Ice cream - the local lingo for being outgunned/no fish
In my overview of my mini Maldives adventure, I shared about
being well beaten by the Giant Trevallies (GT) of Maldives and well, all my
shame is being showcased here. Although I fish a lot, I’ve never truly went on
a “Big game” fishing trip except for a one time New Zealand Kingfish jigging
trip so this was a serious eye (sore) opener for me.
Comfortable Dhoni. Easily can fish 6 pax.
We started the first day fishing with a pleasantly angler
friendly schedule. We would fish sunrise, break for lunch (return to island to
have our meals) and then go for sunset fishing. This actually was about 8 hours
of fishing considering sunrise fishing was 6am to 10am and sunset fishing was
4pm to 8pm!
I won’t write much about the actual fishing (you can view
the videos to get a sense of that) but some technical observations below:
We were seriously under-gunned
One of the headaches of not being on an actual “Big game”
fishing trip (and also because of conservative packing) is that we simply
brought too little of the serious, mean fishing gears. A quick check on our
fishing gear showed one thing – we were thoroughly under-gunned. I was quite
happy with my micro jigging, light jigging and light popping gear while Shawn
was happy with his strange array of random fishing gear (including a hastily
put together “popping” setup which was a Zerek popping rod and a Daiwa Freams
4500J).
I thought I was ready – simply because my gear served me
well on numerous fishing trips except that my heaviest gear was a PE 2 – 3 CTS
custom and Trinidad 12! I also did the “in-thing” and brought along my Shimano
Ocea Jigger 1500 and Shimano Ocea Infitini Slow Fall setup.
How naïve we were. Bent hooks, bust lines… you’ll see later.
The Singaporean idea
of “light jigging” and coaxing fish is bollocks
Another key observation was that the concept of “aiya, let
the fish run and slowly bring it up… give it some slack” didn’t work at all!
Terrain was vicious here and a thousand times more treacherous than the terrain
we have in Singapore. Steep corals, sudden drop offs and even sharks – you name
it, you got it.
Coaxing the fish in is a reality most Singaporean light
jiggers dabble in these days. Anglers use very light lines like PE1 and light
drags to coax in the fish and while most of us managed it well in local or
regional (Rompin, Pekan, Desaru etc.), the fishes at Maldives weren’t so
obliging. I bust off about 4 – 5 suspected GTs (because Shawn always chickened
out and refused to fight the fish) and this was after trying various means to
get the fish up on light tackle.
Often, a single scenario occurred – the GT would hit the jig
near the bottom and then take out line for 5 seconds and then reef me. If you
somehow manage to hook the fish near mid water, it was always going to be a
matter of terminal tackle quality. Our terminals didn’t stand up to the fight
though (and I must take some blame for not pairing the light jigs with bigger
hooks) and bent hooks came back frequently.
I had a really good chance to land one of the GTs on the PE
1 setup and Daiwa Branzino 3000 (with 12lbs Spiderwire!) but the SK Twin
Seriola 2/0 opened when the fish was about 5m from the boat. Man…
Presentation is key
Another technical highlight was that contrary to popular
belief, Maldives is not an “anyhow jig, any jig” fishing ground. When the fish
were really picky, the hit rates depended a lot on jigging speeds and
presentation. Changing jigging styles, jig action and colours proved to be very
effective and once you have a “winning” formula, stick to it. This was very
consistent throughout the few days of fishing and the long fast stroke with
pause technique probably scored the most hits.
Crippled Herring was a favourite among the fishes.
But ok we still had
some fun
Thankfully, after all the crying, cursing and bruising of
egos, we still managed some fun. Shawn fought a good sized Dogtooth Tuna
(mistaken by everyone to be some tuna) on my setup (PE 1 – 2 Jigging rod and a
Shimano Stella 4k) and it was brought up for a good photo taking. Dogtooth
Tunas don’t usually fight better than GTs though and the fish was taken in mid
water so the “coaxing the fish” rule applied here.
Now, don’t be fooled by the sad faces because we still had
fun in the next few days of fishing. When we realized during day one that light
tackle wouldn’t make the cut, we opted for light fishing the next day and we
were pleasantly rewarded by a large array of reef fishes. It was probably the
best few hours of jigging I have ever experienced – more to come in the next
post!
Thankfully, it took the jig in mid-water
Shawn brought up a decent doggie with my light jigging outfit
If you’re interested in joining such a rustic fishing trip,
I can arrange one for you and although there are certain packages available,
such trips are purely exploratory and still at an infancy phase. If you have
good fishing finesse skills though, you’ll probably do very well. Contact me at
nigel.lian@gmail.com
Foreword and Disclaimer My first encounter with prawning dated back to 2002. Back then, I hooked up my first prawn near the prawning ponds beside the Downtown East chalets at Pasir Ris. Back then, it was something like beginner's luck but after prawning for awhile, you'll realise that you will need skill as well as luck to have a good prawning catch. Through hard work and observation, I improved my prawning strategies and tactics and after some sessions of almost 70-80% hookup rate, I somewhat graduated from newbie stage to amateur stage. I would like to share with you guys some very basic prawning tips and trip. But a fair warning though. Prawning is addictive and it can only get worst once you get more prawns. When you are a newbie, you want to hook your first prawn...you want to get your first 10pcs... when you graduate you want to hit 30 in an hour...next is 50 in an hour... This post has since been updated and refreshed as of 25 March 2017. Prawning Equipmen
Fishing Pond operators, do contact me to update your listings here. Happy to update new information to help our fishing kakis. I will update accordingly. Many thanks. For Prawning Pond Locations, Click Here --- Pasir Ris Park Fishing Pond (Saltwater) beside Pasir Ris MRT (D'Best fishing Singapore) Address: 1 Pasir Ris Drive 1, Singapore, 510001 Tel: 6581 2123 Open 24 hours Website: http://www.dbestfishing.com.sg/ Note: There are a few ponds at this area - the Pasir Ris Main Pond, Event Pond, Pro Pond and the Skill Pond. Recently there is the CNR GT Pond. There is also the Pasir Ris Prawning, crabbing pond. Rates vary and are changing all the time so it's best to call up and check! Gills Fishing Pond outside SAF Yacht Club Sembawang (Opened on 27 October 2023) Address: 43 Admiralty Rd W, Singapore 759962 Contact number: 9121 7577 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gills.fishing 24 hours operation, for rates, please go to their Facebook page. Auntie Fishing Pond (Saltwater
This post is meant as a supplement to this Batu Pahat catch report . Information and pictures taken from #fishidlessonsbydavidho. Did you know that the Kurau and Senangin are totally different? This post aims to enable you to know the difference. Name and Terminology Kurau is known as Indian Giant Threadfin salmon/Kurau/黑午鱼/Orh Ngor Senangin is known as Blue Threadfin salmon/Senangin/白午鱼/Pek Ngor/Ngor Soon Eating Quality Kurau is known the more premium species and is a popular fish for maternity purposes as it is believed to boost milk supply for new mothers. It is rare and big sized fish are hard to come by these days. Generally costs more than Senangin. Senangin is less premium and is readily available in the market in various sizes. I have also seen that farming for it can be quite successful. Size Differences If you do a Google search, you will realise that both can grow quite big. However, this is not a good comparison as geographically, there are differences in s
In case you all don't know yet, a new prawning pond has opened at 10 Neo Tiew Lane 2! Called Olden Days Prawning, the prawning pond is opened daily and 24 hours. What was the most surprising for me is their current price for prawning. They are doing it at 1 hour - $9.99, 2 hours - $15.99 and 3 hours - $19.99. Quite a good deal as these are way below prawning pond rates. The location isn't new and used to be operated by Ah Hua Fishing and Prawning . Address: 10 Neo Tiew Lane 2, Singapore 718813 (located within Gallop Kranji Farm Resort) Contact number: 8756 4984 Check out Olden Days Prawning Facebook and TikTok !
Prawning rates are usually $30 to $40+ per 3 hrs and the only difference for some operators is whether they allow you to store your hours, split the 3 hrs into 2 rods. Promotions are available for many operators so have a look at their Facebook page or website. It's best to do your research on where has the most prawns and promotions for the period you are going at. Prawning pond operators, do contact me to update your listings here. Happy to update new information to help our fishing kakis. I will update accordingly. Many thanks. For Fishing Pond Locations, Click Here . For a basic introduction into Prawning, Click Here. Below venues listed according to location. Olden Days Prawning Address: 10 Neo Tiew Lane 2, Singapore 718813 Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556052750584 Tel: 8756 4984 Opening hours: Daily, 24 hours Type of fishing: Big Head Freshwater Prawn/Udang Galah ATC Fishing Village (formerly Jurong Hill Prawning) Address: 241, Jalan Ahm
Black Proberos soft rubber. Maybe I should buy in bulk, rebrand it and sell at 4x the cost. Maybe I'll call it sticky lake rubber. @baktao Went for a short trip at D'Best Pasir Ris Main fishing pond. #fishing #sgfishin #luring #singapore ♬ Oh no, oh no, oh no, no no - Hip Hop 15 years ago, fishing here was free I was 15 years old when I first fished at Pasir Ris Fishing Pond (back then it was just called as such) at Pasir Ris Town Park. I went there with a few of my secondary school friends and we caught dozens of huge tilapia. It was when there was no operator at the pond and you could simply fish for free. There were also a few pieces of the odd leftover fish and I remember catching a mangrove jack on bread. Introduction to D'Best Fishing Now after years of being run by different fishing pond operators, the pond now goes by the name of D'Best Fishing by D'Best Recreation. Old timers to the pond just simply remember it as Pasir Ris Main Pond (PRMP) for t
Hey folks, a new fishing and prawning pond has opened in Sembawang, right outside the SAF Yacht Club (SAFYC). For details, head onto their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/gills.fishing . Heard that it operates on some points system now but the catch rate seems quite decent. Address: 43 Admiralty Rd W, Singapore 759962 (free parking available outside the open area) Contact number: 9121 7577 Below photos are embedded from their Facebook page on public settings:
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