Do anyone still sing this song on New Year's eve? Guess not... people are more likely to be grooving to hip hop then sitting round a table reminiscing, yah?
Well, there's only a couple of 2009 hours left before we welcome 2010. No matter where you are or what you are doing, I would like to wish all of our readers a very very happy 2010. Thank you all for the support in 2009, and we hope we can continue to see our readership rising steadily. :)
Tight lines everybody!
The MFF Blog
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
More on Hotboys kelong (24/12 - 27/12)
The great number of bait fish I caught on this trip is something I have not experienced for quite a long time. How I missed hauling strings and strings of tambans out of the sea, especially if the tambans are big and fat ones! Five or six of them on tamban hooks can be really fun, as they put up a reasonably good fight for their size.
Tambans are good bait for many varieties of big fish
These silvery fish not only caught us the cobia, one of them also gave us this barracuda!
1.5kg barracuda
There was also this funny sight of a small kerisi that could not resist taking a metal jig!
Ima Gun 40g
Last but not least, even though I did not catch any bakdao this trip, there were 2 landed one night. They were both big ones between 2 to 3 kg, and one of them was actually foul hooked! This tells us that sometimes you just can't beat beginner's luck... :P
Tambans are good bait for many varieties of big fish
These silvery fish not only caught us the cobia, one of them also gave us this barracuda!
1.5kg barracuda
There was also this funny sight of a small kerisi that could not resist taking a metal jig!
Ima Gun 40g
Last but not least, even though I did not catch any bakdao this trip, there were 2 landed one night. They were both big ones between 2 to 3 kg, and one of them was actually foul hooked! This tells us that sometimes you just can't beat beginner's luck... :P
Monday, December 28, 2009
Cobia again, upsized!
From the title, it is easy for our readers to guess what we caught at Hotboys kelong (24/12 to 27/12) this trip... Yes, it's another cobia. This time however, it is a slightly bigger one at 19kg.
It was joy when the Aernos 4000 reel started singing. In 3 steps, WT had reached the rod and yanked it out of the rod holder. As the bait was a much smaller tamban and not a medium sized selar like the previous time, I wondered what it could be. With a couple of pulls, we knew that it was... big fish on!
19 kg cobia
Before I continue with the story, let me just interrupt with a small piece of advice - when you know someone is fighting a big fish and your rod happens to be nearby, retrieve your line and remove your rod IMMEDIATELY! We were absolutely exasperated with this uncle who simply pulled his rod out, held it above his head and told us to carry on! *Faints...*
Ok, back to the fight... After making sure that the cobia wasn't going to dash under the kelong, WT passed me the rid to have a feel of what fighting a cobia was like. For a few minutes, I enjoyed the feel of a strong fish trying to run away and regained line bit by bit. True to its character, when the cobia was pulled back, it again tried to fight dirty. I quickly passed the rod back to WT as I was not confident of maneuvering the fish away from the kelong stilts.
One way of maintaining control of the fish was to keep the line as short as possible, and to do so we followed the fish along the side of the kelong from front to back. Having fought a 15kg cobia only 2 weeks ago, WT confidently subdued this 19kg one and an experienced kelong staff (明仔) gaffed it up with one quick stroke. Landed!
As we still have meat left over from the last cobia, we took only one third of this one and gave the rest to the kelong staff. Some pieces were also given to other anglers staying there. One of them made cobia sashimi on the spot and left it to chill. We were asked to partake the sashimi together with wine that night! Yums! :)
It was joy when the Aernos 4000 reel started singing. In 3 steps, WT had reached the rod and yanked it out of the rod holder. As the bait was a much smaller tamban and not a medium sized selar like the previous time, I wondered what it could be. With a couple of pulls, we knew that it was... big fish on!
19 kg cobia
Before I continue with the story, let me just interrupt with a small piece of advice - when you know someone is fighting a big fish and your rod happens to be nearby, retrieve your line and remove your rod IMMEDIATELY! We were absolutely exasperated with this uncle who simply pulled his rod out, held it above his head and told us to carry on! *Faints...*
Ok, back to the fight... After making sure that the cobia wasn't going to dash under the kelong, WT passed me the rid to have a feel of what fighting a cobia was like. For a few minutes, I enjoyed the feel of a strong fish trying to run away and regained line bit by bit. True to its character, when the cobia was pulled back, it again tried to fight dirty. I quickly passed the rod back to WT as I was not confident of maneuvering the fish away from the kelong stilts.
One way of maintaining control of the fish was to keep the line as short as possible, and to do so we followed the fish along the side of the kelong from front to back. Having fought a 15kg cobia only 2 weeks ago, WT confidently subdued this 19kg one and an experienced kelong staff (明仔) gaffed it up with one quick stroke. Landed!
As we still have meat left over from the last cobia, we took only one third of this one and gave the rest to the kelong staff. Some pieces were also given to other anglers staying there. One of them made cobia sashimi on the spot and left it to chill. We were asked to partake the sashimi together with wine that night! Yums! :)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Barracuda fish & chips
Was wondering how to cook a couple of fillets from the barracuda caught by WT during the last kelong trip... then decided to make fish and chips!
Batter-dipped fish, sotong & prawns
Haha... you would realise from the photo that there are no fries. Yup, I was so tired after frying this plateful that I decided not to fry the chips. The batter I used this time was only so-so for the sotong and prawns, I actually prefer this recipe for deep-fried squid and this recipe for Wasabi prawns. For the fish, however, it was scrumptious!
Looks pretty good yah?
Deep-fried Fish in Beer Batter
Batter-dipped fish, sotong & prawns
Haha... you would realise from the photo that there are no fries. Yup, I was so tired after frying this plateful that I decided not to fry the chips. The batter I used this time was only so-so for the sotong and prawns, I actually prefer this recipe for deep-fried squid and this recipe for Wasabi prawns. For the fish, however, it was scrumptious!
Looks pretty good yah?
Deep-fried Fish in Beer Batter
- 500g boneless filets of fish
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- juice of 1 lemon/ 3 limes
- 1/2 can of beer (You can drink the rest!)
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tbs paprika (optional)
- 1/2 cup cornflour
- Oil for frying (at least 3 cups)
- Add the salt, pepper and lemon juice to the fish and mix well.
- Pour the beer into a large bowl.
- Sift the flour and paprika into the beer and whisk till evenly mixed.
- Dredge the filets in the cornflour, dip into the batter and fry till golden brown.
- Serve immediately with chilli sauce and mayonnaise.
Tender fish that melts in your mouth, enveloped by a crispy skin of fried beer batter... Try it!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Freshwater pond fishing 20/12/09
Wanted to go bash and lure on Sunday but it was not possible... haiz... To scratch our itching hands, we went to check out the new fresh water pond that opened only a couple of days ago in Bottle Tree Park - Fishing Paradise.
The price was $35 for 2 hours (CnR) with a T-shirt thrown in free. Even though it was rather expensive, we decided to try anyway. At the end of 2 hours, the only thing we had to show for our continuous effort in casting and retrieving several different soft rubber lures was... this photo of the view...
Good to see, not good to fish
There were quite a bit of surface action, especially when fish pellets were thrown in by the tackle store staff, but the fish didn't seem to be hungry or aggressive enough to want to take lures. We felt something a couple and times and when we tried to strike, the hook came back with a scale impaled - obviously not a bite!
We were terribly disappointed and thus were easily persuaded to spend $15 for 2 hours at the other freshwater pond at Farmway 3 by our friends Desmond and EH.
Men at work
The situation here was much better! Well, we still did not manage to land any fish, but there very many takes and 2 short-lived fights (hooks probably weren't set properly). Moreover, Desmond and EH landed a Chao Praya catfish and a Pacu respectively, not to mention several extended fights that ended prematurely thanks to crossed lines.
Well, if we want to go to a freshwater pond next time, you know where we will be!
The price was $35 for 2 hours (CnR) with a T-shirt thrown in free. Even though it was rather expensive, we decided to try anyway. At the end of 2 hours, the only thing we had to show for our continuous effort in casting and retrieving several different soft rubber lures was... this photo of the view...
Good to see, not good to fish
There were quite a bit of surface action, especially when fish pellets were thrown in by the tackle store staff, but the fish didn't seem to be hungry or aggressive enough to want to take lures. We felt something a couple and times and when we tried to strike, the hook came back with a scale impaled - obviously not a bite!
We were terribly disappointed and thus were easily persuaded to spend $15 for 2 hours at the other freshwater pond at Farmway 3 by our friends Desmond and EH.
Men at work
The situation here was much better! Well, we still did not manage to land any fish, but there very many takes and 2 short-lived fights (hooks probably weren't set properly). Moreover, Desmond and EH landed a Chao Praya catfish and a Pacu respectively, not to mention several extended fights that ended prematurely thanks to crossed lines.
Well, if we want to go to a freshwater pond next time, you know where we will be!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Ah Ngan Kelong CR - Fish
It's NE monsoon again, time of the year when we will go kelong more often! Supposedly there should be selars in abundance, but for this trip, the number of selars caught was just enough for me to use as bait.
There were quite a few sizable cobia landed on the kelong during my stay there and one of them was landed by me at 15kg. Lost another similar sized cobia by the kelong side due to poor gaffing skills by the Malay kelong helper. Lesson learnt, gaff your own fish if you have the experience. Even the kelong workers may not know how to gaff a fish properly. Both cobias were caught using selar as bait. Looks like very few selars may means they make better bait!
15kg Cobia
While I was fishing for Leng Chiams, my line unexpectedly ran out very fast. I was using very small size hooks (Owner Size 8, Apollo rig) so I had to be very careful not to let the hooks open up while fighting. Luckily the fish swam outwards instead of into the kelong. The first fish that came into my mind was a sizable batfish because only they are strong enough to exert this kind of pulling force and will take my small prawn cubes. But... usually batfish will swim under the kelong instead of outwards. So I was really confused, without a clue, and very anxious to find out. After some fight on my light tackle, I got my answer - it was a foul hooked barracuda! No wonder I was unable to tell... -.-
Yellow-tailed Barracuda
Also tried some soft rubber lures after getting sick of the baby Leng Chiams and managed to catch... this slightly bigger Leng Chiam... again. It was quite a different experience on rubber though.
Leng Chiam on soft rubber lure
Was hoping to catch some saitoh as bait during the night as selar was really scarce. No saitoh was caught throughout the trip but I managed to hook up quite a handful of baby big-eyed trevallies using 'homemade' luminous jigs.
A dozen or so of these were caught!
Was quite fun on light tackle as well, and sometimes the bite rate was one cast one hit.
Overall the catch was not bad except the quantity of selars was way below expectations. Well, this doesn't mean the number of selars is fewer this year, this only mean that we have to go up to the kelongs more often to hopefully meet the fishing frenzy!
There were quite a few sizable cobia landed on the kelong during my stay there and one of them was landed by me at 15kg. Lost another similar sized cobia by the kelong side due to poor gaffing skills by the Malay kelong helper. Lesson learnt, gaff your own fish if you have the experience. Even the kelong workers may not know how to gaff a fish properly. Both cobias were caught using selar as bait. Looks like very few selars may means they make better bait!
15kg Cobia
While I was fishing for Leng Chiams, my line unexpectedly ran out very fast. I was using very small size hooks (Owner Size 8, Apollo rig) so I had to be very careful not to let the hooks open up while fighting. Luckily the fish swam outwards instead of into the kelong. The first fish that came into my mind was a sizable batfish because only they are strong enough to exert this kind of pulling force and will take my small prawn cubes. But... usually batfish will swim under the kelong instead of outwards. So I was really confused, without a clue, and very anxious to find out. After some fight on my light tackle, I got my answer - it was a foul hooked barracuda! No wonder I was unable to tell... -.-
Yellow-tailed Barracuda
Also tried some soft rubber lures after getting sick of the baby Leng Chiams and managed to catch... this slightly bigger Leng Chiam... again. It was quite a different experience on rubber though.
Leng Chiam on soft rubber lure
Was hoping to catch some saitoh as bait during the night as selar was really scarce. No saitoh was caught throughout the trip but I managed to hook up quite a handful of baby big-eyed trevallies using 'homemade' luminous jigs.
A dozen or so of these were caught!
Was quite fun on light tackle as well, and sometimes the bite rate was one cast one hit.
Overall the catch was not bad except the quantity of selars was way below expectations. Well, this doesn't mean the number of selars is fewer this year, this only mean that we have to go up to the kelongs more often to hopefully meet the fishing frenzy!
- Special report by QWT.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Ah Ngan Kelong CR - Cephalopod
Cephalopod - Family of squid, cuttlefish and octopus.
Finally am starting to talk about my Sibu kelong trip at Ah Ngan's from 10th to 12th Dec. First let me show off my biggest cephalopod catch till date.
Bakdao caught using size 3 Yamashita (box)
I weighed it and it was 2.4 kg on the digital scale, which means my placing is still behind the 3 kg ones caught by WT in Oct and Nigel in Nov, both at Hotboys. Nevermind, I'll still have a chance to catch one during our Christmas trip! Kekeke...
The other interesting thingI would like to share with our readers is this.
Reef squid egg cases.
Our friend KK was trying to retrieve his line which was 'sangkot', obviously having hooked onto something heavy at the bottom. When it finally came up, we were surprised to see a rusty old metal dish-dryer with chains of reef squid egg cases hanging like Christmas ornaments!
Call me suaku, but I had never seen these before, so imagine my great surprise to see tiny baby squids, about 5mm long, swimming in those translucent sacs! To save these babies, we quickly lowered the whole contraption back into the sea at a corner that people are less likely to drop their lines. Unfortunately, some of the sacs were torn during retrieval, so I quickly put them into a container of seawater to revive them.
One of the reef squid babies.
We were very glad that they could survive out of the sacs, and could even squirt ink already! After about 30 minutes, I poured everything back, keeping my fingers crossed that they could escape being eaten...
Ok, that's all for today. Don't worry, you will read about the fish soon!
Finally am starting to talk about my Sibu kelong trip at Ah Ngan's from 10th to 12th Dec. First let me show off my biggest cephalopod catch till date.
Bakdao caught using size 3 Yamashita (box)
I weighed it and it was 2.4 kg on the digital scale, which means my placing is still behind the 3 kg ones caught by WT in Oct and Nigel in Nov, both at Hotboys. Nevermind, I'll still have a chance to catch one during our Christmas trip! Kekeke...
The other interesting thingI would like to share with our readers is this.
Reef squid egg cases.
Our friend KK was trying to retrieve his line which was 'sangkot', obviously having hooked onto something heavy at the bottom. When it finally came up, we were surprised to see a rusty old metal dish-dryer with chains of reef squid egg cases hanging like Christmas ornaments!
Call me suaku, but I had never seen these before, so imagine my great surprise to see tiny baby squids, about 5mm long, swimming in those translucent sacs! To save these babies, we quickly lowered the whole contraption back into the sea at a corner that people are less likely to drop their lines. Unfortunately, some of the sacs were torn during retrieval, so I quickly put them into a container of seawater to revive them.
One of the reef squid babies.
We were very glad that they could survive out of the sacs, and could even squirt ink already! After about 30 minutes, I poured everything back, keeping my fingers crossed that they could escape being eaten...
Ok, that's all for today. Don't worry, you will read about the fish soon!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Sibu kelong... Again!
If you are looking at the countdown and wondering why it says Sibu kelong again, it's not a mistake - it's because we're going again 2 weeks later! We went to Ah Ngan's last week and will be going to Hotboys for the next one. It will be Christmas on the kelong for us!
For those waiting for the Ah Ngan kelong CR, my apologies... please give me another few day's grace cos ZY is sick. :( He is has a cold and a very bad cough, which means he cannot sleep well and he cries a lot due to the discomfort. :(
In the mean time, let me share this photo of him which I personally like very very much. :)
ZY & Sevenseas + Stella
For those waiting for the Ah Ngan kelong CR, my apologies... please give me another few day's grace cos ZY is sick. :( He is has a cold and a very bad cough, which means he cannot sleep well and he cries a lot due to the discomfort. :(
In the mean time, let me share this photo of him which I personally like very very much. :)
ZY & Sevenseas + Stella
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Our next Sibu kelong trip
This year, we started the practice of going to the kelong at night so we have an extra night of fishing time. Not only is it much cooler, there is also less competition as most of the other people would be sleeping. We go Hotboys kelong most often and always have no problems arranging for special transport (at an additional cost of course), and thus assumed that all the kelongs also offer this option.
This time round we decided to go Ah Ngan instead. We have been there before but never arriving at night, so we only found out a couple days ago that they don't send boats out at night due to safety issues. Surprised, we called all the other kelongs to check. Conclusion: Hotboys & Ah Fatt - yes, Ah Ngan & Ah You - no.
Perhaps Ah Ngan and Ah You, being further out at sea, experience stronger/faster currents and therefore have to be more concerned about the potential dangers of transporting customers at night?
This time round we decided to go Ah Ngan instead. We have been there before but never arriving at night, so we only found out a couple days ago that they don't send boats out at night due to safety issues. Surprised, we called all the other kelongs to check. Conclusion: Hotboys & Ah Fatt - yes, Ah Ngan & Ah You - no.
Perhaps Ah Ngan and Ah You, being further out at sea, experience stronger/faster currents and therefore have to be more concerned about the potential dangers of transporting customers at night?
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Irukandji jellyfish
Read in Saturday's Straits Times that a 29 year-old man was critically ill after he was stung by Irukandji jellyfish while diving in waters off northern Australia.
The Irukandji jellyfish is related to the more well-known box jellyfish, and is as deadly. Actually, it is more dangerous due to its size... or in fact, its lack of size. How do you avoid something when its so small (a mere 2.5 cm) you don't notice it at all?
Photo from www.irukandjijellyfish.com
The victim may only feel slight discomfort immediately after being stung, but after about 30 minutes, severe symptoms - including vomiting, profuse sweating, headache, agitation, rapid heart rate and very high blood pressure - may appear. These symptoms are collectively named the Irukandji Syndrome. You can read more about the syndrome at www.jellyfishfacts.net.
Luckily, these critters are found mainly in Queensland, Australia. Singaporean anglers need not worry about them. For treatment of stings by jellyfish commonly found in our region, go to the MFF article on venomous sea creatures!
The Irukandji jellyfish is related to the more well-known box jellyfish, and is as deadly. Actually, it is more dangerous due to its size... or in fact, its lack of size. How do you avoid something when its so small (a mere 2.5 cm) you don't notice it at all?
Photo from www.irukandjijellyfish.com
The victim may only feel slight discomfort immediately after being stung, but after about 30 minutes, severe symptoms - including vomiting, profuse sweating, headache, agitation, rapid heart rate and very high blood pressure - may appear. These symptoms are collectively named the Irukandji Syndrome. You can read more about the syndrome at www.jellyfishfacts.net.
Luckily, these critters are found mainly in Queensland, Australia. Singaporean anglers need not worry about them. For treatment of stings by jellyfish commonly found in our region, go to the MFF article on venomous sea creatures!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Albino Sailfish caught in Mexico
Reported in the Los Angeles Times was this rare albino sailfish that was white all over with brownish pink eyes. It was caught on the 28th of Nov, with live bait and fought about 15 mins before being landed and then released by the angler. Similar albino sailfish had been caught in that region before but I suppose none in South East Asia?
Photo from Pisces Sportfishing
Photo from Pisces Sportfishing
Wonder if Singaporeans would have a chance to catch such a fish in Rompin or Pekan? By the way, this was his first ever sailfish! And I'm still waiting for mine...
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Updates to our Andaman Islands trip
Received word today that we definitely are changing our plans. Other than the fact that we will be going on a different day ($$$ flying into the pockets of budget airlines), we will be going on day trips instead of living on board for the length of the trip.
Gamefishing India - Halcyon II
There are 6 of us, so we will be taking 2 speedboats out - the Halcyon, and the Halcyon II. Fishing will be from 8am in the morning to 5pm on the boats but we will try to negotiate for longer fishing hours or try fishing from the jetty. Hehe...
Gamefishing India - Halcyon II
There are 6 of us, so we will be taking 2 speedboats out - the Halcyon, and the Halcyon II. Fishing will be from 8am in the morning to 5pm on the boats but we will try to negotiate for longer fishing hours or try fishing from the jetty. Hehe...
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