Singapore Offshore Experience

Went on my first offshore trip since I came back to Singapore and had posted a report on fishingkaki forum so will use the text there instead lah... lazy to retype... hahahahaha

"Got off on a gentleman's start and the crew were already there getting supplies such as livies and some other essential terminal tackles. Pop'ed in for a feed as well and we were pumped and ready to face what's installed for us (well, not sure about the rest but meself for sure!). Rucked up to the boatman and I was shown with a rather interesting watercraft that we're going to fish off in the next few hours or so. More so interestingly was the livebait tank that was made out from a plastic drum but as long as it made our livies comfy, we don't really give a shit. Off to a spot which I have no clue whatsoever where it was but to keep it short, it was pretty much lifeless. The 1st thing that came into my mind was how I wish I had some burley, lol. The next spot at least saved the morning. Almost everyone had a touch or so on those frighty prawns. It didn't take long when all the lines came up with a fish on it. Highlight for that moment had to fall on redtag's gf for pulling in what looked like a 'black bream' as described by my mate. Having been a crazed breamer in Oz I've gotta tell ya that really made me excited, lol. Well, certainly didn't wanna be outdone, I briefly struggled a little when feeling for bites especially using heavy sinkers and thick lines as I'm always used to finesse approach, I finally felt convincing bites and thus confidently set hook. Up came a 'Swa Jiam' (whiting) and I actually flew 7000K's to catch this specie, bloody oath! And on a relatively largish prawn, lol. A few kaci's and ang cho's before we lost the frenzy bites. Due to the suspected dodgy anchor, we began to slowly drift away from the sweet spot. My mate did lament that we were on top of a reef and pretty much close to the shore and probably that's why. As it grew quiet, the boatman pulled up and we were off to the next spot which had quite a fair distance to cover. After mucking around at those featureless spots and losing quite a few rigs to snags, I was beginning to wonder if we would be able to fill up the box. Came the call to switch spot and this time round, good ol' boatman picked a place that had relatively deep water and most importantly, a rocky point adjacent to weed patches and a shallow beach. This in my dictionary only spelt the word, FISHY! It was an outgoing tide and I was pretty sure predators should be lurking around. As the tide wasn't racing much, I opted to downsize my sinker but as I was already using a pre-rigged paternoster, had no choice with the line used. My prawn was getting flighty and all of a sudden, the blackhole junior rod was loaded and my little Stradic 1000 began to sing the tune. As I only had 6lb yamatoyo braid on it, the drag was set accordingly but the fish had the chance to brick me in the rocks, damn! For a brief moment I was heartbroken but it didn't take long for the fish to be coaxed out and I was gaining the upper hand. A little crafty rod work and drag setting, I was absolutely stoked to land my 1st ever Mangrove Jack right here in sg, not oz, woohoo!!!

Boga measured 1.5lb. The MJs here don't look as red as the Aussies counterpart.

Thanks to Andrew for the pics and also redtag's boga. Just minutes away, redtag's gf got absolutely smashed with a bigger specimen as well. 2 MJs in a day and a pretty rare sight according to my mate, how good is that?! The baitfish were jumping for their lives and I quickly told redtag where it had happened. He began peppering the rocky point with his deep divers and sure enough, he brought in his 1st gao for the day. Not one but two minutes apart. He got smoked by what seemed to be a monster gao that took home his Tiemco lure, my mate was gutted but that's fishing mate... Jason then left his baiting duties and began joining dex in luring the adjacent weed patches. He came up triumphant with two gaos and they were the biggest amongst the lot. I too got tempted and rigged up with a crappy halco diver. Nothing came out from it and by now, everyone was buggered and the boatman pulled up stump and headed back to the mainland. Took a few pics of the catches.

That's Dexter with a good size Estuary Cod (grouper is what they call here, very good eating!)

All in all it was a great day, great company and not too bad fishing, can't complain. Will definitely be doing it again. Thanks for putting up with this lengthy report, lol. Happy fishing and tight lines!"

Couple more pictures Andrew took and posted on the forum. So I'll show it here as well.

This spot is where we came 1st and got the bulk of small fishes, including my whiting.

Dexter's girlfriend, Yanni. She was on fire that day. Caught a slightly bigger MJ than mine.

Dexter's other grouper. Caught on his Rapala Fat Rap.

That's another of our kaki, Jason. He caught the 2 biggest groupers on Dex's lures.

Actually get a tinny like Chen's bro to fish in Changi area is quite do-able. The luring is done in not too high current area. With a bow-mount minn-kota sure can handle it... lol... The luring part was quite fun, so many baitfish activity and jumping predators, Singapore do have some fishes around... keke...

Ronald