Dry Spell - Epilogue

Went to Mandai for a short session with Freyson this early morning determined to break my dry spell.

Brought the same rod/reel, wore the same shirt, used the same lure as I did when the last time I went there half a year ago...

Arrived there at daybreak...

After a few casts, I felt a tug at the end of my line and immediately, I tightened my line and striked.

Was reeling the fish in when it made an acrobatic leap above water level followed by a violent headshake.

That's when I last saw the fish... It was a temensis about a foot long.

It managed to throw my hook with the headshake...

Damn!

I should have set the hook once more just to make sure...

Well, no use crying over spilled milk...

I continued working my lure casting countless times and suddenly, I saw a silhouette of a small motor boat with 2 persons onboard.

WTF?! PUB start work so early on a Saturday morning meh??

Quickly, I pulled Freyson who was tying a knot and didn't notice the boat and escaped to the main road.

Phew...

After a cigarette, I went back to my spot and the PUB officers were gone.

Better luck next time, bitches.

Continued casting and retrieving with the random jerk while looking out in the distance just in case those PUB officers decide to make a return.

This is when I felt it...

The familiar tug of a monster fish...

IT'S BEEN SO LOONNNGGGGGG!!

I striked immediately, adrenaline pumping through my veins.

The forceful struggle told me that it's a big one at the end of my line.

It's a huge temensis or peacock bass, I told myself.

Peacock bass are prized gamefish worldwide and they are known for it's aggressive and territorial nature.

The wild ones are violent.

Many anglers overestimated their size when they got one biting and were disappointed when the fish is landed.

Why? Because even a small peacock bass or temensis puts up a fight like a fish twice it's own size!

Anyway, it's a violent species so to speak...

After some tugging and wild dashes, I reeled it in.

Just when the fish was mere metres away from me, I saw it...

It's huge!

The average size for this species I've caught in local waters are about a foot long whereas this one is double!

At about 2 metres away from my, it made a last but epic dash.

My Daiwa Ryoga 1016H reel is tuned with Carbontex drag.

Imagine this top-of-the-line reel, along with high performance after-market drag set at more than half the maximum limit, this fish pulled my line outwards for almost 10 metres in the blink of an eye!

I held on during this split second of madness.

Freyson let out a shout upon witnessing this spectacular moment and scared me...

This fish is either insane or on steriods.....

Anyway, I landed the fish and boga read 5lbs on the scale.

Photo raping begins...

Peacock Bass @ 60cm / 5lbs

G.Loomis IMX, Daiwa Ryoga 1016H, Duel lipless minnow 115mm/Floating

The parting shot...

Wanted to release the fish after it's photo rape but Freyson wanted to have it for dinner.

Gave him the fish knowing that it will not go to waste...

Freyson was a cook at a 5 star hotel and cooks frequently for his family.

If it's a giant snakehead, I would have insisted to free it.

I know that they're all fishes anyway, so why the double standard?

Don't ask me why...

I'm bias towards all other species except for the giant snakehead...

We left after this exciting 2 hour session.

Must reach home before Ling wakes up.

The most important thing is, my dry spell is broken!!

 

At least for now......

Dry Spell...

Every accomplished writer will experience the dreaded 'writer's block' sometime during their writing career.

Same goes for anglers.

I'm going through a dry spell now...

Have been fishing way lesser compared to months before.

Now, I try my best to make it a weekly thing.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been squeezing in short sessions to wet my lines.

I've rarely encountered zero catches before.

However, I have been catching nothing recently... zilch!

It's always at least 3 temensis and/or a giant snakehead if I'm lucky.

Not anymore... Guess I ran out of luck... 

Hope this dark period get past me soon.

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

2 days ago, my regular tackle shop's boss passed me a new lure that he brought in from Japan for some testing.

Wants me to give him feedback and in return, I get the $21 lure for free.

One of the staff there told me MacRitchie reservoir has an influx of temensis lately.

Certainly not at the legal spot, he told me to 'enter' from behind those nearby landed properties.

Yesterday after Boy's haircut, I went home and using satellite images on google map, narrowed down to the most possible section of MacRitchie Reservoir. Illegal of course...

All legal spots constructed by PUB at every reservoir in our country is a huge joke altogether...
They seriously think all anglers are brainless and contructed these useless fishing grounds just for the sake of pacifying the public.
They have an uncanny knack of choosing areas with little or no fish to build those legal fishing ground.
And one of the rules of MacRitchie's ridiculously small fishing spot is that no rods shall be longer than 7feet so as to restrict anglers from casting long distances.
Might injure those canoeists they say...

Anyway, legal spots never appealed to me.
Although the fine for fishing illegally is quite hefty, part of the fun in luring is the jungle bashing and stealthy approach.
Never will I set my foot on those so called legal designated fishing ground.
Total waste of time...



Boy sniffing around.



This should be it.

But still, I will have to be there personally to find a way into and through the jungle to reach the waters.
Got my gears ready, brought along a 2 piece rod for convenience, fishing sandals, small bottle of drinking water and off I went...

Found the entry point!

 

 After about 30 minutes of trekking alone, I finally reached the waters...

Those overhung tress and bushes are perfect ambush spot for giant snakeheads.

Throughout my 2 hours stay and countless casts there, all I saw was a black giant snakehead about 2 feet long swimming close to the surface and this tortoise which frantically followed my lure back while I was retrieving it.

Tortoise was fascinated by the lure and stared at it for at least 15 seconds...

Then it swam away leisurely. 

Time's up, no fish, park ranger might show up and I left, going back the same way through the jungle from where I came from.

Went home, washed up my gear, showered myself, changed into fresh clothing, cuddled Boy, consoled Boy for the massive lost of his beloved black fur coat and went to Toh Tuck to meet Ling.

Look at her happy face...

We went to Anchorpoint for dinner where she ordered her favourite vongole again.



Come this Sunday, I will bring myself to another illegal spot in Mandai during daybreaking hours.
The last time I was there, I caught 6 decent sized temensis within 2 hours while the rest of the anglers there either caught zilch or just 1-2.

I'll bring along the exact same rod and reel, use the exact same lure as I did the previous time.

Must break this stupid dry spell......

Boy's Date with Amy

Took a day's leave to bring Boy for his pruning session. It's been quite awhile since I last seen Boy's eyes...

Told Amy to 'cut all' and proceeded to describe in detail to her while visualising Ling's Pepper in my head.

I tore myself away from the crying Boy at the groomer's and walked to a nearby McDonald at Serene Centre for breakfast and pass my time. This is where I normally hang out whenever Boy has a date with Amy. 3 hours is a long wait...

After breakfast, I walked around and saw a foot reflexology shop. Can't remembered when was the last time I had one and so, I walked in for a 30 minutes session.

Loitered around Coronation Plaza until I received an sms from Amy informing me that Boy is done.

Happily walked back to the groomer's and I couldn't even describe what I saw next...

 

 

Yes, the cut and style is exactly what Pepper had the previous time she went for grooming.

Yes, the black dog jumping with joy in my presence behaved like what Boy does everyday when I go home after work.

Yes, it's my precious BoyBoy!

But NO!

He does not resemble Pepper! Not even close...

Handsome black schnauzer transformed into a street mongrel...

It's ok... I like mongrels too...

So, with that thought in my head, I brought Boy home convinced that the huge difference is due to Boy's and Pepper different gender and fur color.

Just need some time to get used to his new look, that's all.
Or so, I thought...

And no...

Boy doesn't seem too bothered by his new look.

Or maybe he's just putting up a false front showing everyone that he still looks great despite the fact that he looks like an overgrown poodle now.

In other words, maybe the harsh reality hasn't hit him yet.

Wait till he sees himself in the huge mirror in my room...

I'm spending tonight at Ling's place.

Hope that Boy will not cry himself to sleep tonight...

He has his ego too...

Boy, if you're reading this somehow, I wanna tell you:

I will still feed you throughout your entire lifetime even though you look weird now.

I will still be your favourite human chew-toy even though you look hedious now.

I will still love you...

But of course, he already knew.
And is taking advantage of it......

I'm an Angler

This is going to be an extremely boring post for all... that is if anyone's following this blog at all.
Well, maybe except for Dizzy.
Here goes...

Fishing can be basically classified into 3 different categories...

1) Baiting

Done with dead or live baits usually chunks of kembong meat, sliced or full sotong, live catfish, dead or live prawns, sliced bananas, you get the idea.
Hook bait, cast, park rod, find shelter under shade, wait.
And wait and wait and wait...

2) Netting

Either spreading a long net in the waters or using cast net.
No baits.
Fishes will get entangled and trapped when they attempt to swim through the net.

3) Luring

Attaching plastic or wooden lures usually shaped like a bait fish with treble hooks attached to it's body at the end of the line.
'Blind casting' whereby casting is done randomly and repeatedly hoping for strikes.
'Spot casting' whereby polarised sunglasses is a must. Cast only when fish activity is sighted. Precision casting is needed.
Cast and reel back in. Repeat process.
When reeling in, the lure will produce sound, vibration and/or reflect sunlight creating flashes.
'Swims' like a tempting delicious injured bait fish.


I used to do baiting.
Until it started to get really boring...
Realised I spend more time sitting and waiting for bites rather than doing real fishing.
Now I only do baiting during offshore trips.

When I was introduced to freshwater luring by my friend, Ping, 2 years back, I was hooked...

Sold all my baiting gear and bought beginner luring ones.
Spent a couple of hours to master casting with a baitcasting reel.

Sold my beginner baitcasting reel/rod and upgraded to high-end ones.

Never looked back since...
Caught my fair share of record sized monsters with them.





These 2 monsters were caught near Punggol in brackish water condition.
That's Ah Ping with his jealous smile. lol


Many will be surprised at the size and ferocity of some freshwater predator species lurking in our reservoirs.
One fine example will be the Giant Snakehead featured in the pic below.

There was a period of time when I got so obsessed with them.
Ventured deep into jungles searching for ponds or rivers where they thrived.
Most of my gear were targeted at this particular species.

Still remembered one time when I sneaked into army's live firing area at Lim Chu Kang to hunt for these monsters while live firing exercise was taking place on a Saturday afternoon.
Can hear the loud booms and feel the ground trembling where mortars or tanks were having their target practice mere miles from where I was.

To be proficient at luring, many factors come into consideration not just the weather.
Water quality, type of vegetation in the water, time of day, angle of our shadow, position of the sun, temperature, type of riverbed, etc.

Now, I'm not saying that all favorable conditions must be met to ensure a day of bending rods and screaming reels.
What I'm saying is that different conditions require different technique, different type of lure, etc.



Not to mention the most important factor of all: LUCK.

Family

Attended Colin's 1 year young celebration last Saturday.

He's a cute one.

Ling's huge network of family.
Over 40 pax turned up and not counting those who didn't come.
Most of them I've seen before.

As usual, I didn't socialise much...

It's amazing how closely knitted her family is.

Unlike mine...

Marwan foresee that I will have a family of my own which will be totally different from the disastrous one my parents had.

Mine will be blissful with 2 sons.

I will be able to provide my family with much more comfortable and luxurious lives in my future before I turn 35.

We shall see...

All Dogs Go to Heaven... ALL...

If you think life as a human is tough, think again...

Why does some have it even tougher?

Like stray dogs/cats for example...

Scavenging dumps for food, shooed by humans, getting ran over by motorists, dirty drain for water, cold rain water for shower...

Still, they treasure life and make the best of what they can.

Once saw 3 puppy strays playing with a twig by the roadside at Sungei Kadut industrial area with their mom watching intently from nearby.

I stopped and patted them letting them lick my fingers.
Mom came over and I patted her too.
Wanted to bring all of them home and provide them with a warm cosy environment.

But, how much can I actually save?
Countless of them out there...

Once, I was having an early breakfast at Punggol before heading to Punggol Marina for an offshore fishing trip with Freyson and Ping.
Spotted a pack of strays gathering under the MRT track on a grass patch.
Walked near to them and a couple of them snared at me growling.
I continued to walk towards the pack's centre and started distributing 30 hotdogs making sure every single one of them gets at least a couple. Patted all of them and rubbed their heads and necks.

Angry dogs instantly transformed into docile furballs...
My friends were amazed.
They initially thought that I would be eaten alive by those murderous wild dogs...

They might seem aggressive to many...
But in actual fact, they are just trying to protect themselves by gathering in numbers.
Protecting themselves by baring their teeth and aggressively growling trying to conceal their fear which they actually are feeling most of the time.

My Boy is fortunate indeed...
Borned with everything.
Soft cosy bed in air-conditioned room every night, countless chew toys, shelter, weekly shower, regular meals...

And my unconditional love and protection...

But he does not know that many of his kind are actually leading a much difficult life and dying alone out there.

Ignorance is blissful indeed.....

Missing in Action

Kann commented no updates in my blog...

Pearl and BT questioned about my disappearance lately...

Well... I'm still alive and kicking...

There are many things, thoughts and feelings which are inappropriate for this blog.

Sometimes makes me have second thoughts about the purpose of starting this blog.

Let's just say that alot of realisation hit me lately...

Internal struggle is easing off bit by bit as i realised more...
And learnt to accept some...

Things are actually plain simple.
Only 2 answers.
Just have to choose 1...

Brain's not making it any easier.
Can't help myself from dissecting every available signal, signs and reactions...

Enough said.