Category Archives: NSRCC

0504, 2016

Kayak Fishing @ NSRCC with Hermann, Ipen, Isa, Omar

Shawn/ April 5, 2016/ Bottom Fishing, Kayaking, NSRCC, saltwater/ 0 comments

The day began fairly early. Omar had been keen to try kayak fishing at NSRCC after hearing about the adventures that Nordin and I had been having.

As he did not have a proper roof rack yet, he chartered a lorry and offered up the remaining space to the rest of the gang for free. I was adamant that I would use the roof rack that I had bought for my kayak though, and so I did.

We were scheduled to have about 6 kayaks in the lorry which would barely fill it halfway but one guy had to cancel the night before due to work commitments and the other couldn’t wake up although we waited for him for as long as we could.

By the time we hit the water it was 10am.

Present and participating were Hermann, Ipen, Along, Omar, and me. The beach was overgrown with seaweed and got caught in many places of our kayaks.

The current was unusually strong (but not oddly so as it was a spring tide) and with it pulling us westwards, we decided on heading to the yellow buoy area.

The cuttlefish seemed keen to make us aware of their presence as they kept stealing our bait.

The baitfish were also out in full force today and everyone who tried to hook them up with tamban jigs was not disappointed. They were not very useful as bait though.

Drifting a little way away from the yellow buoy seemed to produce slightly better results with my line getting a few more hits.

Eventually I got this little guy who was released unharmed.

Off in the distance we saw rain clouds gathering and we saw that rain was already falling on some parts of the island.

I decided to move a bit further away to see if the fishing would get better. And it did.

I had to keep repositioning my kayak to drift over a certain area where I had been getting a number of strong tugs and eventually I hooked up with a Chermin that fought me all the way to the top.

My Shimano TwinPower C3000 was screaming all through the fight and I was having the time of my life.

By the time I had all the pictures taken I had lost the spot. I spent the next 15 minutes trying to find it again and although I did, the action was not as good as it was before.

I went back to the yellow buoy area again but the currents had changed so I decided to move away altogether.

Omar and Along also had the same idea but they were expediting their drift because they were hungry and tired so by 2pm they were already halfway to the shore. When Omar reached dry land, he took down our orders while I stayed out on the water in an area not too far from them.

I had almost drifted back to our launch point when suddenly, in about 5 metres of water, and with the bait dangling at about 4 metres, my rod made a huge bend before the line went slack. Before I could put my phone down, I was splashed with a large amount of water as the fish – that I briefly recognised as a Queenfish – leapt out of the water.

I spent just under 2 minutes getting the photos done and when I released it back into the water it gave a soft kick. It took a while more before it gave a few more kicks and I released it. Unfortunately, it didn’t simply swim away, instead, it seemed to sink to the bottom. I’m not sure if it survived.

10 minutes after that, Omar informed us over the radio that our Macdonalds orders had arrived.

He never offered to bring the food to us and I suspected (and he later confirmed) that he was trying to get all of us up on the shore, knowing that once we touched dry land and had food in our bellies we would not be heading out again. His day was done and he wanted to get the lorry to bring us back asap.

As luck would have it though, we had to wait a good long while for the lorry to come and pick us up because he was super late. So we ended up chatting till late evening, as each one of the remaining kayakers out on the water trickled back to shore for some tasty grub.

The day left its mark on me.

Shawn started fishing in 1994. He caught his first fish (an Ah Seng) on that very first trip to Changi Carpark 4 (before it was barricaded). He built up his fishing knowledge and gear over the years but still keeps his old gear, just like the memories.

1006, 2015

NSRCC with Nordin Part 2

Shawn/ June 10, 2015/ Bottom Fishing, Kayaking, NSRCC, saltwater/ 0 comments

Our original call time was 8am but I was awake at 6 and reached Watercross before 7.20am.

With that spare time, I had everything loaded up in my vehicle save for the kayak itself.

With no response from Nordin, I turned to the whatsapp group for Native owners for help with loading the kayak. With encouragement and understanding the key issues and key points to loading up such a large and heavy kayak by myself, I eventually managed to do it, much to my surprise.

I briefly considered launching at Pasir Ris instead of NSRCC but I had already loaded the kayak up the van and Nordin and I had an important scientific based project to conduct at NSRCC.

By 8.45am and without a response from Nordin, I decided to call him. He said he would arrive at 10am. So I told him that I would buy the bait and told him to meet me directly at the launch point instead.

I reached NSRCC at 9.45am but he wasn’t there so I decided that I might as well try unloading the kayak too, which I managed to do, with about the same level of difficulty as loading.

New and improved water resistant enclosure for the SJ4000/5000. This time, I’m using a container with a locking mechanism. This container, like the last, is also bought from Daiso.

This time, I skip the waterproof connector on the camera end and just run the cable in directly. I also use a ram mount instead of the mount that comes with the SJ4000. As this container has locking grips, I had to mount the mount on the front instead of the bottom.

By 10.30am I had everything set up so I called him again but he said he was on the way from Jurong (where his kayak was stored). Naturally, I was slightly regretting my decision to not just launch at Pasir Ris.

As I expected Nordin to arrive shortly, I left my kayak just behind my vehicle. The shuttle bus that was to become a very familiar sight had managed to squeeze past me with surprising dexterity.

By 11.15am, Nordin still wasn’t here. The head of security for NSRCC eventually paid me a visit and curiously questioned me about my kayak, kayak habits and success rate. Before he left to do whatever it is he does, we had a nice chat and he related to me his past exploits from his younger days when he was always on the water. Shortly after, 2 other guys working at NSRCC also paid me a visit and enquired about my kayak and adventures as well. Slightly annoyed that I was put in a situation where I had to load up my heavy kayak all by myself, I semi jokingly offered all three of them the opportunity to buy my kayak.

At 11.45, I called Nordin who said he was still on the PIE with an ETA of half an hour. At 12.45 he still was not there. Throughout this time, all communication was initiated only by me.

I considered launching first and meeting him on the water but the tide was unfavourable for a solo launch.

That shuttle bus had now past me at least 3 times and always managed to squeeze past me very accurately. Getting wise to the fact my kaki would not be coming anytime soon, I moved my kayak somewhere less obstructive (it only took up 2 extra feet of width of road that the bus was travelling on but I felt that the gesture would be appreciated).

I whiled the time away by eating the beancurd that I had bought for Nordin, joking with some close kayak kakis in a whatsapp group about how my 600 grams of prawns had now multiplied by a factor of 2 and other silly ideas like the software in my camera becoming self aware and the bacteria in the beancurd bowl becoming intelligent enough to try and open the lid on the Tupperware box.

When he finally arrived at 1pm, I could see that he was embarassed but I was waiting for an apology. When none was forthcoming, I gave him a little grilling to coax it out of him. Apparently, he had been having a string of bad luck this morning, with forgetting things and having to drive back and forth and etc. I pointed out that the only thing I was really annoyed with was the lack of communication.

He set up his gear and we were in the water just after 2pm.

We tried fishing at the spot where I had caught my flathead last time round but the current and wind was not favourable. So we drifted to a nearby yellow beacon where we settled down and anchored and waited for the fish.

I somehow managed to foul hook this guy after I got annoyed by all the little nibbles it made.

Annoyed by the incessant nibbling going on, I set myself free and began drifting west where I landed these 2 guys.

A kind of Parrot Fish that’s different from what I’m used to seeing and/or catching… not that I catch a lot of these guys.

There was a particular drift line where I caught those fish at and I would only get action at a certain point along the drift line so I gave up and tied off to Nordin, who by now had got a few fish as well (I apologise but I don’t know where the pictures are).

The fish started getting smaller and smaller.

I gave up after about an hour or so and decided to try drifting slightly further out.

I eventually came across a mound on the sea floor where I caught this little guy.

We stayed out right till dusk (Nordin told me as reparation for his tardiness, we could stay as late as I wanted to, but I wasn’t going to push it) and caught nothing else so we headed back.

The end of a short day of fishing, but a long day with my kayak.

0906, 2015

NSRCC with Nordin Part 1

Shawn/ June 9, 2015/ Bottom Fishing, Kayaking, NSRCC, saltwater/ 0 comments

This trip was a long time coming.

I had bought a roof rack for my kayak quite a while back but had only used it three times. Once was to launch at Changi Carpark 7 with Josh and Rick, another was for the Raffles Marina Fishing Competition, and the most recent was for a non fishing kayak trip to catch the fireworks.

The setup went off without a hitch save for some very hypocritical run ins with some cyclists. Our kayaks were on the designated foot path. Some cyclists, as they detoured from the bicycle path on to the foot path, were yelling out that our kayaks should not have been there. To top it off, it was during the height of the ‘share the road’ campaign. The irony is too great.

The launch itself was relatively smooth but as it was with the beach at ECP, there was sudden drop off about a metre from the shore.

We made a beeline for the open ocean where we finally ‘settled’ on a nice patch of ocean with an interesting seafloor (discovered via our Fish Finders). I say ‘settled’, but really I mean drifting, what with the strong current and strong wind pushing us around.

I had a lot of hits but was unable to bring anything up till I hit this shark.

With this being the first shark I caught while kayaking, I was quite excited so you can see Nordin’s net here as he came to assist me. While he was moving towards me, I made sure to pull the shark in circles. I had read somewhere and/or watched a show that said that sharks can’t pass water over their gills so they have to constantly keep swimming to breathe. I considered flipping it on it’s back to see if it would really become docile but it wasn’t trashing about so I didn’t bother.

The skin was like sandpaper and wasn’t slimy at all. I let it go as quickly as possible and it swam away immediately though very calmly.

I hung around the area for quite a while as Nordin peddled forward and found a new eddy current, making him drift in the opposite direction as me.

I continued getting a large number of hits but eventually gave up when I saw how fast my prawns were being used up.

I hooked up with Nordin where we decided to try fishing further east.

On the way, we saw some fish jumping, including what seemed to be a huge Queenfish.

I love Queenfish so I tried to jig for them (like how I do in Desaru) but caught nothing because we were drifting away too fast. We gave up in short order but I vowed that I would be back for more.

After some time, we eventually felt that we were far enough from our original spot to start fishing. The drift line here was also perfect.

Both of us had a few hits along the way but I didn’t start getting hits till I chanced across what seemed to be a long cliff along the seabed.

I managed to land these two guys.

The grouper was released unharmed while the snapper was given to Nordin.

#cnr #catchandrelease

A video posted by SingaporeFishing.org (@sgfishingblog) on Mar 6, 2015 at 10:06pm PST

We eventually drifted far enough east to be near SAFYC where there were sailors and windsurfers with varying degrees of skill sailing their sailboats. For some reason, some of the more “advanced” windsurfers decided to use our anchored kayaks as markers for turning points. One moron even came close enough that his craft actually sped past and scraped Nordin’s kayak. He dashed off without a word of apology or acknowledgement. Fortunately for all involved, they didn’t make the same mistake twice though they continued to come close.

By now it was 3PM and we were quite a distance away from our launch point and the current was against us. Unlike pasir ris, the current usually has more effect than the wind. Nordin went to fish his way back near the shoreline while I tried my hand at something I’ve been doing quite often. Umbrella sailing! I was much further from shore though, where the wind was stronger and more consistent.

As you can see from the photos below though, the wind was much too strong and my umbrella much too weak.

One by one, the loosely tied strings that kept the material and the legs together began to unravel.

Until it finally gave way.

Nordin seemed to be sticking to a spot near Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal so after some peddling I stopped to fish where I caught this little guy.

At around the same time, Nordin hooked up a much bigger snapper at his location (no photo).

We eventually met up and started drifting again but this time we were drifting south west.

Just before dusk and just before we left, I caught this flathead with 3 dead prawns on one hook, with the one in the middle hooked up in such a way that it looked alive.