Year of the Tiger

Today's the eve of the lunar new year and tomorrow will be a brand new year (and hopefully a brand new beginning for me!). Here's wishing all readers a joyful and prosperous year that is also abundant with fish! Happy Year of the Tiger!

My new handphone accessory!  

Free lunch?

Was told just yesterday that the food I was talking about in the previous post, was free! Well, if it was really all free then I have to admit I was rather harsh in my comments. I must say that their generousity is applaudable, even though the quality leaves a lot to be desired... Kekeke...

Think if I do join them for another trip, I shall be so thick-skinned as to get the food money from them, go grocery shopping and then do the cooking on the boat. 他们出钱，我出力嘛！

St John's Island Trip

Notice that I did not name this post as a CR, this is because we caught nothing. Yup, a big fat zero for both of us (not counting the baitfish and sotong caught for bait)! Sianz...

There were a total of 9 anglers on this trip and we spent 36 hours out at sea - moving from spot to spot around St John's Island and all the way to Raffles Lighthouse. The potential was there but maybe we had used up our fishing luck at the kelong and should have waited for it to be 'recharged' before going on another fishing trip so soon? Haha...

Anyway, it could also be due to the food on board that affected my mood. Now, I'm totally ok with the dishes concocted by any boat's cook or deckie - which is usually something like fried vegetables with a chicken curry for lunch. So when I was told that the organiser would be doing the cooking, I obviously expected the same standard right? However, saving some money is not a good reason for me to eat plain porridge with assorted canned (sodium and preservatives overload) food!!

Plain porridge with: canned chye sim + chye poh + canned mock meat with peanuts + canned fried fish with black beans + preserved beancurd


Sorry peeps, call me fussy or whatever you want but I'm never going on boat trips again with this organiser. Unless I'm the one doing the cooking... Hehehe....

Hokkaido Bento

The bi-annual Hokkaido Fair is here again at Isetan Scotts. If you want to get the steamed King crab bun and the assorted dried squid I talked about last June, go now!

You may also be tempted to buy this when you are there...

Hokkaido Seafood Bento


There were quite a few different combinations (and this one was the most expensive at $35 each), but the sheer variety of seafood in this bento made it irresistible! Seven types of seafood plus 3 types of pickles on vinegared rice... Yums....  :p

CR Hotboys - 29/1 to 31/1

As mentioned in my previous post, this visit to Hotboys kelong was a very last minute trip; it was so last minute that we did not check our 'kelong stock' and had to survive without a couple of important things (Eg. We brought only 1 set of size 4 tamban hooks) ! However, this was a very special trip as it was ZY's first trip to a kelong (Not counting the 2 times he went while in his mummy's tummy) ! Kekeke...

The action started very soon after our arrival... Look! There’s a fish on the floor!

 
2.3kg queenfish caught using live tamban


Actually the only bait available was live tamban and thankfully they were there in huge numbers. It’s very difficult to get selars recently so we just had to make do with big fat tambans. Sotong was also scarce - maybe it’s because of the full moon - but whatever the reason, we only managed to catch 6 sotongs for the whole trip. It was not for a lack of trying though!

During nightfall, the schools of small fish swimming around were constantly being scared away by barracudas which kept surfacing once in a while, so we decided to teach them a lesson. I was fishing in front while WT was fishing at the back. Guess what, we both managed to get a hook up - at the very same time!

The kelong staff, who were watching TV, saw me fighting a fish and quickly came over. 明仔 expertly gaffed my barracuda and went back to his supper. I left the fish lying on the floor and went to the back to tell WT about my catch, only to see him fighting a barracuda too! I rushed back to ask the kelong staff for help, only to see them run towards the front instead of the back. I then realised why - my fish had managed to jump back into the sea!


明仔 passed me my rod that he had grabbed in time and gaffed the fish up... again. By then, WT had lost his fish! His dad, who was beside him, found a long net (not only was the pole long, the net itself was very long too!) and tried to net the barracuda. But... the barracuda swam into the net and right out again as there was a hole! WT couldn’t pull the fish out because the angle was wrong, and when the fish decided to make another dash, the line rubbed against the net and snapped! So he had nothing to show for his trouble...


 
6.2kg barracuda caught with live tamban


Just before daybreak on the next day, a kaci and a small grouper was caught. The grouper was steamed for lunch specially for ZY. Yummy!


2kg kaci caught using fresh sotong




It is nice to get some variety once in a while - like these Kerisi instead of Leng Chiam! 


The second day, during dinner time, a tengirri took our bait! The rod grappled with the fish for don't know how long before WT arrived on the scene and continued the fight. We were all slowly eating and didn't even hear him yelling for us to help gaff the fish! Luckily, the attentive kelong staff heard him and quickly went to his rescue.  ;p


 
This fish is bigger than me! AHHH!!! 


 8kg tengirri caught using live tamban


All in all, it was a enjoyable and fruitful trip indeed!