Fly Fishing Journal

The missus woke me up with her shadowless kick, as usual. In our younger days, it was much more gentle. Anyway I was out of the house quickly. It was drizzling lightly. I took out the brand new Gortex rain coat from the fishing gear box. Haven’t had the chance to use it since the day my nephew, Ming, bought it for me.

The drizzle had eased up by the time I made the turn into the road leading to our destination. CY called. He and Uncle Wong had arrived and will wait for me at the usual rendezvous point. Normally I don’t fish at the River when it rains because of falling trees and branches. But the urge to fish was unbearable after a lengthy spell without the fishing fixes and the risk of a tree falling on me was dedicated as a lesser danger than it was when I was fishing almost everyday.

The river wasn’t flowing. The best way to spend a raining Sunday morning is to sleep through it, like everybody else. The valve technician must be sleeping too. So the river will not flow today. The place was deserted except for 3 mentally compromised fly fishermen. Adi was down with rangerphobia and will not be joining us today. You guys gonna miss the star of my photoblog because he almost always catches something for me to post.

Uncle Wong and CY had rigged up their bamboo rods very quickly and started fishing. I was wearing the new Fishpond chest pack, bought yesterday from Coho, for the first time. The length of the strap made it more like a stomach pack on me. Any longer and it would definitely be a groin pack.

Uncle Wong and CY was hooking up Peacock Basses on every cast. I was shooting away left and right with my Canon Digital Ixus. Uncle Wong gave up his spot under the big tree for me. On my first cast, a ferocious Peacock Bass hit the fly with a force I had never felt for a long time. The LeoRod was bending double and the Peacock Bass decided it was an acrobat and did some spectacular aerial somersaults. I was hooking up a Peacock Bass on every cast.

CY was catching Peacock Basses on almost every cast with his new Mario Wojnicki 225FF4. He invited Uncle Wong to try out his new baby. “Like butter” Uncle Wong said. I took my turn to try out the Wojnicki. The rod was very light. I pulled out more fly line and did some false casts. It was throwing the 4 weight line very smoothly indeed. On the third cast, an Earth Eater grabbed the tadpole fly. A few quick shots by CY and me, as Uncle Wong hurried us to release the Earth Eater gently back into the water. These beauties can't last very long out of the waters, and we can't last very long in here due to the rangerphobia bug floating around recently.

Breakfast at Ah Hoe’s


Earth Eater.
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I woke up earlier than the normal fishing time. Drove via Mandai and Lentor to reach the destination. The north-eastern wind was pretty cold for the hot and humid tropical country. Uncle Wong and Adi arrived a while later. We rigged our bamboos and waited for Q.

There were eight trees along the road. Wonder who miscounted them and called the place Seven Trees. It even showed on Goggle Map. A distinct eight trees. We moved along the edge of the water. Uncle Wong and Adi were very steady and careful. I kept reminding them of pot hole and asked them not to fall into one. Finally I was the only one who stepped into a pot hole and fell over.

Again Uncle Wong was catching all the peacock basses. Q, Adi and I caught one each. The pull was more forceful than those we had with the fishes at the river. It was fun. But shame we have to leave early to avoid the white and blue vans.

Breakfast at a Yishun Kopitiam.

Stripeless Peacock Bass.
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My mobile phone alarm sounded, but I was too deep in my sleep to hear it. So the missus threw her shadowless kick on me. I was up and out of the house in 10 minutes, army recruit style. Uncle Wong and Jimmy had asked me to join them for a fly fishing session on Christmas day. But the maid’s on home leave and the missus wanted to bring the kids out.
There was no rain today and the weather was just fine. A perfect day for fly fishing. The construction site had made the place a bit muddy. Uncle Wong had a miner’s lamp on his head. Adi and I tagged along the path he walked. Imagine 2 young men letting him lead the way. Okay okay I hear you guys, middle age men.

The river was flowing at full force and the water was clear as gin. I caught 2 peacock basses. Uncle was at the further end of the river and as usual catching most of the fishes. I saw a school of Earth Eaters swimming pass. I casted ahead of them and let the fly drift towards them. Four of them, maybe five swam toward it in a frenzy. The fly line straighten and one of them was at the end of the line. A small one. I lifted it out of the water, had a few quick shots with my Canon Ixus and released it back into the water. Good catch for my rusty arms and reflexes.

Adi had joined Uncle Wong at the far end. I moved over to take some photos of Adi.

Adi landed another Peacock Bass.

After a long hiatus from this scenic place, I have finally found time to chuck some feathers at the Peacock Basses in the river. I took a slow drive and reached the river just when the sun had creeped above the tree tops. The valve technician had done his job and the river is at full force. CY was at the waterfall. “Morning Billy, Uncle just got a sebarau“. I kicked myself for not coming earlier. At least I can shoot some pictures of this spectacular fish for my blog.

I rigged up my LeoRod with the Hardy Bougle spooled with a Scientific Angler Sinking 4 weight line and took up position near Uncle Wong. After some casts without even a nibble, I walk over to where Adi was standing. “They had been quiet since Saturday” Adi said, referring to the Peacock Basses. CY caught a few Earth Eaters near the big tree with his new Paul Young rod. Uncle, must have missed his baby, took over my LeoRod while he passed CY’s Aroner for me to have a feel of the beautiful bamboo. Nothing bite. A school of Peacock Basses just swam pass the fly ignoring it altogether.

CY must have seen the disappointment in my face and passed his Paul Young to me. I stood at the spot he was fishing and after a few casts, caught an Earth Eater. Fishing with this bunch of bamboo crazy guys is a joy. They give up their spot for you. The let you use their rod and give you their secret fly. When you caught a fish, they enjoy your catch as much you do, and they make you feel like you are the only one who had caught a fish the whole morning.

Breakfast at Ang Mo Kio. Then off to Uncle Wong’s house to see his new arsenal.


CY caught a few Earth Eaters near the big tree.


Anybody want to guess what is inside this stainless steel container. Winner gets a ticket to ..................
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Got an SMS from Q. Fly fishing session at Bottle Tree Park. This was the place where Edward once operated the Kiddy Long Kang Fishing. Fishing ponds and restaurants and a garden where children can really be educated about the plants and trees.

We fished in some of the stocking or rearing ponds. I missed some big ones which sucked my dry fly and just torpedoed off. Broken tippets and flies lost. Very embarrassing indeed to lose big fishes just because, honestly, I haven’t really caught a real big one on a fly rod before, and didn’t have the experience or reflexes to even hook the biggie.

But never mind. I enjoy every minute there. The park is really beautiful. So you guy enjoy the photos of the trees and skeleton because I have no big fish to show off.


Albert with a good size tilapia.
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Finally, we, Fly Fishermen of Singapore, have a place we can call home. The Jelutung Community Centre. Q’s tremendous amount of work and lobbying had bear fruit and the dreams of the Fly Fishing community has come true today. Thanks Q. He had managed to convince Dr Lim Wee Kiat to help us form the Fly Fishing Club under the Community Centre. Dr Lim had being so gracious and had taken us under his umbrella. Big thank you to Dr. Lim.

The ball is in our court now. It will be up to us and the members to make sure that the Club is run properly and have programs in place to attract and recruit new members and keep the older members rooted in the Club. Q’s brain had already been working ahead of us all and he had quite a few programs in place. Only waiting for the right time to put into action. Some of the other guys who had work quietly behind the scene are Uncle Wong, Kuan, Albert, Henry, Jeremy and Gilbert. Thanks guys. I got MC lah.

Dr. Lim chatting with some of the members of Fly Fishing Club.

Its been quite a while since I’d joined Uncle Wong, CY and Adi for a morning session at the River. CY was going to test his new rod from Argentina at the River. Some construction was going on and the entrance to the River was fenced up. We managed detour by the side of the construction area and reached the River.

The River was flowing at it strongest and the Peacock Basses were fast and ferocious. “It also want to gasak my fingers”, Adi said. We lost count on how many we caught. I was snapping away with my Canon camera every few seconds.

The 6 weight Marcello was a joy to cast. Shooting the Scientic Angler sinking flyline like rocket. No double haul needed and it land the fly line straight as an arrow. The art work is simply beautiful as all Marcello's rod are. It is little wonder that CY couldn't wait to test it out even though the varnish on the handle is still a wee bit tacky. Uncle Wong was enjoying the RL Winston with every Peacock Bass he caught. Adi, as usual, pose for a few photos for me to put on my blog. Thanks Adi.

Breakfast at Ah Hoe’s and Mee-kia dry on Uncle Wong.


Peacock Bass bending the RL Winston Boo.