HLF

I ended up at Bedok Jetty early today morning after a quiet night at Tanjong Rhu, which had a horrible catch rate for me. There were zero bites. I figured that I might have been using the wrong bait.

Anyway, we ended up at Bedok Jetty at about 2 a.m and thought it might be a good idea to pick a nice spot to rest before waking up in the early morning to jig for tambans as live bait.

When the sun started to rise at about 0635 a.m, we started jigging for them. After about 3 hours, the weather was too hot to bear for us. It ws a pity that we did not bring any sunblock along, due to this trip originally being an overnight fishing trip.

Bedok Jetty looks almost surreal at dawn, it was so beautiful with the orange hue of the rising sun casting a magnificent glow over the jetty and from where we were, we could see that the surrounding sea was teeming with loads of tamban darting around the water!



Anyway, at the end of the day, it was a pretty good haul of a hundred over tambans and 3 unidentified small fishes which I have since kept in my freezer for future use. (Btw, can anyone help to ID the fish below the tamban in the 3rd picture below? They all make this strange croaking noise when we pull them out of the water and onto the jetty.)







There was also a strike to our bigger rod with live tamban bait attached to a long snood bottom feeder, with the rod suddenly jumping up high while we were in the midst of jigging. Unfortunately, the fish went under the jetty and the line got sangkut-ed beneath it. It was later retrieved with everything intact except the hook and live bait. So sad.

That's a big haul of tambans there, it'll make up for the lack of fun during the night at Tanjong Rhu. You guys are tough to be able to fish on with little sleep, the fishing spirit must be high. The fish you're looking to identify is a Kunning, the fish used in Nasi Lemak, a very tasty fish.

Too bad for the biggie that got away, the hook probably didn't set. Did the bait fish come back with scars? The abundance of tambans sure will attract lots of predatory fishes near to the jetty, especially queenfish. Looks like it's a good time for me to visit there too.

Thanks for sharing this well written catch report.

Nice write up Darth Salacious

I have not fish at Bedok Jetty before n after reading your catch report ...maybe will give it a try someday.

What did u do to those bait fish ? Keep for next fishing trip or fry them in a wok with assam

Waiting for your next interesting catch report.

Thanks a lot Peace.

Yes, the tamban jigging definitely made up for the bad night out at Tanjong Rhu. We were pretty fired up to catch something after that. Ha ha.

We did catch a little sleep at Bedok Jetty, but we were awakened by the Tamban Hook Uncle's calls at about 6 a.m.

It does seem that the Tamban Hooks made by the uncle have a much better catch rate than the Sabikis that we brought along. Does anyone have the same experience (better catch rate) when using the hooks bought from the uncles selling them on their bicycles there?

Oh, so that fish is a Kuning. I found it rather interesting that Kunings make a strange "croak croak" noise when they were brought up onto the jetty. It seemed to be coming from their gills, I think.

Yeah, it was a pity that we couldn't land that biggie. I'm quite curious as to what fish it could have been. My guess is that it's a Grouper, and our line got stuck when it went into some rocks beneath the jetty to hide.

And as for the queenfish, we saw a few jumping out of the water amidst the schools of Tamban. Our neighbour and us also spotted a pair of them swimming quite near to the surface too.

My leader came back without the hook and bait. You're right bro, I think the hook didn't set in as I set the drag quite low in fear of it going for a swim. Ha ha. Grr, I'll get it the next time.

Angelfishing wrote:Nice write up Darth Salacious

I have not fish at Bedok Jetty before n after reading your catch report ...maybe will give it a try someday.

What did u do to those bait fish ? Keep for next fishing trip or fry them in a wok with assam

Waiting for your next interesting catch report.

Thanks a lot.

I think Bedok Jetty is quite a nice place to fish in the morning. Hopefully you will catch something nice and big there bro.

I have not decided whether to eat the tambans in my freezer yet. Maybe I'll deep fry some and leave the rest as bait for my upcoming fishing trips.

I understand that I have to cut off the tail or cut it into 2 pieces if I want to use it as bait. Can share with me what frozen tambans are good for?

Darth Salacious wrote:Thanks a lot.

I think Bedok Jetty is quite a nice place to fish in the morning. Hopefully you will catch something nice and big there bro.

I have not decided whether to eat the tambans in my freezer yet. Maybe I'll deep fry some and leave the rest as bait for my upcoming fishing trips.

I understand that I have to cut off the tail or cut it into 2 pieces if I want to use it as bait. Can share with me what frozen tambans are good for?

You can use it as a whole if the bait fish is not too big. Use a baiting needle if you're surfcasting. Tamban baits are good for many species. Threadfin, stingray n groupers are just some example

NICE CR Darth Salacious ...

I've been to BJT twice .... Haven't caught anything ....

Not even tambans .......

I still have a lot to learn there ....

Yes, the tamban jigs sold by the uncle there is pretty effective and beats most commercially sold jigs. I tried tying some myself but it still doesn't gets as effective as his somehow. Kuning along with many other fishes can croak as well. Fishes like ponyfish(kekek), grunters(guhood) and even diamond trevallies can make croaking sounds. Don't forget toadfish too!

It would be a real pity if the lost fish was a grouper. Fishing for them requires immediate attention upon take, for they will either dash for cover or bite through the leader. Securing rod definitely will help but you may also use heavier sinkers to aid setting of hooks too. But the most important factor is still the time to react.

There will be another day.

Angelfishing wrote:You can use it as a whole if the bait fish is not too big. Use a baiting needle if you're surfcasting. Tamban baits are good for many species. Threadfin, stingray n groupers are just some example

Oh, I see. I don't have a surfcast rod, so I guess I'm pretty much confined to jetty fishing.

Thanks for taking the trouble to ID some of the fishes I'll be able to catch with frozen tamban. Hopefully I'll get something with them real soon. I'll definitely share my CR if I get anything with the great bunch in here.

desleyhan wrote:NICE CR Darth Salacious ...

I've been to BJT twice .... Haven't caught anything ....

Not even tambans .......

I still have a lot to learn there ....

Thanks Desley!
Anyway you must try jigging for tambans there. It's very fun.
I saw your catches in your site and I must say, bravo!
You have quite a number of nice catches, and your CRs in this forum are all very well written and entertaining!

Peace wrote:Yes, the tamban jigs sold by the uncle there is pretty effective and beats most commercially sold jigs. I tried tying some myself but it still doesn't gets as effective as his somehow. Kuning along with many other fishes can croak as well. Fishes like ponyfish(kekek), grunters(guhood) and even diamond trevallies can make croaking sounds. Don't forget toadfish too!

It would be a real pity if the lost fish was a grouper. Fishing for them requires immediate attention upon take, for they will either dash for cover or bite through the leader. Securing rod definitely will help but you may also use heavier sinkers to aid setting of hooks too. But the most important factor is still the time to react.

There will be another day.

Oh, I see. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge with me, boss!
Yeah man, I'll definitely be back for that fish that stole my bait. Ha!

Nice CR. Ya you are right that the tamban jig sell by the uncle there are better than the sabiki.

stevenseow wrote:Nice CR. Ya you are right that the tamban jig sell by the uncle there are better than the sabiki.

Thanks a lot!