Dogfish at HW

Cyrus with a juvenile Dogfish caught off Sudong at 2100 (HW) last night, 23 Oct 2007. It was released unharmed back into the water. We were looking forward to landing some squid, unfortunately the windy conditions & bright moonlight did little to help. I'm looking forward to the NE monsoon this year, as I intend to search for new & productive spots in our local waters. Many experineced fisherman tell me, the rougher the seas out there, the more motivated the fish will come into our waters to seek shelter & find food. Well lets see what the monsoon brings this year.

Golden Snappers off Sudong

My 12 year old son Cyrus with a 4kg golden snapper

I brought my 2 boys to Sudong last night & came home with 2 lovely Golden Snappers, about 2 & 4kg each. We caught them on fresh dead squid and live prawns, about 3 hours after the lowest tide. These two came in fast & furious and were caught about 5 miins apart. We also caught lots of small squid for bait.

I finally got back from a long work trip in the US.

Time to fish, I told myself when I got back. We took the Grady TigerCat to the inlet at Sultan Shoal Lighthouse and spent the whole afternoon at a popular spot. Score: 2 juvenile snappers & 1 Queenie. Not a thrilling result. But then a though struck me. I should be catching fish that are there and not hoping for the ones that are long gone. Let me explain. There are plently of small selars at buoys moored at the 10-20 meter sounding line and at the Rigs off Tuas. I have no problem catching those. Its fun too. There are also pleantly of small reef fish off the Southern Islands, I should also start specializing in that field. Too often I wait for that big one to be hooked only to be disapointed. So on the next trip in S'pore, I'll check out who's eating the bait fish and look for new reef spots off the beaten track. As for the big ones, I'll leave that till the Tioman trip. Till then....

I was told by my old friend Francis Olsen, the Marina Manager of Nongsa Marina and the Marina at Keppel Bay, that Nongsa Marina will undergo a major facelift this year. The old pontoons that you see in the picture will be dismantled and replaced and the break-water extended to give fuller protection during the NE monsoon months from late Nov-early March. Olsen told me about the sailfish season off Mapor in Sept & Oct. During these months, squid are abundant and attract the pelagics, including mackerel, dolphin fish and sailfish. Well, I've decided to make a trip first week of Oct onboard the Grady TigerCat. If I do catch any sailfish, it would be the first time outside Tioman & Phuket. Stay tuned for the news of that trip.

Tioman Adventure 22-24 Aug 2007

Map of Pulau Tioman & Dive Sites


The first thing we did when we arrived at Tioman was to stock up on live bait-fish in our 20gal bait-well. It took just an hour to catch about 100 baits, mostly kembong & selar, whilst anchored 30 meters upstream of the unjangs. Thereafter we concentrated on bottom fishing & live-baiting downstream. Bonitos were in season and we found it was easier to catch them on the same jigs than using spinners. The best jigs were the Sabiki no 12 hooks with white fish skin and green reflectors. For bottom fishing, we use self-tied apollo rigs with bonito sliced into "cubes" as bait. They will catch almost anything.


The first Marlin of the day, a frisky 30kg juvenile Black, caught on live bait,
Pictured, Alex Tan, Quincy, Ngak Hoe, Fred Chua, WF
Location: Unjung 5.5nm SSE of Tioman at N 02 39.820 E 104 15.620
PS: We practise catch & release of all bill-fish, & we always ask permission from the locals before fishing at their unjangs whenever we meet them there. As far as possible anchor upstream of the unjangs and avoid tying up to them, to prevent them drifting.

Here's the Video of me with the Marlin

Nothing beats a dive off the many fringing reefs & islands just off Salang. WF seen here at Tulai Canyon. The best dive spot was at Pu Chebeh. Good news, the big fish are back. We saw numerous Trevallies, Coral Trout & giant Barracudas. Both the hard & soft corals are thriving. As always we would moor the boat at the many mooring buoys laid by the locals. (Never anchor your boat at the dive sites, as it will cause heavy damage to the reef).




Black Marlin caught on live kembong bait, off the local unjangs in the evening, just when the bonitos were boiling on the surface. There was an abundant of bait-fish, mostly kembong, selar,
scad and good sized bonitos. We went back to the unjangs at about 3am for bottom fishing and caught lots of "angkoli", red-bream. We were hoping to catch some action on mahi-mahi in the morning, but a pod of dolphins visiting the unjuang must have scared them off.


S'pore's prominent sailor Yeo Ngak Hoe onboard the Riviera 51 at Tioman Marina. We took shelter there on the 2nd night. The Marina is a welcome facility at Tioman and a short car ride to Berjaya Resort for dinner. Currently the only facilities are the walk-on, walk-off berthing, shore supply & water. Fuel is sadly not available yet. The Marina does however change the way we fish at Tioman. Its possible to leave a boat there for a season and just fly up to Tioman for weekend fishing. It saves lots of time & fuel too.

Overnight at Bedok Jetty

Its been more than 20 years since I've stayed the night at Bedok Jetty. The jetty must be at least 30 years old, but its in better shape today than it was before. The National Parks have done a great job. Hats off to the authorities also for allowing tents to be pitched on the jetty. What a difference a tent makes, it immediately gives your own private area and confidence from the weather. Well, we managed to wet our hooks the whole night, however the actions only started at 6.30am as Cedric predicted. The main activity was jigging for tambans, selar kuning and the occasional ikan kekek. However, we were there for the queen fish. Apparently they have been biting the past 2 weeks from day-break till about noon. The popular method used, is to cast a line with a sinker at the end upstream. Then hook a lively tamban on a 3 foot trace and connect the other end with a snap-swivel along the main line. Apparently this configuration gives the best presentation of a struggling bait-fish. Well it must have worked, we had 3 runs 7am, 10am and a confirmed hook-up at 1pm. Cedric had a great tussle with a 4kg Queenie at 1pm (1.5hrs before highest tide) on light tackle only to loose her when she dived under the jetty. All in day it was a pleasant outing.

Fishing Kakis

There really is no sport quite like fishing. Instead of competing with each other, all the players collaberate together against the prevailing elements...the sea, wind & fish. Whether you catch any or none at all, it is always great fun to be out at sea. Often the anticipation, weeks before the day of fishing is more than half the fun. At the end of the day, its the fishing kakis that make the difference. Often when you pair up with good kakis, the boat is automatically kept ship-shape at all times, anchoring is a breeze and all hands onboard are ever ready to help whenever someone hooks up a big one. If you have been boat fishing on your own boat before, you will understand the absolute freedom, that is so different from chartering a boat. The satisfaction when you hit big loads of fish, from your own new found spots, with your own rigs together with the teamwork onboard is truly satisfying. Its the ultimate definition of sport of fishing. So here's a salute to all who already got their fishing kakis well established.