Disclaimer : If you think this is some sleazy and shady sharing on the secrets of Singapore Nightlife, you are in the wrong thread!
Many local anglers will say : ‘ Have lah!!! Go Changi there…. Lots of Ang Kway.. Catch until sian ah….’
For those indigenous old-bird anglers, they will all snigger, deep down…they know…. ‘Kelong release ones lah!!! Those are ‘Bai Bai Her’ (Live Release for Religious Purposes).
My mom told me when I first brought back a dirty-looking Ang Kway from one of my fishing trips in Changi area. If I am to bring back home, one more ‘Bai Bai Her’, she is going to disown me as her son..
That is serious shit! I might be approaching adulthood soon at 50, but I still need my Mom’s love, care, occasional petty cash, and most of all…. the cooking and the laundry service…
I set off all my telekinetic powers of my amphibian ancestry to seek out local grapevines for Ah Peks or Ah Sengs who gossip about their magnificent fishing adventures in the unchartered waters of the Singapore coastline and who have fearsome encounters with the mythical Wild Red Chicken of Singapore Waters.
Then I met BT. (aka Botak).. How we got to know each other will be worthy of a Pulitzer Prize Literature Novel.
BT is not the everyday guy you see on the road.. I dun even think he can fish when I first saw him..
‘Have lah…. aiyoh… very easy to catch lah! Just join me for my next trip out and I will bring you there..’
And to better that off, he owns a fibre fishing boat.. (Can you see the grin on my face?? )
So, off I went with him… together with my arsenal of Daiwa Tenyas, Apollo Rigs, one kilogram of live prawns of size and liveliness suitable for Drunken Prawns, and my trusted Temple Reef Jigging Rod and my OC300HG.
For our first trip, we set sail to his proclaimed ‘Wild Red Chicken (WRC) Lair of Singapore’. Before I can even finish rigging up my rod, we reached the spot. I looked around and was like : ‘What?? Here? Are you serious??’
I can still see the spot we berth the boat..
‘Shhhh……’ BT said… ‘Trust me… here… below. There is only a certain time in the day they will bite. Now is the time.’
‘Siao liao lah!’ I think to myself.. This guy must be a nutcase. He must have mistaken Tor Sat (catfish) for Red Chicken.
I stared at the commercial marine vessels that sailed past us, while waited patiently for any possible small tingle to my rod tip..
Nothing.
The sun started to set and soon we can see lots of returning fishing charters zooming past our boat and anglers waving at us as though we all just returned to shore around the same time..
A disappointing trip, just as expected.
BT invited me for a second trip the following weekend and several other occasions. With each invitation, I went with diminishing hope and expectation for the elusive WRC. Of course, I do have to admit, for all the trips with BT, they were not bad at all. We had a fair share of common local delights - Groupers, Gold Snappers, Queenies, Cao Xi, etc.
Then came my 3rd trip with BT. Religiously, we went to the same spot at the end of the fishing day and everyone knew what the drill was. We all just need to continue to try for WRC.
As per all my past trips, I rigged up a live shrimp on a 80g Red-gold Tetsuya Tenya and dropped it off once he claimed we were exactly on top of his ‘legendary’ spot that he proclaimed for 36th times, that he had many LJLJ sessions with Wild Red Chickens.
Then, it happened… I felt a very slight and gentle tug on my line.. So gentle that my rod tip did not move.
BT looked at me and asked me what happened.. I told him some small fish is pulling my bait…
BT yelled.. ‘No…Its the Ang Kway lah…. they bite very gently one! quickly release the lock and let it take….’
I immediate clicked the locking on my OC330HG and use my thumb very lightly on the spool..
The line tugged a bit more..
‘Lift up your rod slowly and if you feel the line pull, set the hook!!’ BT whispered to me loudly (??).
I lifted the rod tip slowly like a snail and immediately I felt a stronger tug. I ‘garang gabok’ (all in a mess) and just lifted up my rod by a foot!
Bam!! The line peeled from my reel under my 3.5kg drag setting..
The rest of the details on the fighting and reeling in, has been booked and reserved for the next Hollywood movie.
My first Singapore Wild Red Chicken! SO RED!!!
I cried. Really. Pearls of tears rolled down my cheek. They could be sweat due to the damn aftn heat. But I chose to think they were tears of joy. This was 38th time I wept since my biggest sense of regret on my matrimonial day.. I have not felt such overwhelming emotion. (The 37th time was when I was told the repair cost of a broken guide on my beloved rod is going to cost me $180 . )
Lots of life lessons to be learnt in this event.. 1. Never give up believing in your dream! 2. Never judge a book by its cover! (I was referring to BT) 3. Try not to use white Tenyas. They sucks! Red and Gold ones are really better in attracting bites. 4. Wild Red Chickens do exist in Singapore!