Missed another one. It swallowed the bait but didn't hook up correctly. All I got back was some rough leader. Long time never go "Sampan Fishing" already. In fact, my last trip doing it was in 2017 where I caught a decent size mangrove jack (the red red big big kind). I'll state it quite clearly: If you're looking to catch a decent barramundi, a sampan fishing trip is the way to go. No, I am not talking about those Frankenstein kind of barramundi that belong to the kelong nets but the kind that still actively chases large schools of mullet.  Some basic information about sampan trips: The fishing is around the Sembawang area. Jeff has excellent fishing spots where it is snaggy and full of rocks. There are also numerous mullet schools around. These make excellent fishing for barramundi, grouper, snapper, tarpon, barracuda. It is one of those fishing spots in Singapore that you can fish for just a few hours and "get lucky". Super ideal if you don't hav

I think we actually did poorly during the frenzy. We lost a few non sagai fish. Ah Du also caught and released a decent goldie.  "So, this will be a tenggiri batang jigging trip ya. Anyone caught using micro jigs will be thrown off board because we don't want any sagai shit happening." We started the trip off with this mindset which was promising and I felt somewhat vindicated in my efforts. I always tell folks that when you go fishing in Desaru, dream big when jigging. Instead of fooling around with micro jigs, one should try bigger jigs especially when combing the bottom for tenggiri and snapper.  Or that's what we thought lah. We didn't even last the first spot. I mean, we started out well with big jigs and all but we slowly started to degrade into sagai kakis. Even the last man standing, Sherwinder, also changed to smaller jigs to catch some sagai. Kraken Gear Ah Du getting ready The crew setting up shop We even got chided by Captain Ah Long of Desaru who lite

The story of the trip... It's been too long since we visited Merchong so we hastily arranged a 1 day sortie to Merchong since the restrictions have lifted. It was a self drive trip so we had a little flexibility.  Showing the trip report in a photo journey way :) First step was 古来友明 Restaurant Yuw Meng over at Kulai where we had our dinner! Their signature pork ribs Fried ice cream! Another signature of theirs. Their hokkien mee is still good. I would say the best in JB. Pineapple pork intestines was surprisingly good. Fried squirrel! Steamed prawns two styles Freshly ground fruit juice First we settled into the chalet... How nostalgic! The rustic feels Private jetty Even the room was so familiar Managed to get a few sotongs at nail island aka pulau berhala The trusty lunch box Love the space of the boat! Can fit 8 pax easily Ah Chong sort of turned into a rockstar and kept casting but kept getting the thrash fish. Hmmm... Shark! No, Cobia... Heavy! Foul hooked... Lawrence nailed