Jenius

There's something about the D'Best Pro Pond at Pasir Ris which always compels me to do up a blog post. No, I am not sponsored by them but I'd gladly welcome any of such opportunities thrown my way.

It's the September school holidays and D'Best Pro Pond has a few promotions on going including the "Kids fish for free (with each paying adult)" promo and the buddy package promo. Being the unemployed bloke that I am, I'd definitely think twice before visiting any pay ponds as I am never confident about recouping the initial investments in value of fish. However, seeing that a few promotions were on and being the weak-willed person I am when it comes to angling, I succumbed. 

My entourage for the day was made up of Marcus and Reuben. 

The setup I had with me for the session was my ultralight/ajing setup which consisted of the Majorcraft First Cast rod paired with the Shimano Nasci 500. Pink colored Fins Windtamer braided line of 4lbs break test was spooled on the reel with a 8lbs Varivas fluorocarbon leader. Initially, I had thought this setup was akin to bringing a knife to a gunfight but it was not the case at all with me comfortably managing the 2 barramundis. Of course, the story would have been starkly different if I were to have hooked on to some of the bigger snappers and GT in the pond which other folks were landing today.

The day started off pretty decent with me landing 2 KBLs within the first hour and also missing one about 5 minutes after the hour mark but my luck ran out after the hook spit. Reuben managed to land 2 KBLs around the size too. Marcus on the other hand has not had any luck getting bites at the Pro Pond for quite some time now (don't give up Marcus!). 

All in all, as always I enjoyed my time at the Pro Pond and would definitely recommend anybody acquainted with children under the age of 16 to take advantage of the current promos to share the beauty that is fishing. The promotion ends on 12th Semptember. If you're too busy to take your child fishing, I would gladly take him/her fishing during this period as long as you sponsor my session (yes, I am willing to make the greatest of sacrifices for the future of the world that is your offspring). 

Tight lines and smiley face :) 

It's been awhile since I last went fishing and an even longer while since I last celebrated Youth Day. Anyway, I've been real busy off late having had just finished a great trip to Bangkok, working on one of my side projects to bring to you guys a little something and also sending out resumes. Add me up on LinkedIn here LOL

Okay! Enough about me (not really). Today was my second time at D'best Pro-Pond at Pasir Ris and my first time doing a full luring session (I really hate tiring out my master hand. *wink*). Having had received a couple of lures from a dude in Japan, I thought I'd give the lures a go and see how they performed. Personally, I've not seen them used in Singapore and wondered how effective they could be as the concept was pretty Jenius in my honest opinion. However, having spent about an hour with no takers on those lures, I decided to rig up a curly tail I just ordered on Aliexpress not too long ago.

For those of you heading over to the Pro-Pond, do take note that there are some structures in the water near the fish holding nets and you might want to avoid casting too far deep in said areas even though they've proved to be the hot zones for bites. Even after losing a couple of curly tails to those structures, I stayed resilient and continued fishing riskily at the edge of the structures. After a couple of casts, I felt like I had hit another snag but positive vibes ran through me as I managed to tow the weight at the other end of the line slightly up the water column. The feeling was akin to when you hook onto a huge plastic bag filled with water at one of those west side reservoirs. SPLISH SPLASH SPLOSH and happiness took over me as life struggled at the other end. Man was it heavy to pull the beast with my light-ass rod. As color started to surface, I noticed the swimming pattern of the fish was off and had a hunch that something was not proper but I carried on with the drill. Moments after, my kaki landed the grouper and wrecking the net as a result of simple physics. It didn't matter to me as I've finally landed my first ever grouper! :) On inspection, I found that the I've hooked the fish on one of it's fins hence the unusual swimming pattern.

The rest of the day was casting and retrieving and I landed a pretty decent seabass (didn't manage to capture the footage as I had forgotten to switch out to a fresh battery for my cam. sigh~). Another grouper was spotted a couple of times swimming quite close to the surface and not far off from the edges of the pond like an NSF on guard duty but it didn't take any lures presented and was even spooked by my curly tail. All in all, it was a pretty decent day at the Pro-Pond for me even though my kakis didn't manage to land any. There are good days and bad days but any day spent fishing is definitely a great day.

Early into the event, there was a bombardment of casts from lurers and bait spinners hoping to get the early edge into the competition. Shouts of excitement were heard from all over the pond and the entertaining echos that accompanied them were definitely not unnoticed. Spirits were high and the fish were biting at every section. I had on a single hook running sinker rig and the bait of choice for the day were red tenya prawns recommended to me by Baithouse.



A few hours into the competition (wasn't really keeping time so do pardon me if I get this wrong), news of a 32kg Grouper landed was heard all over the pond. The news had both the effect of motivating anglers who felt positive that there were monsters to be caught yet demoralizing them with the high benchmark set. I was intrigued but my strategy was still reliant on destiny.

3 hours into the competition and still without a bite, I decided to switch up to a 2-hook apollo rig with the same baits with a slight modification of using elastic thread to hold my bait in place from all those pesky nibblers. I continued parking my baits as the people around me went through an array of strategies and baits as they chalked up a decent number of catches. Barramundi (KBL/ Seabass) seemed to be the most common catch of the day as I saw few other species being caught. My lack of catch by noon could really be blamed fully on my stubbornness as KBLs are known to be best caught on moving lure/bait (its an action thing).

With the assistance of the young angler I mentioned earlier on to help watch my stuff (Thanks again man! This is one reason why every angler needs a fishing kaki), I proceeded to collect my lunch at the registration booth after a reminder from one of the representatives of the organizing committee. With lunch in hand, I sashayed my way back to the fishing grounds. As I was nearing the spot I was fishing at, I spotted my rod bend and the drag clicker let a quick yelp as the rod reverted back to its original state. A short jog and I was ready to strike although slightly skeptical if the fish was still on.
*I'm not going to elaborate on the rest of the action as a lot of embarrassing rookie mistakes were committed hahaha. Just watch the YouTube video*



The fish was landed with help from nearby anglers and I really do appreciate all the help that I received. Thanks people! I've lost this species a number of times and this was the first time I actually managed to land it so yay achievement unlocked! It wasn't the biggest caught that day but it was decent enough for me. ( The fish was about 2.5 to 3 feet long and measured to be around 3kg.)

Lunch was Nasi Goreng (Sambal?) and it was edible but could have been wayy better with a fried egg to top it off but I finished it all anyway. A short distance from where I was though, I spotted a group of people dawning the Singapore Surf Casting Competition tops and these guys were the most prepared for the day in my opinion. At the edge of one of the sheltered tables they were holding base at, I spotted a container of Sambal Telur (boiled egg in sambal sauce) and I knew there and then that these guys knew how to live the life. (I'm actually feeling hungry writing about this now. hahaha gosh) I guess everybody looks at fishing with their own perspective and whether its about the fish, the sport or simply just about the people around you, as long as you're enjoying your time, you must be doing something right.

The rest of the day was pretty mehh for me as I stuck to my lousy strategy. The guy who helped me look after my stuff when I went to grab lunch caught a 6kg+ KBL shortly after (good karma working for you :D ). The bites started to increase again nearing the end of the fishing event as people raked in that last few fishes.

I managed a glimpse of the 32kg monster during the prize presentation ceremony and I stayed on for the lucky draw but luck wasn't on my side. Overall, I enjoyed the day's proceedings (my first fishing competition of such scale) and left the place a very happy me. It seems that there are 2 more of those large monster groupers in the pay pond for any of you out there who are into hunting said beasts. 

Till next time, tight lines and smiley face :)

Question though: Just curious, am I being too much of an ass if I park my rig far out? Because it kinda restricts bait spinners' and lurers' casting spectrum right?

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