A night at Southern Island
Tides:
28Sep 0556 0.4
28Sep 1143 2.9
28Sep 1805 0.2
29Sep 0016 3.1
29Sep 0637 0.6
28Sep 0556 0.4
28Sep 1143 2.9
28Sep 1805 0.2
29Sep 0016 3.1
29Sep 0637 0.6
Chinese Calender: 八月十八 (28Sept)
Ah Cheng Boat
Ah Cheng, the west side boatman gave me a called to invite me for night fishing at the Southern Island. Needless to say, it was pretty tempting. Since, I’m not working the next day, I quickly agreed to his invitation. Weather at 1730 on the Friday evening was utterly bad with heavy rain when I was setting off to Pandan Loop. Despite of it, I’m determined on wetting my line no matter what.
Low tide at Pandan River
Reached Pandan Loop at around 1845 and after parking my car near an Industry canteen, I walked around 10mins with all my “Barang-Barang” to reach the secluded pier behind the Cycle and Carriage Factory. Ah Cheng and his 30ft Fiberglass boat with a 200HP Suzuki greeted me and i was also introduced to another friendly fishing fanatic, Bro Joe, who came before me.
My Rod and Reel
As we are still waiting for another 3 anglers (Simon, Simon’s friend and Mario), our pleasant boatman informed us of his itinerary and explained to us what setup to be used. For the first few hours, we will be catching squids and doing some light fishing. The area we are fishing will be having rocky seabed. Hence, it’s advisable to use Apollo rig with Dupont 40lb and size 3/0 hook. Maybe at 0200, we will set-off to deeper water to catch our big fish and heavy tackle is a must. Being safe than sorry, I paired my Daiwa SL50SH multiplier with 50lb braided for the first time with my 5’6ft Zeus Red Scorpion.
Best No.1 killer Live Bait
101% look-out for the Squid
Deep-Sea KBL caught by Apollo
Ah Cheng dsiplaying Roy's 2kg Ang Chor Kee
Sweet lip and me
Many live Squid was being scoop up during the night and obviously this is the No.1 killer bait for the creature which we are targeting tonight. However, my 1st catch, a deep-sea KBL is by using dead prawn. Roy and I seem to have better luck for the first few hours as I caught a 1.5kg Sweet-lip (Kaci) and Roy had a good fight with a 2kg John Snapper (ACK). The current underneath us was not pretty strong and a size 10 weight is good enough for our first few hours of fun. The catch rate was pretty bad and Simon, fell asleep at around 2130.
LeopardRay caught by Simon's Friend
My First Shark
At 0130, we ventured into deeper water to target our main objective using our freshly caught live squids. The underneath current was extremely strong whereby a size 20 and above weight is needed. As I do not have such heavy weight, I combined a size 10 and a size 16 weight to make sure my line touches the seabed. Rangong was used with Gang hook tied with 2m of 50lb Dupont. Simon got his first catch with a small Spotted Bamboo/Lizard Shark which was being hook on its body and was release back to the sea. Minutes later, Simon’s friend also caught a decent size Bamboo shark and follow by two 5-6kg leopard Ray. I have also caught and released a small bamboo shark without much resistance from this fellow. With the Sharks and Rays, chances of catching big size Snapper are pretty low. Strangely, the current dies off less than an hour and no bite was taken. As my eyes are getting heavier and no fish, I also dozed off to my dreamland uncomfortably. Miserably, no fish was caught. At 0800, we called it a day.
Everyone including boatman knock out
Sadly for me, there wasn’t any big fish giving me a good fight although we have the best live bait for offshore fishing. Nevertheless, its a good experience for me and to prepare myself for the upcoming offshore trip at the Southern Island. Besides, I’m able to wet my line with some aching on my body while reeling in the heavy sinker for the whole night and of cos, with a total of 3 fish caught without being a Zero fighter.
