CR 20050804, Freshwater

My first ever saratoga on a cicada just after lunch. Indeed, this fish spent more time in the air than in the water during the battle. Its aerial display is spectacular! This fellow was hookup only on the third take. The hook didnt set well during the earlier attempts by the fish.

CR 20050803, Freshwater

Nice little flower with Sony T3's magnifying mode.

First fish of the day. Yeah, I didnt blank! This little fellow was really small... tiny... Fishing today was fun until we met some really rude people from National Parks but still, we had fun. I lost count of the number of fish caught today. I really had some good fun and with David and Jeremy. Great company!  

The size 12 dry fly continued to wreak havoc in the stream. After this fish, the rain came with cats and dogs! Run!!!

Fatty tilapia on a lure. 

Fishing in Singapore is an offence in many places!!!

20050803

I guess I cant keep the steam in me anymore. It is really ridiculous, unbelieveable!

Fishing in Singapore in many places is an offence. Fishing? Fishing? Fishing? Did I hear that wrongly or what? Fishing is an offence in many places in Singapore!!! Fishing is Singapore is so dangerous!!!

Once, I was chit chatting with cacausian, he asked me, "Why is it that there are so many 'No Fishing' signs in Singapore? Why is it an offence to fish in Singapore in so many areas? Fishing is a sports and it is great family time well spent together in the weekend. I cant believe that you could get fine for fishing. Singapore is really such a 'FINE' country......"

I bet lots of us agree with what he said but there are also singaporeans who are so 'straight' that they would do anything like call the police or the National Parks' rangers to catch you fishing. Life is short and some of them even threaten the anglers that they will call the police if they dont leave immediately... ROLE MODELS IN THE MAKING... I rather not be one of them as I think living a life like that is absolutely crazy. I bet every single little things that might not be quite right are big stings in their butts!

Some rangers are very nice and kind. They actually take the time to explain to offenders politely and would normally let them go and warn them not to do it again. Very professional and sometimes educational when the anglers were using baits. They take time to explain to baiters about using organic baits for fishing is prohibited and also the harmful nature of it. These rangers are professionals.

In the flock of sheeps, definitely they are some black sheeps around. I had a few encounters with such black sheeps and felt really disgusted by the way they act and react towards anglers.

Incident 01

"Ooi, no fishing here! Give me your particulars. You think we put up the sign for fun is it? It is an offence! Faster, be gentleman lah. You give me your particulars and we know what to do." This ranger 01 really brought shame to NP. Being a civil servant, and his pay come from tax payers, I wish I could root him straightaway for such rude behavior.

"Siao! Give you our particulars so that you can fine us. Siao! Get fine for fishing? hahaha." Fisho fought back against the rude ranger 01.

"I call the police now and then you kana double!" snared Ranger 01. (This is a threatening statement.) Hey Ranger o1, if you read my blog, well done. Shame on you!

Fishos decided to leave him alone and not adhere to his 'plead'. Why should tax payers adhere to such rude civil servants? To me, these people are wasting tax payers' money...


Incident 02

"Summon them! Summon them! Dont let them leave! Block the road! Block the road! Call the police. Call the police!!!" ranted an NP officer.

Before he started his rantings, he actually waited for the anglers to wet their line before 'capturing' them. Such tactics are really disgusting. Instead of stopping the public from fishing, he waited for them to start fishing and catch all of them red-handed. Such low tactics employed by an NP officer. He commanded his staff to block a road to prevent the 'offenders' from leaving in their vehicles.

In his statement, he simply did many wrongs to the 'offenders'.

#01 mistake - set a trap instead of educating the public
#02 mistake - illegal detention (NP Officer sure has 'big balls' to do what they cant.)
#03 mistake - threaten to call the police (NP Officer, pls bare in mind that the public are not idiots. Many know the laws too. Dont use 'Police' to threaten the public... Please educate rather that threatening. Dont treat us like 3 years old.)
#04 mistake - very rude!!!!! (Unpardonable!!! No professionalism and absolutely no manners!!!)

Luckily, the leader of the pack (offenders) was very smart and questioned the officer back politely. The officer ended up apologizing to the 'offenders' for his behaviour and his super-low tactic.

From the above incidents, I wouldnt say that NP has lots of these people but with these 'shameonyou's, NP's image is tarnished. Some simply cant be bothered with their jobs. Everyday, we could see lots of anglers using baits at certain reservoirs at LEGAL 'Fishing Ground'. (Fishing is LEGAL only in destinated areas!) Somehow, we dont see rangers coming after them at all. They even clean the fish on the grass in the park and leaving those inerts behind for rats and birds! In the end, lots of flies and maggots all over the place. YUCKS!!! NP, do something about it! What a shame!

I shouldnt put all the blame on the rangers as some anglers simply cant be bothered at all. I guess education is the best method to be employed here. Putting up signs are simply useless in Singapore. Many senior baiters cant read english and they go on fishing with baits daily without being stopped at all.

In some reservoirs, the destinated fishing ground was cropped till it was so small in the shallows that no one cant be bothered to fish there at all. Setting up the indicators for legal fishing area is a waste of tax payers' money. I rather them not put up the signs at all.

Sign..... being an angler in Singapore is pretty stressful. No wonder so many people decided to give up fishing in Singapore after playing the 'Rangers and Anglers' (police and thief) for too long.

Come on! Fishing is something that is decent and a great past time. What's wrong with it? At least tell us why and not by simply giving us those rude rangers and lowly officers... to go 'catching' us. If we know and we could understand. We dont know and so we cant...

I shall stop ranting too. Hahahahaha......

Pulau Ubin 20050801-02

Boatman, "Pay up pay up!" Jeremy, "Yes sir!" LOL. Ah Chua is the boatman. He is very friendly. We had a good ride in his boat. Our hearts were all anticipating for a 'good' trip but we didnt get anything much. Although no catches but the friendship between David, Jeremy and me got 'deeper' and 'stronger'. We shall all go and 'chiong' (charge) again before I ever start to work again.

Our ferry leaving Changi Ferry Terminal as we embarked on our long-awaited camping trip. 

Floating construction site back in the harbour probably to restock and refuel. 

We were in the river mouth, leaving for P.Ubin.  

Look at those outboards!  

"Bye bye!" The Singapore Costal Police are really vigilant with their daily tasks ensuring our waters are safe from pirates and illegal immigrants. Well done guys! 

The coast guards left us alone after ensuring that there wasnt anything 'fishy' on board. LOL  

The rocks in the picture were actually another isle off Pulau Ubin. It is pretty small with no shelthers, freshwater supply and toilets. Hear say tales say that these place is the 'isle of biggies'! 

"Pulau Ubin, here we come!!!" We were getting exciting as we were reaching our destination really soon. 

The fire was ready and our stomachs were hungry. kekeke. 

Our gears at rest. We had surfcasting gears too but our dreams to catch the big 'prata' (stingray) didnt materialize. The water condition just aint right, lots of planktons in the night but no signs of baitfish at all. When we were in the water, we looked like we could 'glow in the dark'. LOL "Dances with planktons". 

These clams were so delicious and sweet by simply cooking them over the flame. It had been ages since I did this. David and Jeremy made perfect camping partners. We actually needed one more guy to share the load so that we could have some good food but it was a Monday night. Most of our friends were tied down by work... "kokliang, wasted lah... if no need to punch card, you could have joined us too." 

This barramundi was caught while netting for baitfish - pasir pasir (whitings), tanbam and mullets. In the end, we caught only 3 mullets. No tanbam. No whitings... but we had this fellow. This fish looked like an escapee from one of those floating fish farm nearby. While David was retrieving the net in the water we saw a silver flash beside our net. With our leds on our forehead as the only light source around, David managed to capture the barramundi by using the external side of the net. When we got back on land to 'relief' the fish we discovered that the fish was caught not in the net but on the outside of it. We didnt catch any other fish later on in the night but we had some good time over the bbq pit eating clams, the barramundi and some nice cold beers. Smooth.... 

Could you hear the sizzling sound? The aroma was so wonderful that the three of us looked at the fish as if we had not eaten for a month. LOL 

"Chiong arrhhhh...." (Charge!!!!) The fish tasted so good and especially when we have only 'loti' (bread in dialect) for dinner, supper and breakfast. This barramundi was 'raped' till bones left.  

Bats! We discovered bats in the area we camped. Not really many of them. I guess not many Singapore's kids really have the chance to see them at rest during the day. Not long after exploring for them, we decided to make our way back to mainland, Singapore for 'Bee Tai Mak Da'. (A dry based rice noodle from hawker center.) 

CR 20050731, Freshwater

This is the biggest koi that I have ever caught. I didnt weight it on the boga due to its size. The rod is Scott STS 6wt with Ross Evolution 1.5 (slate blue). This fighter actually took line during the battle and fought pretty hard. The reel was singing for a while and that was sweet music to the ears... ;P

David's big kalui, almost 8.5lbs on the boga. The battle last close to 10mins. 

David's koi at midnight.