Jenius

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.

Just a short update on a recent trip back to Jurong Lake Park first. Went to my usual spot earlier this week for some last light action before heading to an event back in school. The water was unusually clear for the lake but water levels seemed awkwardly low too. Managed to land a couple of juveniles that day and it was great fun. It was actually the first time I managed to spot the peacock basses in this part of the lake because water conditions are usually quite bad. Towards the end of the session I was able to do some spot fishing which was definitely a much better experience compared to my usual blind casting.

For the past few weeks, I've been fishing slightly more at my usual haunts and have met quite a number of characters along the way. It's really quite intriguing how a hobby or passion that has a stigma of being boring has allowed me such opportunities to interact with these strangers. We do not exchange names but the amount of insights they share definitely tells more about who they are than their names ever could.

A man in his early forties shouts to me from afar like we have known each other for years as he leads his family to the beach. He tells me about my terrible choice of fishing location and shares with me his preferred spot. Stories of fish he has caught keeps my attention for awhile before he excuses himself to have lunch with his family. It's been years since they last came here as his daughters reminisced the years that prelude. One of them follows him with a small net in hand as he tosses a pancake with his casting net.

Wrinkles and sun-aged skin covered this next one. A different location on a different day. Trips out to sea and working at ports exposed this man of experience to situations I was not familiar with. A man who has stopped fishing for years as age has crept close but yet he labors on as society deems it so. I realized that for all I know, there is much that I still do not know and he has no trouble reminding me of the fact so tactlessly. 

With this next man, our conversation begins with fishing and ends with a reminder of different systems that govern the world . His dog stares blankly into the distance as he asks about the pliers which I had left in the open. Nobody likes being on the wrong side of the law but the inflexibility annoys him as he explains his woes. An avid traveler who has seen more of the world than I have my own country. 

She smiles at me as I sat next to her and she asks about my destination. The law I abide by of catch and release of fish doesn't go too well with her. A wizened old lady who talked about the Japanese occupation and how I am privileged to be in the now. She speaks truth and while I do not like to admit it, I know that there is no better time to live than in the now. I avoid sitting next to her as we board the bus.

"Hello" was all it took for this other lady. She loves her son and she speaks to me of her son's fortunate circumstances and her take on life. A lady who is familiar with bus captains and had no trouble making friends. We were on the last bus and she smiles throughout but her eyes betray her. She is thankful that I am willing to listen as she talks to me about her family and how her son seem to care more about his pet fish than her. I reflect on my own actions and guilt takes over. She alights and stands at the bus stop to wave goodbye to me. We were both smiling but I am sure she sighed right after, just as I did.

A routine check which I was familiar to. Two young men dressed in blue approached me. One of them initiated a conversation akin to a subtle form of interrogation and the other radio'ed in to do a background check. One of them, I can't recall which, tells me about his fishing experience when he was younger. He tells me to sign on.

He wore a bucket hat and strolled confidently as his lady friend puffed away beside him. A Chinese man who was not local. He set up his rod before proceeding in an exchange of saliva. My casts close to his direction got his attention as he approached me. We shared photos of fishes we've caught and he took a few pictures and videos of me which was a little amusing .

Then there was this boy. A boy who stunned me with a statement. A boy probably ten years younger than me and has gone through so much more. A boy who whilst beaten, is still positive about his future and seizing every moment.

It is understandable. I have felt it too before. We all know that feeling where people come up to you and are moderately interested in your activities and occasionally they prod and prod and get on you. My take is that while many a times, they poke to get information, sometimes it turns into a sharing session instead and you never know what others have to share. This is where the beauty of fishing plays its part in giving people opportunities to initiate a conversation. Sometimes people really just need a reason to share.

It's 3am in the morning and I'm not quite sure if any of it above makes any sense or even what point I'm trying to drive at but just hear me out. You see, I'm at some sort of crossroads in my life currently. I am no longer a student and I am not sure if I am ready to adult yet (is anyone ever ready anyway?). The thing is this, I am all of these people I have met and maybe we all are at every point of our life. Some parts of me are the older folks who occasionally look back at the past to put into perspective of where I am now, some part of me is the man with the cigarette-puffing lady, enjoying the now, and maybe some part of me is also that boy who has ended one journey and looking forward to the next. 

Maybe sometimes fishing is more about people and less about the fish.

Maybe sometime if we share a little, we gain more in return.

The videos are pretty self explanatory but here's a summary of what went on that day.

Woke up at 5.30am to catch the early bus out to catch first light. When I arrived at Chinese Garden MRT station, it was still pretty dark out and I had initially intended to fish at the white bridge located in between Chinese Garden and Japanese Garden. A voice called out to me about 5 minutes into my journey and the owner of said voice made an inquiry on my purpose of being there (full conversation in video). After a small chat and a long walk, I arrived at the legal area only to find that it had been closed since 1st July. Slightly ticked off by how the day started, I carried on an arduous journey to the Lakeside area to try my luck. Less than 10 minutes into the session and I got my first bite of the day and also my first on the Jetty. It wasn't a biggie but small fish is better than no fish any day. I stayed for about an hour and left as all the walking had taken so much time that the sun was soon up and glaring.

I came back at last light at my usual spot where baiters and dabao kings hang out. They seemed to have had quite a good haul in the afternoon with plastic bags filled with struggling fish. Some of you might condemn their act or condemn my act of not intervening but to each his own. While I am sad that there's less fish for leisure, I am pretty sure the fish concerned would not go extinct any time soon. Last light was pretty good for me with 3 bites even though I only landed a small one. I dropped the rest just off the edge of the water but they were not biggies either. All in all it was a pretty good day for me until I broke my rod whilst trying to remove a huge piece of rubbish i had hooked up. I guess you gain some you lose some hahaha.

Tight lines and smiley face :)

P.S. Do visit my shop via the link above. Stocked up quite a few nice things and trying to keep the price competitive to benefit anglers. :)

As a cheap miser of an angler, it is no surprise that I would scout far and wide for the cheapest of alternatives the world could offer. Aliexpress has become one of my go-to sources whenever I need something, angling related or not. There is a sequence of steps I take in order to decide where I make a purchase (which I should discuss in another post).

There is but much debate about the purchasing of products online and even in this day and age, it is hard to say for certain whether a purchase made online would hold sufficient credibility. Shipping issues aside, it is always a bit of a gamble when making a purchase on an e-commerce site such as Aliexpress. Of course the landscape that is internet shopping is improving daily and rapidly but occasionally buyers do face disappointment when they finally get their product [for example this fake of a fake (SJ4000) of a fake (SJCAM which is a popular GoPro alternative*) which I bought a while back https://sg.carousell.com/p/52447114  << its pretty funny apparently]

Fret not anymore! Your hero is here! LOL.

So I bought a bunch of soft lures a few months back and only managed to try them out recently. They were quite cheap in my opinion as they were going at around slightly more that 8USD(around 13SGD) for 50 pieces of 75mm lures. I bought the paddletail variation and they came in 5 colors which I didn't really fancy (but they were cheap, like me. cheap.) At first glance, they did look really good as they were packaged very nicely like most budget lures with the whole ziploc bag thing and they even had Korean words at the back (which might have been Kpop song lyrics for all I know). Price wise they would be less than a third of Z-Man lures but of course the quality would be different.

Personally, I am no expert in luring and lures but it is quite noticeable when comparing the texture, elasticity and rigidness between a lure from Z-Man and the one I bought online. The Z-Man definitely feels like it is able to survive longer than the Bassland (that's the brand apparently) lures but with shear quantity advantage, the Bassland does have its edge. Credit has to be given to Bassland for adding a random mess of glitter in the soft plastics which would definitely serve as an irritant for peacock bass.

I was out testing a new lure I purchased the day before (which I bought on impulse) but nothing was taking that particular lure. A small incident with a tree traumatized me and after managing to retrieve my new fat lure, I immediately kept it and switched to a cheaper alternative- the Bassland soft lure on a 1/4oz jig head. The Kuying Snapshot paired with a SeaKnight BC reel was the gear of choice for the day. A few misses later, a juvenile PB went for my lure and swallowed if whole. The hook was set through its nostril which meant that there was almost no leeway to escape. It's been quite awhile since I caught a peacock bass (simply because I don't do too good luring). The last time I caught one was when I was still using a flip phone. Whatsapp wasn't even a thing then.

So yeah. If you are willing to wait 3 weeks, willing to take your chance on a brand not many have heard of or if you're just cheap like me, then the Bassland soft lures might be for you. They do work but I would not be brave enough to say that they are effective (because PBs have a reputation for going for most lures)

A small fish is better than no fish any day. Till next time, tight lines and smiley face :D