Fishing at D'Best Fishing (also known as Pasir Ris Main Pond or PRMP) with Rubber Lures (Luring)

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 the main, bigger pond and PRPP (Pasir Ris Pro Pond) for the smaller pond. I've never gotten past the logic of why certain fishing ponds are called pro ponds though and perhaps one day I will understand it. Seems like the "pro" in the name also means the pond is more expensive but supposedly is better fishing. Should just call it "more better pond" lah. Calling a pond pro makes a shy introvert like me not want to fish there because I assume there are too many pros and I'll catch nothing.

Now back to the pond... Ah Du and me decided to visit at night for some night luring simply because I think there were no options anymore. Farmway 3 is closed and Ed's Pond is also gone. The only other ponds that operate so late would be Gills Fishing but the problem was for Gills Fishing you can stand on one spot and cast to every spot in the pond. It was simply too small...

Did a quick check on the charges and it still seemed cheap like last time. $56 for a 9pm to 6am Sunday night session with fish release at 9.30pm.

Picture from D'Best Fishing Facebook page

Thought process of luring at night

As usual, I tend to over think the approach and thought process simply because I know every pond has a code or method to break. Fishing is 9/10 times not about luck and pond fishing is included. Seasoned pond fishing anglers pay "school fees" while newbies usually tend to "ice cream". That is simply the name of the game because fishing ponds release a fixed number of fishes and if there is no newbie, then everyone would just catch a fixed number of fish. In other words, there must be newbies around who catch no fish so the old timers can get a few dozen fish. 

For this trip, we would only be luring so I prepared a couple of rubber shads (white rabbit, storm) and random jig-heads (4g to 10g). I brought some old rubbers like the trigger x rubber, proberos rubber, vfox vibrotail and island anglers. Sorry, no Zman because I ah lau.

Tackle would be my eging setup. A Zenaq Assaut Esperto Spada 80 paired with the Shimano Vanquish C3000.

Breaking the colour code

So one of the key things to break is colour. We all know how some anglers swear by certain colours and for night luring, a lot of friends and kakis at the pond swear by white colour because supposedly it's more visible. But if you are into eging and if you lure regularly, you'll know that fish may not see colour this way. My own belief is that they will see shades of contrast and well maybe that's why white worked. We later found out during the night though that black worked pretty well too! Maybe colours don't really matter...

Combing the pond

I'm sure everyone knows the art of combing and finding fish by now. It was super difficult though as you had to move the keep net every time you want to change "area". The one that was well known were the "Saudi" area which seemed shallower and the water looked more stale. 

First blood at "Saudi" with White Rabbit pink rubber shad

We lured awhile at Saudi and realised the fish here were all hanging nearby. Possibly due to the fish just being released directly from the lorry. Almost all the fish were also barramundi and taken on slow consistent retrieval. When the bites came, a few of them would be hooked up so it's a possibility they may be schooling (I almost foul hooked one but got scales back in return).  Hook ups were quite predictable for the baiters, they just positioned all their floaters in a straight line. Distance was about 10ft from the edge.

Ah Du got one by combing the sides. Both of us had a few misses and drops but that was it.

I was a little put off though that the fish were at the sides because I was keen on casting out far and getting hook ups far out. In fact, I could reach the pump because of the length of my rod. Oh well.

Bottom hopping, consistent cranking or figure of 8 method

After Saudi, we made our way to the "stairs outside office" area. We missed the fish release timing as we started late and had to contend with catching "leftover" fish. The anglers here were also positioning their baits quite nearby. I managed to snag a "pek tiam" here and realised that most of the anglers caught snappers and mangrove jacks. Some also caught grouper. 

Pek Tiam. Better not say more, later someone called David Ho will find me drink coffee.

Again here, I tried casting out far but that didn't really work out. After awhile, we moved to the area right after "Oceanz Kelong Fishing" and at this area, Ah Du "dropped" a mangrove jack that rushed out to attack his lure when it was lured past the "seal". 

"Maybe this area is where all the grouper are hiding...", Ah Du said.

Talking to some regulars for fishing tips at PRMP

As we moved on, we realised the area after the "stairs outside" office was filled with anglers who casted out far. There were a few surf casting and doing PTK style. Also refreshing to see more lurers here. All of them were casting far out and none of them were fishing with floaters that were positioned nearby. Here was where I had a little more hope in casting out far and I tried for quite a long while... But alas nothing.

After that I chatted with some of the regulars there (although they seemed a little high on beer) and they shared some PRMP fishing tips with me. Summarising them below for ease:

1. There is a school of fishes that are always "far out" and usually you have to slow crank rubber lures as most of them are snapper and they are very finicky. They only eat for short periods of time so consistency is key until they start biting.
2. For fish release at night, don't bet too much on it. Most of the time, only a small hole is exposed due to partial undoing of the keepnet knot. Hence, the fishes swim out slowly to explore and not swim out together. This makes the fishing a little more consistent although the time is stretched.

The honey hole theory

I guess some of the regulars had valid points considering some of them were luring while sitting down and consistently casting at the same spot without moving. They were just waiting for the right time. The fish release theory also seemed logical since when they released the fishes, hook ups were still tepid. Interesting point: ah lau regular lurer was also using black coloured rubber although there was a spinner blade on his.

Ah Du nailing one

Black Proberos soft rubber. It breaks easily though as it is too soft.

We continue to move on and cover the pond when we came across a section where there seemed to be a school of small mullet or some sort of molly baitfish. It was here that we managed to get a few barramundi in quick succession. Fish here also preferred black colour rubber. I even got one on "figure of 8" method. I think it may be worthwhile to cast your lure when you see mini ripples or high baitfish activity.

Absolutely inhaled it.

After we wiped that area, we headed to the "connection bridge" area. This area is linked to the PRPP or Pasir Ris Pro Pond but alas nothing there. Saw that some baiters had their nets filled though so maybe the fish were already claimed. As the supper monster came after that, we left around 4am.

Conclusion

4 fish for me and 3 for Ah Du. Fight inflation ops.

I don't think the fishing was fantastic compared to what it was 10 years ago when you could get a dozen fish at PRMP easily. But it was still kind of entertaining as we tested out concepts and theories. A few fish to eat and as Ah Du said, "fight inflation".

'Ok' trip but don't think my next trip is anytime soon. Hahaha.