TMJ paypond 28th Dec 2007

Venue: TMJ paypond

Time : 0840hr to 1540hr

Group: Marcus & Myself

Called up Marcus the night before to confirm timing, ended up decided to go fishing instead of prawning. Quickly prepared the necessary jig and packed my tackles determined to break my fishless spell at the paypond.

We reached TMJ early and immediately set up our rods and tried the storm rubbers, but no luck. The fish haven't wake up and in no mood to chase rubber. Changed to live prawn and cast at the usual hiding spot, got 1 table size KBL, not much fight.

After a long pause, no fish biting even after the pond assistant release the fishes. After a quick lunch, switched back to rubber luring. After countless casts, finally a take. This time was a big KBL on the line, but after seeing it jump out of the water a few times, my ever trust worthy braided line broke! My heart broke along with the lost of the big fish!

Changed to my spare mono line spool and continue luring, managed to hook up my 2nd KBL. Took a break from casting, parked my rod with the live prawn. Another take from a big fish, this time the fish did not jump, suspect might be the Taiwan Ngor....but alas can't bring it up to proof it. Arghhh......my mono line also broke!

Wrapped up the session with another KBL on prawn, bringing the total catch at 3 only. Well, at last I broke my fishless spell!

The 3 KBLs

Ah Ngan Kelong 20th to 21st Dec (monsoon)

Group : Patrick, Richard, Brian, Tian Siang, Marcus & Myself
Car : Altis, Starlet & Civic
Kelong: Ah Ngan's
Weather: Heavy rain on 1st day afternoon, the rest of the day sunny.
Catch : 1 trevally (Brian), 2 Ribbons (Brian & Darren), 2 Squids (Darren), couple of todaks(Marcus, Richard, Tian Siang)

The team gathered at Kranji Mrt at 0545hr, proceeded to cross the custom, quite surprised to see a que forming up at this hour. Went to the usual kopi shop to take our breakfast, met a interesting situation, an indian mad man was ranting away with 2 policeman on site to calm him down which apparently does not help. After the commotion died down, realized the mad man had broken a glass panel of a stall owner at the kopi shop.
The trip to the jetty was scattered with a few downpour here and there, no signs of any flooding to our relief. The boat ride to kelong was much bumpier than previous trips due to the monsoon season.
We started the fishing with our squid jig namely the yamashitas & the yozuris, no signs of any squids biting just as the tide was receding to its lowest posssible. The rain came down and all of us retired to our bed to take a nap. The evening was greeted with a few ups and downs, the up was because Brian caught a trevally with his tamban on a single hook. The down was because I lost a giant squid. I was pulling up the fellow, felt no tugging but like dragging a big piece of trash up. To my dismay, due to my hesitant I lost the bugger after it gave its last burst of water! The afermath was even more demoralising, realized that my rod tip has broken off due to the heavy weight.
Throughout the night we tried every possible forum's method of fishing, none work! The rubber jig failed miserably, and Patrick was in his all time low. We retired to bed early after the supper was served.
We woke up late at 6am, none of us was inspired to wake up early due to the poor catches. I switched to my newly acquired lure and started casting away. Managed to foul hook a ribbon while pulling in. Other than that, no take at all. The guys switched to todak hunting when the sun came out, the todaks was seen flying all over after taking the baits. However, it was not easy to hook them due to their strong tough beak! Marcus managed to pull a couple up after sizing down the bait to bite size to allow the todak to swallow whole, this immediately reward him with a todak. After the frenzy die down, we packed up and get ready for lunch. We were told the boat will only leave at 1430hr, so we retired to our bed again, those pillows were heavily utilised this time round!
Tian Siang & Patrick continued fishing while we were in dreamland, they woke us up with their constant ranting about the frenzy biting! It was none other than the Todaks again...delighting us with their acrobatics! Richard cannot resist the challenge to take them on, who spectacularly set one up after missing a few hits. You can see his grin ear to ear and gladly posed for pictures!
That sums up our trip which we deem were fairly disappointing, bye bye kelong and hello paypond!
Ouch...u played dirty!

1st squid pulled up.

2nd squid on yozuri shrimp hunter.

Ah Ngan's Kelong 5th to 6th Oct 2007

The night before this trip, preparation stretch to the early morning due to some unforeseen circumstances. Still searching for a steering lock to ease my mind due to the fact that I am going to park my car in a secluded spot in Malaysia. Finally, managed to borrow from my buddy who also happen to have some spare ringgits on hand to exchange with me solving all my problems!

Wake up at 4.30am and took a shower and went down to my car towing all my barang barang. Picked Richard at the MRT, and continue down to Kranji to meet up with the rest of the gang namely Lu Cong & Patrick. After a short greeting, without further delay we cross the checkpoint and took our breakfast at the usual kopi tiam at JB.

We waited for Patrick's other 2 friends, Arther & TC to begin the drive down to Tj Leman jetty. This time with the chatty Richard beside me, time passed quickly and we were there after about 1.5 hrs drive. Was told we were the only ones boarding the boat to Ah Ngan's, was glad we have the whole kelong to ourselves!

The 4 of us from Tech, Canon.

Kelong sign

As soon as we reached, we began setting up our rods. During which one of the kelong helper whom Patrick recognized as a "cuttlefish" expert hooked up a giant cuttlefish! I immediately brought out my new shrimp hunter and cast out, after imitating his action of jerking the rod up and down, I got a hook up soon enough! To my surprise, mine wasn't too small either! I was so happy with my 1st cuttlefish ever caught, and immediately posed for a picture, to my displeasure the cuttlefish gave me a nasty spat all over me!

My 1st cuttlefish.

Closeup with shrimp hunter in pink.
After a few more cast with no more hookup, we returned back under the roof whom the kelong operator Ah Ngan himself taught me a few rigs to tie for different tides. Sure am impressed with his eagerness to impart his skill to me! Armed with his arsenal of rigs & hooks, we set off for our boat trip. Eagerly anticipating this moment since the last kelong trip we did not manage to get to one due to foul weather! However, to my horror, I started to regret getting on the boat. Richard was the 1st to surrender when he started series of vomitting! Soon enough I too gave up and retired onto the platform to rest. However, due to the 45 degree rocking from side to side, no comfort whatsoever lying down.....turn out to be the worst nightmare for me, paying $ to suffer! It couldn't be any worst when none of us caught anything bigger than our palm. Must salute the rest of the gang Patrick, Arthur & Lu Cong for not feeling any impact at all when they continue fishing as if on land! What a relief it was when finally the boatman announced that we are going back to the kelong after 5 hrs of solid rocking!

I declared there and then that no amount of money would bring me back to boat fishing after this nasty experience! Patrick, if you are reading this, my boat rod is up for sale!

After a refreshing shower, took only a few mouthful of rice still recovering from the aftershock! Went back to catch more cuttlefish and squids which was aplenty as told by the boatman as the season is in. The sotong expert was also very eager to impart his secret skill to me, snip my rig to the correct length and modding the hook. It was indeed very effective, because after that I caught one after another, landing about 15 pieces overall. When the squid are no more biting, I went back to our bunk and found all 3 had already knocked out!

Woke up at 4am to continue squidding as it seems like that is the most productive on this trip. Arthur began to have continuous hook up on his lure, I was so jealous that I too switched to my yozuri and started flinging away! To my dismay, that's the last time I ever see my precious lure....

Went back to my squidding and the yamashita jig is still very effective after the expert modded it, landed 3 pieces and decided to call it a day. Washed up the gears and catches, as we prepare for lunch and the boat ride home.

view of the kelong from boat.

Richard & Lu Cong.

Puffer caught by Arthur.

2 dead merlion.

arrow squid

1 of many to come!

swimming around.

packed and ready to go.

Fishing@Ipoh Day 2

28th Sep
Started the morning early, went straight down to meet up with Richard. Brought us to a nice little coffeeshop, ordered each one set of chee cheong fun and cup of famous Ipoh white coffee! As we are not very sure of the location of our adventure, we immediately set off without delay to our destination, kg. galah. Armed with my photocopied map, we some how missed the entry point to the pond. We over shoot quite a distance and reached a malay kumpung, luckily we ended up at a fishing takle shop, thinking that the owner sure know where we heading! He told us to look out for a mosque for indication to turn, however, there are many mosque along the way! Richard again make a call to his ever trustworthy friend, and with his prompt, we managed to locate the entry point with a little petrol sign(handwritten). Now we are finally on our way!

The route into the pond was full of port holes! We stopped counting at 30, and managed to snake our way deep alongside into the palm plantation. The sun was blazing down at us when we reached the pond, it look exactly as it should be from the map. We quickly setup our rod and put on the farmer hat to shield our brain from being cooked! After a few cast, my rod caught a little PB. It was a motivating sight, as we were only there for half and hour. However, after that catch, all 3 of us never get any bite at all, and the sun was unbearable. We decided to recce further in to look for potential site, came across 2 malay chaps seeking shelter under the tree. They are hunting for toman. We went back to our 1st site after recce and met more fishing kakis, we greeted them and asked them for any tips. They were quick to add that the PB will only start biting after 7pm, which we can't stay that late. Despite the trip did not haul many fishes as we would like to have, I must admit that I enjoy it very much. We will definitely return another day to have another go! Yeah!

Metal bridge cutting across lotus infested pond


Wooden bridge cutting across the brownish coloured river


Countless port holes meet us along the way to the pond


Richard's trustworthy fishing car

look the same from the magazine

the 1 and only PB we caught!

Fishing @Ipoh Day One (27th Sep 2007)

This trip was being chatted over and over again in our workplace, finally able to put our words to action. Our trip leader is none other than Richard who is the local boy accompanied by Lu Cong and myself.

27th Sep

I pick up Lu Cong at 0530am in Bidor, Perak. He took the night bus and arrived after 7hrs. We went back to my wife's sister home to catch a short nap. Wake him up at 8am, took breakfast at the local market, and off we go to Ipoh to meet up with Richard. Met Richard at the exit of Jelangpang/Chemor toll, as usual he is late. He brought us to taste some local delights at roadside stalls, which is very tasty indeed! Can forgive him for being late. I like the fruits rojak with the thick peanut shrimp paste! Yummy....but Lu Cong find it too strong for his liking.

Our target today is "Sheng Yu", hence getting live frog is a must! However, Richard usual source ran out of stock. We have to make a big detour to another town to get it and we did not forget to fill up our tummy on the way! After getting our frogs we made our way to our 1st site which is known to be invested with peacock bass to warm up as the day is too hot to catch sheng yu. Richard and Lu Cong managed to hook up one after another really small sized PBs using earthworms, while i was trying to get bigger ones using my popper. Of course i could'nt get any.

1st fishing site along the road

Big pond with choppy water from wind?


Richard with his mini PB

As the sun began to set, we set off to our 2nd site for our target fish. Both Lu Cong & me was shocked when we were led all the way down the knee deep pond with our slippers getting stuck in the mud once every few steps. Richard with his past experience moved on with ease and immediately put down his stuffs and cast away. As the pond was heavily invested with water plants, it took a while to attract the fish to our location. I moved on to another area on the left while Lu Cong went to the right as the area was too small for 3 rod to cast. Soon enough as we settle down on our individual area, Richard got his 1st strike! A 1kg plus sheng yu was caught! Now that I am convinced that this place really got fish, I ventured further into the edge of the pond. Every step that i moved forward, the water goes deeper up to my knee. Threw out my frog and was immediately greeted by the hungry sheng yu, took a bite and felt my line tension. Richard shouted from a distance to me to release some line before strike. After a few unsuccessful strikes, finally managed to hook one after gaining some experience. Lu Cong on the other side is also doing well with 1 which slipped away after he left it on the grass patch near bank. As the sky got dark, we decided to call it a day. Washed up at Richard's sister home and went to savour the famous Ipoh Ya Choi Gai(bean sprouts, chicken) coupled with the smooth silky kuay tiao......yummy!

Richard leading us to the sacred site!

Lu Cong patiently waiting for any tug on his line.

Richard with his 1kg sheng yu.

finally caught 1 after several unsuccessful takes.

Ah Fatt Kelong 24th to 25th Aug 2007

Hi,

Eagerly anticipating towards the trip after rounding up a few kakis and endless discussion about the accessories for the jigs to use, finally we embarked on this kelong trip. Drive up was smooth even though it is our first time, either prove that the forum guide was accurate or we are damn good navigators!

Calm sea greeted us and after 45mins reached our destination, Ah Fatt Kelong which was better known for their food rather than the fishes as we were told by a fellow whom we acquainted at the jetty. Heart sank when the weather turn bad and abolished our intention of renting a boat out.

The sea was calm and slow current flow throughout the day, we started the day jigging for bait fishes which was aplenty. As the night approaches, we bait up and cast out. Waited and waited for any slightest hint of movement, and we continue to wait for the rest of the night! The only action was from the kelong helpers who seem to know where to get the fishes abait only small market fishes. Virgin squid catcher as we are, set out with pure determination to catch one, *sigh* before we retired to bed, virgin we stayed.

Early morning still no take from the fishes for our rods, which is same for the rest of the people on board. Resigned to our fate, we pack up and get ready for lunch as we greeted newly arrived people. In our heart, we were thinking another bunch of goondu kena cheated! Hahaha...

Well, overall this kelong is a great place for families young and old with so many small fishes to keep them entertain! I totally agree with the chap we met with his comment about the only thing that is good on Ah Fatt's kelong is the food.

Till the next trip...tight lines and happy fishing!

My first Blog

Hi,

This is my first blog after reading one of my fishing kaki posts, what a nice way to document down those fishing adventures. In the past, I used to post through emails which a large part of them being trashed. Hopefully, one day when I have a kid, I will be able to show him my fishing diaries.