Jenius

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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Shimano is a brand many anglers swear and live by. Some might even consider it a religion of the sport that is fishing. I've yet to own a Shimano product but would definitely consider the brand if they too would consider my job application I sent in a few months back. I've fiddled with a couple of entry-level Shimano brand reels in the past but have yet to have a feel of their flagship Stella range which some consider to be high up on the fishing reel caste system. Shimano Singapore Open House 2016 provided me with an opportunity to do so and I seized it.

The event started at 10am but I was still sleeping my unemployed butt away at that time. I wobbled my way to the event after lunch and reached at about 1430hrs. A fishing kaki of mine wanted to get the goodie bag which was on sale at the event and I obliged. There was no queue when I was there and I promptly paid for the bag and took a quick peek at where they stored the goodie bags and figured that there was at least another 100 bags left to clear (I heard that the goodie bags used to sell out before noon in previous years though). The goodie bag was priced at 35SGD and included various products including a cap, pliers, a jig, an eging lure (size 3.5 which is a little huge for local eging in my opinion) ,a fish length measuring tape, a pen, the latest Shimano brochure, a Shimano sticker and a reel of fluorocarbon line. Each purchase of the goodie bag also came with a lucky draw coupon which saw a total of 50 prizes (and one mystery prize~ wooooo~) up for grabs.

Shimano had a bunch of products on display and on sale. The area where there had reels for sale saw a steady stream of audience which turned me off slightly but I managed a glance. The Stradic FK was going for 150SGD and the Sustain was going at 250SGD if I'm not mistaken. I can't quite recall the current retail price of said products but if I remember correctly, the Stradic FK would cost around 200SGD usually. There was also a booth selling "beginner combo sets" which included a Cruzar rod and a Alivio reel going at 80SGD. With some effort, I managed to squeeze between the crowd and was able to get my hands on the Stella. I must say it is quite a piece of art but honestly, with that price tag, I would take my chances with a cheaper reel (like how I would like Shimano to take it's chances by granting me an interview LOL). I did also manage to play around with the new Stradic Ci4+ which is a more likely purchase choice for me given my unemployed status and also my preference in colors.

Some day Stella, some day.

These are apparently pretty popular