One step closer

Lady Luck have not been smiling at me lately, until a few days ago where my luck finally took a turn, where I hit a nice-sized peacock bass close to the 50cm mark which I have been targeting all year. However, the fish came in at 42cm, still quite some distance away from my target, making me wonder what it could have been if I were to achieve second of 3 targets I set for myself this year. Oh well, at least on a bright side, I am one step closer to the target and hopefully I can make it before 2014 draws to and end in less than 2 months time.

Taken on the Jackall Super Eruption Jr. spinnerbait

ICE-CREAM SEASON

Been really unlucky for the past 2 weeks, where it all started with a stomach flu and since then I always face problems and difficulties in whatever I do...last fishing trip, I lost 3 lures despite being very careful..But on the bright side, I still manage to land several small fishes as consolation.
However, just when I thought I'm regaining my luck, my phone was stolen...sigh, such tough luck really had me wondering what's gonna happen next.
Oh well, just gotta keep my fingers crossed that such tough times will pass by soon enough...

Fell into temptation of the Valleyhill Airspeed 67S

Consolation catch on the DUO Tetraworks Toto Shad

Epic return to fishing

Back to fishing after a busy week due to work...
Been running out of spots, so I decide to head to a spot where I have not been to for a long time. Since it's only my second time there, I started off by throwing finesse-style baits in an attempt to determine the feeding pattern of the fishes. However, the day started slow, only my brother managed to score a green chromide by constantly attacking it's nest with a small soft plastic grub.
Fortunately, the day soon got to an epic when my brother hooked onto a his personal best peacock bass at 4lb on the GANKO Shad Tail. This catch proved to be the turning point as it got me thinking that I could not register any hit because of my finesse baits unable to sink effectively to the depth where the fishes are holding. Instinctively, I changed to a Zman Minnowz and jokingly told my brother, "This is the game-changer..". Soon enough, I hooked onto a decent 3lb-er on my first cast!
Finally, I got it right, to prove my decision was correct, my brother yet again scored a small fella using the same soft plastic and I follow suit with another before the bite died down.
We then moved to a new area and similarly hooked onto a couple of small peacock and mayan cichlid. The day concluded with my brother coming close to catching his first topwater fish when his popper was attacked thrice, but none of the strikes connected...Oh well, seems like it's not meant to be. Anyway, it's still a very fulfilling trip for us both, with my brother breaking his personal best record for peacock bass and me ending my dry-spell in such dramatic way.

Rod - Majorcraft Corzza BFS 3-10lb
Reel - Shimano Aldebaran BFS XG
Line - Sufix Castable FC 8lb
Lure - Zman Minnowz

                Rod - Protech Titanium Spin 6-12lb

    Reel - Shimano Sienna 2500

  Line - Powerpro braid 15lb

Lure - GANKO Shad Tail

LURE REVIEW - JACKALL SK-POP

Jackall SK-Pop Review:

Build:

Standing at 53mm and weighing 6.5g, I personally consider this as a “finesse popper”. Comes with a subtle rattle, one of the features that I like because I believe it won’t scare away spooky fish due to excessively loud rattle. Deep cup-mouth that produces loud “bloops” instead of the typical splashes reminds me of a similar action to the famous Rebel Pop-R. Just that the SK-Pop has nicer details and finishing. Originally comes with a feather-ed rear hook which acts as a tail to further convince the fishes to take a bite out of it. However, I changed the stock hooks to stronger ones since stock hooks almost always bend out of shape after a couple of fishes. In all, it has a realistic look completed with 3D-eyes and nicely carved gill plates to imitate baitfish. Of course not to forget that you can choose from a large variety of colours to “match-the-hatch”.

Action:

Easily worked either fast or slow, depending on your style of fishing. Able to walk-the-dog fairly easily as well, making it a versatile topwater bait. As said previously, it “bloops” instead of splashes, making it stand out of other poppers in the market. However, one down-side is you need a soft-tip rod to fully bring out the best action of this bait, since it will “jump” out of water instead of popping when worked on a heavy action rod. Hence, it’s best worked on light line and rod, as for reel, it does not really matter as long as it’s comfortable to the user.

Castability:

Smooth casting. Able to reach decent distance, despite only weighing at 6.5g. All in all, it’s comparable to other poppers of the same weight range.

Some of the many victims of Jackall SK-Pop 

Recce-ing new ground

Went to a new spot today and got a good start by hooking up a decent sized cichla temensis o my first few cast but only to lost it due to a bad hook-set. After that, it was dead quiet till I snagged a lure and decided to change to topwater for good. My decision was right which I hooked up a small one on my second cast, saving me from "zero". In conclusion, it's definitely a spot worth spending time to find out the feeding pattern of the fishes and hopefully can achieve this in the upcoming trips there.

Rod - Majorcraft Corzza 3-10lb
Reel - Shimano Aldebaran BFS XG
Line - Sufix Castable FC 8lb
Lure - DUO Realis Popper 64

Something "new" besides fishing

Back to bettas and shrimp-keeping and made several "new signings" hoping to kick-start the collection.

The shrimps are already doing well, with a female recently giving birth to a batch of shrimplets, definitely looking forward to forming a massive "red-army" of fire red shrimps.

As for the bettas, the older ones are dying off slowly, so I got myself 2 new ones, hopefully I can find then a partner to get myself back to breeding.

PLAYGROUND DESTROYED

Exams coming to an end, so I finally could afford some time for fishing after 2 weeks of exam preparation. The recent trips I had were either zero or getting some pesky small fishes even though I'm fishing at a spot where I'm very confident of getting some decent-sized fishes. Seems like this place had changed alot since my first trip here, now, I could barely get a decent one, where they were so abundant here about 1 year ago. While fishing, it's really saddening to see several fish carcasses strewn on the ground, giving rise to think that the population had shrunk due to the baiters. Oh well, I guess it's time to find a new playground again.

Rod - Majorcraft Corzza BFS 3-10lb
Reel - Shimano Aldebaran BFS XG
Line - Sufix Castable FC 8lb
Lure - Luckycraft Pointer 78sp
Fish Arrow Flash J 3"