Showing posts with label mozambique catfish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mozambique catfish. Show all posts

Wednesday, 30 July 2014

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.


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

Friday, 25 July 2014

Kayakims catch report for 20/07/14

Hello! This catch report is going to be a rather short one cause we didn't actually catch very much haha. But it was still a good day out on the sea, and we managed to catch our first ever Mozambique Sea Catfish. I think other than that we only caught one flower crab on hook.

Baits used where liver and dead prawns. The liver attracted tons of crabs but no fish. Dead prawns seem the best so far.

Rigs used where Running ball.

Here are the pictures!

Meow!

This type of catfish can easily grow up to 3kg, and they put up a really amazing fight. Don't under estimate these catfish, they are a totally different ball game from the usual eel-tails that we catch. The one shown in the picture was only 1kg and it made my reel scream, super fun. I cant imagine hooking into a 3kg one, hoho might even be able to pull my kayak along.



Here is a video of abel fighting one afew days later. Only managed to get the end of the fight, but check out that bend!


MOZAMBEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!

So far we have observed they tend to be found directly under the blue barrels. Maybe because there are tons of mussels stuck on the under side of the barrels providing food. They also bite in the evening around 6pm. Dead prawns seem the most effective for us but we have seen other kayak anglers use some sort of meat and caught 3kg plus catfish, still haven't figured out how they did it though. Need to gain more experience. 



Another fish crossed off our list, still trying to aim for chermin and kims on a kayak. Also another personal goal of mine is to get a flathead cause it looks cool haha. Maybe once we become better we can head over to ubin side and maybe get some GT's too. 

Hope to get out on the sea again soon! Do check out our other kayak catch reports too! Have a good day everyone.


-Bryan

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