kayak fishing 15/9/14 (snappers late into the night)

We're back with another session of ghetto kayak fishing!
it has been awhile since we last posted because of the recent wet weather conditions and also since its the holidays.most of us have been travelling!

for those of you who indicated to us about the bad air quality just to clarify, recently there have been reports of the haze back in singapore hitting a PSI of over 100 but it seems fine to us here in the east.makes sense, since the winds at the coastal areas are stronger so naturally the skies would be clearer!

today we took out the Advance Elements Lagoon 1 and the Intex sofa boat(as requested by Bryan)!
really miss fishing and most of all miss the higher catch rates!we're not as pro in surfcasting yet and none of us owns a rod longer than 9ft so nope no chance of doing that.

today was a rather sunny day but it wasn't as hot and humid(most probably due to the haze) so we headed to changi to get live prawns(est 200g) which would be sufficient to last us for 4 hours out at sea.we're using our running ball sinker rig in hopes to get grouper, big marine catfish or snappers.
50lb mono line leader with size 1# circle hooks. we're using the same rod and reel setup as stated in other catch reports(go read don't be lazy)

things to note,there aren't as many small bait stealers out there in deeper waters so live prawns in really for only table size fishes,cuttlefish or greedy marine catfish.

 and we're off!
 On the way as we paddled, Bryan kept nagging and saying how it would have been better to go fishing at Pasir Ris Farmway 3 catch and release pond and how there's no more wild fish in singapore(slowly draining his savings and becoming a pay pond uncle).you know what noobs usually are....
upon arriving at the blue barrels we attached ourselves onto the chains with carabiners and began fishing!half an hour in and there was a tug on the noob's line.it was his all time fave friend here to visit dear old professor Bryan again!FAT MORAY EEL! and this time it totally messed up his line forcing him to change to a new rig hahahahahas what a way to start the evening...GG the lies follow us wherever we go:(

an hour in and there were still no bites(live prawns definitely go big or go home) so I left the blue barrels and headed into more deeper waters pass the barrels.I've heard many kayak fishermen telling me that,that area usually has nothing and true enough there weren't any bites.Sian 2 hours in still no hits.Since there weren't any bite I decided to place my rod down to settle some messy stuff on the boat that was when the rod began to twitch repeatedly.initial thoughts was that it was probably small fishes feeding on the poor prawn but as I reeled up,there was a sudden weak burst shaking the tip of the rod even more.

 this was kind of expected since the water was getting colder it was getting late.after this,I caught 3 more of these small fellas and released them to grow to the monsters they're capable of becoming!
do take caution when handling marine catfish because it can really hurt if you get stung by them and trust me I had my fair share of catfish stings. But in the event that you do that hit, squeeze the blood out of the wound and rinse with freshwater.it doesnt cure of removes the toxins completely but at least it'll remove some and it's a temporary relief until you can head back to shore to seek proper medical attention. A good pair of gloves can be a good investment to prevent such problems.

time check: 7pm in the evening and we're reeling in more catfish.it was getting dark so I paddled back to where Bryan and told him to head nearer to shore where the street lights were more visable and the coast as nearer!

we saw a few birds flying around a certain spot in the first layer of blue barrels and decided to settle there for the night. still no fish but at least the sunset was beautiful!accompanied with the cooling breeze and soothing waves?perfect lepak session.

We've been seeing many kayak catch reports on snappers being caught in the evening at Pasir Ris kelong areas so we thought of staying later into the night this time round to prove the theory that snappers really do feed at night.

the sky darkened really fast from 7-7:30pm!suddenly a fish on the line!it took out some line but had a rather strange fighting style in which it had repeated short burst but no prolong line stripping.

definitely a new experience!first thoughts was that it could be a small catfish but a circular shiny fish surfaced and woooooots!snapper time!

first snapper up weighing at 600g market size and it was our first on a kayak!

this was a golden fingermark snapper and it sure was a nice fish as compared to those you catch at the pay pond.shinier scales as well as undamaged tail and fins!hoorah!

jelly Bryan began to nag again "oh no fish la no fish told you we should have gone to pay for fishing,so lame wasting our time here dont even know why we bother to come out,its a fishless sea"

PROVEN WRONG!

his rod began to bend hard and it took out line!the fighting style was similar to what i had experience so I told him "it's confirm snapper" and true enough,1kg snapper surfaced!woah!satisfied with the catches we headed back to shore!

always needing to compete the first words that came out was "eh which one is mine ah?oh yeah the bigger one".

such as ass hahahahas

 

happy fishermen posing with our legit catches!

it was already 8pm when we headed back to shore and 9pm when we reached home.

tired but satisfied,we agreed to cook the fish tmr for lunch!

too lazy to prepare anything complex,we decided to settle with simple cooking; pan frying with mixed herbs and poaching with campbell minestrone soup.

started off by filleting the snappers and seasoning them with salt and black pepper.

pan frying with a grill pan and with olive oil so it wont kill the taste.

poaching in campbell minestrone soup at 90 degrees for 10 minutes.

I guess there you have it,fast and simple meal

until next time!

cheers!

-Abel

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Pasir Ris Sungei Api Api bridge catch report 18/08/14

Last night for our friend Jerome before he heads off for Australia for 3 months.He had just recently joined us and wanted to land his first Barramundi!

On average,the Barramundi here are between 500g-1kg for a good table size fish.

We started out with cheap market dead grey prawns $1/100g.got them at 6am and the freshness is legit.

we kept them on ice in a styrofoam box to keep them cool and fresh throughout the few hours we were there.

so we noted the best time to fish based on the tide information provided by the NEA website. the tide was low at 11am with the tide coming in and of course drawing the fishes in!

First few cast and we already got some cardinal and croaker fish. After 12pm, the night was quiet with a few nibbles on the line by the pesky glassfish. As the night went on,more and more people settled at the bridge as well with at least 6 rod(or more) in the water. All casting at the wrong areas that's when the advantage comes in for us and being seasoned to the place we knew where the fishes lurk(sorry cant review. you have to try it yourself)

Pass 1AM and we were all ready to call it a night but had decided to give it one last cast anyway!after casting we gathered our stuff and started to pack and clean up the area thats when we heard someone shout "Bro!your rod!!" and to our surprise it was Jerome's rod! heh heh heh!

 it had a big take with the rod bending hard and the rod nearly going over the edge. The fish took out some line before surfacing and of course it was a Barramundi!Then again that's the only fish that could hit so hard on the line for this area. Weighing in at 1.2kg!

i wear a size 9 pair of slippers if you're wondering so that's quite a long fish. it was quite bruised on the sides and the tail was bleeding probably from a fight with another fish earlier in the day.Regardless of that,it was still a strong and healthy barra! 

So confident of not landing a fish today,we didn't even bring plastic bags but thankfully we still had the styrofoam box!

First fish caught must always share with the family!

with that we'll see him in 3 months!have fun and we'll be back for for Kim Bak Lor!

Cheers 

-Abel

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Pasir Ris-free fishing day at D'best fishing 31/07/14

Today's the day of free fishing here at Pasir Ris Pay Pond! brought to you by D'best fishing Singapore! last night about 500 fishes were released within a timeframe of 10 hours! If you were there you'll know the insanity and chaos that was going on there with lots of people flooding in and illegally parking on road sides just for a chance to fish for free. everyone was standing side by side and most lines were crossing with each

other and tangling badly. just how crowded was the place?let the pictures answer that.   

 to get a slot,one must squeeze in with the crowd and cast accurately to prevent any crossing of lines or alternatively,one could have arrived at 5pm to reserve a spot along the pathway and wait as the crowd grows in size. I would estimate at least 200 anglers were there and much more streaming in as the hours passed.

review?
hook ups were pretty good with Kim bak Lor and mangrove jack snappers as the most common fish but of course with a thousand rods in the water,your chances are one in a million to get a fish. the place was really well designed and well build with lots of engaging activities for every age group from prawning to lobster fishing and of course fishing either in the pro pond or big pond. the tackle shops and restaurants are not fully operational but the convenient store and live bait house is. all in all lots of hype around.

did we managed to fish?
no we did not.we just couldn't squeeze in and also I don't like the idea of fishing in crowded areas but since we bought the bait,might as well go somewhere to fish.next option was to go to sungei Api Api bridge to fish. when we arrived,there was a many groups of people there which the same idea to fish here because there was no space at the pay pond to accommodate so many.

time was about 9:30pm and there were many new comers to this bridge(you can tell but the equip they bring and the places they casted). But this is our usually fishing spot and we are familiar with what rigs to use and the size of bait to use. everyone else was using live prawn bought at the pay pond or tamban that they had caught from bedok jetty earlier in the day. with bottom rigs as their choice of setup while we were using apollo rigs with cheapo circle hooks.

first catch of the night belonged to us!with a nice black eeltail catfish of good size and many were shocked to see the fish(another indication that they were new here). the bell sounded and there was a strong pull on the line so i reeled in and recognise the feeling of reeling in a catfish immediately with the wobbling motion.

 skinny and feisty fish that trashed around when I tried to remove the hook.but after calming down,we picked it up and released it safely back into the water.

so the night went on with serveral tugs on the line but no real takes on the bait with the exception of glassfish and eels.we sat and talk about things while waiting for a significant catch.
after talking for sometime, Ghetto fisherman Ong told me that my rod was bending consistently and it was quite a hard bent because I was using a medium action rod at that time.so i picked the rod up and reeled in.initial thoughts were a pufferfish or marine catfish on the line but soon something shiny surfaced and started to swim in a diagonal direction. it was a barramundi aka Kim Bak Lor!!

it pulled hard but felt quite light(again because of the med action rod)!last fish I was expecting to hook up after weeks of no luck here! 40lb reel line with 60lb line leader and circle hooks?no probs reeling in the fish without any worry about snapping the line. in all the excitement we drew abit of attention after shouting "kim bak lor" hahahas and to see the surprised faces on many new comers was priceless.

it was kind of longish but no as wide(fat) although it had the length of a good table size fish but the weight did not add up.this fella weighed about 700 plus grams in total. Couldnt be happier with my catch cause despite not getting a fish at the free pay pond,I still managed to snag this guy up for the day's catch!

it was about 10:30 pm already so I decided to pass bryan the new rod to try.and minutes into fishing,he caught himself a flathead!something that he had been wanting to catch but of course something bigger in size!hahas so this little fella was released to grow.

 
after this,there were no more bites on our side but others around us were catching small fishes like Gobies and juvenile catfish.We ended the night with this last catch and left to the pay pond at 11:15pm.

pay pond was still as packed but of course many had left to catch the last train and bus back home.even though we still did not fish there,we were able to scout around to familiarize ourselves with the place and to also watch others at the smaller pro fishing pond.

As the sun began to rise,everyone's catches could be seem laying around on the floor and in their storage containers.every type of species of fish that can be caught here became clear!with groupers,barramundis,snappers and trevallies all displayed on the sidewalk.

The night's catch was encouraging and it was good to see the fishes return to this place once again after nearly 3 weeks of almost zero catches here.Alright time to sleep!
We hope this post encourages you to try out the pay pond and all the best here!rates can be found on the offical website so if you're keen do take a look!

cheers and peace out!
-Abel

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Pasir Ris beach catch report(4.3kg Catfish on the line)-28/7/14

A warm welcome to everyone reading this post!

We've got lots to share with you once again as we embark on a new type of fishing;kayak fishing.

So before we begin,updates!

recently we have managed to acquire a cheap inflatable kayak for only $140 in which we all shared the cost of purchasing the boat for the group! we took extra long to find a cheap and good kayak cause that's the way we roll ya'll....

Ghetto as much as possible huehuehuehue!

here's a picture that the seller initially sent to us. 

INTEX EXPLORER K2 (2 man kayak)

Setup?today we were using running ball sinker rigs and bottom feeder rigs in hopes to catch bottom feeders such as Groupers and Catfish! 50lb clear line leader,size 3 ball sinker, with size 1/0# circle hooks by Mustad.

I was quite reluctant to drag and set up 2 boats due to it being quite troublesome to tow back and wash but thankfully transport was provided!

So the weather was quite good with a slight drizzle in the morning and a cloudy overcast in Pasir Ris. the air was cool and so was the water temperature. calm current was a good sign that we should go ahead with our plans despite the rain earlier in the day!

of course Ghetto us will rather wake up early in the morning to get prawns from the wet market then go to a supermarket and spend $5 more... but then again....it's a public holiday and a good time to sleep in especially after a long day of work the previous day.

But lucky for us,we were able to get cheap prawns from NTUC!how much?$10/kg because it was on some special offer for Hari Raya!

We managed to come at a good time around 3pm and started to launch the boats at 3:30pm from the Army base end of the beach.why?because we are using inflatable kayaks which are more buoyant and without good tracking fins.so the shorter the distance to paddle the better.

Here's Ghetto Fisherman Ong with Jerome who had decided to tag along for the trip!All good company and lots of fun!

it was another quiet afternoon with small nibbles on the line but nothing significant taking the whole bait.

So instead of casting just down below the blue barrels we cast out towards deeper waters in hopes of getting better bites. a few minutes had gone when suddenly there was a tug on the line and something weighing the line down!upon reeling up the line,we were greeted by water jets being squirt at us by our surprise catch which was a decent sized cuttlefish!hahahas 

first thoughts were to bring it up onto the boat but we remembered about the inking issue and decided to shake it off the line!no pics sorry!couldnt risk my phone getting wet by the cuttlefish water squirts. for those who dont know what a cuttlefish looks like,here's a googled image for your reference.

after hooking up the same cuttlefish again,I decided to drop my line down below the blue barrels again!

As we go for more kayak trips, we have a theory as to why there are so many fishes just below the blue barrels.Simply because of the mussels present on the barrels that tend to drop and provide food for the fishes below providing a food source for most fishes that dwell at the bottom.In some instances,we had actually hooked up empty mussel shells!

It sounds like a legit reason as to why the barrels are always a recommended distance to stop at.

an hour had gone by with a few small hookups such as the striped sea perch and annoying small eels and more striped perch.

see that small little silver fish of lies which tugged the line pretty hard for a small fella.

it was about 5pm when I felt a small but consistent vibration on the line and decided "oh what the heck..just strike for the sake" in which almost instantaneously, some line was being taken out and the rod tilted slightly down!but the fight was short and lasted no more than a minute!It was Ghetto fisherman Ong and jerome's first glance at a mozambique catfish but certainly not their last as you'll find out as you continue reading this post!

Pasir Ris always seems to be a catfish paradise with a very sustainable amount of catfish of all species found in Singapore.It is the most common fish caught here above any other types of fishes and for that it is certainly a blessing to have them here.

this fella probably weighs under 1kg and was released to grow and thrive!

looking at the time,there was probably a chance of getting a second catfish before the light fades.

we started playing some music and talking our usual nonsense(which again I'll say is not recommended cause it scares away fishes)

it was half an hour later when I decided to try and get a fish which I've seen swimming just under the blue barrels!my initial aim was to get a spotted scat that were feeding on the mussels but instead I caught this aggressive little Goby(mud reef goby).It was so angry that it got hooked by me and decided to bite my hand when trying to release it...(didnt hurt obviously).

the time was about 6:15pm and still no fish hookups but plenty of eels and eels and EELS!!!!

after releasing the last eel on my line I hooked up the whole prawn and decided to give it a shot just slightly away from the blue barrels!that's when it all changed and there was this consistent tug on the line so I decided to give it a strike(circle hooks are auto striking hooks but force of habit for me to yank the line up).

ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

that's what I've been waiting for the whole day.once again my favourite song..the reel spool spinning!

the line moved sideways and was rubbing against the barrels which had mussels and barnacles all over.There was a moment of panic for a second.

I was using braided line so that was bad news and the line could have snapped any moment.

each time I had the chance to reel in some line,it only took out more for about 4 times before it stopped dashing!But after the first catfish on a separate day,I've learnt to handle the fish well and gave it time to tire itself out.

it began to drag the boat slightly forward and the only reason why I hadn't gone for a ride was because I was anchored down and strapped onto the chains connecting the blue barrels.

after 10 minutes of fighting with this fish,it finally gave in and began to surface!

video screenshots are blur unfortunately

It started to swim inbetween the boats so we quickly pushed away both kayaks to a safe distance so that the large spikes do not pierce the kayaks!just look at the size of that!

with no proper equipment to land a big fish we were left with no choice but to slowly slide the fish on board on the kayak's spray skirt and boy,was it heavy.

I am quite thankful for how the kayak is designed which makes landing fish easier and safer as well. the anti-bacterial slime started to go all over the kayak and just made a mess of the outer polyester fabric layer!

minutes later the slime began to set and it could be peeled off.

I've got to admit i did not expect such a big catfish to be on the line more of expecting a 1-2kg fish the very most but nope nope nope this guy weighed a whoping 4.3kg!not the biggest one and I've seen this particular species being caught which weighed over 7kg!what a fight that must have been!

No ragrets.Not a single letter.

Post by Fishing Kims.

lost for words and just in shock at what I just brought up,I sat there and began to disassemble my rod and reel and sat back to chill while enjoying the sunset.

the last fish hookup went to Jerome!with his first fish today not counting the eels!

just Ghetto Ong being himself!

according to the guys who shared the kayak,it was really comfortable and despite being packed with lots of stuff,it still had sufficient space.

unexpected catch of the day or more of unexpected size of the target catch of the day

Since we had time,we loaded up all our gear unto the kayak and slowly paddled towards Beach Culture restaurant

tired from all that paddling we decided to take a rest and have dinner at Beach Culture@WaterCross.

if you have a budget of $15 you can always give here a shot.The food is good and so is the ambiance.

fishing tip of the day?

know your fish feeding times well and you'll be able to get consistent catches.

Cheers and peace out

-Abel

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Kayak fishing catch report Pasir Ris Beach-24/7/14

Hi we're back for another session of KayaKims!(yes that's the official name now until we can get something better)
 Pushing our buoyant boats to the limit again.
Today's report is based on catches at Pasir Ris beach!Launching from WaterCross Kayak rental area with our inflatable kayaks!

Featuring: Advanced Elements Lagoon 1 and Sevylor Quikpak K1. The Air Fusion is currently out of service for awhile because it's too troublesome to assemble and pack up. For those who want to invest in cheap inflatable boats,I would recommend you try out Pasir Ris beach before heading to other areas.This is because Pasir Ris beach has one of the calmer currents as compared to east coast, Changi and Punggol.

Personally I've had my fair share of cheapo boats such as the Toys R us, 300 Explorer Dinghy(google that), which lasted out for 2 hours before slowly deflating.

 For those who don't know where WaterCross is,it's indicated on the map below "RIGHT HERE".

So begins our day!
time of launch: 4.00 PM
Tide:High tide
Current: Calm
Water conditions: Murky and dark brown
time of Return:7.00 PM

First of is our setup as important as always! Today we'll be trying out running ball sinker rigs with size #1/0 Circle hooks by "Gamakatsu" and "Owners".

 The water temperature was fairly cold today and of quite a strange colour of dark brown but nevertheless we set out anyway in hopes to get another awesome fight with yet another mozambique catfish as seen in our previous catch report.
I won't lie to you,all I had on my mind was the intense fight it put up the last time.everything on a kayak is definitely more fun and intense as compared to casting from the beach because every move you make on that small boat determines how well you can handle to fish and most of the time,we get dragged out by the fish.

we paddled out to the army base section of the beach and strapped ourselves to the floating blue barrels.we do have anchors but unfortunately Bryan had lost his to noobness(forgot to strap in the other end of the line).

We started the day well with some striped eeltail catfish(no pics because it's not worth the effort taking out my phone and risk dropping it into the water) but they were all small and we don't really consume these particular species.
following the striped catfish was the black eeltail catfish which surprisingly differ sightly in colour as compared to those caught nearer to shore or at Sungei Api Api bridge. They had an olive green colouration and more defined eyes.

after releasing this fella there was a tug on Bryan's line which he described,felt like an eel on the other end.But to our surprise,it was a small juvenile orange spotted grouper!
macGrouper anyone? Just kidding it was promptly released back to grow and thrive.
time passed and there were a few more small catfish hookups.Bryan had another grouper on the line again but this time,it was a small juvenile Sixbar Grouper!Good sign of a healthy population of groupers here despite overfishing in some parts of the beach.

And there I was getting bored of constant catfish hookups. Don't get me wrong,I do enjoy reeling them in but it does get kinda boring after an hour of the same kind of fishes.oh well fishing requires lots of patience I guess!

Soon after, there was another strong tug on the line and once again.....flowercrab!Yes you heard right,flowercrabs are quite plentiful in pasir ris for some particular reason and most kayak anglers who venture here tend of hook up 3-4 of them in a single trip.
They are pretty small and usually the ones we hook up are female(eggs behind) so we release them to spawn.
But i didn't come out today to catch crabs,where's my mozambique catfish....

today seemed like Bryan's diversity day as he hooked up his first stingray on rod and reel,definitely no struggle but just a 'heavy' feeling when reeling in due to the ray's big surface area. It was a small brown stingray so we let it go without any hesitation.

We continued through the evening with our usual pass time which was to talk tons of rubbish and listen to obscene music hahahas which is all highly unrecommended because it scares away the fish but on the other hand,it may be attracting catfishes to investigate the noise.

at this point,the prawns were starting to smell alittle and it was getting late so we decided to use whole prawns in hopes that big bait means big fish.

AND TRUE ENOUGH.............ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I've not seen my rod bend this much for a long time!sorry for the poor image quality because this was taken from a video screenshot.

My favourite instrument, the fishing spool, played the song of my people!the fish kept taking out line even with almost the full drag on.after repeated attempts to reel it in,the line was taken out 3 more times because it stopped and the fish was stuck at the bottom leaving me to hold this awkward position with 2 hands on the rod for at least 2 minutes.

first thoughts were "could it be a stingray?' since it was stuck at the bottom for quite some time so speculations started as we tried to guess what was on the other end.
Soon after the fish gave up and released itself from the seabed and began to swim upwards(I still don't understand why) making the load significantly lighter to the point that I though that the fish was gone.

but nope nope nope nope still on the line!
what was it?the very thing we stayed till 7pm for,a mozambique catfish!Huehuehuehuehue

could finally sleep in peace tonight!*phew*
normally we won't keep catfishes but this time we wanted to try cooking it into fish and chips!
with that satisfactory catch,we head back to shore as they sun began to set and light was fading fast.

its been a tiring day out at sea and I do look shag in this picture but regardless of that,it was a great day out.

the next day,we began the cooking process with the recipe that we've been wanting to try for quite some time
the link of the full recipe is here: http://fishingkims.blogspot.sg/2014/06/easy-beer-battered-fish-2-step-process.html

 the steps are in the recipe and now,enjoy the visual process.

Filleting the catfish and removing the skin

after bones are removed and excess blood is removed

cutting regular potatoes into strips for fries

deep frying the fries after boiling them for 5 minutes

next deepfry the battered fish fillets 

deepfry until golden brown

serve and enjoy!

That's all we have for you dont forget to like us on facebook and we'll see you soon!

-Cheers and peace out

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