Kayaking at Punggol 03July09

Date: 3rd July 09 (Friday)

Had wanted to go for some Kayak fishing on the 2nd July afternoon but was disappointed by a heavy downpour. Therefore, i got to cancelled the trip and no chance to bring my Orange pearl for some outing. Eventually, i decided to have a few hours of kayaking on the next day as well as to test out my Garmin fish finder.


What a beauty..my Orange Pearl!

Me and wife reached Punggol end at around 4pm and the weather was still pretty hot. Setting up my Kayak was a sweating affair. This time round, i had my Double deck, Fish Finder and AEC backbone fixed into my Kayak.


Some modification on the rod holder with padded back support

With much consideration, it is more wise to have all my modification to be as simple as possible. It is quite a headache to carry so many things when going for my Kayak trip. Moreover, its really a pain in the neck if i'm alone setting everything all by myself.

My Fishfinder console

My objective of this trip is to test out my Garmin Fishfinder with the 12V AA size Battery holder. I used 8 brand new AA size Ikea Alkaline battery on my Garmin but sadly, it is not so ideal as it shows only 8.5V on my half hour testing even with brand new battery. Hence, maybe i'll be trying out with other type of batteries on this holder or maybe, it will be good to use those 12V Lead Acid Battery.

Backbone installed on my AEC

Backbone at the Bow

Backbone holding at the Stern

Shierly having much fun for the first time on my Kayak

Since it was Shierly's first trip on my Kayak and it was just purely a Kayaking trip, i must let her counter her fear first and to get use in Kayaking. Surprisingly, being a tandem, the 15ft AEC is a really stable Kayak even when we came across some wave created by those speed boat. With the AEC Backbone installed this time, i can feel the difference immediately as the Kayak can cut through the water effortlessly even with 2 person on it. From my personal point of view on the this hundred over dollars gadget, although it is not that easy installing into the Kayak especially positioning the backbone and the floor base for a first timer, the money spent on this upgrade is really worth it as it does improved the Kayak's performance by some great margin.


A happy trip for both of us


Its dinner time....time to back up

Overall all, my wife and i had a really fun 3 hours trip at Punggol before the sky gets dark. Anyway, I'ill be planning some more kayaking session with my wife in the future so that we can make full use of this Kayak. Last but not least, after the trip, there will be many cleaning and drying of stuff to do, and the best part is....i got to do it all by myself...Hahahaaaa!

Diamond at East Coast Park

Tide Info
26th Jun'09 0045 3.1
26th Jun'09 0745 -0.2
26th Jun'09 1446 2.6
26th Jun'09 2000 1.1

It's been a while i have not fish in East Coast Park and since it is still school holiday, i decided to bring WeiCheng and WeiQuan to the seaside for some fishing. Since the last fishing trip with WeiCheng, he was hooked by this new hobby and really looking forward for his next trip.

WeiQuan and WeiCheng at East Coast Park


Setting up the gears

Do i look like a fishing pro?

WeiCheng at the ECP jetty


Many people fishing at the Jetty

WeiQuan very first cast after his first fishing lesson

Patiently waiting for his big fish

Me guiding the two brother on fishing

The 1st big pull of the day on my Shimano setup

A shiny Diamond Trevally landed

WeiCheng and the Diamond.....precious Diamond

It's pretty common to land a Diamond Trevally in Singapore water but still, luck is needed to get one. It was pretty quiet on the past 2 hours fishing when suddenly, i got a strong pull on my Shimano Holiday Spin rod and line is peeling off from my Shimano Sienna 4000. The fight with the Diamond was really fantastic as this fish doesn't surrender easily. After a couple of minutes, the fish surface the water and a Diamond trevally was landed.....Victory for me eventually.

After the Diamond, nothing was landed and we call it a day at 1530hr. The weather was too hot to withstand and its better to get home early to prevent getting sun-burned again.

Durian Feast on 20th June 09

This Saturday is a no fishing day for me as i need to celebrate Father's Day with my Dad. I bought 8 pieces of durians to my Parent's home for the celebration. Besides durian, i also prepared the Japanese Miso soup for Dinner since the day before some fish was caught during my offshore trip at Changi. Those fish made pretty good Fish broth and everyone are happy with the Miso soup i have prepared.

Red meat Durian.....really good!!!


Yellow Fresh Meaty Durian


Pink Fresh Durian....really rare colored Durian

19th June 09 Changi Offshore trip

Tide:
19th Jun 09 0131 0.7
19th Jun 09 0813 2.1
19th Jun 09 1335 1.2
19th Jun 09 1956 2.5

Location: Ubin and Changi Area
Boatman: David Ho's boat
Boat type: 20ft Dynaglass
Anglers: Darren, Lu Cong, Shierly, Patrick

Since Darren, Lu Cong and Shierly have not tried local Offshore trip, i decided to booked a Friday trip for them to tried out. The weather was good and the sea was calm in the morning. As it is our first time booking David's boat, we were quite hoping to land some biggies on this trip.

How i wish i had a boat here


Loading our stuff on David's Boat

The new Dam at Punggol

Happy Anglers on a boat ride to our first spot

Aunty's Prawn farm for our live bait


Our live-well with the prawn


The gear used for me and my wife, Abu 6000C and Aerlex4000

David's settting the anchor on our Fishing spot

A cuttlefish caught by Shierly


Me helping shierly to bring up the cuttelfish

LuCong, having a good fight

A almost 1.5kg Flathead landed by LuCong

I caught 4 pcs of this Juvenile Ah Seng (Ikan Duri)


A good table size seabass caught by Lu Cong

Wifey waited patiently for her turn...but to no avail

No action for my setup...So Boring!!!

A Emperor Snapper caught by me

Around 3pm, it started drizzling

Going back to Punggol Marina

Our 1st local offshore trip was kind of sad and everyone was quite disappointed as it was not up to our expectation. Darren and the boatman had a big Dinosaur egg except for LuCong who had some nice fight on this trip. Anyway, that's Fishing.....not everyday is Sunday :P

18Jun09-Fishing lesson for WeiCheng

The very first time Shierly and i brought WeiCheng fishing was many years back whereby i could hardly recall where and when did i brought him to. Anyway, since this week is the school holiday and permission was granted by his parent, it will be a good time to let him learn the art of fishing.

Nowadays, Singapore children have lots of school work to handle and during their free time, they are prone to sit infront of the computer playing their favorite games. Hence, introduce this hobby to them is indeed a good choice as Fishing can cultivate their patience and able to let them release their stress and pressure.

Early in the morning at 7am, i fetched Weicheng at his place and proceeded straight to Changi Village for some Whiting Fishing.

Hoping to catch some fish for WeiCheng

First lesson for WeiCheng is to teach him what are the stuff being used for fishing and also how to setup the gears correctly. Surprisingly, with just one explaination, he can do it pretty well....Wow, no wonder he can do so well in his school work as well.



Hmmm...too simple for me

Second lesson is to teach him how to use the reel and how to cast out correctly. Without much effort, WeiCheng master it very fast and i'm really happy for him that he can cast even better than me when i learned from my Dad at about his age.


WeiCheng very first cast using Pioneer rod and Ryobi reel


Excited WeiCheng with his very first catch.


A Emperor Snapper caught by WeiCheng


The Snapper was released back to sea


Future Fishing-Pro


A Juvenile Johnson Snapper caught

It was quite strange that not even one small whiting was caught at my usual Whiting spot at Changi. Seeing such poor result, i decided to go East Coast Park to try it out.


No fish, ......Its sand castle time


View at Bedok Jetty

It seems to be a disappointing trip for me where as WeiCheng on the other hand seems to be enjoying it. Nevertheless, i'll be arranging another Fishing trip for him before School holiday end and i would hope that it will be a better trip than this.

My Fishing Reel collection

I was supposed to be sleeping after a tiring night shift, but the sleep lasted only less than 4 hours. Since i couldn't force myself to get asleep, i decided to pack my Fishing cabinet. I took out the reels from the Cabinet for some photo-taking session. Truely, It is impossible for me to use all the reels in a single fishing trip but i strongly prefered to have the right gear and tools for it. After some calculation, i have more than 20 over reel in my collection. Among the reels, there are some which was used for more than 5 years which is in pretty good condition and its pretty unlikely for me to sell it away since there is not much value worth. In fact, the most expensive reel in my collection, the Saltiga Z-40 was sold away recently which i used it for the funding of my new toy.

Part of my Spinning and Multiplier collection


Shimano Stradic and Banax GTW and other spinners


Shimano Torium 30 with line installed for Oct Sabah trip

18 Fishing reel on the table and some more in the Cabinet

Fishing is indeed not a cheap hobby for me but most importantly, its the whole process that really caught my interest into it. I strongly believes that one needs to enjoy and play hard so that at the very last minute of his life, he will surely live without much regrets.

Enjoying the King of fruits with Fishing Friends

"King of the fruits" .....This time of the year, which is June you are likely to see Durian all over Malaysia and it is the time where the fruits are harvested. Being a Durian lover, i can't wait to have a great feast on my favorite fruit. Seriously, The smell of the fruits and the taste is really awesome. Hohohohoooo.....I really can't live without it!!!


These are the normal Kampong durian..its really good

In Europe, chances of seeing Durian is almost impossible but during my half year attachment in Germany-Mannheim in Yr2002, i managed to see those Thai durian sold in the Asia mart. Buying durian in Europe indeed cost you a bomb but in Malaysia.......Rm$3-5 ringgit per kg is so affordable and i can eat hell lots of it...hahahahaaa :)


Wifey and Mother-in-law buying fruits


Creamy meaty durian.....really yummy!!!

After buying the durians, My wife and i celebrate our "Durian Feast" at Edmond's place. Seriously, just the smell is simply irresistible for we durian lovers. As the fruits is freshly collected in the morning, every bite, you can really felt the warm beneath the durian meat. It indeed a luxury to have fishing friends gathering for some fishing chat as well as enjoying our favorite fruit at the same time.

A satisfying look from Dickson's face..."Joon, you want some?"


Edmond busy eating durian.."i'll help to finish Joon's share"

That's how we wash off the durian smell from the hand


Pinch of salt and water does stop you from getting heaty

Can't wait to have another round of durian feast when i'm back in Malaysia. Really miss the Durian. However, do not eat too much durian as you will be likely to fall sick as this is a very heaty fruits :P