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.
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.
We eventually made a beeline for the shore and reached it before sundown. With the tide high, we had little issues with the recovery.
I was slightly annoyed though that Nordin’s Native Slayer 10 was so light, even without comparing it to my Slayer 13.
The End.