30th July 2011 - 'Kopitiam' Fishing Day

WHY kopitiam???
Because we got so much variety (including the misses and releases), including DURIANs...Yes, my favourite...

Capt: Anand
Total anglers: 7
AO: Offshore Changi

My favourite trip to date because we got really lucky with some good rojak catches!!!

1st Stop - Never Disappoints!
We never expected it to be a Gao day...We hit many gaos and just 1 very nice size ACK (by Vicki) in this 'ACK city'. All our nice size gaos were ambushed in this fertile land...
And this include the flower crab and a smart 'run away' Paul the octopus.

2nd Stop - Show time!
Supposed to be queenie spot. BUT we hit a v gd 1.1kg Grunter, Duri and 2 x Jew fish.

3rd Stop - DURIANs
How amazing! We received complimentary P.Ubin durians from XXX's friends working in Ubin at the barge... Unfortunately, all were unripe...wasted!

4th Stop - 'Suay' Spot
Supposed to be KBL spot. BUT we kenna a sea snake!!! (highlight at this spot).
And as we searched deep for the KBLs, we lost our anchor to the treacherous ground (line snapped).

Isn't this trip fun??? We have ACK, grouper, grunter, jew fish, duri, cuttlefish, crab, octopus, sea snake and durian...

9th July 2011 - The Moon Phase Theory Works Beautifully!!!

After checking the Lunar calender, Cpt Anand issued an 'Ops order' for the team to strike at 0700hrs to catch the 'golden times' where fishes start feeding on 9th July.

OMG! that means I have to wake up darn early, eat breakfast and try to find a cab to rush down to MCC by 630am... NO way!!! I defied the order and delayed the ops to 830am.

Though we missed the sunrise hr, we put our hopes together for the moonrise hr btn 1230pm to 1330pm and the rest is history...

Crew: Capt Anand and 6 men
Primary objective: Usual 'playground'
Secondary objectives: Search and 'destroy' Uncle Fong's spot

Highlight at Spot#1 - 1.1kg Queenie
Highlight at Spot #2 - Stingray
Highlight at Spot #3 - ACKs, Gaos and Cuttlefish with a few BIG misses (I think Rajan missed the biggest take when the suspected big Gao dashed successfully for cover among the corals.
Highlight at Spot#4 - Double KBLs (consecutive hooked ups by Vicky)

What a day! We hit Spot #3 at moonrise and BAM!, we were super happy, busy and 'roasted' during the golden hr.

This is called productive fishing!

 Vicky's last burst of fire got himself a surprise doubles! Well done!

 Thanks to Ms Moonrise, the harvest was great!!!

25th June 2010: Overnight Mission - 'Killed' By MANO

Expectations were high with some encouraging CRs this year at Mano Wreck.
Hence, the team were super motivated and prepared well to bring home the Gao Tuns.
Finally a chance to use the medium action gears borrowed from my army buddy.

Cpt: Anand
Crew: Anand's wife, Rajan, Robin, Andrew and myself
AO: MANO, off Changi and Tekong
Bait: Frozen kelong sotongs and some octopus


Decide to try with some octopus after chatting with the ever-friendly and humorous Bernard at prawn shop.


Set off at 430pm and we reached Mano at about 7pm. Took us some time as North Star was cruising at max. against the currents.


Crazy was there first and I guessed they took the 'prime spot'. Cpt Anand had to circle around a few times to find the 2nd best spot to nail the gaos. To make things worse, the strong currents killed Andrew and myself whom were the anchor party. I think we did anchoring exercise at least 4 times with each time pulling up 50-70m of rope. Bloody shag, man. But 'good' arm and back 'workouts' for me.


Waiting was the game
Crazy stole all the actions with them pulling up 4 good size fishes and I'm quite sure those were not gaos. North Star was quiet... We waited and waited...'enjoying' the constant 'rock n roll' songs played by the currents and waves...
Rajan was the only lucky man who got a ribbon fish (Sai Dou) while rest of us with no single decent bite...only small fishes which keep wasting our sotong bullets...


The only consolation was the NDP rehearsal fireworks view from the sea.
Else, I came back with 'broken' fingers, back and mentally drained.


'Turning point'
We gave up at about 3pm. Retrieved anchor and head back to Changi area.
The chart display somehow was mis-configured with all the navigation marks not shown, andit was pretty funny to see 3 men at the steering with me holding a torch light to beam the front gound, Anand driving and Andrew keeping a look out for floating objects and lighted beacons/buoys.


Finally reached Changi within 1.5 hrs and that's where we found the 'pulls'.


Total catches:
1 ribbon, 3 catfishes, 1 unknown, 4 ACKs
Zero photos this time as I was too tired to take any...


Not fated with night fishing
2nd time night fishing with zero. I guessed I should just focus on day trips.

18 June 2011: Nice cooling weather but too 'cold' for me

A short CR.

Day started brightly with super excellent weather conditions, windy and shady for outboard fishing.

Capt: Anand
Crew: 7 others
AO: Tekong and Ubin
CR: so-so only. The highlights were an ACK and Parrot
Misses: a few

There were a few zero fighters including myself and I guessed luck ran out. Not even a decent bite with my lucky Bassterra...

 Nice bend and fight, but the bugger was smart enough to dash for the rocks. Wasted.

 Plan was to bring back the 2 gaos for my marine tank. But they did not survived the trip.

 Nice size ACK and Parrot

21 May 2011 - Gao He Day!!!

North Star V gave us a big scared when her engine failed to start this morning.
Luckily, the ever reliable Zalanie and Alan came to our rescue, replacing batteries to try kick-starting the engine. All elses failed and I made the call to purchase a brand new battery and it worked beautifully...

Capt: Anand
Crew: 5 of us
Area of Ops: Tanah Merah, Tekong.

We had a super bad start from morning till 2pm plus - BIG FAT ZERO!!!
Luckily, the day was saved with some awesome drift fishing!!!
All the groupers and ACKs were caught with Drift Fishing and I lost faith with anchor fishing.

I guessed I stole all the luck today with 4 groupers.
And enjoyed a good time with Capt and the company.

Enjoy the pictures...

The Crew

Nice Gao

Nice Gao#2

North Star with sunset

Total Catches

Gaos Fall in

ACK Fall in