Fast track to learning how to fish like a pro: catch and release payponds

The Dragon Tiger Group - Not too bad a fight for my custom St Croix 8-14lbs!

As wild fish stocks in Singapore and the rest of the world start to decline, paying money to fish in a stocked artificial pond will be lucrative business. We've seen "catch and keep" payponds in Singapore do well but recently more ponds are using the "catch and release" model. This model sees more ponds stocked with huge Tiger Groups and Dragon Tiger Groupers which are popular among our local Singapore anglers. Various ponds locally and regionally are now stocking these fish. We even have a new "catch and release" fishing pond in Batam, Barelang.

While I do not usually fish at pay ponds, I can't deny that such ponds give newbies or beginners a good first experience. Such ponds are usually high on bite rate and well stocked so newbies won't have the problem of "fish not biting". This was exactly what happened when I brought first time budding fisher-woman Bakgirl out on a trip to Desaru "Brother" catch and release pond.

Bakgirl instantly felt what it meant to hook onto a double digit grouper and all this was done by using artificial lures! Monster Barramundis were also landed on rubber lures and really gave our tackle a run for their money. Other kakis that used hard bodied lures such as the bent minnows and poppers were rewarded too as everyone's tackle "screamed".

See our happy faces below? Fishing in Singapore payponds will never be the same again!

Big rubber lures are very effective for the groupers

Jigger at the deeper regions of the pond also produces

Team effort to haul up this grouper!

Well, she did it too! Cast and bam!

Good sized kim calls for a good pose

Small groupers also loved the pink rubber!

I couldn't help but have fun some too!

OSP bent minnow tempting this fella!

 Desaru "Brother" pond is highly recommended and is really quite affordable. Between the two of us (usually one rod only as Bakgirl was a newbie), we landed easily more than two dozen fishes of good size (average 4 - 10kg). The fishes there are also relatively healthy since the pond's fishes are the "pets" of the owner. They're well fed and fight really well compared to other similar payponds.

Well, the bite rate was really excellent and you can see what I mean by this video