Hi guys,

Just putting up a quick report to let you know how I am at the moment. Last night I was invited out to fish with some friends at their mate's pond in Singapore. It's saltwater and is something similar to 'Golden Ponds' in Perth, with the exception being the kind of fish its stocked with - GTs, jacks, barra, cobia, cods, groupers, tarpon, and all sorts of other nasty ooglies. A few of the GTs in there are as big as 15kg, and the pond has a generous supply of stakes and jetties to keep things interesting. There is even something of a 'wall of shame' where broken reels and rods of the past are hung up to warn visitors. Anyway, my kind of place

This pond is pretty famous amongst the international sportfishing circuit, with a number of 'celebrities' stopping by from time to time. (Report 1) (Report 2) Even though the fish are confined (to a large pond), from what I've seen they fight just as hard and just as dirty. In addition to this, they seem to have one major advantage, a PhD in lures - and the whole pond is lures only. Trust me when I say they have seen just about any lure in the book. Their vision during night and day must also be a perfect 20/20.

Edward, who runs the pond, is a true sportfisherman in that only barbless singles are allowed, no baits, and unless its a very special fish most of the release occurs without even lifting the fish out of water - just dehooking with a pair of long-nose pliers. The pond is a part-time hobby for him and anglers are allowed to fish for his 'pets' by appointment only.

The trick with getting a fish to hit the lure, and some of these lures could be an intricately carved 80$ work of art, is to wait until the baitfish are released for feeding. Even then, it is the strictest case of matching the hatch - the wrong colour or a centimetre oversize and the fish won't even fart at your offering. There is nothing more frustrating than dragging a 40$ lure through boiling water and not even getting a touch. Only because the colour isn't exactly the same. In the end, we got into a few each (mostly GTs and 1 cobia), but apparently it wasn't as hot as it could be, as some days the fish really let their guard down.

Anyway, for a big city, this is a convenient, quick fix for some clean fun amongst good friends.

Around the pond are also some large aquariums holding some really interesting and exotic fish. These are all freshwater, but some of them (the araipamas) would have been 100kg easy. If only I could catch them. One of these days I should really visit Bungsamram in Thailand.

Anyway, off to NewCal this Friday - will give an update when I get back. Tight Lines!