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.
0 comments:
Post a Comment