catch of the day

Oh went camping and fishing at East Coast Park last Friday. Even though he knows a lot of guys in the Navy who are into fishing, he has never fished in his life. Fishing, in a way, is like golf - you'll never understand why people do it until you try it yourself. So try he is going to.

Thankfully, together with his eager-beaver but just-as-clueless sidekick, he stumbled upon a fish tackle shop (Joe's) along Beach Road the night before. There was this young chap tending the shop who was really helpful. Not only did he help them assembled all they needed at a reasonable cost, he also taught them everything from how to set up the fishing line to tying the hook and sinker in place using a double surgeon's knot, and even casting the line like a pro!

It helped that Oh is talented and quick to learn, of course. His sidekick, though fumbling most of the time, wasn't that bad either. Despite the dark surroundings (it was past 10pm), they managed to set up their tent just beside the beach and put the fishing gear in place with only the help of a small touchlight. All these in between bouts of sneezing attacks as Oh was battling an untimely and dreadful cold!

There was only one other guy fishing at that spot that night - this 30-something Malay guy. There were many other tents around, though, a large proportion of which belonged to other Malay folks. Camping and fishing, it seems, are two favourite pastimes of the Malays.

Oh never really expected to catch anything on his first attempt. So, soon after casting the line and positioning the rod down on the beach, he retired to the tent while his sidekick visited the nearby loo. That was when the Malay guy who was also fishing popped in.

"Eh brudder, got fish lah. Jerking very hard! You better pull it in or your rod will fly away!"

Oh couldn't believe his luck! He rushed out to check the fishing rod. But frankly, he couldn't tell at all that a fish was dangling at the end of the line. Or maybe it had jerked really hard some moments ago but had given up the struggle by now. Not wanting to appear like he distrusted his helpful angling neighbour, he began reeling the line in.

When he saw what he pulled in, he was like, OMFG... There's really a fish! And it wasn't like the sort of small Nasi Lemak fish leh! It was more than 20 centimetres long! (As they found out later, it was also bigger than anything the Malay guy caught the whole night. Heheheh.)

Oh got so excited he ran all the way to the loo to inform his sidekick! And he just left the fish in the pail to die! Thankfully, his trusty sidekick wasn't in a state of delirium like he was and acted quickly to pour some water from the sea to keep the fish alive.

Big fish still struggling to stay alive

Check out the fish they caught. Not bad huh? It made Oh look silly for telling his sidekick not to buy such a big pail, since they probably won't catch anything. Kudos to his sidekick for preparing and hooking up the bait as well. Oh wonders what she did to the bait.

Alas, Oh and his sidekick should have stopped on their first attempt. That would've given them a 100% career success rate in fishing, ha! Their subsequent 4-5 attempts resulted in nothing. Nope, not even ikan bilis. Those sneaky fishes even managed to gobble up the baits without getting hooked!

Pity too, that they had not brought a freezer box. Even with a pack of ice from the nearby 7-Eleven to keep their precious catch from rotting, they woke up the next morning to find ants swarming around the poor fish. So down the trashbin it went.

The next morning

Well, there's always the next time, non?