Since last year I have been hearing Uncle Daniel and his two kids Theudas and Thaddeus talking about the big fish they caught at a kelong(offshore fishing village) and the details were enticing. After that I was telling Uncle Kelvin whether we should join them and take up fishing. To make things better - the new fishing equipment store that took up residence beside my mom's workplace - the furniture shop - sparked my uncle's interest. Along with Uncle Steven's fishing history, we had a 3-man team among us. One with money, one with experience and one with brains, so to speak.
Then on 2nd January, Uncle Kelvin woke me up in my 12-hour slumber to tell me of his plans to go fishing that day. At first I thought he wasn't serious: normally he would try to find some excuse to get me excited about the day and get out of bed whenever he could help it. So, I went along and saw them going to Changi Village to get the equipment. We got fishing lines, rod and things like floats and weights, and so we set off.
"I'm still waiting for the fish!"
After buying the fishing equipment, we went ahead to fish, first at the nearest known place possible - Pasir Ris beach. Bought large earthworms for bait, only to find that there wasn't anything there at all. Except for this little bugger below.
I don't know what kind of fish is this bugger over here, but it's my first catch. In fact, the only catch that I got on 2nd January. Wasted a whole load of bait just to catch this bugger that was less than a handspan. Don't get tricked by the zoom - this is just a small fish.
It soon dawned on us that the fishing hooks that we got off the fella at Changi Village was too big to fish such small fry in Singapore. After that we went ahead to try our luck on Sunday, 4th January.
"Fisherman's Paradise. Quick, get me the camera so I can take this down."
And so we went for the Bedok jetty, near Carpark F1, East Coast Park. See the crowd - there must be some big fish or pretty good catch that day, so we settled for a whole of 5 hours. And sure enough, God made sure our patience didn't go to waste - we caught a dozen fish, without any bait, just some fluorescent nylon string tied onto the hooks so that it looks like small fry for the fish to take the bite.
As for how we got the small baitless hooks, we saw an old man beside us shaking his fishing rod up and down. For a while we thought he was trying to be funny, doing such rigorous movement. After we saw him dragging a big catch of 2 to 3 small fish at a time we went ahead to ask him what kind of bait he used. Interestingly enough he showed us his small fishing hooks, so of course we asked him where he got the hooks from. Kind, respectable uncle sold us 2 sets of fishing lines, ready-made with nylon "bait" and small hooks, with weights.
So, just as we were trying to use mealworms instead of earthworms for deep-sea fishing, we found that we needed no bait - and boy, the catch was exciting every time there was a big tug. To keep a long story short, we got to keep our good catch.
"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."
Count it, there's 12, no doubt.
Of course, God was with us the whole of 4th January. First it was the Covenant service that we had in the morning to renew our covenant with God for the new year, and in the afternoon, we went fishing, which of course beats wasting their money on tombola trips periodically every week, which I reckon is technically gambling. At least fishing gives experience and fish - it's a win-win situation everytime.
And did I mention that after fishing, we couldn't find a seat at all at the nearby hawker centre? God gave us a seat at one of the barbecue pits within sight of the hawker centre, so we were able to settle down there and eat. With char-siew noodles, sliced fruit and quietness beside the shore for a decent dinnerplace, what more can we ask for?
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