The group behind the Singapore Beach Fishing Competition, the Singapore Surf Cast Club or SSCC for short also owns a highly active Facebook group linked here and the group was the main reason why I bought my first surf casting set (which I am trying very hard to sell on Carousell hahaha). With members in the SSCC page always updating on catch reports which occasionally include monster-sized fish, it was just a matter of time before I owned my own surf casting setup.

Reaching the venue at around 0730hrs, I was greeted with the coastline fenced up with surf rods. This was my first time attending a surf casting fishing competition and man was I psyched just by the number of rods lined up. Many groups of anglers had stayed overnight at the venue to secure spots for the event. I promptly made my way to the registration area and collected my goody bag which included a tee shirt and a Shimano cap which was part of an early bird registration giveaway. Initially, I was excited when I read that SSCC managed to secure Shimano as one of the sponsors for the event and thought they might give away maybe a few goodies like maybe some fishing lines or maybe a pair of pliers like for their open house event but I was slightly disappointed when I could not find any Stella reels in the goody bag (hahahah, just kidding la, the product brochure definitely made better reading material as compared to Twilight). The organizers for the event also briefed me roughly on the procedures for the day which I felt was definitely a good touch.

With the sun slowly rising, I made my way to my eventual fishing spot. The walk to find an opening between the line of rods was definitely a better atmosphere as compared to when at a pay pond. People greeted with smiles as compared to the usual death stare I have faced at pay ponds as though a lousy angler like me would even manage to "steal" a fish (how is that even possible though haha). Anyway, I managed to find a spot next to the guys from Team DFG or Deckhand Fishwhisperer Gonewild. Kaya buns were the plan for meals for the day and I consumed 2 for breakfast.

At 9am, the sirens blazed and the surf casters took turns casting their lines of hope. With my amateur casting technique, I managed an average cast which was an insult to my 14 foot rod. My only concern was really to not cross anybody's lines but I think I did it all the same (sorry guys haha). The day went on with retrievals and recasts with little to catch which is of the norm for Singapore waters generally.

The highlight of the day was definitely the shouts that blared through the air whenever anybody managed to get a bite. "MARSHAL! MARSHAL~~!!" shouted groups of anglers as they tried to get the attention of the event marshals that had to be present during the removal of the hooks for the fish to be counted. It was definitely an amusing occurrence and everybody would actually feel joy for the person who has landed the fish. Midway through the competition with little bites from my area, an angler 2 rods beside mine landed a pretty nice grouper on his fabulously red rod. I took a video of the catch just to show you guys what I'm talking about.

Going to such an event alone is never a good idea because you can't just leave your rod there to go pee or to get some sustenance and surf rods are not like luring rods which you can just carry along to the toilets. Luckily for me though, I have a big bladder and my new friend Khai from DFG. He introduced himself to me and I tried my best to converse in my unpolished bahasa ( I know now that "umur" means age. I learn something new everyday. LOL). Later that day, I would receive some kindness from the group in the form of Mee Goreng which was definitely a class higher than kaya bread. It wasn't the first time I received kindness in the form of food from surf anglers with the previous time from a regular angler at Labrador Park during my first overnight solo session there a while ago.

The rest of the day was pretty mundane at my side and I did not manage to catch that stingray which I had initially hoped my sand whitings would attract. Somebody did manage to land a 5kg stingray though which was also the heaviest catch for the day.

Overall, the event was well-organized and with the event area being so huge, it must have been a tiring event to run. Thank you SSCC team for making the competition a success and I'll definitely look forward to more surf casting competiton once I learn how to do a pendulum cast (kidding la, don't cross line I happy liao).

Tight lines and smiley face :)

Like me at : https://www.facebook.com/JhanDaBomb/
Follow me : https://www.instagram.com/jenius90210/
Tweet me : https://twitter.com/jhan90210
Buy my shit: https://sg.carousell.com/jhan.liau/
Contact me : jhanliau@gmail.com

Sand Whiting, Ikan Bolos, Ikan Pasir Pasir, Silver Silago, Swachiam/ Suachiam. This fish comes in many names and has been herded as one of the top baits to use when fishing for stingrays. I personally have not caught a stingray but seeing that SSCC 2016 is just a few days away, I decided to reload my ammo and stock up on the ammunition to be used on game day.

9am and the sun was mildly taunting my skin at West Coast Park. I figured since I was going to video the hunt, I might as well do up an article documenting my methods used to catch those slippery little things. So here goes.

Location

The sand whiting is a group of whitings that live in the sand, hence the name. In order to achieve a fruitful hunt, fish for sand whiting in waters with sandy bottom. In my experience, most beaches should be stocked full of them and it's not always necessary to cast far to locate the whitings. One example where sand whitings would be almost impossible to be caught is places with rocky bottom like at the viewing decks at Labrador Park. Rocks are not big sand. NO.

Tackle

Almost any light setup would suffice for catching of sand whiting. However, with a majority of sand whiting being  rather small in Singapore, I would recommend a more sensitive setup to detect bites more effectively. I am currently using a Majorcraft First Cast UL rod paired with a size 500 Shimano Nasci reel and its terrific for the job (no, I did not buy the rod just to catch sand whiting). Initially, my 4'6" Vivid Light Game Rod was my choice for sand whiting hunting but with the rod being less sensitive, I missed many fast takers and only managed to land whitings that set the hooks on themselves.

Rig

To catch small-mouthed bait fish, the most important aspect is definitely the rig. Use rigs with extremely minute hooks in order to fish effectively. My go-to rig is definitely a 2-hook apollo rig.

For the hook size, I can't recall the actual size which I use but the width of the hook gape should be around 3mm as the whiting mouths are ridiculously small. I'm currently using some cheap 10lbs monofilament line but I'm pretty sure pushing the diameter down to around 4lbs should be no problem as these sand whitings are pretty small usually. The true test is tying knots on those puny hooks and a smaller diameter for your rig line will definitely decrease the probability of slippage of the snell knot.

Bait

Cut prawn meat for bait is definitely one of my favourites but I have read of people who have found success with sea worms too. When baiting your hooks, always expose the tip of the hook so that the chances of snagging in the lips of the whiting increases. Do not use too much bait as these creatures have a knack for ripping bait off hook.

Technique

The idea of whiting hunting is fairly simple. This is my ritual for hunting sand whitings. First, I would bait up my rig and cast far in a certain direction. Next, wait for the rig to hit the bottom where all the whitings are. If after 10 seconds there are no bites, retrieve your line slowly by dragging it along the sandy bed. Keep repeating these procedures until you finally get a bite. Once you know where the whitings are, keep at it and casting in the same direction and distance until the bites become slow then repeat again from the top. Setting the hook on sand whitings requires a nimble touch. When doing the ritual, if there is a series of struggles just jerk your rod in a swift fashion like you would a micro lure to avoid pulling the entire hook out of the fish's mouth.

Just to be clear here, I do not own Pokemon GO, and with good reasons too. Forgive me, I do not even play the game that has taken over the world overnight. However, being in this day and age, there is no escape from technology and the amount of information on the subject being fed to me daily has given me a rather decent understanding on how the madness works. If it were up to me though, I'd make a few changes which might really push people to the edge, physically and mentally and also use the madness for a few personal gains.

The following are a few suggestions which may or may not have already been part of the ultimate plan behind Pokemon GO but they're definitely things which could be explored.

IDEA NUMBER 001 - NPC

From what I've gathered from my Facebook newsfeed and also a couple of my zombified friends, the game basically revolves around the idea of completing a collection of Pokemons. It astounds me that such a purposeless task could actually gain so much hype. Sure, there are gyms and battles but the main hook is the collection element.

NPC is an acronym for non-playing characters. There are a bunch of these in the original Nintendo series of the game which adds purpose and challenge to the game. For example, there were certain items or Pokemons which could only be acquired by completing tasks set by these NPCs. If I owned Pokemon GO, what I'd do is implement an NPC concept which would require players to complete certain tasks before being able to acquire certain items to capture certain Pokemons. Now being the Jenius I am, I'd take this further and monetize the concept. If you've played the original Red/Blue/Yellow version of the game (I'm pretty sure they have these in order versions too), you'd be familiar with a few items such as Silph Scope or the Pokeflute. These were items which enabled the player to capture certain Pokemons. Couple this with merchants and you'd be able to "distribute" these virtual items after the players made a real-life purchase. QR codes on receipts would occasionally contain items which players need.

I'd attack you too if you played some nonsense tune while I am sleeping.

IDEA NUMBER 002 - REALISTIC GAMEPLAY

As an avid angler, I am rather insulted that Magikarps are so easily caught in the game (so I've heard). I've seen images of Magikarps being caught in shopping malls, roadsides and even bedrooms which begs the question if the creators of Pokemon GO even bothered playing the original series of the game. Old rod, good rod and super rod were needed in the past to capture most water-based Pokemon (hence idea number 001). Of course, making all Pokemon GO players purchase an actual fishing rod to capture a virtual beast is definitely pushing it a little too far even though I am pretty sure the fanatics would get one if they deemed it necessary.

How about trying something simple yet challenging enough which makes actual sense. Like say, put Caterpies only at gardens and parks, Sandshrews in sand pits and sandy beaches, Tangelas at that noodles stall that won the Michellin Star and of course Gengars only at cemeteries. Maybe that last one is going slightly overboard but man would that be fun to hear about. Haw Par Villa at least for the ghost-type Pokemon?

IDEA NUMBER 003 - TEAM ROCKET

What is Pokemon without Team Rocket?

The antagonist of the whole franchise is definitely Team Freaking Rocket but there has been no mention about it currently. Niantics would probably implement something related to the Rocket Gang later on but if it were up to me, this is how i'll implement it. Sure, I could do the whole NPC thing with Team Rocket and it'll definitely be safe gaming for everyone but this is where the evil Jenius in me takes over.

Firstly, I'd make Team Rocket consist of actual human players. With the team of villains normally out to steal items and Pokemons, they'd be given a different set of tasks from actual players. They'd have their own leader board based on stolen Pokemons. Using the same GPS location technology, they'd just have to be in the same vicinity as regular Pokemon GO players to swipe Pokemons off of other players. Of course, this would breed suspicion, chaos and even anger and it feels a little like Joker from the Dark Knight in my opinion but there are ways to manipulate populations using this gameplay. With the emergence of my version of Team Rocket in the game, there would generally be a common hate for said group, which would ultimately bind Mystic, Instinct and Valor ( Ozymandias idea here). Hence, the group has to be picked with intent and not just a random selection of players. For example, give all Trump supporters to have the ability to be Team Rocket and then watch the madness ensue.

Re-reading that last paragraph, let's just keep Team Rocket as NPC characters. Things could get pretty ugly.

IDEA NUMBER 004 - POPULATION CONTROL

Crazy. Crazy people everywhere. Well, if I were a real evil Jenius who just wants to watch the world burn, what I'd do is put a bunch of Pokestops with amazing catch rates and whatnots at the locations where my enemies sleep. I'll release rare Pokemons only at the wee hours in the morning so that my enemies would definitely not have a good night's rest. Pokemon GO affects not just those who play it but everybody around as well. Imagine if I do this for months on end with new modules and new Pokemons every couple of weeks. Sure, those who play the game would definitely feel fortunate but everybody else who is just trying to get some shuteye would definitely feel the impact. Hougang has been in the news in recent years mainly for political reasons but to use Pokemon to torment its residents would definitely be considered Farfetch'd. OR IS IT? JENG JENG JENG!

IDEA NUMBER 005 - MAPPING THE WORLD

Having had worked with GPS modules, digital accelerometers, digital gyroscopes and digital compasses during my internship, I am rather impressed at the extent that these technologies are being used in the gameplay of Pokemon GO. NERD.

Recently, I came across a video on how the brains behind Niantics and Pokemon GO came to build the game we have today. The gist of the story is in the video below.

With such technology and a whole bunch of players everywhere, it is possible to harness the "manpower" to map the entire globe. And no, I don't mean in a Google Maps kind of way, I mean in a all-seeing eye kind of way like that echolocation super computer technology Batman used in The Dark Knight to locate the Joker. Imagine each and every player (and there's really quite a number of them) going to a location which the program points them to and then said player has to "find" a Pokemon in a certain direction and "captures" the Pokemon. With a huge enough database, Niantics pretty much has an organic pool of cameras mapping the world for them. In the wrong hand, say Team Rocket, this technology could be used for a whole bunch of infiltration-type missions. I'm sure a few of you were bragging about how you caught a dozen Pokemon at home but what if that's what they wanted you to do? 

You see, Google Maps can only go so far with images of the external of buildings and the environment but now they've a technology that could truly map almost every inch of the world and the best part is, they don't even have to do the work themselves. The government probably knows all of these prior to the launch in Singapore which was why the Singapore Armed Forces were so quick to reinforce their no camera usage in certain zones in army camps.

So yeah, that's about it from me for this post. I'd probably never play the game but for all of you out there, be the very best that no one ever was. PSY-YAI-YAI-YA-YAI-NING OUT!

Read more at : http://jhandabomb.blogspot.sg/

Like me at : https://www.facebook.com/JhanDaBomb/

Follow me : https://www.instagram.com/jenius90210/

Tweet me : https://twitter.com/jhan90210

Buy my shit: https://sg.carousell.com/jhan.liau/

Contact me : jhanliau@gmail.com

To Soulmix, thank you for supporting SASAS 2016 and here's to a great year ahead.

Volume 2 please? 

Pokemon GO has recently been available in Singapore but NO, I'm not giving up any valuable fishing time for it. I'd choose Peacock over Pika any day. I was here at Pandan Reservoir a few days back and had a day of only misses and decided to come back to EXEGUTE my revenge.  Unfortunately my batteries were giving me problems and I didn't manage to get the footage of the first 2 fish I landed. None of the fish landed were comparable to the one I missed that day though. I'll definitely be back.