Tips for light jigging at Changi waters: Golden Snapper frenzy with Changi Ah Fong

Very contented with nice size snappers! We released 3 to 4 pieces of smaller snapper and groupers. We also lost quite a few!

Jigging for golden snapper in a frenzy was always the stuff of dreams for me. I watched too many Australian fishing shows where they jig the snappers just use soft plastics and it was always awesome. I was very blessed to experience this (locally some more!) recently although we were using light jigs (kurau jigs). Changi Ah Fong simply knows how to target them and he was top notch.

The snappers were feeding aggressively that morning taking our jigs at the bottom and even all the way up to mid water! The takes were very hard, fight was tough and we even lost a few of them. Heck, David even managed a good 8lb barramundi in the morning!

Some photos from our catches:

David was the first to score a good snapper!

Before that, he did this barramundi on kurau jig thing.

Ah Fong teaching us how its done on bait

Greedy gao on red mouse madai.

Guhood came in!

Looks like leatherjackets also love the kurau jig. We caught two of these!

And one on the candy kurau jig!

Many are doubtful of jigging at Changi waters simply because the catches there are generally smaller (in-shore species) and the water visibility isn’t that great. Don’t let that deter you from jigging! 

Some tips on light jigging at Changi waters: 

1. Since visibility is bad, colour and presentation matters much. David was getting more hits with his chrome coloured jig on a bright day compared to my candy coloured jig. The tinsel threads on his assist hooks also made full use of the sun. When margins are very tight, it is important to be fussy about colours.
2. Employ a variety of jigging methods from bottom bouncing, mid water zipping and even long falling your light jig. When something works, stick to it. Alternate if not sure.
3. Explore different depths! During our trip, the snappers were feeding at bottom and at mid water. Always explore the whole water column especially since there are various species of fishes that hang around different depths. 
4. Try to jig with some buddies for better effectiveness. More jigs down, more fish! Fishes tend to get more aggressive and you can cover larger areas together.
5. Jig at the correct timing. Tidal flows, mid-day lull means that jigging won’t be effective the whole day. Mornings and late afternoons are usually better. It is also better to jig when the tides are in full swing (few hours before and after incoming/outgoing). Rest or bait during lull times.
6. If light jigs are not working, change to bigger jigs or madai jigs. Sometimes, fishes don’t attack jigs for a meal but they attack out of territorial instincts. If the fish aren’t feeding, then irritate them! Similarly, downsize your jigs to micro jigs to see if it triggers the fishes. 

Ah Fong’s contact: +65 9784 7166

Also, a very simple overvideo video taken from video footage from everyone.