East side adventure

[ophio]

It was in the afternoon that I was waiting for Jing to call me to confirm tonight fishing ,as in where ,what time and how many rods to bring .So rather then do nothing ,I started packing and tying some rigs for tonight usage .At mid noon ,another friend suddenly call me to go help him launch his boat and also to go out fishing and do some exploring some spots for fishing .So after some discussions and making calls to Jing ,I agree to him and also ask him to add Jing in for the trip as there was 1 more space left ( as the boat has only register for 6 pax ,so 4 pax would be ideal ) After that ,i had to repack my gears and retie the rigs and rangoons .A total of 5 rangoons are tied and the lazy me only tied 1 set of apollo rig because I doubt that I would use one because heavy shinkers and heavier tackle would be in used ,the light gear that I'm bringing along would "problaby" not be set up ( As tonights we will be expecting some strong currents ).So at 8 p.m I meet up with Jing and get some live shrimps and baits for tonight usage .By 9 p.m we had reach the boatel ,but as the the tide was not high enough yo launch the boat we decide to cast for some baits and set up some crab traps for crabbing .As the chinese saying goes ,bo he hae ma ho ( no fish ,prawns also better then nothing ) but not shrimps but its bigger cousin this time ..teehee .By 10 p.m we manage to launch the boat and head out to the first spot to lay the ten crab traps .And after some madness of line entanglement ,the traps are finally drop to the bottom of the sea .And also knowing that Ken has not been boating for many years till today it is his first time going out again with his new boat ,we didn't really care whether we can land ourself some fishes or not .Basically we took it as a trail run for the boat and also a adventure outing .


By 11 p.m we reach our first spot ,without waiting I drop down my rangoon .With hope that Mr Ray would pay me a visit ,the bait was a pretty big one ..and thus lead to lots of laughter from my friends ..They were probably thinking ,what the hell ..how big is that fish you wana to land man with that kind of bait ! Its Singapore waters you know ..hahaha .After some unproductive moments we decide to change spot ,soon we are heading aimlessly to different location ..and man ,as I and Jing is the closest to the the anchor ,we were pulling anchor noon stop for the whole night .And very soon ,I was dropping my rangoon up and down .Not to fish but to check out the terrain and estimate the depth of the sea bed .Why me leh ? Well ..becuase I'm using a easier cranking tackle while Jing is using a high ratio tackle and the rest are using hand line lor ...moi become the fish finder for the whole trip sia ..hahahah ..After a while of droping and reeling in ,we finally found a rather rocky sea bed and decided to do some drifting there .The current suddenly starts to pick up ,and my number 10 sinkers starts to fly ..geeze ..and after that there was no nibble at all .And by now the boat was drifting pretty fast ,my rangoon got stuck at a time like this .As quickly as possible ,I turn on the free spool and ask Jing to get a handline holder to help me free the stuck rangoon .Very soon he was able to get a hold unto my line and make a few wraps on the handline holder .But as he try to pull the line free ,he just got more lines coiled into the handline holder ..and very soon he realized that he was actually pulling back the boat ! Man ..at such sight ,I start to laugh ..Then I told him to hold on ,and not to coil in anymore lines as I doubt the line will break .So I ask Ken to reverse the boat while Jing holding onto handline holder ..Then tuk ! Jing had nearly lost his balance and sat on the ground .After that I reel in the line and check out which is the one that gave way ,and after that it was the knot to the clip have slip out .After the comotion ,we decide to head back to retreive the crab traps and then head back to park the boat .


It was 3 a.m when we reach the crabbing spots where we would spent some time finding the floats connected to the traps .After much searching ,we finally found our floats .So very soon the first trap was been pull up ,and to find only two small buggers inside ..geeze ..and soon one trap after another has been pull up and some with nothing inside ..It really gives me the scenario of Nat Geo where those alaskan king crab fishermans was pulling those huge commercial trap empty or only very little was caught ..Yup ,of cause without the big waves and harsh enviorment ,but the complains and signing was no way far ..heehee .By 4 a.m we are already pack and ready to go back ,and by the time we reach the boatel ..we found ourself nearly got stuck on the mud flats ( Tide was reciding like nobody business and we are close to the lowest point in an hr or so which is 0.0 m ) We tried to free the boat from the mud with only one oar !! Thats was the most tedious part ,padding and passing the oar from the left to the right .After a long way ,the engine can be put down and then we are looking for a place to let one of my friend off the boat as he had an appointment at 8 a.m with his friend .But dear mine ..the only place that we can let him down is actually 2-3 km away from his car ..and he have to walk all the way there in the darkness .We were quickly moving out to deeper waters in case we got stuck again ,while on the way out we encountered huge schools of tambans which actually jump onto the boat .While we where heading to the supposedly " deeper water " ,we could actually how low the tide has gotten ,most of the mudflats are readily exposed ..with a few great herons standing in the middle of the sea .Thats how low the tide gets that night man ...


At around 5 plus a.m ,the temperature starts to drop ..its was even colder with the wind blowing at our face .So we just anchored the boat ,pull out the wind breakers and lay down in whatever space we can find to take a nap ,and also to wait for the tide to come in later in the early morning .At around 6.30 a.m i woke up to check whether the anchor are still holding us firmly ,and also becuase of the weird position which I have slept earlier on makes my whole body ache ..and to sleep again becomes quite impossible .As it was still early ,I decided to pack up last night tackle and rigged up the lighter tackle .Take out the one and only apollo rig ,put two live prawns on it and swing it out at the back of the boat .By 7 a.m the guys have already woken up ,and Jing was talking to me when suddenly the Jigwrex bend double and the Freams J was already going ZzzzZZ with its 20lbs braid peeling away from it ..Quickly ,I grabbed the rod and almost got some difficulties trying to get the rod out of the rod holder with the fish still taking out lines .But it was finally freed from the rod holder by loosening the drag abit ,as the fish is heading towards the kelong I can't really set the drag too loose .Then from there onwards is a tug of war game with the fish running from left to right and making deep dives ,we were guessing that it could be a ACK or MJ .But the thing is the water is not deep ,theres no way it could be a ACK or MJ of such size .10 minutes down the fight ,I could felt my waist area having fatigue ..problaby due to the bad sleeping position and the cold temperature last night .By then ,the fish is already tiring itself up ,and with a few hard pump ,it finally show itself .It was a beautiful white spotted ray ..Mr ray really show up on me ! Soon Ken was trying to gaff up the ray which I ask him to gaff its wing so it can be CNR after a few quick photos ,but later we realize the gaff is not sharp at all ..and penatration is impossible.So Ken swiftly put the gaff into the breathing sockets of the ray and bring it up ..but....no doubt the gaff is not sharp ..it actually penatrate the eye area of the ray ..It was bleeding very badly by the injuries cause by the gaff .Its was a pretty sad sight to me ,because I have no intention of killing it .. boy ..Then again I was discussing to the guys whether to release it or not ..but Ken insist of keeping it as we can see that the injuries are really bad .So I just sat there cut the rigs ,and try not to look too much at it ..But later on the ray gave a few huge puff which caught my attention and then it pass out quietly ..It was quite a sad sight ..at least to me .And knowing that slaughtering a ray is not and easy task too ,its quite a mess and also damn bloody affair .The ray was estimated to weigh around 15-16 kgs as we do not have a weighing equipment with us ..By then the tide is already rising ,and the sun is getting up high .And suddenly we had bites from sand flies coming from the nearby island ,so as quickly as possible we pulled up the anchor and head for the boatel .At 8 plus a.m we manage to dock in and head for home .The ray was brought to my friend's place to be cut up ,and boy .. it took us a really hard time cutting up the ray .It was an hour plus of tedious cutting and filleting of the fish itself .And after that it was some hard scrubbing and washing of the floor ,we were so tired after that ..But seriously ,it was a happening trip and also to have a good game at the end of it .

[fishpullipull]

Even though it took me 3 cigs to finish reading the Catch Report...i enjoyed it .Nice CR ophio...well done!

[DaFrogman]

Gazza,

It sounds like your friend needs to get a fish finder..... Were you guys using GPS?.

The Catch Report was great dude.... especially the bit on anchor pulling how deep was the water you guys were fishing?.

Anyway, good to see you out on the water again and trying to catch fish even when it seems unlikely that they will be there.... it got you a nice ray dude.

Saimee

[ophio]

Paiseh for lousy english and the long winded write up FPP ,don't smoke 3 cigs at a go man .Bad for the lung


Saimee ,my friends boat don't have a fish finder and GPS at the moment ,thats why that I was the one dropping and cranking to estimate the depth and terrain ..haha ..human fish finder .But I guess he will be getting one soon ,GPS wise I have no idea when he would be buying one .

We were fishing roughly at a depth of 15 m +/- ,and the anchor is not really that heavy ,so its not so bad ..If he is using one really heavy one or dropping it in 30 m or so waters ..no worries ,I would apply the Ishak style of retrieving


Gazza

[stickbom!]

I was half expecting the fish at the end of your line to be great big pang sai fish Jolly good catch buddy Nice way to break your Jig Wrex's virgin

[ophio]

pung sai ..

[tmlim]

Gary,
Even it took me a bowl of campbell soup to finish reading , I feel that this is a great Catch Report by you. Is this to celebrate the new and not so chaotic look of the forum?

Cheers

[ophio]

Richard ,

hey how have you been ?Nope ,the Catch Report is there about 1 week before the forum change its looks .Btw I haven't been fishing the past weekend ,if not would like to have some Catch Report to contribute here

[edylie]

Hi Gary,

I just saw this Catch Report ... good write up!!! takes a cup of hot coffee, 2 half boiled eggs and 2 roti kaya to finish reading it.

Cheers,
Edy