Anyway, for those who are aspiring to catch one of this species, use prawn meat
or small crabs.While an Anchor
Tuskfish turned up some weeks ago, this time round, it was another parrot
fish, the Black-spot Tuskfish. Compared to it's green-boned cousin the
Black-spot Tuskfish is considered to be a rung lower on the dinner menu, but
when there is a constant supply of fresh fish, there should not be any
complaints right?
Anyway, for those who are aspiring to catch one of this species, use prawn meat
or small crabs.
Above: Black-spot Tuskfish (Choerodon schoenleninii)
Decided to fish at Bedok Jetty after having given the place a miss for the past 2 weeks. In the morning, the smooth current gave everyone high hopes, but there was not much baitfish around and thus, the gang fished with live prawns instead. The prawns were constantly being attacked by small fishes and such, I decided to change the rig on one of my short spinning sets to a paternoster rig with small hooks. After a while, the bell that I've placed on the rod sounded. I was near the rod and after setting the hook, the fish was taking line on my light spinning set and was cutting through the water. Without a doubt, the fish turned out to be a Batfish, something which has been landed frequently in the past few weeks. Everyone expected a feeding frenzy to follow, but there were no more hook-ups as the current started to rage.
Above: A half kg Batfish (Platax teira)
In the receding tide, the current was raging but we still stayed on. Towards the end of the tide run, saw someone land a small stingray while I was packing up. Overall, it was a below average trip as the current was too strong. We were aware of the fact but really, the call of fishing is too strong to be resisted.
Did not expect to get good fishes in the face of the fierce north-east monsoon, but decided to try out a prospective spot after all. It was indeed heartening to see that the fish was feeding as the bait in the water was finished quite fast. An hour after my gears were set up and I was surveying the area, I noticed that there were a few taps on one of my rod tip. Rushing over, I tightened the drag and give the rod a good yank to set the hook. There was something heavy at the other end of the line and I thought that it must be a catfish or a puffer. However, as these thoughts drifted across my mind, the fish decided to give a few good dashes and took out some line in the process. After a while, the fish surfaced and I was happy to see a nice size John's Snapper or commonly called Ang Chor Kee on my hook. It weighted in at 1.0kg, a nice size for dinner.
Above: 1kg John's Snapper (Lutjanus johnii)
Also tried light tackle fishing, and was promptly rewarded with a Mangrove Jack and large Streaked Rabbitfish. Some other assorted fishes were landed, but being undersized, most of them were released. Will definitely give this spot another go in the future.
Above from left: Mangrove Jack (Lutjanus argentimaculatus) & Streaked Rabbitfish (Siganus javus)
Bedok Jetty Surf Fishing Report (13 Dec 2003)
The north-east monsoon is really maturing now, with days of little sunshine and endless rain. It was drizzling non-stop at BJT, but the call of fishing is too strong to resist. No biggies landed this time, but some nice table fishes were landed. Small Queenie, Anchor Tuskfish (Parrotfish) and a Longhead Grunter or commonly known as Guhoot were landed. Pesky puffers were constantly disturbing the bait and nibbling at the leaders too.
Above: From left, Queenfish (Scomberoides
commersonianus), Anchor Tuskfish (Choerodon anchorago) & Longhead
Grunter (Pomadasys auritus)
Contary to reports that there was little tamban available, there was an abundant supply of them on Saturday, with other assorted baitfish like small kembong and baby mackerals.
Boat Fishing around Changi Waters (06 Dec 2003)
Barramundis for dinner
In these days of certain rain at Bedok Jetty, decided to give Bedok Jetty a pass and follow a friend out on his boat for some bashing around Changi waters. Sure enough, the fish were biting. The picture tells it all. Lost a BIG Barramundi during a period of good bites, which spat the hook back at me. :(
Above: Some table-sized Barramundis for dinner.
Bedok Jetty Surf Fishing Report (29 Nov 2003)
Raining Cats and Dogs and More Cats!
Have not wetted a line for some time and after picking up some line and accessories at Beach Road, decided to wet a line at Bedok Jetty on Saturday morning.
A fellow kaki soon landed a batfish, estimated to be around half a kg. Two strong takes by another angler were lost and from the bait and rig used, they were adjudged to have been batfish too.
Baitfish was sporadic in the morning, but with a change in the weather, more
than ample baitfish appeared and soon, we had enough bait to last the night.
Soon, the rain descended on us and gave the jetty floor a good washing too.
The intermittent rain stopped around 6 plus and the skies cleared. Everybody was
casting fresh tamban out. At around 8pm, my reel sounded and after a short
while, a fish surfaced. We could not see what fish it was due to the low tide
and darkness. From the long shape in the water, someone suggested a cobia. How I
wished it was too, but the fish was sluggish in it's fight and hardly ever took
out line on a 5kg drag setting. When Thor shone his light into the darkness, it
turned out to be a catfish of all things. 
After some anxious moments, the fish was gaffed. Everyone had suggestions on the
weight of the fish, and my guess was 3kg, by the short length of the fish. When
it was weighted, the needle on the scale pointed to 5kg! I was skeptical, but
some seasoned anglers then said it was not uncommon, for these type of catfish
do weigh that much for these sizes.
We tried to catch some floating squid, and only managed to scoop around 10 odd
pieces, which only attracted more catfishes. 
Above: The calm before the storm, typical weather patterns during the northeast monsoon period.
Left in the morning, with storm clouds gathering in the horizon. I would rate this trip at 5/10. It would have been better if the water quality was better, but the water was cold after an afternoon of rain.
Bedok Jetty Surf Fishing Report (04 Oct 2003)
Decided at the last min to wet a line today. The weather was so so, drizzling a bit here and there. Baitfish was not in abundance, but what was interesting was the baby Mackerals (Beh Kah) that turned up. A few were landed by those who were jigging for tamban, and they were in the range of around 30cm. I hooked one around 40cm too, but the fish bit right through the tamban hook trace when I was about to swing it up.
Pesky
Puffer Fish were disturbing the baits and leaders too. Both my buddy and I had
our leaders bitten right through by the toothy critters.
Anyway, a buddy landed a nice 1.0kg Golden Snapper (left) using tamban in the
evening. The picture is posted here with his kind permission.
In the evening, the winds blowing strongly and nature's own version of camera
flashlights were in full force by 10pm. Decided to call it a day soon as the
current was not exactly favourable too.
Bedok Jetty Surf Fishing Report (20 Sep 2003)
The day did not start too well. The sky threatened to spill over at times and for most of the early afternoon, there was a slight drizzle. Reached BJT at around 1.30pm.
Within ten minutes of unloading my gears, an acquaintance landed 2 Batfish (Platax teira) in quick succession. His total count of the day was 4 landed, and there was another that busted him off. The 4 that he landed were in the range of 700g-1.5kg. They are good tablefare according to him. Well, as long as no fish is deliberately wasted, I'm fine with that. The picture below shows the batfish that he landed on another trip, pictures of his catch this time are not published to respect his privacy.
At around 3pm, as I was fretting over the weather, I heard the ratchet of a reel sounding. Turning around, I saw that one of my surf rod tip was bending ugly, with line running out at a pretty fast rate. I rushed over, gave the rod a hard strike and the fish at the other end was firmly hooked. In its initial run, the fish attempted to dive straight into the jetty pilings. Fearing a cut off, I tenaciously increased the drag and managed to stop the fish. Undeterred, the fish started to dash out into open water, taking out some line in the process. Until this point, I had hardly gained any line, only being able to steer it slightly. I also had the inkling that the fish could be a Barramundi as I've encountered similar pulls before. After some give and take, the fish surfaced and I was surprised to see a nice looking Chermin (Diamond Trevally, Alectis indicus, below) on the other end of the line. After a few more acrobatic flips, I swung the fish up onto the jetty. Upon weighing, I was surprised that a 2kg fish could fight so well on medium surf tackle.
Well, it was a pretty
good start, and it added some light to the gloomy weather. Luckily, though the
tamban schools were sporadic, my buddy
and I jigged enough for the day.
After that, there were
no other significant catches for the afternoon, only a small Russell Snapper and a Flathead
which was released. Luckily,
the weather turned for the better as evening set in.
From left: Russell's Snapper, Flathead, and a beautiful sunset to complement the nice fishing.
In the evening, there was little wind and the current in the receding tide was pretty strong. There was hardly any squid sighted, but a rare large squid (commonly called Chemak, below, left) was netted. Well, it was beauty in the eyes of my buddies and me as the squid would make great bait and a squid of that size is really very rare in coastal waters locally.
The
large squid was sliced into a few pieces for fishing and at around 9pm, I
noticed slight movements on the rod tip of my surf rod. Thinking that the
line could have caught onto some debris, I proceeded to wind in the line.
However, there was something that was quite heavy and faintly struggling at the
other end of the line. A few minutes later, this 'load' surfaced and it turned
out to be one of the local sea thugs. The 2kg Catfish (above, right) was given to
a fellow angler who knows how to prepare the fish.
At the end of that day, it was a tiring but enjoyable trip.
1.4kg Sickle Fish at Bedok Jetty (02 May 2003)
On this day when baitfish were rare, I casted dead prawn meat out. In the light drizzle, when I was trying hard to jig for more baitfish to last the day, the ratchet sounded. A friend of mine who was near the rod picked it up and set the hook, after which he passed the rod to me. After a few minutes, a nice gleaming Sicklefish (Drepaneidae fam) surfaced. It was certainly the kind of catch to kick off the 3 month long summer holidays.
