Beginner fishing for kids in Singapore

One day, many years ago, my father brought me to an estuary tidal gate at a creek in Changi to fish. This is the start of my fishing adventure. We brought along some bamboo rods, each tied with a piece of fishing string. A hook and a sinker were then attached to the string. We baited the hooks with prawn meat and placed the bait just below the water surface. Big schools of puffer fish could be seen going for the bait. The puffer fish were very greedy. When they bite on the bait they refused to let go. So when the rod was flipped up, the fish flew out of the water and onto the bank. We then just had to pick them up. This was so much fun. I am hooked and there is no going back.

Nowadays, kids are attracted to mostly indoor activities like computer games, handheld electronic devices etc. It is difficult to get them out of the house. Why not try fishing? It can be challenging enough to attract their attention.

When it is time to teach my kids fishing, I keep thinking about where could be the best place to introduce fishing to them. It is important that the kids are exposed to successful fishing the first time they participate. This will keep their interest going.

The place must have the following criteria:

1. It must have lots of small fishes. Their strikes will keep the children busy and interested as they have short attention span.
2. The fishes must be greedy so that it will be easy to catch them. Who wants to go fishing if there is nothing to catch?
3. The place must be easily accessible and safe. The water must not be too deep at the bank.
4. There should be toilets nearby. You will never know when there is an emergency. The toilets will be useful for washing up after the fishing session.

After thinking for a while, I thought that a pond in the park might be a good place. At a visit to a nearby park some time ago, I had observed that there are some small fishes around. But are they co-operative enough for a fishing session? We will find out soon enough.

As for the fishing method, I think Pole Fishing will be the best setup. Pole fishing is the most basic form of fishing with a rod. Imagine how simple can it be, there is just the rod, the main line, the float, the weight and the hook. Also casting using the pole is easy. A simple under arm swing will be enough to cast the whole rig out. Any kid can master pole fishing in no time.

And because there will be something, which is the float, to help indicate when the fish is biting, the kids will be occupied looking expectantly at the float. 

So I made two simple foam floats from discarded foam packing material and paper clips.  I also found two old 5ft telescope rods which can be used as the pole. I used size 16 barbless hook as the fishes at the pond were very small. Bread would be used as bait.

An updated version of the rig is shown below.

Float Rig for Pole Fishing

The day of reckoning arrived and, after a brief talk on how to bait with bread, when to strike and a short demonstration of the underarm casting, the kids were left to try their luck.

Luckily the fishes were co-operative. No sooner had the bait touch the water, the float started to bob up and down. In their eagerness to catch the fish, the kids strike too early. I had to tell them to wait until the float had either started to move away or was under the water surface for slightly longer time before striking with a sharp short lifting of the rod. After a few fishes later, the kids started to catch fish on their own. After a fish was caught, the look of the grin on their faces was priceless.

As can be seen from the pictures, the kids had lots of fun during the short fishing trip. The fishes were released after the photo session.

First Fish of the Day.

What a catch for 2 hour of fishing.

Why not bring your kids fishing. It is a good opportunity to get the kids outdoors to enjoy nature and teach them a skill that will last a lifetime. Why not make a fishing trip part of the kid’s next school holiday programme. I believe that a family that fishes together will stay together.

And please practice catch, photo and release (aka CPR). It is fine to keep one or two but release the majority of the catch. This will help to preserve fish stock and for the other kids to enjoy the sport of fishing.

And I will add my favorite saying:
Give a man a fish; you will feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish; you will feed him for a life time.

Happy Fishing and Tight Line.

Fishing Paradise @ ORTO Fishing trip

When: 24 June 2015

Where: Fishing Paradise @ ORTO

Weather: Bright and Sunny

Water Condition: Water murky as usual. The water level is OK considering that there is rain the past few days.

Rod: Lemax Euromax  EM66MH2 12-25lb

Reel: Shimano Aernos 2500FA

Line: Power Pro 20lb Braided Line

Leader: 15lb Dupont Monofilament Line

Method: Floating Bread

Strike Zone: Near to Centre of the Pond

Victim aka The Fish: Pacu and Patin

Comment/Observation:

School’s out and it is time for big game fishing. Don’t get the wrong idea and let me clarify. Big game fishing to my kids and I is fishing trips to the local commercial pay pond where big fishes are stocked. Only when the school holidays are here, then my kids will have the time to go to the pay pond. As you know, Singapore has one of the most stressful education environments in the world and the kids need some de-stressing. Come to think of it, this is another thing where we are world class. 

One of our favorite pay ponds is Fishing Paradise @ ORTO. This is one of the few freshwater catch and release commercial ponds in Singapore. The pond is famous for their giant Chao Praya Catfish and Redtail Catfish. Other freshwater monster fishes are also stocked here. I like catch and release ponds. This means the fishes that are stocked in the pond have the chance to grow bigger and the fish stock normally does not get depleted. Not only the bite rate will be better, the chance of getting a big fish will also greatly increase. And the pond rule of Catch and Release follows what I strongly believe in.

A good introductory video on Fishing Paradise is available here .

Fishing Paradise @ ORTO is at:
81 Lorong Chencharu
Singapore 769198
Contact Number: 9632 7626
Opening hours: 24 hours Daily

Other than the good bite rate, the other thing I like about Fishing Paradise is the free parking and easy access from Khatib MRT Station. I am not affiliated to Fishing Paradise in any way. I am just an angler who visits them often. 

Currently the species of fish that we are targeting in the pond are those that eat bread. And this includes the Chao Praya, the Patin, the Rohu, the African Catfish and the Pacu. Sometime in the future, we will target the meat eater, the hard fighting Redtail Catfish. And not forgetting the Barramundi which is also food for the bigger Chao Praya and the Redtail Catfish.

Today was a very hot day. According to the Met Forecast, temperature was from 26 to 34 °C and it was fair and cloudy. And there was no rain for the whole day. We will be fishing from 4 to 6pm. On such a hot day, I am sceptical that the fish will bite.

Am I very wrong. Today is the day that we broke our record. Normally we caught about three fishes but today we managed to catch five fishes. The method used was the floater rig with bread skin bought from Fishing Paradise. The bait will be floating on the surface. The rig used the15lb Dupont monofilament line for the hook length. The hook was the Size 14 Octopus Hook from Eupro. This is equivalent to a Size 1 Beak hook.

Fishing with floating bread is very exciting. The floating bread acts as a bite indicator. Fishes could be seen surfacing occasionally to eat and a take will be anticipated whenever some surface action is near the floating bait. Sometime the fish misses and this will caused our heart to pump faster hoping it will turn around for another take. And sometime we are disappointed when the bait is stolen.

When a fish strikes close to the floating bread, we will automatically train our eyes to our line hoping a fish will drag the line out. When this happens, hang on for dear life as when the fish feels some resistance, it will speed out very fast and the drag on the reel will screamed.  After a quick strike and the battle begins. 

I will let the following pictures to complete the catch report.

Fighting the Pacu in Progress.

Finally a 6Kg Pacu was landed.

Here comes the first of a series of Patin.

The second Patin.

The third Patin.

The fourth Patin and a new record was achieved.

The Temensis Hunt

When: On a sunny day in April 2015 

Where: A place where Temensis roam. 
Weather: Bright and Sunny 
Water Condition: Water clear and high after yesterday’s heavy rain 
Rod: A generic 6ft Telescopic rod 
Reel: A size 1000 El Cheapo spinning reel 
Line: Unknown brand 10lbs monofilament line 
Leader: SureCatch 20lb Ultimate Leader 
Lure: Weighted fly rig using Home-made Raffia Fly. This rig is also known as spin fly. 
Method: Slow Jerk-Retrieve- Slow Jerk-Retrieve 
Strike Zone: Near to weedy area. 
Victim aka The Fish: The Cichla Temensis aka Speckled Pavon aka Peacock Bass

Comment/Observation:

It has been a long time since my last visit to one of my favourite Temensis hunting ground. So I decided to explore the area to get some insight into its fishing condition. Since I have only a small window of time, I decided to go straight into using weighted fly.

The fishing condition here is tough. With heavy undergrowth and low over-hanging tree branches, it makes moving about and casting very difficult. One has to be very careful during casting or the tree fish will take your lure.

The mode of attack here is to cast towards the edge of the weed bed. The Temensis usually like to hide near to the edge of the weeds and will rush out to take any unsuspecting prey that swims by.

The first spot I went to have quite deep waters and weed growth near to the water edge. After casting for a short while, a school of Temensis came to investigate the splashing made by my casting. They noticed the fly and went chasing after it. One of the Temensis made a strike and it is fish on. It is not a big one but it gave a good account for itself. A quick CPR later and, as expected, the school have moved on as there were no further strikes.

I went to the next spot. Here the water is much shallower as the bottom can be seen. I noticed two Temensis came to investigate after a few casts later. I slowed the retrieve and then a sudden tug was felt. This fish was bigger than the first Temensis that I had caught. After the CPR, I decided to call it a day.

Today’s mission was considered a success. There were days where I do not get any strike in this area so I am very happy to have landed two fishes in such a short session. At least I know that the Temensis is still thriving here.

Please practise Catch and Release. This is the best way to sustain fish stock for the future. 

Picture:

Temmy One

Temmy Two