Met up early on Friday at Punggol jetty in the North of Singapore with a yakkin buddy. Managed to get set up and on the water just as the sun was coming up at 7am. We decided to try the area outside Pulau Timor and Pulau Barat. If you hadn't guessed, "Pulau" means "Island" and they always reverse the words to make it Island Timor!
After trolling lures dropping some dead prawns down occasionally and trolling again, we only had one take for the morning!
This one decided to act like he was going to be patient, but as I lowered my hand to release him, he flipped up and into the water before I could take a photo!
After a more trolling, the length of Pulau Barat, we decided to paddle back to base and call it a day. Got back at 12pm.
Back up early the next morning and back to Punggol jetty! Set off straight to Ubin and saw this fella foraging on the beach..
He was the only wild boar out today. We saw about 10 last week! He didn't let me get very close before he went back into the woods.
I paddled down the coast of Ubin down to Pulau Ketam. The area on the East of Ketam is quite shallow and you have to go at least 100m out to get to 10ft depth.
As I came around the back of Ketam, I was greeted by a speedboat and wakeboarders! This made it quite choppy in an area supposed to be dead calm! I was still able to cast lures and troll around inbetween the speedboat passes, so it didn't bother me too much. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and did apologise to me for the rollers. This girl was quite cute too, so I didn't mind!
Only had one take around this rock in the middle of the channel between Ketam and Ubin, but didn't hook up.
So, now it was around 11am and I was supposed to be back at 1pm - I knew I was going to be late already! It had taken 1.5hrs to paddle down to Ketam - with the current! Now, the current was against me and the wind had picked up.
I stopped for a short break before paddling back.
Base looked a loooong way away! If you look closely, you might just be able to pick out Punggol Jetty on the extreme right!
I decided to go straight across to Coney Island (also called Pulau Serangoon) from here as the wind was picking up. After hard paddling, it only took 15 minutes to get back to Coney! I trried some more luring around Coney, but the area was covered in Bubu (fish traps) and crab pots. So feeling tired, I paddled back - a little later than I anticipated.
I only had hard and soft lures with me on that day, so was mostly trolling with a bit of jigging thrown in to experiment. This experiment failed though. We did notice a LOT of jellyfish in the water - maybe they affect the fishing?
Saturday's route..
May 9th.
I woke up to thunder and lightning. Mmmmm, that doesn't sound good, me thinks. Just hope it stops before morning.
5 minutes later, my alarm went off! Oh pooh! Time to get up and the thunder is louder than ever, with the room lighting up every few seconds! Perfect!!
So I dragged my sorry a$$ outa bed and put the kettle on. Watched the fireworks outside and noticed the thunder subsiding. Supposed to be good barramundi hunting after the rain, isn't it?
The rain started to fade, along with the thunder - things might not be too bad after all. So, coffee and breakfast dealt with, off I go to Yishun Dam. Arrived to sunrise at low tide.
Set off to some promising looking trees, lures ready to go. As I got nearer, the water got shallower. I tried trolling along the edge, but no takers, so I went out to an old kelong at the back of Pulau Seletar. A kelong is an old fishing station on stilts - some they use to trap fish, others to farm them.
Close to Malaysia at this point..
Lots of fish showing on the finder, but they all seemed to be Selar and Tamban - they had no hesitation in jumping onto the tamban hooks. Popped quite a few into the bait tube for later. Fist time I've used the tube and it worked a treat! The fish were all still alive and kicking when I got back to shore 4 hours later!
After this, I went West of Seletar and into the mangroves.
If you look carefully, below the sign, you'll see a monitor lizard sunbathing on the rock!
Fisho's always find a way in.
It looked really fishy, but I couldn't tempt the fish! Tried various lures, cast in amongst the trees, but to no avail. Dunno if the water-skiers disturb the area too much. At one point there were 8 boats around me! Rock n Roll!!!
Hope you enjoyed the journey.
Might try again.... one day!
