Fishing with Ah Fong (Pong), one of the best Changi fishing bumboat captain

Dad caught the first fish. Quite a huge kaci!

Remember my article on how the Changi “bumboat fishing boatmen” are the last of their kind? I had a request from my dad the other day that he would like to try fishing on the bumboat again and I knew I just had to book a trip with Ah Fong, who is considered one of the best in the businesses. I fished with Ah Fong many years ago and he rarely disappointed. My dad’s friends wanted to join in too and it was a good reunion of sorts for my dad and his friends (they are all army regulars who have now retired).

It was really cool that Ah Fong now accepts booking through WhatsApp and it was rather shocking that the price for booking the boat is still a very modest $450. I remember it being $450 years ago!

Ah Fong’s contact: +65 9784 7166

Anyway, back to the fishing catch report. It was an extremely windy day so conditions were very challenging. In fact it was so rocky that I had to sit throughout the trip! Thankfully, nobody got seasick and we pulled in some decent fishes (although we lost quite a fair bit of good fishes which bullied us – everyone including Ah Fong was guilty).

A small window period of half an hour led to what was a great session of jigging – Kurau Jigs, Slow Fall Jigs scoring a few good groupers (including a brute of a Hybrid Grouper which smashed the madai jig) for me. Very contented with the bite rate!

Good sized grouper on one of the slow fall jigs from bakgalfishing.
 

Whopper of a hybrid take took a madai jig. Didn't weigh this but definitely more than 10lbs...

Will we go again? Yeah definitely now that my dad is retired and able to spend more time fishing! Seems like dad certainly likes the old school fishing more than offshore fishing on the fiberglass boat. Nostalgia and old school goes a long way in the experience.

Not bad considering we lost many fishes!

Priceless memories!