Recently, we managed to do a trip to Fishing Paradise at Bottle Tree. It was my first time here and i don't know anything... What baits to use and what to target... Ivan brought us there and we used some of his remaining fishing time that he bought there. No luck for us at the main fishing area... Interesting thing was that they don't allow baits like Chicken Liver but the bait they provide was taiwanese sausages! More interestingly is that while we were fishing, people were paddling with the self paddled boats in the middle of the pond! Imagine a taiwan sausage hitting their face! Anyway, there was totally no bite so we went to the kids pond for a try at the fish to cure our itch. $5 per fish landed.... and we only got 1... and called it a day... I don't know if we'll be back... Hahaha....

I am so disheartened by this day that i still believe that it's going to affect my fishing for the year... It all began when Shawn and me explored a somewhat dry spot of ours... It was pretty dry... But we managed to land a few nice Temensis... including dropping two decent sized ones as we were careless... First cast into our favourite submerged tree... and this beautiful monster tribal Arowana swam out lightning fast... to grab the lure... FISH ON i shouted...seeing that it was an arowana, I set 3 times... but I forgot I was on high drag... next 10 seconds of fight was exciting as the fish swam around trying to throw the hook but the two trebles were firmly secured... not for long. After a few jumps, the treble got off and I was left to my own disappointment.... Lesson... never fight an Arowana on high drag settings.... It will probably mean the hook will dig in and create a big hole in the jaw and the Arowana easily dislodges itself.... Well, here's the pictures for ...

Well, it's auspicious to have fishes for the Chinese New Year because of the popular saying... Nian Nian You Yu (Year Year got fish).... So me and Shawn headed for a Chinese New Year fishing trip on the second day of chinese new year... Bad move.... it was drizzling with moderate rain throughout the whole trip and the Peacock Bass were not even active. I moved in to target the weedy patches while Shawn stayed on the open area. Whenever i approached the weedy patch, big fishes will swim away at the sight of me... yes they are that sensitive. But this time round there was no movement as i'm pretty sure the rain somehow masked my prescence... A few casts and my scumfrog was directly in the centre of the weedy patch... 1, 2, 3... BOOF! Holy shit... Something huge made a big gap in the weeds and pulled my frog down. Set Set Set! It is important to make sure that hook is set in deep as i knew it's going to be a tough tug of war and maybe weed pulling...lol... I was right......

Under top secret directives from the family, I was dispatched on an offshore fishing mission to procure top secret items for the Chinese New Year Eve Reunion Dinner... Well to keep things simple, Ah Chong had an open slot as someone cancelled the booking... So I had to take it right? The previous day saw 30 over fish and Threadfin Salmon but luck was not with us this time and we managed just an average catch... Joining us on this trip was Momok sister and beginner's luck was well with her! Current was lacklustre and a little late so I was thinking that the bite may pick up around 3pm... well it certainly did but after the bites started coming in, so did the thunderstorm!!! Terence with a good sized chor This trip was extremely boring for me and I only managed to get two ang chors aka golden snappers... Ah Chong managed a beautiful Ang Kuey aka red snapper... Somewhere towards the end of the trip, Momok sister's rod bent all the way and the line kept going out. She thought ...

This is yet another Peacock Bass report. There seems to be nothing else that is easier to catch than these aggressive fish. This trip, we brought Tom along and he is raring to go as it's his first time luring for Peacock Bass outside the US... When we were into the fishing grounds, I waited for awhile while Tom and Shawn set up. I wanted Tom to get the first cast as the fish would be unshy. But they took quite awhile so i gingerly made the proverbial first cast and BANG! I got a hit on the first cast! A good sized Peacock Bass which was well over 2lbs gave me some fun... but alas it threw hooks. Now Shawn was next and on his first cast as well... BANG! Tom was peeking over now and all of us were soon casting our lures out. The fish were noticeably more feisty perhaps due to the hot weather. Small ones were chasing our lures and hitting them constantly. This may have put the bigger ones off. Shawn's Peacock Tom finally got his first Peacok Bass but it almost dropped back...

Catch reports are coming up slowly due to the Chinese New Year period having a massive slowing effect on the author. Hahaha. This was a trip we were very excited about but disappointed as a whole. Freshwater fishing for Toman in natural rivers in Malaysia or Thailand is very different from Singapore as water bodies are extensive and have more natural vegetation. The Toman here are more "natural" and one must go during the "season" to get more hits. Luring in this kind of environments is an instant draw for many toman anglers simply because it is wilder and much more challenging. Weedless lures like frogs, spoons are much more popular than what we use in Singapore as weedy terrain is common. Diving lures are popular as the Tomans can lay deep. Trolling lures like the Rapala Deep Tail Dancer is one of my favourite lures when slow trolling for the Toman. So much for the background... Now for the actual report... During our trip, the first thing we notice is that...

Shawn finally got his first fish of 2012 during one of our freshwater luring trips to our now favourite Peacock Bass spot. That place was crawling with Peacock Bass... We won't return empty handed each trip... The water was very low compared to last time and early in the afternoon the Peacock Bass were holding out in deeper far waters but as the sun set, the fish had come in for a few snacks... We got a few mating pairs out of the water for a good photo shoot... Shawn did himself proud with the Ima Sasuke... landing the biggest of the trip at 4.5lbs... Shawn also cam whored with a baby I was testing out a few lures including the storm flutterstick madflash... excellent casting distance and great concept. The lure can be worked like an underwater pencil, you can let pause the let it flutter while on fast jig or twitch. Quite a number of the takes were on the flutter so mono main line is discouraged.... Hooks must also be sharp and you must be ready to strike when line is tau...