Sneak Peek?

Megabass LIN10 MARS...

Very high likelihood to be the successor for my Ryoga 1016H.
Not a sure thing but there is this possibility that I might go crazy one day and go buy it.

A premium limited reel from Megabass Japan.
Developed based on the Ryoga platform.

Here are it's specs:

■ Bearings: 12BB, 1RB
■ Gear Ratio: 5.5:1
■ Line / Handle Turn: 58cm
■ Line Cap: 14lb./114m, 16lb./100m
■ Weight: 242g
■ Max Drag: 6.0kg


Compared to my Ryoga 1016H, it has a more powerful gear but the trade-off for such power is a slower speed per crank turn (9cm lesser).
A kilogram more drag which I suspected is due to a larger diameter main gear which also serves as the drag housing.
13 grams lighter in overall weight compared to the Ryoga 1016H.

This stunning reel was only released in June this year.
Just about the time when I have been contemplating to replace my reel.

Not that the Ryoga is not good.
I have been using it for quite awhile now, natural to seek something better.

And it's very rare that I will set my eyes on new reel or rod.

There was once when my previous Ryoga 1016H gave up on me.
I went and purchased a new reel.
A new Ryoga 1016H. Again.

Just feel that it's time for a change but nothing seems suitable as I prefer round profile reels.
Shitmano is out of the question.

Until I met this red reel by Megabass...
It's basically a super-tuned Ryoga 1016 with weight reduction, cosmetic enhancement and god knows what other tweaks inside.

Every single piece has it's own unique serial number in it's limited run.

Hefty 4 digits price tag...

Coincidentally, the LIN10 MARS is only produced in right hand crank models.

Most anglers out there are right handed, using left hand crank baitcasting reels.
I'm one of those rare oddballs out there who has a right master-hand but using a right hand crank reel.

This factor put it out of the window for 95% of baitcasting reel anglers out there.

As for me, it's a match made in heaven...

Megabass's founder Mr Yuki Ito in action with the LIN10 MARS.

The fact that the LIN10 MARS is based on the Ryoga 1016's platform and is only exclusively available for right-handed cranking baitcasting anglers means that I fit the bill perfectly.

Seems like Mr Yuki Ito tailored the LIN10 MARS for yours truly...




Will I answer the call?

But there are other priorities in my life.

In time to come, we shall see...

Pasar Malam Spot

Went Spot Rex at first light this morning.

Trekked in and started wetting my line while the sky is still dark.


Shortly after, 2 chinese guys in their mid 20's came.

Shortly after, a rowdy group of 5 chinese kids in their early 20's came.

Shortly after, 2 malay guys in their mid 20's came.


Total 10 anglers including myself.
True to my speculation, Spot Rex has become a Pasar Malam spot.
Crowded like pasar malam with all kinds of people...

Shall avoid this spot for a few months and see how it goes.





Hates crowded spots.
Hates kid anglers...

A New Spot With An Old Friend

Fished with Shawn this morning.

Knew him years ago during Mandai days.
Chatted frequently but rarely wet lines together.

Went to Spot Banana during first light but caught nothing.
Had a few topwater misses though...

Next, we went to scout a new spot.
Somewhere both of us have never went before.
Shall christen this new spot as: Roxy

After a long time of trekking, we bashed in.
Many fallen trees, thick vegetation and our one piece rods made it extremely challenging to navigate through the forest.
Especially when there are no tracks since this is a virgin spot.

After for what seems like an eternity, we finally reached the water.

Shawn played with his soft bodied plastics on 1/2oz jighead (as usual) while I tried a variety of hard bodied lures.

Chatted about many topics.
Our relatively new flats, latest gossip in our local fishing scene, fishing hardware and lures, etc.

After some time, he got a hit.
It was a good size temensis which managed to throw off his hook mere meters from land.
Pity...

After a few casts, he got another one again.
This time, it's landed:

Shawn's Cichla Temensis with his Megabass Ito Monoblock 100XR-L

Took this nice photo for him showing his catch with his nice gear.
Impressive tummy as well.    lol

Continued chatting and I felt a bite.
Set hook immediately and started a tug-of-war.

Fish jumped out of the water thrice shaking it's head violently.

Landed it and was happy to see it's a 3lb Peacock Bass.
The hump on it's head shows that it's a breeding male specimen.

3lb Peacock Bass

Duel Lipless Minnow 120F

Took a release video as well:

New Evergreen Fishing Shoulder Bag

Last Tuesday morning, I went fishing.

Halfway through, caught in the middle of a very heavy downpour. 

Stopped for awhile and rained again.

Much more heavier the second time round. 

Was drenched while casting in the thunderstorm. 

Kept my phone in my fishing bag to protect it from the merciless rain. 

Went home, opened up my bag to discover everything wet.
Phone, flashlight, hat, everything...

I've used this Versus bag for years. 

Liked it alot. 

Just enough rooms and compartments to suit my needs. 

Easily accessible too. 

It eventually got worn and the waterproofing layer inside started to disintegrate.

Only after that very wet morning then I realised the extent of it's damage. 

Went to a tackle shop nearby and checked out a new one that I have been eyeing for some time. 

As with all things from Evergreen, this bag is not exactly cheap. 

Been putting it off because I thought that my trusty old Versus was still serving me well. 

I was wrong. 

Not only the waterproofing layer is torn, the entire bag's exterior especially it's back and base are starting to show serious signs of abrasion.

Ling decided to buy it for me since I couldn't make up my mind. 

Partly because it's hard for me put away my old Versus bag. 

It accompanied me to countless remote places, witnessing many happy and dangerous moments. 

Shall continue keeping it as a memento...

##############################################

Used the new bag on my last session last Sunday.

It's worth the money indeed.

Much lesser fatigue after long period of carrying.

Credits to the thick cushion paddings.

The way it slings on my shoulder makes it feel lighter even though the things I carried is the same as I did with my old Versus.

Small pouch in the front of the strap fits my iPhone snugly.
Side pouch just nice enough for my camera and small flashlight.

I removed another larger side pouch and strapped on my pliers sheath instead.

As before, I like to hang my boga outside for easy accessibility when needed. 

Only gripe I have with this bag is the size of it's main compartment.

Only wide enough to fit my lure box, nothing else.

It even sports a hard base inside.

Thank you Ling for this wonderful present!

Latest Hoots

Acquired quite alot of lures lately.
Some bought, some gifts from friends.

These are the ones I purchased with my hard earned money:

Lucky Craft Sammy 115

Lucky Craft Flash Pointer 140SR

Evergreen Showerblows 125

Jackall Mag Squad 128F

Evergreen Showerblows Shorty

And these are given to me by friends:

Imakatsu Devil Chopper Careca 110S
(courtesy from Dex)

Imakatsu Trairao
(being 'payment' for restoration of friend's rod)

My favorite is actually this one:

Looks amazing under direct light...

Restoring a G.Loomis MBR 783C (IMX)

A friend purchased this 2nd hand rod at a very poor condition.

Previous owner didn't take good care of it's delicate cork handle causing it to rot and disintegrate at many areas.
To make things worse, he even attempted to savage it by applying very thick and uneven coat of gloss paint lacquer on the handle itself!

Luckily there's no visible nicks on the rod blank itself.
Guide frames showed some scratches but the alconite rings are still good.

Friend of mine who bought over this rod sought my help to restore it to it's former glory.

I agreed to help him in exchange for a $30 Imakatsu Trairao lure.   lol

Thick uneven coat of lacquer.
Pathetic attempt by previous owner to savage this rod.

Very badly rotted cork right below the trigger grip.

Even the foregrip is not spared.

Within hours, I cleaned up the lacquer and stained areas.

Patched up hundreds of holes big and small.

Repeated the process a couple of times to make sure the fillings got into every rotted spots.

Scraped away the excess fillings and sanded it to a smooth finish.

Below are the before/after photos:

A job well done?

My friend was elated...

Spot Rex: Showerblow's First Blood

Went to a spot today.
One which I already knew long ago but didn't have the chance to pay visit.

Shall hereby be christened: Rex

My newly acquired Evergreen Showerblows is a good buy indeed.
Casting is good, action easy to achieve.

Here's the clip showing it in action:

Limited it's video resolution to 720 @ 30fps to conserve battery life.

Even so, video quality is superb from the Nikon.

After awhile, a fish striked my Showerblows.

A splash but no pull...

Bugger missed my lure totally.

I continued walking the pencil and after some twitches, it striked again.

This time, the tail hook caught on and fish was landed:

3.5lb Cichla Temensis

Underwater shot showing the release:

Left for home after the very short session.

Nikon Coolpix AW110

Been wanting to buy a waterproof compact camera since ages ago.

Mainly to take better quality photos and videos of my fishing escapades.

Regular iPhone camera just don't cut it.

Initial option was the GoPro action camera.

Currently in the market, it's the best action video camera around.

Various mounting option (sold separately), water and shock resistant, high resolution video quality, light weight.

But some factors are holding me back from buying the GoPro.

1) Hefty price tag ($550)

2) Pay extra for my required mounting option.

3) No screen means taking stills photos and aiming camera needs to be connected to iPhone via Wifi.

4) Freezing issue occurs frequently resulting in loss of footages.

5) Extremely short battery life.

After much hesitation, I searched around online for a suitable waterproof compact camera but eventually gave up as none are able to be 'worn' properly for recording footages hands-free.

I turned to scouting for waterproof iPhone casings.

The good ones are not really cheap costing at over a hundred bucks just for a few pieces of rubber and plastic.

Also, the idea of submerging my phone into the water troubles me even with one of those cases.

Lan Lan stuck with iPhone's sucky camera quality...

Recently, I've been wanting to record some footages for a fishing video project.

I've even improvised a lanyard to hang my iPhone on my neck to capture some footages.

Trouble is, due to the lack of a physical 'record' button, I have to leave the phone in constant recording mode throughout my fishing session and crop away those 'actionless' moments once I get home.

This results in fast battery usage and an extremely hot phone as well.

After the first few tries, I gave up...

Concluded that it's totally not feasible to use my iPhone 5 for recording fishing videos.

Until days ago, I saw this waterproof Nikon compact camera by chance.

Googled extensively and found out that it's a new model which received high recommendation from many online camera reviews.

Nikon Coolpix AW110:

Shall not lor soh on it's specs and plus points here.

Main reason I'm getting this is actually it's designed to use a supplied neck strap which holds the camera in a horizontal orientation in front of my chest.




Bought it at Funan at an extremely good price too!