Kyoto Haven Pond - Pasir Ris FW3

After a long hard day of doing housework in preparation for CNY, a call from friend to pay a visit to Kyoto pond is too much of a temptation. I just need to get out of the house to get a break, and also I would like to visit the pond as it have been in operation for a while already but yet didn't see much catch reports on this pond. Anyway armed with just some coffee and some drinks, this trip will serve as a recce trip for me while my friend will be fishing.

We reach there just after 10pm, immediately am told that they will close at 2am today thus with their current promotion of 3hrs+1hrs free, we will lose out about 15mins of fishing. No issue at all, so let's start fishing. In less then 20 minutes, 1st hook up, a KBL but friend loss it when the KBL is doing it's 'Michael Jordan' routine, after that it is pretty quiet for my friend till about 1 am where he have about 3 hooks up but lost all of it. Staffs are friendly chaps which I manage to strike a decent conversation with a couple of them, which they tell me a lot more about the ponds and other stuff. Some interesting facts is that there are 12 species in the pond, 2 types of KBL (Barra and Local KBL, err.... dun ask me what are local KBL, I have no idea what they are), small qty of Taiwan Ngor, 3 types of groupers (sorry too tired to remember what they are), GT (Golden Trevally), GT again (this time round is Giant Trevally), GP (golden promfet), and 3 species of snappers. Plus 2 Giant groupers which have grown to an estimated 20kg odd already.

Daiwa SS700 - Servicing the Classic

The classic Daiwa SS700, a reel that is from another era but yet still in production today shows that this reel does stand against the test of time. It is a robust reel, compact reel with a strong drag system, and of course the distinctive sound of line out, it's music to any angler that very distintive 'ting-ting' that tells the world that the SS700 is in action.

In this fast moving, ever evolving world of technology, I wonder why would anyone wanted to get this reel. It's anti-reverse is so old school, nothing like the instant lock up of those anti-reverse bearing, it is much heavier that those newer reels, it's roller system is a joke and it is a pain in the ass to dismantle and service this reel. I wonder how many folks who have buy it, dun like it and sell it off ASAP, if not for it cult status, my guess is that no one is willing to pay around SGD150 for this reel.

I have it, I tried to make it better, but failed. So have to use it as it is except for a slight modification of the bushing to bearing for the worm shaft. And I do like it because it's uses the worm shaft design which I like. But to service it is another matter altogether, I seriously do think that this reel production is very labour intensive (maybe that's why it is shifted to Thailand?), you will see why in the servicing portion below.

Ofmer Axis 6 - Servicing the reel

The tiny Ofmer Axis 6, one I have been pretty much in recent times. As I am trying out an experiment to check how will the grease I uses stood against the constant usage and if it can still offer protection, I didn't open up this reel for a pretty long time. Now time to service it and to check out if any rust can be found since my last servicing.

Before I go into the servicing portion, a quick recap what I have done prior to this servicing. This reel is greased using Abu Teflon grease and bearings with Abu Teflon infused oil. With these Teflon in both oil and grease, the reel is indeed very very smooth to use, after a prolong use, the thin layer of grease is still found on the gears. No rust or any corrosion is found, but bearing in mind that I didn't use this in any salt water environment, not too sure if it will last on reels used in saltwater fishing.

Back to the servicing, Text in within the pics itself to make easier reading and more precise. Very simple job, for more details do refer to a more in depth write up on Reel servicing

North Fork Composites blanks

Been a while since I put something up on this blog, been busy lately plus having to serve my nation for 2 weeks keep me away for a while. Problem is that I haven't been fishing lately so what can I put in here? Luck have it that recently I am doing some search on the net to look for a 3 section 15ft noodle rod, previously I saw one piece for sale at a US website which is built by Dick Swan, but by the time they responded it is already sold.

One thing leads to another, then I saw an article that got my attention, it is about Gary Loomis (yup the same guy that started 'G Loomis' the company and partner with a Taiwan firm for 'Loomis & Franklin') first started his rod business by buying fly blanks and transform it into a noodle rod so that he can downsize his terminal when the fishes are not biting. Anyway, what have happen to between the man and the company is that he sold it off to Shimano more then a decade ago but stay at the company likely because of contract obligations. Recently, he is back to to a business he is familiar, manufacture blanks and his new company is North Fork Composites

Fly Tying Bobbin - DIY Style

This version comes nothing close to those you buy from tackle shops, it fact it does not even look the same. It is because I come across Shout Bobbin knoter that inspire this simple and cheap design, totally different from those you get from fly tackles manufacturers.

In fact I am not keen to invest on a proper one is because I don't really need to tie beautiful flies, I make those easy to make flies for spin cast only. Because of the cheap cost of those DIY flies, I can afford to cast them to those high risk area, and the loss are pretty high. Furthermore, the last time I enquire, a Taiwan made reasonable good bobbin cost in excess of SGD30, too expensive for me to buy and experiment, I have better use for the money.

The items I used are whatever I have in my house, spend just some time to think thru the design and quickly assemble them, spend less then half an hour to make this, and a while later for the 5 minute epoxy to dry. Cost me close to nothing, if you are missing an item, just search around your house for something similar and use a bit of imagination.

Beginner Guide to start fishing

At tackle shop, whenever I manage to pick up a conversation between a newbie fisho and the tackle shop assistant, it is usually an interesting barrage of questions answered by some technical answers. I wonder at times how much can a newbie picks up these info and the frustration felt. Of course I can sense the frustration of the tackle shop assistant when these newbies are asking how to catch BIG fishes (maybe to impress the girl girl they are bringing along for the fishing trip), it's like trying to run before one learn to walk.
As a matter of fact when I started fishing, my dad is always around to help me. He is a fisho too, and he will prepare everything I need for me and more. But in those days, money is hard to come by, we fish the most traditional way, handline on pier and lakes. Only in my twenties, then I started to fish with fishing rods and reels, and started a new chapter of learning on fishing once again. Allow me to share with you what I have learnt so far and to explain as much as I can the simple basic fishing methods.
Let's start off with the most essential items, the rod and reels.  I will start with the most 2 common form of fishing locally, inshore baiting and light luring.

Where to Grease / Oil on Reels? (BC and Spin)

I have these 2 image on my HDD giving a reference to what to oil or grease on Spin reels and BC reels. I can't remember where I got these from but they gave me a pretty decent guide on the places to oil/grease. However these could only serve as a guideline, as you might have specific requirement for some reels. From the guideline, it seems that whoever have done this is more concern about protection as seen by the heavy usage of medium / heavy oil.

As I am not into heavy oil since I do maintain my reels on a regular basis, thus I set up my own guideline. I like the use of lighter oils to improve my fishing pleasure, but they do dry up faster thus the need for regular maintenance.
Oil - for Fast moving parts, usually on ball bearings.
Grease - for Slow moving parts, usually gears and interconnect parts.
Some unique case where I will put grease into the bearing are like Abu handle bearing which then tends to rust rather easily and it is a slow moving part.

As for what oil or grease to use, here's what I have put up before in this posting Reel Servicing. Again, just as a guideline for you.