Monday, April 18, 2016

Things I learnt from fishing


People have always asked me why I enjoy fishing so much (especially since I always come home empty-handed) and I have always just brushed their questions away with phrases like "it allows me to think about life" or "I don't want to socialize with people" (which is true because sometimes people can be a real pain to deal with. Like there was that one time, Hitler). Honestly, I don't quite know what exactly I like about fishing. But this post has got nothing to do with why I enjoy fishing it might ,however, shed some light for myself once I'm done.

Yes, I know, after looking at the titles in bold below some of you are probably going "awwww crap. This post is going to be sooooo dull and full of fish guts (kinda like goodyfeed)" AND YES, you are right. :|

Perspective

I've only picked up fishing again in the past few years and had to educate myself on many things which I didn't know back when I was younger. Rods, reels, lures, bait and all their subcategories had me realized that what I had initially thought I knew about fishing was but an impression of an otherwise complex identity that is the sport. It made me realize that to really appreciate something, you have to understand it in a deeper aspect. Thanks to online educators including posts on blogs, forums and YouTube videos, I started to take notice of the setups the people around me were using. Shimano, Daiwa, Penn, Abu were now a more common sight than before and in all its fanciness, are fish that are myopic to brands. In my new journey, I encountered rods so long they seemed to reach for the skies and could cast distances bounds beyond mine. In this, I understood that size does matter (ifyouknowwhatImean) but soon realized too that size was like a heritage and that life in its fairness and just will reward even the shortest of rods the right opportunities with the right attitude (or bait or lure or casting distance or retrieval speed etc.) but of course, the bigger fish are in the deeper waters and sometimes you need to cast far to get the rewards you desire. 

Hope

This one is easy and I'm sure most anglers could relate. Every fishing trip is the beginning of a hopeful journey and every cast is an attempt at success. Of course, sometimes life gets frustrating when you are unable to get the results you want even after you've tried until you ran out of fight(or bait) but as long as you persist and keep that hope alive (along with the right perspective....or bait), you will some day be able to attain your dreams (unless you're one of those weirdos who cast briefs into the sea in an attempt to catch mermaids).

Patience

Yeah yeah, all you smartasses would be thinking that waiting for fish requires a whole bunch of patience and yes you're right about that. However, in fishing, true patience is learnt not by waiting for fish, but by learning to tie rigs with really small hooks (especially when you have fat fingers). So if you really want to learn how to be patient, go tie some rigs with exceptionally small hooks (it gets easier with practice though).

Less is more

When I started out tying my own rigs, I got excited and bought a whole bunch of hooks, swivels and weird tackle I didn't know how to use. After tying a bunch of rigs which could pass off steampunk necklaces, I realized that my ways were too obscene. I had too much line getting entangled with all these contraception to the point that fish were probably snapchatting with these new man-made reefs. With simpler rigs consisting of mostly line and knots, there was better presentation of bait which converted to more fishes. I would compare this closely to women who tend to put too much make-up on. Ain't gonna catch no fishes that way ma'am.

Timing

This has got to be one of the most important things I learnt. Fishing is fundamentally based on timing. Tides, first light, last light, casting action, retrieve rate. Everything is about timing. A fish may be at a spot waiting to take your bait or lure and a fraction of a second off and its fate changes. Such is the same in life. Everything is about timing and time in itself is the most precious of commodity. A second could be the difference between first and second and a snooze could be a lecture missed. A mastery of timing and time itself would no doubt put one in a most advantageous position. 


Hmmmm.... so why do I love fishing? It might be my way of connecting with nature and the bigger, greater more amazing world that we are in, it could be just an excuse to escape civilization (well not quite) or maybe its because there are so many fun little trinkets to fiddle with. A combination of everything leads to the now and I guess maybe I enjoy fishing not because of one reason, but because of a combination of discoveries and joys which comes with it. Or maybe I just like BBQ fish. mehh.

If you like this post and my #deep thoughts, drop me a comment. If you hate it, drop me two. 

smiley face :)

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Labrador Park- The Best Lepak SW Fishing Spot



Optimism, positivity and hope consumes all anglers at the start of every fishing trip. Could today be the day they catch that one fish they could finally show the haters who never comprehended the joy that is derived from the art form? WELL NO. Today was not that day for me. But here's my day at Labrador Park nonetheless.



If anybody ever asked me which is my favorite place to fish, it definitely wouldn't be Labrador Park. Labrador Park is a known sangkut (snag) haven in the fishing communities of Singapore. It is common ritual for novice anglers such as myself to pay tribute to the sea surrounding the park by means of periodic sacrifice of lead weights. Of course, there are spots and techniques that would minimize such nonsensical customs. Apart from being a hard place to fish (because you know, rocks are hard), Labrador Park seems to have quieten down on front page worthy catch reports. Another downside is that you gotta cast pretty far out to get anything decent as the water closer to the shore at the "Lepak Spot" is rather shallow. The area nearer to the closed jetty seems to have deeper waters due to some sort of drop off but that area truly is where the sangkut deity hangs out. That said, let's move on to the good stuff.

The first time I ever went fishing was at the age of 7 or 8 when I got my first fishing rod. After much blatant "hinting", my parents went and got me one of those Surecatch telescopic rod and reel set they used to sell in NTUCs all over the island. I remember a time when wide array of tackles and lines were shelved at the NTUCs. The only NTUC which I know that still stocks a few fishing goodies is the one at Jurong Point. Okay back to the story, so I got my rod and my family went on a family outing to Labrador Park to fish. At that time, nobody in my family had fished before. I managed to tie up a poorly knotted rig the night before which I still cringe a little thinking about how terrible it was. I literally just tied a swivel to my main line and put a hook and weight at the end of the swivel (SHUDDUP, I WAS CLUELESS, I DID NOT HAVE THE INTERNET THEN). Anyway long story short, I was a terrible angler then, and still am. I'd get points for consistency but I'm pretty sure my rig tying skills have improved after much practice. 

Back to Labrador Park.At that time, the jetty was still opened to the public and I remember a whole bunch of todaks or half beaks being caught by an angler there during my first trip. A faint recollection of a lady jigging with a sabiki rig also comes to mind. The jetty has since closed due to conservation efforts of the reefs there and long gone are the days of monster catches at Labrador Park. 



Labrador Park has its own MRT station and a 7-minute walk from the broadwalk would take you a sheltered events area where weddings and functions would occasionally be held at. This spot, makes Labrador Park worth the effort to head to. The shelter is huge and would house a number of anglers during the weekends and when it rains (leave your rod out and take shelter :3), it has amenities close by which includes toilets and a vending machine, and is close to a car park which is a terrific landmark for one to link up with fast food delivery personnel. It is also at this spot where getting snags are less frequent relative to fishing at the areas near the closed jetty. Labrador Park is still famed for eging though. The first time I saw a live mollusk caught was at Labrador Park. A Caucasian man was luring with a soft prawn-shaped lure that had treble hooks when he caught a nice little cuttlefish (pictured below). 



So I reached Labrador Park at around 1pm with prawns bought from NTUC to test my new surf cast rod, the XABA 14feet rod (will do a review of the rod soon). After a few test casts, I rigged up a clip down pulley rig, put half a prawn on and cast away. There were a few nibbles here and there and also an encounter with a 1.5 feet todak on one of the retrieves but the day was basically a dud. There were a few other fishos during my time there and none of us got anything. A Malay man struck a conversation with me in the national language and he talked about his fishing experiences and how he used to catch stingrays at the jetty that were so huge he had to give away most of it to the other anglers. My hunt for the elusive ray continues. 




The ramp. Don't climb over or try to walk down to the rocks to collect anything you dropped as the rocks are slippery. Tried once and went home with bloody hands. Never again.


The gloomy empty-handed walk back. NEXT TIME MAYBE.


TL;DR: Labrador Park is a snag paradise with little fish(?) but is a really comfortable place to fish. 
P.S. Bring a rod stand.


Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Vivid Light Game Rod 4 feet 6


First up on the fishing equipment I own is the Vivid Light Game Rod.

I bought this a few years back when I started to get more interested in fishing and was looking for a single piece rod which had a bit of versatility. I got mine from Joe's Tackles at Beach Road for around 50SGD if I recall correctly. I didn't really know what I wanted then but I knew I wanted a single piece rod that could cast a relatively smaller lure. The Vivid Light Game Rod was recommended to me and man was it love at first sight. Little did I knew then that this rod would eventually become my most favorite of rods.

This Vivid boasts a nice matte black blank with yellow guide wraps. An incident with a door crushed the tip top for mine but an easy replacement was all that was needed. The other guides are non-Fuji but they do resemble the Fuji K Series guides. Vivid has since released a butt-joint rod around 6 feet 3 in both baitcasting and spinning variations named Crystal Lake. Vivid also has a similarly named Vivid Light Game Rod of around 5 feet which is assembled with Fuji K guides and a Fuji reel seat. There is no lure weight or casting weight labelled on the 4'6" Vivid but after some trial and error, I figured a lure of around 15 grams seemed to attain a pretty decent casting distance. Unfortunately, Vivid doesn't seem to have a website which struck me as a surprise as I personally felt their rods were beautiful (correct me if I'm wrong about not having a website).


I've not tested the 5 feet Vivid Light Game Rod but was an immediate fan after my 4'6" purchase. A friend of mine got the Crystal Lake and MANNNNNN was I tempted to get another Vivid. My wallet coaxed me otherwise. We were Vivid Bros for awhile until he moved on to a Rapala Snow. :(


My first most memorable catch on the Vivid was a patin (or an iridescent shark for all you fancy-speaking folk) at Nanyang Lake in NTU during the NTU Anglers' Club Basic Fishing Carnival which came in at about 2+Kg. Caught it on leftover marshmallow which I found in my cupboard. Lucky catch in my opinion but a fish is a fish. At that time, I was using a yellow Pioneer Fire Reel (FR-2000) and whatever line that came with it which I bought from Cash Converters for about 13SGD. I have since gave away the reel as it gathered a little rust from lousy post-fishing maintenance and have bought a similarly theme-colored Awa-Shima Morbid 2000 reel (spooled with matching yellow 15lbs fireline :3). The rod has since seen many other fish such as swachiam(Sand whitings), ikan selar (yellow tail scad), snakeheads, seabass, mangrove jacks, soap fish, catfish and some other little things including a fireworm(Nasty little things). Interestingly though, I bought the rod with the intention to lure but have yet to land any fish on lures with it (probably because I'm a lousy lurer).

Anyway, here are more pictures of the Vivid 4'6" and its beauty.









Monday, April 11, 2016

A New Hope


Hi there! :D

If you're reading this means you've reached the very first post of this blog. So Kudos to you.
The purpose of this blog is to document the author's life, his experiences and thoughts on various subjects that may or may not be in his scope of expertise. 

The author is an incredibly dashing young man (for now) who wishes to document every thing he has learnt and will learn in the off chance that somebody somewhere would find such knowledge of use. Okay, what else is there to write for a test post anyway? 

Time for a nap.
CIAO.
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