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 :)

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