As the sun blazed down mercilessly, 2 childish men trudged to the new hunting ground lugging their over-sized tackle boxes on their shoulders with their rods in hand. The two wanderers were stepping into foreign domain hoping that lady luck would bless their afternoon with fruitful sustenance. Each of them had different preferences as compared to the other. The less quirky looking of the two preferred rubbery weapons that enticed and deceived whilst his lazy butt counterpart (me) relished in the idea of smelly carcasses that were a delicacy to the prey. (wrote this at 4.30am so pardon the attempt at a dramatic hook) <<seewhatIdidthere? :D

Okay so my friend Gerald and I went down to Pasir Ris yesterday afternoon (23 May 2016) for a short fishing session. We surveyed the main pond upon arrival and decided to try the Pro Pond instead due to the crowd that was present probably because of the Vesak Day off in-lieu. The weather was crazy hot and the sun was blazing. It was our first time heading to the Pro Pond and we didn't quite know where and how to go about with the transactions for the Pro Pond but it wasn't rocket science.

The Pro Pond area was really quite minute as compared to the main pond. While it meant that there was less area for anglers to cover, it did not necessarily mean that the fish per area would definitely be greater than that of the main pond but as anglers, we all share the same optimistic view at the start of every fishing trip.

The setup I had that day was a 6 and a half feet Ofmer rod with guides that I self-refurbished a while back paired with the ATC Valiant 3000. I had initially wanted to try the feel of casting with the setup but the pond wasn't ideal in my personal opinion due to its rather small area.

Upon reaching our spot, we promptly set our gear up hoping to make our money's worth. I had on a 2-hook apollo rig with dead prawn bait and Gerald was going to test out the Sx-Soft Vib by Storm. Unfamiliar with the terrain and water depth, I tossed out my rig and was surprised to hit the bottom of the pond fast. Whilst reeling in the line slack, I felt a huge thud and my line grew heavy. At this point, I thought I had snagged onto the bottom of the pond but was immediately surprised as the line pulled away from me. Mind you, it was my first cast (more of a toss and less of a cast actually) and I had a fish on the other end of my line. Having had not set the drag properly before the "cast" the line wasn't pulling out and I was literally muscling the fish in with full drag hoping my lapse would not be costly. And in seconds, I could see color. There was no mistaking the distinct color and shape of the KBL. As I smiled on the lucky first cast, the barramundi smiled back, wiggling its head and spitting my hook out. A feeling of loss mixed with motivated hope echoed through the air (either that or it was just the heat wave).

About 20 minutes into the session, Gerald hooked on to a KBL which was landed promptly and about an hour later a mangrove jack took my bait. The rest of the day was pretty dull for us as we watched other anglers outfish us. The method which seemed to work the best for them seemed to be a combination of luring and baiting. Prawn spinning as most would call it is the method of fishing with a prawn (could be dead or live) hooked at the end of the line with only a split shot around slightly more than a feet from the hook (correct me if i'm wrong). The method is similar to luring in that it covers much ground but the main aim is to primarily put the bait in front of the fish and in the process entice a bite. If you're heading down to the Pro Pond anytime soon, try this method and cast along the area where they quarantine the fishes meant to be released. I've seen this method worked so many times at different locations but have yet to try it because I am one of those anglers that hope to find the best bait and willing to forgo technique. My dream really is to be a ..... Master Baiter.

ANYWAY, we took the fish to a Thai tze char stall and got them to cook the fish for us. The place is located at Sheng Siong near Jalan Bahar (google map or comment if you need more info). The KBL was steamed with soy sauce and the MJ was deep fried with mango salad. Being the glutton that I was, I ordered an additional fried Thai dong fen and I must say it was pretty darn brilliant. 2 men 2 fish, all in all it was a pretty decent day (though not very economical haha!) but any day fishing is a great day spent.

Just a quick update, I'm starting a Youtube channel which would include a bunch of other stuff aside from fishing (but mostly fishing). Do subscribe if you like the content and leave me a comment or contact me if you'd like to reach out to me for anything. That's all for now, till next time. Tight lines and smiley face :D

p.s. I wrote this at like 4am so pardon me if the sequence is rather sporadic. 

OH right, I'm not sure about this and would like to clarify, is the use of nets allowed for the landing  of fish at the Pro Pond?

UPDATE: Okay, so I learnt no nets are allowed at this pond and also only single hook rigs are to be used here. Broke 2 rules on my first trip. I'm such a rebel :3