Where have the goldies gone too?

[MarkR]

Was out with Frank7, HenryKoh and Mack. Catch was average. We did not manage to net much live squid. Netted squid mostly one inch size, very few 3 inch plus squid netted unlike on our previous trip.

Went back to the same spots that produced the 41 golden snappers and hit 2 wild golden snappers. Good size, both around 6lbs I reckon. One landed. I lost the other one just at boatside...can see fish liao but hook pulled ...I landed a Kaci shortly after but bite was not very hot at these spots (fished only 2 spots, 3rd spot had a VLCC anchored directly above) so we headed to Sentosa area.

Again my bait was getting bit hard and I landed a nice grouper on a live prawn. Switched to smelly sotong from the previous night and wham!!!! Unstoppable...cut at corals ... peeling line from my Boss 870...boatman said big gao...got screwed for using long leader by boatman . Fed-up...switched to 80lb FC...put another smelly sotong down...got hit within 5 min and brought up an approx 4lb golden snapper.

Day break saw another angler landing a nice grouper around 6lbs on live selar we netted at night...got some Kacis and a Grunter too, approx 2kg for the Kacis and a big gold catfish landed by Mack. A fairly quiet trip but I ony have myself to blame for not landing the big ones

1.5L bottle in the picture

[physlo]

Hey Mark...good catch dude. I normally avoid using shock leader when fishing the vicinity of shipwrecks or coral reefs. The only mono leader is used for tying the hook itself. Yesterday's fishing off a local wreck produced a 15kg & 11 kg grouper by a kaki.

Regards
physlo

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by physlo

Yesterday's fishing off a local wreck produced a 15kg & 11 kg grouper by a kaki.

Fantastic! Were your friends with Osman? Boatman said he was heading to the wreck on Sunday too...wonder how he did...hmmm....

tight lines

[layman]

Very good size gao and snappers!!!

[rolexking]

Bro, u never ask me go scoop sotong… anyway, full moon there, where can get much sotong....

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by physlo

Hey Mark...good catch dude. I normally avoid using shock leader when fishing the vicinity of shipwrecks or coral reefs. The only mono leader is used for tying the hook itself. Yesterday's fishing off a local wreck produced a 15kg & 11 kg grouper by a kaki.

Regards
physlo

Hi Physlo,

Could you share with us why? Is it perhaps to make it easier to break off a snag?

I actually go the opposite of what you do. I ensure that I have a relatively heavy wind-on / shock leader of at least 15 feet or so when I fish such grounds to avoid cut-offs because the mono is much more abrasion resistant then the hair-thin braided mainline.

15 & 11kg groupers off a local wreck ... hmmmm ..east coast?

Best regards,
Makaira

[mark]

got alittle confused here.. but why would there be a difference and not flavourable using long leader when fishing for big gao or wrecks?

[jason]

Originally Posted by mark

got alittle confused here.. but why would there be a difference and not flavourable using long leader when fishing for big gao or wrecks?

Mark ,
Not to worry much abt the leader.....U can use jig with a pc of selar is juz as effective ....hahahahaha!!!!!



Cheers
Jason

[physlo]

Originally Posted by Makaira

Hi Physlo,

Could you share with us why? Is it perhaps to make it easier to break off a snag?

I actually go the opposite of what you do. I ensure that I have a relatively heavy wind-on / shock leader of at least 15 feet or so when I fish such grounds to avoid cut-offs because the mono is much more abrasion resistant then the hair-thin braided mainline.

15 & 11kg groupers off a local wreck ... hmmmm ..east coast?

Best regards,
Makaira

Makaira,

I’m trying to avoid the additional stretch on the mono leader when the fish takes the bait. When doing wreck fishing, I will attached a heavy duty snap/swivel at the end of the 65lbs braid then followed by the ranggong. The leader used to tie the hook is between 6 to 7 feet long. Drag estimated between 9-10kgs at strike. So far it works for me. I still used shock leaders depending on the fishing situations.

Yes, both groupers were caught somewhere in the east coast. I’ve been longing to fish that wreck since the last was with Yew Seng couple of years back when he was still operating. Anyway, we were lucky since the current was to our favor on that day. I’m still waiting for the pictures from my friend....lucky chap. 3 strikes, 2 landed.

Regards
Physlo

[physlo]

Originally Posted by mark

got alittle confused here.. but why would there be a difference and not flavourable using long leader when fishing for big gao or wrecks?

Mark,

Just a few meters of stretch on the mono can cause the gao to cut us off. Happened to me many times before.

Regards
physlo

[stevenseow]

Very nice catch. Can see the grouper and snapper are quite nice eating size.

[Makaira]

Hi Physlo,

If we are talking about the same wreck, those who have fished there before knows the kind of surprises it can produce

Best regards,
Makaira

[physlo]

Mak,

I think we are on the same channel. There are still plenty of gao waiting to be caught. Now thinking of getting a sampan to fish there every weekend...lol

Regards
physlo

[mack]

Hi makaira,

Do you normally catch those giant groupers on a slow/ flat current day? With a long leader, i guess you have to reel the hook/ bait quite high from the seabed. Is squid or live fish a better bait for it?


Frank/ mark - how is the taste of your grouper? I have not tasted a fresh grouper for a long, long time.


cheers
adrian

[stickbom!]

Originally Posted by physlo

Mak,

I think we are on the same channel. There are still plenty of gao waiting to be caught. Now thinking of getting a sampan to fish there every weekend...lol

Regards
physlo

Dude, remember to bring me along hor... I want to test my jigger 5500P!! Believe it or not I have finally figured out how to use a damn ranggong

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by mack

Do you normally catch those giant groupers on a slow/ flat current day? With a long leader, i guess you have to reel the hook/ bait quite high from the seabed. Is squid or live fish a better bait for it?

Hi Adrian,

Basically, my personal preference is for longer leaders for all species of fish because imho, longer leaders present bait better.

As for current conditions, we have caught big groupers in all conditions. The key is in the boat anchoring relative to the structure, & adjusting the sinker sizes to position your bait vis-a-vis the structure & current conditions. For wreck fishing, anchoring too close or allowing your bait to go too close to the structure is usually a futile exercise. It is debatable that you get more hits going closer to the structure, but chances are you will get cut off no matter how tight you set your drag. The power of those fishes are unbelievable. Contrary to popular belief, groupers do leave their "holes" to feed. As such, anchoring a "safe" distance from the structure will still hookup AND land you fish.

Of course there are conditions like total dead current where you may have to fish right on top of or as near the wreck as possible; just be prepared to lose most of the fish.

As for how high up I crank the sinker off the bottom, it depends on current flow & the bottom structure The stronger the current, the less cranks I will take & vice versa. My diving friends tell me no matter how long your leader is, your bait will float off the bottom when there is a current. I have not personally seen baits underwater, so I take their word for it.

Bait-wise, Groupers in general dun really care. I call them garbage disposal units on steroids. You name it, I have caught them with it ....... live bait, dead bait, big bait, small bait, but size DOES matter when using dead baits . Let's see what I have caught these buggers with .... live baits include milk fish, prawns, selar, kuning, chomek, arrow squids, chemak. Dead baits include parang chunks, market bought kembong, kembong batu, selayang, kelong sotong, arrow squids, chemak. While I have not personally used them, many swear by live kelong chi

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Makaira

[layman]

long time ago, before that small island opp of west coast got reclaimed, i use to regularly catches good size grouper (bout 1-3kg range) using small size live rabbit fish along the water-breaker. Always puzzled me why arent they afraid of the poisonous spike

Not sure whether will it work in wreck though??? anyone tried before?

[mack]

Hi Makaira,

Thanks for your advice. With better knowledge, i will make it a point to try for groupers in my next off-shore trip.

As the current was weak, i was just using one arm-length of leader and my 40lbs dupoint leader was thick and i felt that it lost out in presentation. Frank and mark caught 3 fishes each and i think their very long flurocarbon leader play a big part.

I was scooping squid for a large portion of my last trip so i lost out in fishing time. An interesting occasion in this fishing trip was the capture of the approx. 3kg angcho. After my CTS rod dip a little, i hold the rod on my hand. I allow some time for the angcho to swallow the bait before i strike. When i brought up the fish, my hook (inner) and henry's hook (outer) is in the fish. This fish is really hungry to eat 2 baits at the same time.

Comparing the catch report from HB against s'pore water for night fishing, personally i feel that s'pore waters is producing better catch. One reason may be there is more squid along our shoreline. I scooped easily 40-50 pieces of squid on this trip.

cheers
adrian

[Makaira]

Hi Adrian,

I am a firm believer in using long leaders for better bait presentation. The length I normally use is no less than 2 half to 3 arm lengths, longer if the current is raging. When the current is very weak, I switch to the longest ranggong I have & let the bait down very slowly to prevent the leader from twirling round the mainline. If that still presents a problem, I switch to apollo rigs or dropper loop.

I am also a firm believer of FC leader, day & night. Yew Seng is not The jury is still out though as sometimes I catch more, sometimes he does. There was one trip I was up 10-0 before he caught his first fish ..... after he reluctantly switched to FC. The next trip, he outfished me using his favourite Dupont. So go figure

As for a fish taking more than one bait at the same time, it is actually pretty common. When they are feeding, I think they just whack anything in sight. During the hot kurau bite at St Johns 2-3 years ago, we had a kurau with THREE hooks in the mouth, the hooks were all trailing super long leaders AND three 3kg sinkers!!! One of the hook was a break-off that occured 20 minutes earlier, the other two hooks was what we thought was a double hookup. Freaking amazing isn't it.

On another trip, a 16kg grouper we caught when fishing with Yew Seng had a total of 5 hooks in its mouth & gullet; and one of those hooks was my Owner Aki Twist 7/0, which I broke off on the fish 3 days earlier!!! I could tell it was my hook because of the way it was tied. When I was out in Horsburgh 2 months ago, me & my fren fought a 20kg cobia that took both our baits at the same time. Just 2 weeks ago, we also had a good size snapper that struck two different rods at the same time.

Yes, I agree that local fishing is producing good catches these days. Actually, it always has However, it may not be a function of more squids here inshore versus out there. A few hardcore anglers I know don't even bother to use live squid when they fish out there. Their preferred bait is live fish. So I think where the fishes are is seasonal rather than availability of a specific type of bait. Opinions differ of course.

Good luck on your quest for big groupers!!!

Best regards,
Makaira

[mack]

Hi Makaira,

Thanks again. Fishing is also a life-long learning process. Guess i did not clock enough fishing hours in Singapore so in future, i should spend less on tackles and more on fishing trip.

I have seen pple using flurocarbon for night fishing and is still very puzzle as in how does it make a difference in the dark when the fish use it's sense of smell and vibration instead of visual. Presently, i am using seaguar 12 and 16 (red spool) for day fishing and pond but find that it has very bad abrasion resistant. I though of buying sunline FC (50 or 60lbs) soon. Do you have any recommendation on the brands of FC?


Mark - Hope that your family member recover soon so that your sabah trip will visualize. If you go for the trip, can leave a piece of tenggiri meat for me?


cheers
adrian

[Makaira]

Hi Adrian,

You are most welcome.
I am one of them Is FC really invisible as the manufacturers claim? Perhaps to the human eye according to the physics of refraction index ..... but who knows how a fish's eyes really work. Whatever it is, I find FC effective both day & night. Opinions differ of course, like our dear fren YS, with whom I have an ongoing competition every time we fish on the same boat He with his trusty Dupont, me with my FC The jury is still out though.

I use Seaguar no 14 & above these days. I don't have a problem with abrasion resistance with FC in general, but it could be marginally less abrasion resistant then normal mono leader material by virtue of the fact that FC is less stretchy than regular mono. Having a mono wind-on shock leader when using braided line should provide enough stretch to alleviate whatever problem there may be. Between the various Seaguar FC variants, I find that the 50M spools of orange label version the best. Having said that, I am using the 130m red label version simply because of the bulk spool. Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Makaira

[mark]

Originally Posted by physlo

Mark,

Just a few meters of stretch on the mono can cause the gao to cut us off. Happened to me many times before.

Regards
physlo

but i'm wondering how much stretch would 5m worth of mono gives you? since every crank of reel should takes back ard 1m worth of line while if fish is taking line the mono shouldn't have stretch as much since line is already peeling from the reel, shouldn't that be the case?