Mars Meets Black Jungle

Met up with Dex this morning.
A long time friend but rarely fish together.

Went to an unproductive spot during first light.

He caught one and I caught nothing:

This time, he brought his Megabass Black Jungle and NRX combo:

Chatted for some time before going back home.

DRESS Grasper H

Another JDM toy...

Made from anodized aviation-grade machined aluminium alloy.
Even the screws are molded from marine grade stainless steel.

This is a rare one.

Only on sale in Japan.

Best of all, almost all sources are only selling it in their own home country and does not provide international shipping.

Very lucky to get my hands on a piece.

At an unbelievable price too!

Always a sucker for rare toys...

Original Grasper was designed and produced by DRESS Japan.

Since then, some spin-offs appeared in the form of other brands, eg: Boiling.

Weight is less than 200 grams. (Original Boga 15lbs = 300 grams)

Does not comes with a weighing mechanism.

It's patented 'claw' design makes gripping snakeheads much easier.

Snakeheads will shut their jaws tightly closed when caught which makes it difficult to boga.

Downside is that the red anodized claws will be scratched by toothy fishes in the long run.

Who cares anyway? 

lol

又割爱...

Sold off some of my unused fishing stuff yesterday...

Figured it's more sensible to convert them into cash rather than them sitting in my storeroom likely never getting another chance to see daylight again...

RCS Carbon Crank Handle 90mm

This stylish and lightweight crank upgrade was originally fitted onto my previous Ryoga 1016H since day one.

My new LIN10 MARS already comes with a 90mm carbon crank.
Ever since I retired my Ryoga 1016H and sold it off, it has been kept in storage.

Here's the link posted in a popular local fishing forum.

Finally sold it to Rong who intend to fit it onto his newly acquired Megabass FX68L.

Well, at least I can still get to see it in future...

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Bought a 2 piece rod from Rapala 3 years ago.
Can be considered as Rapala's highest-end baitcasting rod.

Rapala Predator PE-C632MH:
Line: 10-20lb 
Lure: 7-28 grams 
Action: Moderate Fast 
Length: 6'3" 
Guides: Fuji Titanium SiC

Used it for some time during Mandai days...

After I got my G.Loomis IMX, it got shelved.
Finally decided to sell it off yesterday.

Although I like this rod alot, it has been severely under-utilized...

Posted on the forum putting it up for sale.

Met a seller in the afternoon.

Deal was straightforward and fast.

Hope that it's new owner will like it as much as I do...

Bring it out more often than I did...

Fly's First Swim

Went for some last light action at Spot Roxy.
I rarely fish last light...

Reached the hole at 3pm after a very long trek and started casting.

First cast yielded me a 3lb specimen on my trusty Duel Lipless Minnow.

Fish was landed at regular intervals!
Sun was gentle with dark clouds looming.

It's a fine afternoon indeed...

In the middle of the session, a yellow sheltered motor boat carrying 4 persons sailed pass ahead.

I quickly retreated into the vegetation and took cover until they turned around and left in the direction where they came from.

PUB's enforcement seems to be very on-the-ball lately...

Continued casting and caught a few more fishes.

It started to drizzle and turned dark.

I left the hole and begun the long walk back out...

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My self-tied fly has proven to be worthy!

Even when on slow retrieve without any jerking!

Shall experiment with the same main colors and maybe add a little more bright orange?

Till next time!

Hairy Hairy!

Went to Coho and bought these hairy stuffs:

Figured since feathered treble hooks and jighead flies are so difficult to find locally, I shall learn to do it myself.

Boss at Coho saw me scratching head in front of the countless fly-tying materials in his shop and was very kind to teach me.

Even gave me the demo'ed ones for free...

It's hard to find a tackle shop in Beach Road like this one nowadays...

Recent years, it's all about money.

Went home and attempted my first fly and feathered hooks:

A pretty good virgin attempt I would say.

Now let's see if it will successfully fool those temmies...

The Kind of Fishing I Do?

My non-angler friends are clueless about the way I fish.

To them, fishing is the same:
1) Hook bait
2) Cast out
3) Wait for bite

Not me...
I fish with artificial lures.

It's to 'control' an artificial bait mimicking an injured bait fish so as to tempt the larger predatory ones to strike.

These artificial baits comes in many variants all with different working techniques.

In a single session, I can repeatedly cast and retrieve up to a hundred times or even more.



In the below video, I  demonstrated the use of a surface lure with 'walk-the-dog' technique.
Watch the explosive strike of the fish on the 54secs mark:







Exciting?
This is how I got myself hooked onto lure fishing...

Feeding Frenzy!

Went Banana with Rong this morning.
Once there, 2 young anglers were already casting in the darkness.

I let Rong take the remaining space beside them and went into the vegetation to another hole alone.

Shortly after daybreak, I caught a decent sized one:

Cichla Temensis 6lb @ 58cm
Lure: Duel Hardcore Lipless Minnow 120F

After measurements, I released the fish and continued casting.

Got another 3 at the same hole:

Left: Showerblows Shorty
Centre: Duel Hardcore Lipless Minnow 120F
Right: Fly on 1/6oz TT jighead

When the kids left after a while of no action, I rejoined Rong outside and that's when the feeding frenzy starts!

Cichla Temensis 4.5lb & 50cm
Lure: Self-tied Fly on 1/6oz jighead given by ZH

These are just some of the catches.

A total of over 50 fishes were caught by Rong and me this morning!

The fishes there took everything that was presented.

Until I got lazy to take anymore photos...   lol

Sky was very cloudy which blocked out the sun.

Cooling morning with crazy fishes.

Ample supply of Marlboros and drinking water.

What more can I ask for?

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My right thumb has been suffering from abrasion for some time now.

Whenever I go fishing and my hands get wet, the skin gets softer.

Every cast I made, it will feel sore when I'm thumbing my spool.

Even lighting up my ciggy with a lighter will feel sore.

Hope it gets well soon.

I want my thumbprint back!

Tio Pang Seh Morning

Saturday first light.
Originally planned to go Banana with ZH and his friend, Daryl.

Due to some issues at the meeting point, I decided not to join them anymore and drove to another spot.
Let's just say that fishing alone is much less of a hassle.
If not, make sure that your fishing buddy is a steady one.

Never had any luck with this spot.
Went a few times before with zero catch.
Decided to try my luck there again this fine morning.

Drove there, parked, trekked in.

Because of the blah blah with ZH, I missed first light when reaching the hole.

Casted for quite awhile.

Zero action.

Surface commotion was rarely seen.

During one of the casts, something came and struck my lure.

It missed...

Quickly, I cast again towards the same direction.

It struck again.

And missed again.

A few more twitches later, it struck for the third time.

Missed...

On my third cast, the hungry (angry?) bugger struck my surface lure for the fourth time.

This time however, it connected.

I quickly set the hook and it's fish on!

Fought for awhile until it gave in.

Cichla Temensis @ 3.5lb

Lure: Showerblows Shorty

After some pictures, I released the fighter.

Missed another huge take underneath an overhung tree.
Repeated casts to the same area yielded nothing.

I spooked the fish...

Trekking back out of the forest, saw some nice sunlight rays filtering though the forest canopy:

Shall not christen this spot yet until it has proven itself to be productive in future visits.

割爱...

Decided to sell away my 2nd Ryoga 1016H.

First one will still be kept as a memento...

Posted on a popular local fishing forum.

Here's the link.

This reel has brought me many happy and exciting moments.

Accompanied me to many remote places...

Although I'm very reluctant to sell, it beats keeping it in my storeroom where it can't see another daylight...

Sad.........

Police & Thief, PUB & Angler

Supposed to go Goldie with Shawn and Kyle who is coming in from Johor this morning but woke up to a thunderstorm at 5am.
Cancelled.

Back to sleep but couldn't resist the fishing urge...
Went there at 2pm after dropping Ling at Kico's.
Rong decided to join me.

After some fruitless casting outside, we went deeper into the forest.

Was greeted with a fine fish at the tributary:

4lb Speckled Peacock Bass
Z-man MinnowZ

My second fish on rubber!

It's a must-have in my lure box from now onwards...

After some time of no action, I trekked back out while Rong stayed inside.
Spotted a yellow boat with roof approaching with 5 men onboard.

PUB...
They spotted me...
Too late...

I retreated back into the vegetation and watched them from behind cover.
They berthed their boat and started to alight.

I ran back to Rong and told him to run deeper inside.

We stopped after awhile and I told him to stay still while I listened for movements.

After some time, I heard leaves rustling.
Seems like someone was making effort to advance stealthily.

Soon, 2 men emerged and immediately, I ran full speed with Rong tagging along half-heartedly.
Don't know what Rong was thinking!

Perhaps he did not know how fucked-up those PUB bastards are since he is lucky not to have encountered any of them before.

One of the officers shouted in a kind tone: 'No need to run! No need to run!'

Rong then stopped. Yes, he stopped!
He was naive enough to be taken in by the officer's kindly tone thinking that it will be just a warning, nothing else!

They caught him...
Rong was sacrificed...

Me?
Fat chance of catching me!

I ran deeper into the forest at full speed without looking back.
Could hear someone was chasing me closely from behind.

He was shouting at the top of his lungs: 'Stop! Stop!'

Ignoring his command, I continued bulldozing through the vegetation until I ran out of breath and stopped.

I managed to lose my pursuer...

Took a couple of deep breaths with my ventolin and hid myself behind some thick vegetation.
Switched my phone to silent mode while I squatted down trying to hear movements.

Some time later, true to my prediction, my phone started vibrating.
It's Rong...

He told me that there's a total of 5 of them.
1 of them went after me and turned back after a short while.

He had his details and photograph taken.
One of the officers told him that the fine will be mailed to his registered residence.

I told Rong to watch them from far and call me back after their boat had left.

Meanwhile, I lay low motionless sweating like a pig with countless mosquitoes buzzing around.
Covered myself up with my arm sleeves and buff.

About 20 minutes later, Rong called me and inform me that they had left.
Seems like they gave up coming after me...

I slowly and tactically exited the forest...

Rejoined Rong and scolded him..
WTF was he thinking?!!
Stopping as told??





Anyway, as a first time offender, he will only be slapped with a $50 fine.
For me, let's just say it will be much much more complicated if I get caught again......