CR - 1 hour Quickie at Taman Jurong Pro Pond

Ever since I knew more about rubbers lures and how effective it is at the Taman Jurong Pro Pond, I always recommend fisho I know to try out rubber at the pro pond.  After a long long break, I visited the pond 2 weeks back with a non-fishing friend, not to fish but to watch EPL at the little pub there.  As the water is very clear that night, I can see a few schools different species of fishes they released (KBL, Taiwan Ngor and MJ).  Notice that the KBL are of decent sizes, 1kg+ and saw a 2kg+ one too, I find that odd as usually they release 700g to 800g KBL only.  However, with 5 rods at that time and all using live prawn, I didn't see anyone catching any fish.  So sent as SMS to a fellow fisho who like to fish at this pond, telling him the KBL at the pro pond have grown cause no one is catching them.

This evening, fisho friend called me telling me he wanted to go take a look at the pond as he have not been there for a while, so off we go with no fishing gear.  But I brought along two 1/8 oz jig head and some rubbers, in case of zero fighter newbies who need to bring at least one fish home, I can give them the stuff to try.  After a while, friend get really itchy as he didn't fish for a while, and after seeing that I brought the rubbers, he decided to pay for an hour of fishing using their house rod.

After a very short session, he decided to take a smoke and pass the rod to me to have a go, a couple of cast later, I got my first hook up, but alas, jerky drag plus entangle with another angler's line make me lost the fish and also the jig head.  Damn, now left with only one jig head for the rest of the session, thus we decided to go for high drag setting and hopefully bring in the fishes fast to reduce the chance of line out situation.

Friend landed 2 fish shortly, one KBL and one MJ, and after that I have a go, I simply cannot believe that I have 7 takes and zero hook up and friend got 2 to 3 takes and also zero hook up.  However, we both ended the one hour session pretty satified with the bite rate, but non too happy about the hook up rate.  I think the jig head hook got blunt after the 2nd fish is landed, this unable to increase the hook up rate.  But nevertheless, it still prove to us that rubbers work well at the pro pond.

Tips

Bring your own tackle, their reels is in real need to service and have the drag system changed. Drag is jerky, and is either low or very high setting, not good at all.

Use rubber with good tail action, commonly found rubbers like Sure Catch, Angler's Pal, White Rabbit are okay, but the material is a bit hard, trim the section between body and tail thinner to achieve better tail action; Without good tail action, catch rate is significantly reduced. Remove the bottom triple hook as well, snag too easily as the strike zone is just above the bottom of the pond; Best are those soft unweighted rubber to be used with jig head, can use as it is with good tail action.

Tips - Kelong Fishing @ Sibu Kelongs

A kelong visit with family or friends are always an enjoyable trip, to enjoy the outdoor, sea breeze, blazing hot sun, sea all around.  These days the kelongs found in Sibu Malaysia are converted into a family resort style, no longer used to haul in fishes from the net.  To spare you the agony of reading the history of kelongs, google for more info.

Back to fishing, whenever I visit kelong it is generally to fish.  Heck, what could an angler ask for when he is surrounded by sea? So what can you expect to catch from a 'hut in the middle of the sea'?

What I can share with you is what I have learn from fellow anglers, who so unselfishly shared their knowledge with me. I should now in turn share with you almost everything I know about fishing at these beautiful kelongs, except for some closely guarded rigs which I am not suppose to share openly without their permission.

Instead of telling you what rig to prepare for a kelong trip, allow me to do things a little bit different here.  I will put up some different species of commonly found fishes and the method to fish for them.  There are usually hundreds of method to fish, and as a matter of fact I am still learning as always.  But these are my usual methods whenever I want to specifically target for a certain species.  Most method are using baits instead of artificial lures, as I am not experience in luring and kelong are a pretty tough place to lure due to the height where we will be fishing.

Comments are always welcome!!!

Spinning Reel - Complete Strip down, Clean & Re-Lube

This is a picture intensive posting, but I will put up the images in Thumbnail (as for this series of Reel Maintenance), these images are for reference mainly as there is an old Chinese idiom, a picture is worth more then hundred words.


Most of us started fishing using a spinning reel, as it is easier to operate and also generally cheaper then a conventional reel. And usually your first experience using a spinning reel will be a budget model, either you purchase or borrowed from friends or family member. (No one in his or her right mind will lend an expensive reel to a newbie fisho)

Some friends I know can’t be bothered to service these budget reels, they would only spend money to service the higher end models. However, budget reel can last a long time if one bothers to take a bit of time and effort to keep them in tip top shape. One fishing pal I know of uses the same budget reel and have landed hundreds of fishes, while mine have landed maybe a hundred plus and both of our reels are still going strong.

Many a time anglers are afraid to open up their reels to clean and re-lube them, worried that they will not be able to put everything back together again. Spend a little time and effort, that first reel that your parents buy for you (most likely hidden in your storeroom) could once again become your workhorse and rekindle the fishing passion that have long passes you by.

Before you start, please do make sure that you have the schematic drawing of the reel with you. In the older days, it is printed on a sheet of paper, while nowadays some are printed on the box itself. Having the schematic drawing will guide you along if you have lost your way while putting the reel back.

Some classic reels schematic are available off the web, Google for it if you can't find yours.

Disclaimer - Dismantle your reel at your own risk. I will NOT be liable for any responsibility if you are unable to re-assemble your reel back together.

Roller Bushing on Spinning Reel - Direct Replacement

Very often you heard about by having a roller bearing instead of a roller bushing will enhance your fishing experience. I will show you how to do it, however should your roller bushing is of an odd shape or size; it is not possible without any modification. See previous posting on having an odd shaped roller bushing Roller Bushing to Bearing


In this posting, if your reel is equipped with a bushing that have a bearing that is of exact fit or if you think your roller bearing is rusted and need a change, you will find it useful.

Before you proceed, do ask yourself if you really do need to 'upgrade' to a roller bearing. Reason being roller bearing are highly prone to rust due to it's exposure to the elements esp the salty water that your line picks ups.  And if you do not maintain your reels often, this might not be a good idea.  Nothing wrong with the bushing design really, it is almost a maintenance free part, thus I am not really surprise to find some mid range reel, ie.g. Daiwa Kix, using bushing rather than bearing.  Anyway if you do fish on a regular basis and have some extra cash, do consider to upgrade those mid range reels' bushing to ceramic hybrid bearing, not fool-proof but definitely a few notch above the standard ball bearing in terms of being rust prone.

Changing Drag Material on Spinning Reel

Anglers how fishes regularly will know that drags will degrade over time, either loss of drag or jerky drags. Most time, a simple clean and service of drag will be suffice to get it back to shape, but sometimes, a change of drag material is required.


This is a simple tutorial on how to change the drag material on your spin reel. I choose a budget reel instead of a high end reel for a simple reason, I believe 95% of reel volume sold are budget reels. Most spin reels have the same configuration and the choose reels for drags, though some have washer proof washers (e.g. Daiwa Freams 4500J), or have the drag material at the bottom of spool instead (e.g. Penn SpinFisher). Least not forget some reel have duel drag (top and bottom of spool) but not going to cover them simply because I do not have such reels.

Before I proceed, I do recall a fisho asking why I bother to service and upgrade my spin reels (which are mainly budget reels). He say "Just get a new one when you old one breaks down, why bother with them when they are so cheap". Actually I am stump for an answer to him, in economic sense it make no sense, but boys being boys, they need to take things apart to investigate and try to improve wherever they can. Some modifications I do are to suit my style of fishing, while others are just for the heck of it.

Enough of this off-topic discussion, back to the tutorial

Simple Spinning Reel Maintenance

In recent times I have not been fishing much, so updating this blog with a series of reel maintenance tutorial. This posting will cover the most basic one of all, oiling the bearings on your reel to simply keep them in a smooth operating condition.

Ever wonder why the brand new reel you purchased feel silky smooth when you first start to use it but after a few fishing trips and been kept in the storeroom after a period of time, they does not feel as smooth as your first purchased it?

Irregardless of either a budget or high end fishing reel, they do need to be cleaned, serviced and lubricate. Reason being these reels are basically mechanical equipment, and with all mechanical equipments, without any lubrication they will fail to function well and wear and tear rate will increase drastically.

Some anglers have their lucky reel, some reels have sentimental value, and some might feel it is a waste to throw away a reel just because it is not longer just as smooth as it is just purchased (like me.....)

Though spinning reel have different gearing methods, but some parts remain very identical from budget to mid range to high end reels. And one such part is bearings that are found on either side of the reel support the handle assembly. Lubricate these bearings not only will it prevent rust and will also bring back some of the smoothness back. If you have never oil them before, imagine what is happening in the bearing – steel rubbing against steel without any lubrication. Albiet, some budget reels have bushing rather then bearing, in this case, then there is not need to oil those busing.

What about the gears inside the reel? Does it need to be lubricated?
As a matter of fact, the answer is YES. However, as most reels are packed with grease internally when they are shipped out, thus there is a good chance that there is enough grease to keep it going for a while.

Changing Roller Bushing to Bearing

One of the fav mod that anglers like to do is to change the roller bushing of their budget reel to ball bearing. A lot of budget reel are really easy, as the bushing as the same shape and dimension for a direct ball bearing replacement.

Shimano budget reel are a different beast altogether (might be just what I have), their bushing is of an odd shaped and the outer diameter is JUST slightly smaller then a standard ball bearing. This is what I have gotten to replace my Shimano Aernos XT to a ball bearing with a fair bit of work needed.

The black bushing and ball bearing is to replace the white bushing.

1. The roller ID measures just a little smaller then an standard ball bearing, so what is required is to grind the OD of the ball bearing to fits inside the roller.
2. The black bushing from another reel that I have replace it with a ball bearing, the OD fits the small groove found on the inside of the roller. The ID however is bigger then the ball bearing ID due to the the form of the assembly. However this is not an issue as this bushing is simply to act as a stopper to prevent the roller from slipping into the assembly.
3. The items are put in the order as shown in the pic, you might need a small thin shim to keep the roller bearing to come into full contact at the base of the assembly.


Points to note
1. The method of jamming the entire ball bearing into the roller works, without the need of any additional bushing. However, it is very difficult to remove the bearing when it got rusted. I will not recommend this.
2. If you cannot get any bushing like the black one I have, cut the original bushing. Remember you need the part with the 'lip' to prevent roller from sliding into the assembly. It is the cleaner white portion in the pic.
3. It is important to have the stopper bushing, once the roller slide into the assembly, your reel might not be able to lay the line correctly. You can use a bearing instead of a bushing if you find one that fits.

I will update further on the size of the bearings.