With a generous offer from Mervin to take advantage of his club membership, we met up nice and early and set off for the boat ramp. This is quite a civilized place to set up for a yakking session – no sand for a change.
Photo by Mathew
Photo by Mathew
Photo by Mathew
Mathew was actually first into a fish – there was a drunken mullet swimming at the top of the ramp. Mathew pounced on with the finely tuned skills of a native predator and it was in his hands – didn’t even need a line! Wish I’d taken a photo, but he released it into the deeper water for it to take its chances.
After a whole week of rainy mornings, this one looked like it would be a nice one for a change – and it was!
Great photo by Mathew
The victorious Mathew afloat
We set off to the fishing grounds and started by throwing a few lures around with a bit of trolling to see what was around. Not long into the first stop, I was trying to jig a few tamban (baitfish). Caught one small fish and cast it back in with the tamban rig. All of a sudden, something started to take line as the rod bent over. Now this was either a very big tamban or something different. At first, I thought it must be a queenie, but as it showed it colours, up came a nice little Tingirri (Spanish Mack)! Into the net (sorry about the rust!) and up it came for a photo or two.
Fantastic photo by Mathew…hehehe!
We carried on in this area for a while, with a pretty reef dweller coming onto the same rig..
I decided to hang around with the now anchored Mervin and tied a line onto his yak to try a bit of bottom bashing.
After no bites in what looked like a nice location, we headed back of to the area of the club.
Melvin finally got his first fish on the yak on this – his second session. A nice little Emperor Snapper – Leng Chiam.
By now, it was around midday and the sky was showing angry features on the horizon, so we decided to call it a day and head off back to the ramp. This was followed by a nice drink and a bite to eat at the clubhouse – very civilized!
Kayak Fishing – 30 August – Sembawang
Woke up this morning and looked out to a clear sky with a few small fluffy clouds scattered around. Looks like another nice day for yakkin!
Anyway, we arrived safe and sound and set up ready for the off.
The water was calm, the sun was coming out and we were on our way.
After a while, I saw a bump on the otherwise featureless seabed and a couple of fish showed up at the same spot. I’ve been doing more luring than baiting lately – I don’t really like baiting as the thrill of getting a hit on lure is something else!
I hooked up a couple of dead prawn, frozen from a previous trip, dropped down to the spot and watched the rod tip in anticipation of the usual nothing. BANG! Down went the tip, but missed the fish! Le the bait down there in case there was anything left and the tip dipped again – FISH!! Not a big fish……. Mmmm…. Feels like a Duri (Catfish)…..
Put this slimy fellow back after his photo shoot and tried again. Nothing took the bait, so paddled on a little further.
Once again, the fish finder showed some activity, so hooked up some more prawn on the same rig. BANG!!! BANG!!! ZZZZZZZZ – FISH ON!!!! BIG FISH, BIG FISH!!!!!
This was a real fighter and line was pulled off quite a tight drag. Left, right, in, out – this fish was all over the place! Slowly played the fish, adjusting the drag as the fish started to come up and show its colours. “IT’S A GRUNTER!” I shouted, looking at the speckled silver swimming close to the surface.
But as it came to the net, its real colours showed – “ANG ZHO!!!!” was the next jubilant shout!!! Ang Zho is the local name for a John's Snapper.
My first off the yak and a real nice fish!!!
Dunno why I put the fish upside down, must have been the excitement!
I handed the camera over to Mervin – I should have straightened my hat out tho. Hehehe!
Once we had calmed down and got back into the paddling, out of nowhere, the sky was a solid dark grey in front of us! Now that does not look good!
The wind quickly picked up, but the sky in front started to clear. We might just be lucky here and miss the stor…..
The heavens opened and we were forced to take shelter!
We stayed in this shelter for about an hour, missing valuable fishing time! As it started to clear, we made our way back down to the yaks and set off again. As we did so, the rain started again, so we turned back to the clubhouse.
Fishing on the way back, Mervin had a good take – FISH ON!!!! Once again, this was a good sized fish and it headed toward me, turning his yak as it did. Line was dragging off Mervin’s reel, but then…….STUCK!!! The fish had found safe ground! As Mervin came over the top of the fish, his rod sprang back up in that disappointing release – line snapped! Dang!!! That was another good fish!
As the rain continued to fall, time was up and we headed back off to the ramp, a little disappointed that Mervin didn’t get his fish. The rain continued and we were feeling the cold chill as we packed up. It was still about 26 deg C, but it felt cold to us!
We’ll be back!!
Cheers,
Ian
