Secret Spots

Golf can be a lot more interesting if we had secret spots. Secret golf courses where few people knew like discovering new places as in movies like Avatar. Alas! You only find these secret spots in fishing. You see when you discover a good spot and reveal it then you will find everybody is there pretty soon. So you may have to search the internet or know somebody who know the secret. It may be a sea spot, a stretch of river, lake or reservoir or even a pay to fish pond but you have to know. 


And so a few young people led me to a place in Pasir Ris. When we got there we could not find the place. There is no number to it and fortunately we met a guy whose car was parked at the road side and he just said "go in by that gate, turn right and shortly turn to the left then go straight till deep inside". We did and eventually found Shangri-La, the lost horizon. 

Who said young people are soft and not focus? Is there a degree out there for fisherman? Or a course as absorbing as fishing?

We landed our first fish quite quickly even before I got my rod set up. I don't even know what fish this was but was told it was some Taiwanese species that makes good Assam fish on the dinner plate.

http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_asia/2009-06-02/306338146689.html

It is like scoring an early goal in soccer and you think this is our day, we are going to have an avalanche! A very good start indeed. 

They have two big plastic baskets with one turned upside down and then joined at the seams but securing them with plastic straps all around with a rectangular opening for you to drop your fish into as you lower it into the pond by hanging it to the rod pole.

We were thinking how many could we fill up with?

We change our live baits every now and then and waited patiently. There were some bites.

Young people do not need to eat when they have something they like to do. Or they can do it after all is done. I can't. It was way past feeding time.

I need to take fun seriously. I go get lunch. Fish can wait but I can't.

I left and took a wrong turned into some construction shed dead end with foreign workers. Went out hoping to find the nearest coffee shop to get food and hoping to find an ATM as I need $$$. After circling around I realize that there are not many coffee shops in Pasir Ris and only at certain areas. Found an ATM at the gas station that wouldn't dispense cash. When you need something you can never find them.

Finally, the most convenient food - chicken rice and got my ATM. Oh, it tasted so good! Or was it due to hunger? Maybe both.

It was back to fishing as the sun gets hotter.

There wasn't enough shed and shelter and they call it a protected place?

Breaking the lazy quiet afternoon, we got our second. Fortunately or unfortunately, a similar fish.

It was picked  up with the aid of a lip grip.

But it has swallowed the entire hook deep in. 

The grass is always greener on the other side. Boredom set in and I took a look across the covered pond behind and behold from the gap we saw a beautiful view - a pond full of fish. 

These are KBL (Kim Bak Lor) or Sea Bass, Barramundi and that pond is for catch and release on booking only.

It does not matter whether you are Chinese, Japanese, Malay or Caucasian, etc. When you live near the sea you will probably eat more fish. So too if you are a dog. There were a few but the bigger ones got to eat first. Law of the jungle?

Normally, they say where got fish cat do not want to eat. But this here is a dog eating fish. A dog eating fish is not a type of fish that eats dog. Relax. Fish baits left behind by departing anglers.

This man who is in charge of the pond is very hardworking. He is either walking around, relaxing by a chair while blasting 70s Mandarin songs or he would join in the fishing. Here you see him scooping water from his dinghy before he venture forth.

As the afternoon became quiet, he does not appear quite happy.

He wanted to release more fish! This guy knows where are the spots to fish. Immediately after he released, he went to a certain spot and he got one! 

A few others caught this. Earlier he helped someone landed a big Garoupa! I spoke to an old man who seemed happily retired and now working casually. He told me this is one of the better ponds to fish as he has been fishing around but usually on weekends. He said that some days he got nothing while on some days he could catch 6 or 7 and he saw others who caught 10-12. 

That guy was by now in his boat again this time clearing seaweed. I asked that old man what is the name of this guy whom as a regular he knew well and he said "oh, his name is Panjang". As if we didn't know it as Panjang means tall in Malay.

Fishing is a very good activity to train our patience and tame our temperament. Towards the end just before we packed up and left, we caught some fry. Baby KBL or sea bass. You can try to rear them. 

We have to leave and go back from where we came. Dirt tracks all the way before we get to the main road. It was a tiring day.

Bone shaking ride out.

Finally, a rocky stretch and we are out.

Fishing has legends too. The young ones knew a boy who is slightly older and whom I have met before. The boy loves fishing and quite frequently people befriended him to actually find out where were his fishing spots as he would often post pictures of himself with some big catch all over on facebook. He had even caught an eagle by accident as the eagle caught his lure and got entangled with his line. 

The question is why do people do such things of being pretentious?

More importantly, I think fishing is a good sport as it wears, thins and test your patience. Good for young people to have a calmer mind. Mmm.....I like secret spots. Do you have any secret spots? What are they?