The Fly life

Monday, October 27, 2008

TARPON TIME

With the weekend approaching, the proposition of a tarpon on fly proved too tentalising to pass up and I was willing to be in the office at 3am to complete a task if I had to. But thank goodness that there was nothing in my mailbox at 4am - which meant that I wasn't needed at the office .

With a 45minute train ride ahead of me, I decided to swap the intermediate line over to a floating when I'm on it. Reached rendevous point at about 710am and was greeted by my mate and friends. It's just good fun getting to fish with other people...

A short cab ride saw us reach our destination without any dramas, followed by a 10 minute walk.

Upon reaching the river, it reminded me so much of a place in Singapore called Lorong Halus, where the first generation of fly fishermen there got into huge tarpons, herrings and barramundis...but sadly, that place was decimated by drift netting when I started to fly fish. Although this river suffered a similar fate, Tarpons were still around and that's enough for me.

We got to a section of the river where there was in inflatable weir and water was overflowing to the other side as the tide rose.... and Tarpons were rolling on the surface!! With no time to waste, the rod was rigged up and a Reuben Estuary Special found it's way to the tippet once more. There were fish rolling as close as 10-20ft in front that there was virtually no need to cast. After flicking the line out, I dragged the fly slowly through the water. It wasn't until the fly was almost out of the water that the fish decided to have a go at it, but failed to hookup. This happened a few times and I decided to use a jiggy retrieve and kept the fly near the surface.... it worked! A flash of silver in the water as a fish rolled for it and I set the hook without hesitation... it was on!! Though not very big, they still pulled reasonably well and lept out of the water like their larger American cousins. The next 30-45 minutes was just magic...there were no shortage of hits, just whether the hook found its mark or not. I landed about 7 or 8 and probably missed/dropped about 3 times as much.







And when the tide maxed out and started to recede, fun was over... we stuck around for another hour or so with no results and decided to move elsewhere.

FIRST WEEKEND BACK IN HONG KONG

Was pleasantly surprised that I did not have to be in the office over the weekend... which meant that I can go fishing! Awesome! Had initially texted a local friend that I knew in a HK fishing forum to see if he was free to take me Tarpon fishing. Unfortunately, he was only available the next week.

So a visit to Mr Red was in the cards. But as before, I wanted to check out the other parts of the surrounding region to uncover new fishing locations. The first location only produced a tiny (and I mean tiny... thumbsized) rock cod. And instead of taking the short-route to Mr Red's house, I decided to take the long way. For a person who's not into photography, some of the scenery I came across was just too beautiful. This location gave me the feeling that I was in the European countryside or something....



After about 20mins, I reached a bay that had pretty strong waves. And since I'm already there, might as well chuck a few plastics... As I worked toward teh middle of the beach, there was a patch a rocks about 40meters out and I thought maybe fish would congregate behind the rocks, using it to break the water. There must be countless tiny crescent perches in front of me as the lure was being pecked all the way in. And after a while, I felt something larger (but still pretty small) took the plastic. I fought it to the front only to have the hook pull 1m away from me... and the little cod swam away leisurely.

Taking into consideration that cods have amnesia, I continued to cast repeatedly back to the same area. And five minutes later, I was rewarded with this little cod. If he was caught by the guys at the pier, there was no way he was going back. But the fact was that he met me and lived to see another day.


After that little encounter, it was time for redfish. But the tide had already rose pretty high and true enough, I didn't find any...

MY 3 WEEK HOLIDAY (19 SEP - 13 OCT)

The day had finally come for me to re-live my bumming days (for 3 weeks...). The plan was to be in Singapore for half a week, spend the next two in Sydney, and the last half in Singapore again.

Touched down in Singapore on 19/9 and was out looking for Peacock Bass in the nearby reservoir... no takers... pretty depressing. Was sad to say that I didn't do much fishing, just walking in and out of tackle shops. But the good thing was that I stumbled upon some owner weedless soft plastic worm hooks that were just the right size. I was tired of losing jigheads and thought that this might be my life-saver... bought two packs.

The morning before the Australia leg of my journey saw me going onto Jeff moored boat for a short bait session. Things were awfully quiet for 3 hours until the line tightened and rod was bouncing away in the rod holder. Whatever that took the prawn certainly had some kilowatts in the horsepower department.... but superb (a shameless plug) rod technique made short work of my opponent... a nice Diamond Trevally.


48 hours later, I was walking the streets of the Sydney CBD into Prad... oops, a tackle store. I was looking for my trustee Berkley 2' Pumpkinseed Grubs but found none. So I bought some 2' Crays instead since they're reputed to be pretty effective. The next morning saw me head over to the neighbourhood park to re-acquaint myself with the breams... but unfortunately, only a few showed up. It was only through an elderly gentleman that I understood that it had been really quiet for the past 6 weeks!! Not surprisingly, it's the middle of spring but the weather was still bloody cold.

But undaunted, I drove the supra to another frequented location in the evening hoping to catch the upcoming tide. I was there too soon and the water was still too low. The wind was howling and the light was fast fading... it was time to go. Feeling very dissatisfied, I returned the next morning for the upcoming. This time, I decided to fish with the wind coming from behind. In less than 15 mins, I had my first Sydney lizard of 2008. The rest of the 3hr session saw me land another flatty and another two brembos... the second was about the 35cm mark and provided relief for my fish-impoverished soul.






Reuben and I had 2 fantastic bait sessions over the weekend with Ms Kim landing 14 fish in the session... it's gotta be the hooks :D The fishing was non-stop but no photos were taken.

The Sydney trip saw me making my biggest purchase in my entire fishing career.... an A$830 Winston BII MX. Luckily I've got some money from the tax return to ease the pain...


Back in Singapore, I paid another visit to Jeff's boat in the evening and saw me lost 5 fish.... how bad was that. :D

COD AND REDFISH

It's been some time since I last posted on the blog as I haven't been fishing alot until the recent month. But I did manage to sneak out once in a while when I have time.

Well, this trip is no different. Went back to my trustee Redfish hideout in search of some willing victims. Started the day as usual, spent the Saturday morning lazing around abit and taking the pre-noon ferry to my getaway.

But this day, I decided to do explore the surrounding area before I go looking for Mr Red. Whilst on my way to the rocks, I passed a spot that I read from a blog that had produced a nice john's snapper for the author... a nice place to go do some bait soaking. Moving along, I reached the rocks and started to look for a nice place where I could chuck a lure. I stationed myself where I could see a length of submerged rocks in about 2-3 feet of water and proceeded to cast the 3D minnow. Nothing fancy, just a straight retrieve.

And in about 10 mins, the lure got hit and I can't believe that there's still fish! Brought the cod up without fanfare for a few customary shots before returning him to grow a little bigger.... that's if the locals don't catch him first... they'd consider it a pretty good sized catch.



I continued casting for another 15mins without inquiry and headed off to Mr Red's. It was a good 45mins before I found myself in familiar territory. This time round, I decided to give the fly rod a go first. 15 minutes passed without any customers and it was time to break out the spin rod. Whipped on my trustee Berkley Powerbait and within 10 casts, I was in business. It was awesome... I can't believe that there's still some around!


But that was to be my one and only red of the trip as the tide signalled the end of happy hour. But all in all, still a very fruitful trip in overfished Hong Kong.
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