Fish and Fishing

Give a man a fish and he lives for the day.
Teach a man to fish and he can be crazy ab0ut fish and fishing.

Fishes are one of the most interesting creatures in the world. Just like the so many species of birds - fowls of the air, fishes are amazing to look at in water just as our fowl friends are in full flight. A close encounter with a Kingfisher would enable you to witness its swift flight, sharp shrills and bright colours. If you had the opportunity to catch one with a fish in its beak, you have seen the best of both worlds. You can usually see them at golf courses near the water features. Kookaburas are very interesing birds too. Gastronomically speaking, few birds can be eaten compared to fish. Goose, Turkeys, Ducks, Chickens even Pigeons are just the few.

If you talk about fish then the food list seems quite endless.

As the saying goes "Big Fish Eats Small Fish" and you'll understand the chain.

A sashimi chart alone can give you a headache. Talking about it makes me salivate thinking of fugu bak kua. I had the childhood experience of catching long kang (drain) fish which was fun. There are only very few places left where you can find them today. One is at Seletar Base but I am sure with of all these redevelopment going on they'll be all gone in no time. We used to know someone who owns a fish farm for aquarium fish in the kampung and all the fish would escape whenever there were floods during the monsoon season. We would also have exciting trips to certain places where there were ponds where you can find aquarium fishes like Tiger Barbs, Guppies, etc.

Many children rear fish in home aquariums as a hobby. At grandma's place we would also rear some fish in used urns and because they were kept in dark places they would change to darker colours. Staring at them in tanks can mesmerise you and help you relax if you observe them feeding, swimming around, breathing through and opening and closing of their gills as they move their mouths up and down in tandem. Do be careful though if you have a weak mind and can be easily influenced as staring at them face to face for too long may make you go their way. We do not want to be come to you to take you away from the tank with your eyes blank and mouth imitating the fish.

Neon Tetras are lovely in their luminous scales. We didn't know or understood that putting fighting fish to fight was cruel. They had vibrant colours and when they "kombang" flaring up their fins and gills fully you'd have an adrenalin rush watching their bites and when they came mouth to mouth they would start spinning. We would have our first king, second king and so on, a sort of championship ranking.

The ultimate must be fishing. Beginning with a hand line and progressing with a rod. I was a great moment when my dad presented me my first fishing rod. He would bring me along with some friends for pond fishing on some weekends. There were quite a few operators around but the best we found was at Yio Chu Kang as the owners were friendly and usually put in quite a lot of fish into the ponds. Depending how you get there - by car (with dad and friends) and by bus (with cousins and friends) you have to drive through or walk through a pig sty and you knew you were near when you wind down the car window or the moment the bus approached that stop.

The stench is a dead tell tale sign that you are there. Next would be the sound of these pigs snorting away so loudly. Even as you wonder, it seems no way one could distinguish from the sounds if the pigs were hungry, eating or copulating. If you know thier lingo then you are one with them.


As you walk through, you could see indian men carrying pots of todi, a coconut wine. Though they were not exactly young, they are very impressive climbing up the coconut trees to collect the pots that were placed there.

Their Tilapias wer huge and so were the "Soon Hocks" which are usually caught with hand lines and are quite nearby the edges. Eels were the worst as they twist and coil around your lines or dig themselves into the mud or tangled in some groves. It was sheer excitement when you have a grass carp on the other end but the king of the pond was the "song he". Probaly the most intelligent fish if there was such a thing. They would give you the fight of your life as they do not move back and forth but left ot right usually causing many lines to be entangled. The prized catch serve up a delicious fish head dish (it has a large head). Fried rice was a common order for lunch and though simple can be quite delicious, I mean, when hungry, anything tastes good.

At the end of each trip, you get to pack up and the most exciting part was to collect the catch for the day. Fishing trains your patience. It seasons you and makes one tougher due to exposure to the elements - extreme heat and cold if you were ever caught on a rainy night with strong wind.

Pond fishing limits your type of catch and you won't get seasick compared to sea fishing.


I have also done that on numerous occasions especially when you anchor your boat under the scorching mid day sun where you boat rocks you to Pukedom.

Finally, nature is lovely with creatures teeming everywhere.

Birds and bees, fish and other animals roaming. I am an animal lover.


I love animals, they are delicious.