Roxy Yet Again

Out of the blue, Rong wants to come out to fish this morning.
Shawn had to be a stay home dad today.

Was actually planning on going to Spot Mars alone to catch some Giant Snakeheads.

Since Rong has not much luck at Mars ever since I started bringing him there, we decided to go Spot Roxy.

First cast got me something:

There were many missed strikes throughout the session.

There was even once when I managed to hook up a good sized bull in bright spawning colors.

Reeled it in after some tough fight but lost it when it leaped out of the water right in front of me.

Rong had a strong take as well but his line snapped early into the fight...

Chatted for a while outside before heading home after this short session.

Everyone seem to think that Ken has really lost it this time with his greyed out hair...  lol

Short Time Solo

Went for a quickie session at Roxy at first light this morning.

Was drizzling on and off throughout.

Nothing spectacular but enough to cure the itch.

Left after the very short session.

Tried a new lure and was surprised by what it can do.
Too bad it's not suitable for Roxy.


Snap this primate on my way out:

Joe's remote got spoilt and I have to disconnect the external speaker under the bonnet to silence the alarm.

Drove back with blinking hazard lights, attracting many weird looks from other motorists.

lol

I think I have enough Temensis action for now.

Been fishing too much of these buggers lately.

That's the charm about Roxy.

Always trying to crack the code...

Time to go play with Giant Snakeheads.

I've been neglecting them...

Uncured Itch

No catches today at Roxy.
None.
Not me, nor Shun.

Zilch...

Shawn made the correct choice by holidaying at Desaru with his family.
Jason was right to have overslept.

A sight I often met but didn't have a chance to snap until this morning.

My hook had caught onto a huge fallen branch in the water and line was eventually snapped.

Lost about 10 metres of main line...

To compensate the loss of spool inertia resulting in shorter casting distance, I backed down the brakes from #1 to #0.5, eventually to zero.

This got me a much further casting distance compared to a full spool on brakes #1.

The difference of just a single click on the IS79UC is amazing!

Not recommended for baitcasting noobs though...

Thumb got worse from all the feathering:

It's getting worse...

With uncured itch, we headed to an old haunt of mine at Mandai and spotted a pair of adult tomans.

Repeated disturbance by Shun and me yielded no results.

Very soon, the wind picked up and water turned choppy.
No way to visually spot those tomans.

Moreover, the longer we stay there, risk of getting caught by PUB gets higher as well.

Toman or not, fishing while having to constantly look over your shoulders is no fun at all...

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

Had a short chat with Shawn and it seems like he's having a fun time over the other side of the causeway.

Sensed that he's desperately in need of some fishing time.   lol


No catch photos today, made a fan poster instead:

Angling reveals a person's character faster than any other activities.

It also has a mystical effect to turn some grown men into bitchy teenage girls.

Some say: Imitation is a form of flattery.

I say: Go get yourself a life.

Biggie Temmy Papa!

Been visiting Roxy for the past couple of weeks.

Supposed to go with Shawn and Rong this morning when Shun wanted to tag along.

Rong pulled out due to his unsolved family issue and Shawn couldn't get his permit approved from his wife.

In the end, went with Shun.

First stupid thing happened when we trekked halfway in.
I forgot to lock the car...

Fast trekked back out and lock it, went back in missing first light...

Shun got the first fish of the day with his improvised rubber:

Chatted as we cast, sharing tips on this spot. 

My action picked up and landed 4 specimens at regular intervals.
2 more were lost right in front of my face when I was trying to lip grip them.

There were many missed strikes as well.

Shun remained optimistic and continued casting repeatedly.

Roxy's fishes are a smart bunch which only respond to a certain technique and lure movement.  

Finally, his effort paid off with a huge take.

For a moment, Shun was stunned as the monster peeled line from his old Shimano Calcutta.

He could only hold onto his rod/reel helplessly while the biggie made it's wild dash.

There was a moment when the line got slack suddenly and Shun thought that he had lost it.

Fortunately, he regained tension split seconds later.

After the first mad run, Shun began to pump his rod, gaining back some line:

Still bewildered by the huge violent take.

Pumping in the biggie.

Shun got more confident as the biggie wore itself out.

I went to Shun and got his lip gripper.

Once the monster got reeled in, I immediately grabbed the leader line and lip grip it.

The fish was massive!

The hook was thrown sometime during the fight and had luckily lodged itself into the monster's upper back.

It was a huge bull temensis:

The classic pose.

We took the fish to terra firma for further photo raping:

Bull was as long as Shun's leg.

75cm / 12lb of pure bull muscle.

Bump on head indicates that it's a breeding male specimen.

Parting shot before the release.

The above video was cropped to avoid flaming as it was shared on facebook in a fishing group.

When the fish was released back into the water, it was still stunned from the fight.

On top of it, we took longer than usual to put it back into the water.

This resulted in air getting into the fish's abdomen causing it to turn belly up in the water, unable to swim away.

I told Shun to retrieve the floating fish and worked my magic on it while Shun held it still.

When I'm done with it, the monster regained it's composure and swam away slowly...

Don't worry.
It'll live.

Death of a tree gave life to many others...

After the excitement worn off, I continued landing fish after fish.

Another 2 more were lost while I'm trying to put the gripper into their mouths.

Shun lost one in the same manner as well. 

3 more were landed by yours truly:

Fireworks in it's mouth.  lol

Shun suffered major backlashes twice and was forced to cut his braided line leaving him with less than half spool filled.

This reduced his casting distance dramatically.

We left shortly after his second backlash.

Me: Quantity

Shun: Quality

Another happy day at fishing for us both!

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

Same day at night, Shawn, Shun, Ling and myself went to Andrew's.

We grabbed some lures and in addition, Shun got himself an IP79L reel.

Chatted for a while and left as happy men and bored woman.

Treasure your fishing spots while you can.

No spot can remain exclusive to one forever.

No bites doesn't mean no fish in the water.

Many bites doesn't mean you're a better angler.

Overzealous competitiveness not only kills the fun in fishing,

It ruins friendship as well.

Just some random nonsensical quotes. 

lol

Fun Filled Sunday

Was planning to fish alone this morning as Shawn is still holidaying in Thailand.
Seems like he and his family are having fun there despite those chaotic news.

Since Shun planned to fish by himself this morning as well, we decided to go together.

Brought him to a frequent hole of mine hoping to have some Temensis fun.





And it turned out fun indeed!

Throughout the session, we have countless missed strikes and thrown hooks.

All the fishes I've caught were fought back from far distant.
4 more were lost right in front of my face after I managed to reel them back.

No takes on top water though...

Shun was smart enough to use whatever kind of lure I'm using throughout the entire session.    lol

He knows that I'm a resident angler of this spot and knows where the potential hiding holes of the fishes are at, including their lure preferences and the method/speed to work them.




Some close-ups from a couple of fishes this morning:

My newly tied flies triggered some bites as well.
A pity I didn't managed to get proper hooksets...

But like I always say,
No Land = No Count.

Shun was so amazed by my flies that I decided to gift him a piece.
The one that he is using doesn't seem to work well in water...

Those newly acquired Duel lures of mine were tested today as well.

Fishes there doesn't seem to fancy hard-bodies this morning and I find that the lures need some tweaking.
Buoyancy rate and action needs some adjustments. 

Casting ability and depth are perfect.

Not that it's flawed, just that I somehow think it can be made better with little changes to it's hardware. 

Will lighten it a little and see how it performs next week.





Till next time......

Hiking Sunday

A friend told me of a long forgotten spot nearby Roxy.
Distance is far, terrain is treacherous.

And so, I went and got myself a machete.
A parang so to speak.

SOG Sogfari Machete 13" blade

Nowadays, the parang also evolved until very nice and tactical.

Unlike those in the past with wooden handles which got rusty after a few weeks.

lol

Anyway, I went alone and followed my Jason's very vague description of that place.

Trekked for some time upslope, downslope, crossed streams and hacked my way through the vegetation.

Found a long forgotten familiar PUB signage left to rust and rot in the wilderness:

An 80's looking PUB signage.

After some time of exhausting bashing, I finally gave up.

Shall come here and try again together with Jason in the near future.

I trekked back out and decided to join Eugene at Roxy who brought his friend, Khoon. 

It was I who had introduced Roxy to Eugene.
I trust that he will keep Roxy to himself and his friend.

Even if it turns out otherwise, I will not whine like a girl like some asshole did for Mozzy.
No spots can remain forever exclusive to any individuals.

Just look at Mozzy. 

Turned into a pasar malam even though I kept my promise of silence. 

Besides, there are plenty of spots out there waiting to be found.
And many more waiting for me to revisit them.

The death of a fallen tree gave life to others.

When I arrived, I noticed that the water level is still very high.

Khoon had already caught 1 before my arrival.

It seemed to be a very slow morning.

After a while, I managed to hookup one with my self-tied fly:

It's a small spawning male specimen.

After some photo raping, I let it went free.

It was then I noticed some disturbance in the shallow bank next to me.

Upon further investigation, it's a freshwater yabby.

It's strange that the yabby remained at the weed in the water even after I fooled around with it for a while, dangling my fly in front of it. 

They are usually very cautious and easily spooked, darting away at the slightest sign of abnormality.

I put my hand into the water and caught it with my hand.

The poor thing had gotten itself snagged on the weed and was unable to free itself.

I took out my pliers and cut it loose.

Took some photos of it as well:

First time I saw a yabby at Roxy.

Lucky the yabby met me today...  lol
If not it would have starved itself to death.

It must have been stucked there for ages. 

Freed the poor yabby and continued fishing.

Got another temensis on my favorite minnow:

A short while later, Eugene got himself one as well with his new reel: