How I missed this beach! Fishing at Desaru has always been special for me as it was one of the easiest places to get started on light jigging last time. The glory days of TU lighthouse were simply amazing and I'm sure the older anglers would know what I am talking about. Countless queenfish, GT, mackerals and so on... basically all the pelagics you could dream of!  Desaru is also a place that is fairly near us (under an hour drive) that will produce good sized tenggiri batang also known as spanish mackerals. It is also the place that I caught some of my nicest red groupers on jigs . The downside of Desaru? As it is a little more exposed than other fishing areas up the east coast of Malaysia, the weather can be a little unpredictable and stormy or bad conditions at sea will mean you might have to cut your trip short. That's what happened on this trip but I am not complaining! During this trip, we started out very late at 10am and the fishes were in a frenzy till about 1230pm. Th...

Always always try new approaches to your usual fishing grounds. It's a golden rule that I abide in and this mindset will produce surprises sometimes especially when the fishing is tough. It was one of those trips on Jeff. We would start out by spinning our prawns in the shallows for the small jacks and snappers. Just that today, they weren't really biting.  So I thought heck... let's try something totally different. I took out a 80g green top kurau jig and did some casting. The idea was to simulate baitfish fall while horizontally retrieving the jig. This will allow me to cover more ground and to also simulate fleeing or injured tamban. I decided on a 80g one simply because I wanted to go for size. Small tiny micro jigs won't work as they are for folks that usually target smaller fish. Risky I thought to myself... as the water was just up to 5m and there were rocks peppered throughout the terrain.  A few casts into the strategy, I connected with something that took the ...

Super lukewarm CR. The groupers are pretty good sized though. They say not every fishing trip will be good. Some result in "ice cream" which is a famous saying among the locals here that has the same meaning as a bad trip. It won't be accurate to blog just about awesome trips so here I am with this catch report... I learned that... Strange regional weather does affect the catch. It might be due to pressure build ups. Sometimes, fish bite harder during the days when there is no current. Drift fishing can be terrible without wind and current. But I also... Discovered the wonderful taste and eating qualities of the red emperor fish (again!) Was able to fish with "Tenya" the whole day (since Fish Stalker has an ongoing Tenya fishing competition) Oh well, to cut things short... The bite rate was lukewarm in the morning on the up current and we expected it to pick up during the down going in the afternoon but never materialised... nevertheless, we had fun as with all ...

In the past, we would always use live prawns for Changi Offshore Fishing as table sized fish like groupers and snappers were abundant. It was the "default bait". But things are different now as the fish stocks have went down and you can't get the quantity that you used to. However, you may still get quality or size if you persist and that is what we tried during this trip – by using big octopus baits! Live octopus were used by old timers in the past for big fish but was not so readily available then. With social media and the live bait delivery network, things are different now and you are usually able to get octopus baits easily. The octopus baits we used today are not that big but are around medium size with length around 5 to 7 inch size. There are smaller ones below 5 inch and bigger ones above 8 inches too.  This greedy red snapper took octopus bait! Some notes... Octopus baits are CHEAP because they last very long. You can land multiple fish with it and still contin...

Quite a bit of Emails regarding this blog post . Put some of my replies here in case more folks read this. Q: The mentioned fishing charters are fully booked. Do you have any more recommendations? A: I don't have any more recommendations because I only put down charters which I have fished before or fished regularly at. Try to book early in advance. Q: There are many charter companies out there when I Google, is it a must to take a trip with them? A: No, it is not. These charter companies usually charge a higher fee but they make up for it in things like service and they may include fishing guides (note that they usually don't pay their share). You can go straight to the charter captains to arrange a trip directly. Q: Are there any seasons to book the fishing charters? Any monsoon? A: Charters are all year round in Singapore because our monsoon is mild and there are plenty of inshore options. There used to be predictable seasons for certain fishes but these days due to climate ...

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. ...

How do we effectively use the tenya jig the right way is something many people ask me. Of course, everyone knows that we use a live prawn here and we drop it to the bottom of the seabed. Most fishing folks do that and already catch fish with the tenya jig. So what's really so special about it? Well, in my humble experiences with the tenya jig, I found there are three ways to "accelerate" the bites and get more fish. Before you go into the the three ways, learn how to hook a live prawn on the tenya by watching this video . 1. Cast and bounce  A very common way that most people use is using the tenya to cover more ground. This often happens as the boat is drifting. Casting the opposite direction to where the current is heading will give you good ground to cover. As the tenya returns to you, lift and bounce( releasing line after the lift) to try and locate the snags and caves in which the fishes are hiding in. Snag rate is high using this method but if you're...

With anglers in Singapore now armed with Madai Jigs and Slow Fall Jigs when they go offshore fishing, it's no wonder the days of the Paternoster Rig (Apollo Rig) and Running Sinker Rigs are numbered. Madai Jigs complemented with live prawns (Maprawns) are very effective and proven in Southern Island or even Changi Offshore fishing. That said, does everyone truly know how to use a Madai Jig with bait? Most newbies will ask what do I do with the Madai Jig and what's the best sure win tactic to get the fish? You'll be surprised at the questions that I get when people ask me how to use it. I get questions like do I cast the Madai Jig! Before you use a Madai Jig without bait, I put together three sure-win or surecatch methods that will definitely make a difference to your offshore fishing if it's your first time using a Madai with bait. Forget about what people tell you about how to hook, how to tie, what rhythm to use or what tactic to use. When drifting, just obs...

Baktao and friends go on a pure Tenya fishing trip on Fishing on IT'S Gr-R-Reat. So is Tenya effective? You bet it is! Hear from Jimmy as he shares with us how to do it right in Singapore waters. Tenya fishing is a less tiring way of fishing compared to using Madai jigs. Jimmy compared it to the traditional way of fishing using HK hooks. Catch the video as he teaches you how to hook the prawn for a tenya, what tackle is suitable for Tenya and shows you his various types of Tenya such as the Shimano cupcake Engetsu. A good day out fishing at the waters near Pulau Ubin, Pulau Tekong and Changi! Tenya has now picked up popularity in Singapore and is one of the most effective methods of doing offshore fishing in Singapore. I've currently brought in a batch on Red Tenya 60g which you can get from me here .

Drifting during Singapore offshore fishing - Be it Changi Offshore or Southern Islands is a very basic but commonly used technique. Beginners often don't get it and make basic mistakes. Hope that by posting this video, everyone can have better understanding and catch more fish! Use this technique when using paternoster (Apollo) rigs, Madai jigs, Maprawn jigs and you will lesson your chances of snagging (sangoat)! Happy drifting! Boat used: Jimmy Lim from Punggol Marina (+65 8157 8990)

I have a simple offshore fishing rig to share that I use widely in my offshore fishing. it is very simple to tie and I usually can tie it under 20 seconds. It is especially useful if you need to tie multiple rigs for your friends or family.  It is also tested and proven for a wide variety of fishes in Changi or Southern waters... You can vary the length of your snood depending on whether you are anchoring or drifting but usually, I'd suggest a general snood length of 30 - 50cm as you can use it for all situations. This rig is very dependable as it does not use any knots to join any snoods together. The whole rig is based on a "one line" one piece concept so it's a really tough cookie! The only weakness so far is that the bottom (sinker) loop may be damaged over time if you keep getting snagged. Also, if big fish takes the rig, the loop might close up and you may have a very ugly rig! Limitations of this rig also is that is a bottom feeder rig... but that's us...

This article aims to generally identified and explain the types of fishing spots one will encounter during offshore fishing in Singapore. There are some very unique fishing techniques and characteristics that can only be found in Singapore Offshore Fishing! When an angler understands the type of fishing spots his boatman and himself are going to, chances are that he or she will use it to the best of his advantages. Hopefully, this will also help to weed out errant fishing captains/boatmen whom take advantage of the angler's inexperience to pull a "fast one". In general , you can either be anchoring/parking or drifting during offshore fishing in Singapore. While there are many theories to follow and there is no concrete evidence to prove which is the best for fishing, you should be basically following the below stand: When the current is strong, do parking/anchoring and wait for the fish to come to you. This is proven in theory because when the current is strong, the ...