- strike as hard as possible at the slightest bite detection when they use jigs like these.

Cabela's -- Bass Jigs

As you can see, the ang mos have their version of "Madai" too for a long long time already Had my share of fishing for bass using these jigs in Canada back in the early 80s.

Parrots are known to be real bruisers!!!! Very fun to catch ... and fantastic to eat as well!!! One of my favorite target fish. Wait till you whack a 4kg+ parrot!!!!

[layman]

Originally Posted by Makaira

Thanks for the response Mikey. Do you use a mono wind-on / shock leader? For a hook to straighten at 2-3kg drag .... ermmmmm ...... a little bit "soft" wouldn't you say?

Mak, agree that at 2-3kg drag, hook shouldnt fail. It will be very weird. Probably its just my style of fishing I have a tendency to thumb the spool quite hard whenever I strike. Plus, previously, I was using a custom made 10-20lb rod using some oem blank that is quite stiff. Most probably actual rating is higher than what it has stated.

So far, those salty stock hook, owner 1/0 and 2/0, have failed. Yesterday, the decoy performed ok, even from the huge take that left a "burnt mark" on my thumb...
It's more of a case of using in-correct setup.... but again who would have thought our local water still have such nice surprises on jigs!!!

[layman]

Originally Posted by Makaira

Wait till you whack a 4kg+ parrot!!!!

on handline!!!

[stickbom!]

I wanted to make my own madai jigs with those Owner jigheads (similar to those used to make "ang mor hairy jig") and vinyl skirts but they're a little too light. If the jigheads came in heavier weights I'm sure my homemade madai lures will work great for our waters.

For the record, I still think Duel's Salty Rubber is the MOST effective lure for local offshore fishing that was ever sold in SG. Period

Next trip I'm going to clip on my most worn out SR and leave the rod in the rod holder. AUTOPILOT! see if it catches me a fish Oh I may try fitting the SR with a circle hook like Mak suggested too

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by Makaira

Wait till you whack a 4kg+ parrot!!!!

Hoping that day will come for me soon

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by layman

owner 1/0 and 2/0, have failed

Originally Posted by stickbom!

The other hook that Layman managed to deform was a tiny Owner 1/O Cutting Point (pond style hook).

Owner SSWs?

[layman]

Originally Posted by MarkR

Owner SSWs?

yeap ssw

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by layman

yeap ssw

I've had several 1/0s, 2/0s and even a 3/0 SSWs fail on Ah Bee's boat in the past