Hunt For Fish For CNY

[Makaira]

The usual gang of suspects departed yesterday evening for the inaugural trip of the 2007 hoping to get some fish for the reunion dinner.

Trip did not start off on a bright note. When we reached the marina, the heavens opened up like there was no tomorrow so we were stuck in the car unable to load the gear & stuff. We also had to refuel the boat and thankfully, the passing downpour eased off just before 5pm. Loaded the boat double quick time, gassed up & off we went. As soon as we left the shelter of the breakwater, OMG , the wind was howling about 15 knots and the sea had a crazy weird with short chops mixed in with rollers of a metre or so. Oh man ........... what a crazy ride to the first stop for jigging baits. After about 20 minutes for so & getting about 10 pieces of small selar, we had enough as it was downright uncomfortable; not to mention a little hairy, to manoveur the boat in front of the bouy to drop the jigs.

Off we went to the first spot, an untested mark which we told ourselves we had to check out at the end of last season. Zero .... nada ... zilch for about 2 hours. After discussing our next move, we agreed that we should go to one of our tried & tested spots. Luckily, by that time, the wind had slackened considerably, but the prevailing wind was a pretty cold, the kind that bites to the bones if it blows directly at you for extended period.

By the time we reached the spot, the current was already raging. Had to anchor twice before it took. Not even a nibble for the first 2 hours & the prevailing east wind had blown us off the mark. Up anchor, repositoned, down went the baits. Within 10 minutes, one of the rods arched over. YIPPEEEEEE .... so we thought. Up came a pari of about 4kg ...... followed by another 2 in quick succession. Haiz....... WHERE ARE THE GOLDIES ... we were all screaming in our heads!!! For the next few hours ...... one bite off by a cuda, three or four more rays in the 3-5kg range .. then deathly silence. Before we knew it, it was 4am, and still nothing with scales!!!!! .. Oh ... sorrie ... one tiny gelama!!!

After another short discussion, we decided to go to another old faithful. Took us another hour by the time we anchored. Within 10 minutes, we had the small jewfish of about 4kg or so. Followed by a MERAH of about 2kg Then came a grouper of about 2kg. By then, the sun has broken the horizon and I was still fishless as far as catching something with scales is concerned. How demoralizing for the year's first trip. Then from the corner of my eye, I saw my lucky set bend down with some conviction. HENG AH!!!!!! Bo "burn liao loh!!!!" 2kg grouper. Soon, it was 7:30am. Glancing over to my rod tip, I could see a small twitch. Then I declared, "Rod don't bend over, I will not touch it!!!" The twitch became a more convincing bite ...... so I picked up the rod, cranked a few times, felt the weight & struck home!!!! The rod arched over, "Looks like a good fish!", one of the kakis said. I expected it to be another grouper, and as the ranggong cleared the water, I stepped back to allow the my kaki to leader the fish. As he was blocking my view, I had no idea what it was, then came the scream ... "BIG ANGCHO!!!!!!!"
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!! The fish pulled the boga to exactly 11lbs. The current started to slacken very quickly after that. Hardly any action & by about 10am, we only added another small grouper & one more merah to the total tally.

So endeth this long report.

A promising start to this new season. Let's hope we all have a bumper 2007 in more ways than one!!!!

GONG XI FA CAI TO ONE & ALL!!!!!

[Din]

Man,
Look at all those catches....sweet sour groupers...mmmmmm!!
What u gonna have for the Merah,Jew and the mighty ANGCHO?
Good tablefare for the NEW YEAR!

Rgds,
Din.

[DaFrogman]

KK,

Happy Chinese New Year dude, not a bad way to start the account for 07... I will be attempting to make my first withdrawal for the year this Saturday.... hope the ATM is open...

Saimee...

BTW, don't you just love those "lucky" rigs....

S.

[physlo]

With all that good eating fishes, it's going to be a merry chinese new year. Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Cheers!

[Nelson]

Good catch, hoping to fish on Friday. Any spot to recommend?

[MarkR]

Very nice catch and excellent size for the table Great local Catch Report from Makaira again

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by MarkR

Very nice catch and excellent size for the table Great local Catch Report from Makaira again

Yalor ...... poor me...... unlike some internationally renowned globetrotting tackleshow busting, exotic destination angler extrodinaire

[sunburned]

Very nice catches, all larger than table-sized and prime feeds for the family. Looks like CNY is here early for you and the gang, Makaira.

Cheers,
Khoo

[stickbom!]

I really wish that one day... hopefully in the near future... something as big as those fishes Makaira and co. always catches will pounce on my lure too I'm always catching the rats and reading about the big ones that end up inside other angler's cooler box Hey Mak keep those reports/photos coming because they're really motivating!

[Daveirving]

Gong Xi Fa Chai Guys!

Nice fish nice report Makaira!

One thing I cannot understand......cold in Singapore???...I went fishing in the UK at Xmas, now that was cold, I couldn't feel my fingers to bait up!!

So when are you coming over to Oz?

Cheers

Dave

[octopus]

Great catches and Good Food for CNY. Happy CNY to everybody.

[tmlim]

Thanks for the interesting write-up and encouraging local catch report.
Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone in FO with abundance catch to come.