Sad Sad Day...

Kent Ridge Park...

Used to hang out here for a while catching many giant snakeheads.

In my opinion, tomans here are the hardest fighting ones in our entire country.

Although the largest one I caught here only weighed 11lb, but when putting pound for pound, they're much stronger compared to those at Kranji reservoir.

You think it's a 12 pounder on the end of your line?
It will eventually turn up to be just a 7lb specimen.

Not exaggerating here.

There was once I landed 2 specimens weighing 9lbs each end to end.
The brute force displayed by them had me struggling to pump my rod on the second take.

Tomans here will often try to snap your line by brute force and lightning acceleration while dashing towards cover at any given opportunity.  

Those using light tackle better not hook up those above 6lb in this pond.
'Courting your own doom' so to speak...

The residents at the nearby Normanton Park Condominium are extremely protective of this pond.
I was scolded and chased away by quite a few of them initially, before this place turned legal.

Seems like many anglers are either bringing back fishes or casting right next to the jogging trail causing danger to them.

That's the reason why anglers are not welcomed there and they will not hesitate to call the authorities if anyone is spotted poaching there.

But things slowly changed when they realised and witnessed me releasing my catches back into the water.
One by one, they welcomed my presence and some even greeted me or stopped for a chat.

The last time I went there was on New Year's Day this year where I caught a 10lb specimen.
Sadly, it might just be the last of the very few tomans left in this pond...

All because of those brainless pricks at Nparks...
Fucking murderers...


Back to topic before I stray too far with my rants.

Was in the vicinity for work and had time to spare.
Decided to make a detour to the old favorite haunt of mine.

Upon arriving, this is the pathetic sight it greeted me with:

Pond's perimeter were all barricaded.

Upon closer inspection, those signs wrote:

Sad isn't it?

Or maybe I'm the only one besides those residents that is feeling so.

This place gave me many memories...

Honed my knowledge and skills for giant snakehead fishing.
Taught me how to 'read' their directions after surfacing for ambient air.
Showed me how swiftly kingfishers hunt for those toman fries.

I walked around the perimeter until I reached an old hole of mine.

This was where I caught the largest specimen here.
This was where I almost fell into the water while fighting a big one that eventually got away.
This was where I was literally slapped in the face by my own rod when my line snapped in the midst of a violent fight.
This was where I improved my casting accuracy by leaps and bounds after sacrificing countless Surface Cruisers.

This was where I learned the hard way that a single mistake, regardless of beforehand preparations or in the midst of a fish fight, can possibly result in the lost of a trophy catch.

All those memories flooded my mind at that very moment I saw the pond in it's current pathetic state...

By allowing baiting, Nparks had stupidly allowed this pond to deteriorate to it's current state.

Countless baiters are casting raw chicken meat, halved catfishes, etc, into the water hoping to bait for giant snakeheads.

Now, the pond is almost fishless.

To top it all, it's water is contaminated...

I had once told them before in an email protesting the rules that they were adopting for the legalised fishing area.

All I received was some stupid reply...

Look at now.

And by the way, despite the water condition now, dragonflies are still thriving there.

So much for: 

'Dragonflies are only present in water bodies that are clean and unpolluted' - quoted Ms Toh Yuet Hsin (Senior Manager / Parks - Nparks)

This was what she said to me when replying my email mid last year.

How can we entrust our nature parks and waters to those who know lesser?