Alrighty.

So in June of 2018, Leo and I visited the Barelang Fishing Pond in Batam, Indonesia. It was my first time at the catch and release pond and was Leo’s second (if I’m correct). Anyway, I’ve never really had the urge to visit it as fishing ponds generally do not appeal to me. Personally, I have always felt that fishing ponds lacked that touch-of-nature feel but since I had never been to the Barelang Pond and it did offer an experience that I could not get locally, I said why not.

Okay, so the following write-up would aim to detail what Leo and I opted for our 2D1N (no homo) trip at Batam and hopefully it’ll help some of you out if you’re intending to plan a trip there. I’ll try to include as much details as I can remember but feel free to contact me if you require any additional information and I’ll help you out as best I can.

LOGISTICS – The structure of the trip

Okay, for the logistics of this 2D1N trip, we kinda cheated and went for a trip package we found on Carousell ( https://sg.carousell.com/gouncle/ ). GoUncle is headed by Irfan and Kewi (our driver for the trip) and I personally recommend getting their assistance to manage the arrangement of your trip if you’re looking for a hassle-free option. The fishing package we went for cost us 100SGD each which included 2-way ferry tickets from Singapore-Batam-Singapore, twin sharing room for one night of stay, transportation and driver for both days (10 hours per day) and 3 hours fishing session at Barelang Pond including 1kg of bait.  We opted for this package as we felt that the price was very reasonable when we broke down the individual costs.

Ferry

There are a few service providers offering ferry services from Singapore to Batam and back. BatamFast and Majestic Fast are the more popular ones and they do occasionally have promotions for cheaper tickets. I’ve seen the prices of these ferries to go for 30+SGD to 50SGD for a 2-way trip. I believe you can buy the tickets from the respective retail branches on the day itself based on availability but I do recommend getting them in advance for a worry-free trip. GoUncle arranged the ferries for us and we only had to provide the timings we preferred and our passport details.

Transportation in Batam

As mentioned above, we got Kewi from GoUncle to support our transportation needs but if you’re looking to hire a private drivate, there are quite a few options available that are listed on Carousell (as you can tell by now, Carousell is one of my major source of service suppliers LOL). 45SGD – 50SGD per day are the typical costs offered by freelance drivers in Batam listed on Carousell.

Hotel

Okay, the hotel we stayed in was the Zest Hotel. Situated in a gated compound, the Zest Hotel was a relatively new hotel. The place was brightly lit and the rooms were clean and sufficiently equipped. No bar fridge but that was not a huge issue for just a one-night stay. I believe hotels in Batam can be relatively cheap and I am guesstimating that the twin sharing room we stayed in would amount to about 30+SGD per night.

35*2 + 50*2 + 30 = 200

Just based on an estimate, a typical cost for a 2D1N trip to Batam would cost around 200SGD for 2 people, having not included the fishing pond fees yet (advertised at around 50SGD/pax for 3hours on their website). Of course these are just based on estimates and if you’re savvy enough, I am sure you would be able to push the price further down but we took the lazy route which we figured was at a reasonable price point.

Day 0

Just going to put my check list of items here to aid y’all for the prep.

THINGS TO BRING

1. Passport

2. Cash (Brought 100SGD worth of IDR per day – this includes buffer money)

3. Handphone

4. Camera

5. Chargers

6. Clothes - 2 sets is sufficient

7. Cap

8. Sunblock

9. Fishing Rod

10. Fishing Reel

11. Fishing Leader

12. Fishing hooks

13. Cutter/Pliers

14. Lures, split shots (optional)

15. Toiletries – shaver and facial wash

16. Sunglasses (optional)

Day 1

We arrived at Harborfront Centre at around 0930hrs and our ferry was due to leave at 1100hrs. Yes, a bit of an overkill of buffer time but we just didn’t want any surprises to catch us off guard. Got our tickets from the BatamFast counter upon giving the order number of the tickets. GoUncle sent us the information a few days earlier having had pre-booked our ferry slots.

CHECKING IN OF RODS – Do you need a rod tube when going to Batam?

We checked in our fishing rods at the check-in luggage counter with our rods bundled up with masking tape. We did not need a rod tube and never needed one for previous trips either but if you would really like to be extra careful, you can go ahead and get a rod tube. After checking in your rods, clear immigration and collect your rods at the gates BEFORE boarding the ferry. The practice might be slightly different if you’re boarding from another ferry terminal but just make sure you physically see your rods on the ferry – ASK IF YOU’RE UNSURE.

The ferry transfer took around 45 minutes and because it was a weekday trip, the ferry was pretty empty so getting preferred seats wasn’t an issue. We got seats at window side where there were power points so we could lean the rods on them and charge our devices (I hogged the charging point throughout). 

Upon arrival at the Batam ferry terminal (Batam Center), we did the necessary custom checks and spotted Kewi our driver once we completed the checkpoint procedures. Kewi was holding up a board with my name so locating him was a breeze. THIS THE PART WHERE IT GETS SCARY. We handed Kewi the package fees where he went off to settle some administrative issues. Sure, at this price point it does seem a bit sketchy but I always believed that scams are just bad business because you can only do it once. To our relief, Kewi returned and we proceeded to his vehicle.

The vehicle was spacious as there was only the 2 of us but it could have easily catered to way more people. We learnt that Kewi had also fished the Bareland Pond before and our conversations revolved around fishing mostly.

Our first stop was Zest Hotel which was a short drive from the ferry terminal. Check-in was prompt and we surveyed our room before heading for lunch at Nagoya Hill. Seems like a really cliché decision but we went ahead to eat at A&W. The scene was really very different on a weekday with empty seats all around.

After lunch, it was game time and we headed over to Barelang Fishing Pond.

BARELANG FISHING POND – Groupers Galore

Groupers are the backbone fish that fuel Barelang’s demand. Sure, it is said that the ponds do have barramundis and giant trevallies as well but really the main highlight for the pond is really the huge groupers which are the staple fish that the pond survives on.

My goals were simple – land the biggest groupers that exists in the pond, test to see if any of the “regular” sized groupers are able to break my rod.

Our Setup

Jhan

ROD – Zen Zagan Offshore Shooter ZZ762S PE 2-4

REEL – Daiwa BG 4000

LINE – SeaKnight Braid 30lbs

LEADER – SureCatch Monofilament 60lbs

Leo

ROD – Gomoku Kaiten PE 1.5-3.0

REEL – ATC Valiant 4000

LINE – Suffix 832 20lbs

LEADER – DuPont 50lbs

Our travel there was relatively quick at around 30-45minutes if I recall correctly with a few spots in between which I would be keen to explore in the future.

Barelang Fishing Pond has 5 ponds in total. I believe 4 are for fishing and apparently there is a family pond which I am totally clueless about. We only fished 2 of the ponds labelled A & B in the image below.

From what our guide(s) told us, these 2 ponds hold some of the biggest groupers at the establishment with one weighing at 100kg at Pond A and another coming in at around 80kg at Pond B. These were my targets but I learnt that the rest of the mini beasts would be in the way of my pursuit.

We started off at Pond A. Our first few casts were not very far and was relatively slow in getting any bites at all. Leo was spooling up weeds when I spotted a small punk swimming close to the edge. I plopped my bait close to it and it swam away, only to return to inspect after a few twitches. I was warned by numerous people not to give any leeway to the groupers previously and had my drag locked tight when my first took off. “DON’T GIVE ANY CHANCE” echoed in my head as I held the spool and forced a tug-of-war with the grouper only to lose balance as my knot snapped under the pressure. It was only later that I figured that “actually can give chance one la”. My personal take: the pond is a man-made pond so I doubt they’ll spend extra money just to create holes for the groupers to escape to, the wooden platforms have nets that will deter the grouper from swimming under. So with these in mind, while it would make sense to pump away given a take, assuming you don’t cast anywhere near the pond pumps, it doesn’t really equate to entirely giving ZERO chance to the fish and betting on the strength of your setup/line/knots/etc. Chill a little, give the fish a little leeway and enjoy the fight. That aside, be somewhat prepared for the take as it might catch you off guard, if you’re afraid of a flying rod, cast further out to the middle of the pond so that you’ll have a good amount of slack line to anticipate the fight.

Anyway I got cut off and had to go re-tie my leader and when I was done, I realized Leo and our guide had disappeared to Pond B.

Pond B was relatively smaller and our day truly began there. We landed one grouper after another but none really stood out in terms of size but Leo did miss one which had a ton of fight and the guide concluded that it might have been the king of Pond B. As we ran down our bait supply promptly, we switched up to live catfish which cost around 50K IDR per kg. The live catfish seemed to work more efficiently but there was a small learning curve to setting the hook on them. As the live catfish were relatively longer baits, there was a tendency for the grouper to gulp half the bait and with the hook half buried in the bait’s head, a proper American bass fisherman style hookset was necessary to truly secure the catch.

We returned to Pond A after Leo’s big miss to try our luck for the biggest big daddy of Barelang. We hurled one live catfish after another to the middle of the pond. You could use a split shot here but I was too lazy and the bite rates were amazing anyway. 30 second tops for our bait to be chomped. The day concluded with us landing groupers in succession but we did not have the honour to be graced by the grand grouper.

Thoughts.
Barelang Pond was a pretty fun and interesting experience I would say. It really depends on what your aim is when you visit this pond but regardless of motivations, I would say this is a 100% catch pond if you’re baiting. I could understand why rod manufacturers would visit it to advertise the strength of their rods but I would debate on whether this is a true test of quality - a debate for another day. That said, I suggest anybody visiting to bring a few lures as well. It’s definitely a good place to test if a certain lure will be gulped down by a grouper but it is after all a pay pond so don’t start proclaiming to be the master of luring even if you land a bunch.

After our fishing session, we headed back to Zest for a quick shower before heading to Golden Prawn 933 for our dinner. The array of seafood there was amusing for us anglers and we ordered quite a spread for just the two of us. Price wise, we paid around 600K IDR in total for crabs, prawns(?), clams, fish and vegetable. Do request for the sambal belachan, it is worthy.

After dinner, it was back to Zest for some…Zzzzz-rest. < IS THAT WHAT ZEST MEANS? DID THEY DO THIS ON PURPOSE?

Day 2 

Well day 2 was a breeze.

We had the complimentary breakfast at our hotel which was passable before meeting up with our driver (who is always punctual, thumbs up).

We headed straight to Lautan Pancing which is a fishing shop that stocks quite a spread. The shop sells quite a range of brands which support a huge spectrum of fishing. Price wise, it is relatively matches the price in Singapore but if you require something urgent or if you’re looking for some hidden gems (saw a few rare reels there), then you might want to pay this shop a visit. I was tempted to buy a few big game stickbaits but restrained myself. Leo succumbed to some rare egi jigs.

The rest of the day was spent at Nagoya Hill where we watched a movie (at like 3.50SGD) and ate lunch (where the drinks cost more than the meal – go order the Indomie Goreng if you like a crazy burn) before heading over back to the area where we had dinner the night before to collect some Batam Layer Cakes that GoUncle had pre-ordered for us.

Time was running short and we headed to the ferry terminal and bid goodbye to our helpful driver cum guide (just to clarify, we had a different guide for our fishing session just in case I’ve confused you). Clearing immigration was even simpler at Batam side as there was no hard enforcement to check-in our fishing rods.

So yeah, the rest is pretty straight forward and I hope this write-up gave you a little insight on a trip to Barelang Fishing Pond. If there are any parts that were grossly unclear which you would like to clarify just DM me on Instagram of something. I am not in any way sponsored by GoUncle but I do feel that their services are worth sharing. In total I spent close to 200SGD in total for everything including meals, extra bait, movie, facial wash and layer cakes but if you’re on a tight budget I believe you could cut that value down with a one-day trip. Disclaimer, we went on a weekday so generally the package was cheaper.

Do let me know if this has helped you and hope you enjoy watching the videos on me YouTube channel

Tl;dr

Go batam, fish, eat, sleep, movie, lapis.

Tight lines and smiley face :D

Was a cold day out today. Heavy storms in the morning and a sprinkle towards the start of night. This week I started my job again through a re-contract, pretty slow week marked by nights of anime and soccer that fuels the delay of my other content creations. No, I don't see myself as a YouTuber or a "social media influencer" because well, I simply am not one but I really do enjoy creating content and giving a slice of my perspective to the world.

Traffic was slow and I had time to soak in thought. The route was familiar and the roads were comforting. We pulled up and I got off. This stop was a stop which held much memories for it sat in front of my alma mater.

The year was 1998 and a short skinny wee lad with curly hair subdued by hair cream was overjoyed at the ring of the bell. I remember a splash of faint boring tones on the walls of the old school compound flashed pass as I pranced down the stairs. It was unfortunate that it wasn't the end of day bell but recess was most welcome. I chomped quick to buy time to tourist. 

Quick thoughts. I barely recall the layout of the school because we were in the old campus for like only a year or something but mann did I remember some of the teachers that truly struck fear in me. There was that discipline mistress that literally tore a prefect's badge off his shirt one morning - damn did I remember that one. Not relevant but the dude grew up to be a doctor. Also there was my Chinese teacher who literally broke a ruler hitting a kid (that was his ruler by the way) for letting me copy his Chinese spelling or something. I remember that guy's name and face, he didn't flinch and I just tore up in tears when it was my turn for punishment. I WAS DESPERATE OKAY? I'm pretty sure I'm the only kid in that school EVER to have gotten a big fat ZERO on his report book for mother tongue at the end of the year - I was so afraid I had like a fever before every Chinese exam which lasted like a month to the point the teacher just handed me the exam paper when I returned to complete it as homework. I KID YOU NOT. But the teachers were just doing their jobs and I am truly grateful for every single one of them for every part they played - big props for my Primary 5 and 6 form teacher for making me do this 1000 grammar MCQ questions thing and also for having faith in every single one of us, god bless your soul. OK, back to the story.

I threaded carefully into enemy territory marked by benches of little girls with bean bags called stones overseeing the worn out markings of a hopscotch area, unaware that it was the last time I'd dare walk down that path. I can't recall if I was alone or with my best friend that I split food with but I remember the previous times things usually played out the same way. I'd go there and watch and talk to the kids who had brought or bought interesting trinkets from the book shop whilst the hopscotch players hopped with the tiny feet in the background - never understood the appeal of the game. 

Today was different.

A girl with twin braids and big glasses hiding her stupid face watched intently as I approach. Her head turned to the end of the canteen as her filthy  finger rose towards me. I didn't fully comprehend at that moment what was about to unfold but her friends around her seemed coherent in thought. As she stared back into my direction with eyes of power like an anime antagonist about to unfold her final coup de grace, the shadow of a beast engulfed the scene.

She and I sat in the same group of tables in class together with ruler boy and I was well acquainted with her tyranny. Her clique of witches would shoot words at the outnumbered boys in the group and we would fire back with our childish blabber. Talk is talk and such was life when I was 7. I remember her to be a bright kid, one with a pretty good command of words (at that time) and one who was slightly scheming with her lies and play acting. The boys always got into trouble but I continued giving what was received - I was a good boy, but angels live in heaven (or hell, it depends).

I froze as this gorilla of a man with hands big enough to squish my tiny head berated me with accusations of bully. Body trembling and tears flowing, today I learnt what it meant to feel helpless in fear. His voice continued as the others stood in silence. My visuals blurred as I watched and my ears deafened by the sound of my own crying. I can't fully recall what happened after but I believe it was a mixture of my sister who was in a senior class consoling me with a teacher and another teacher talking to the piece of shit monster.

In the days that follow, our form teacher would proceed to swap our seating arrangements and educate the class on not asking our parents to intimidate our classmates. So apparently this potato of a human being had gone home mouthing about how I was a big bully and this *insert Hokkien vulgar noun* decided it would be a good idea to intimidate a 7 year old based on the words of his devil child. //Quick insert: LOL, I remembered how my form teacher called out my name (by mistake I think) and told me not to ask my father to head down to school to scold my classmates and I literally ctrl+c ctrl+v the words and my father called the school the next day to clarify - that was hilarious (hmmm.... maybe I was the scheming one. :| ).//

Here, is where it gets extra scary. So I did a quick search on Facebook and found this girl's profile EASILY. Bouncing off social media handles, I literally know where she works, how her father looks like now, which area she'll be residing at and how high her husband's receding hairline is. While I thought it was scary for a big pile of turd to intimidate a helpless child (thank god for heightened school security these days), now I find it more terrifying that with today's technology, that child if vengeful, could potentially be wayyy more problematic.

Sure, thinking about this does bring back some terrible memories and a small bit of anger is kinda raging as I type but no, they're not really worth the vengeance - I'm saving that for the fishes that I lost. I'll at most hope that the unaesthetic tattoos on their bodies get infected or like hope they get bitten by mosquitoes every night. The latter seems worse.

I'm not really sure if there's a morale to the above but I guess not being a huge dick would be a good start, you never know when your past will catch up to you and bite you in the butt and if you decide to be a huge dick, you had better be off the grid. 

I had actually planned to go edit a video that I have been putting off for ages but a flashback to this really got me riled up. 

Wonder if they still remember me though.

What a cold day out today.