Species hunting adventures in Singapore: Day 4.

On the morning of the fourth day of the trip I wasn’t feeling too great. Jet lag? Dehydration? Heatstroke? Too much spicy food and beer? I’m not sure, but let’s put it this way, I didn’t want to venture too far from a toilet. I was pretty close to telling Chris, Lee and Jon that I wasn’t going to be able to go with them to catch the ferry over to the Southern Islands. However, when Jon told me that there were toilets on St John’s Island where the ferry would initially drop us off, I decided to take my chances instead of wasting a day in the hotel. Upon arrival on St John's island, I quickly got my bearings and located somewhere to fish that was within a short sprint from the toilets. Chris, Lee and Jon went off to fish various spots in search of bigger fish using heavier tackle, but I didn't dare do that, opting instead to stay in pretty much the same spot all day.

St John’s Island pier where we were dropped off, from the bridge connecting St John's Island to Lazarus Island.

I spent the majority of the day fishing from and around the bridge. A popular spot with the locals, who were jigging sabiki in the current flowing through the arches of the bridge. It was popular with me as it wasn't too far from the public facilities.

A couple of bathroom breaks aside, I had a pretty enjoyable day sitting on my own, fishing away with my ultra light setup, using small pieces of prawn on small hooks. At first, I fished in close over a rocky area and caught quite a few species I'd added to my tally already during the trip, but eventually I caught what I thought were two new species of wrasse. I'd later discover I'd just caught both very different looking sexes of the same species!

There were lots of reasonably sized anchor tuskfish around.

Lots of damselfish too. I'm now reasonably confident this one is another silty damselfish.

There were a few wrasse around as well, including this small pearly-spotted wrasse.

First new species of the day and it’s ladies first! This is a female silty wrasse...

..and this is a male silty wrasse. What a fantastic example of sexual dimorphism in fish!

Then casting out as far as I could, I caught something completely different, a species from a group of fish that I'd hoped to catch before the trip began. Before I visited Okinawa earlier in the year actually. A clownfish!

My first clownfish! How cool is that?! This one is a tomato clownfish. Nemo's cousin!

I was ecstatic but after that, I didn't catch anything new for a while, and casting further out was very snaggy, so I moved to fish from a wall up above a rocky area. To begin with all I caught were lots of diamond wrasse and anchor tuskfish, but after a while I spotted a small orange fish that I'm pretty sure was Nemo! An anemone clownfish, swimming in and out of, that's right, a large anemone! Well, I spent about an hour trying to catch him, but didn't manage to do so. I did succeed in pulling the tiny bait out of his mouth twice before he lost interest and disappeared, so I almost got him! In the process, I did catch my first silver demoiselle of the trip.

My consolation prize! I caught a few of these silver demoiselle when I switched to #18 hooks.

After catching a few more diamond wrasse and anchor tuskfish, I decided another move was in order and headed back onto the bridge. Picking a spot above one of its arches where the current was pushing through. As I was getting comfortable, Chris, Lee and Jon came back around in a bit of a rush. They told me they were off to catch the ferry to Kusu Island and asked if I was going to join them. I still didn't feel one hundred percent, so I apologised and told them I was going to stay put, and that I'd meet them back at South Marina Ferry Terminal back on the mainland in the evening. They were walking rather briskly that I didn't really get a chance to ask them how they'd got on! As the lads hurried off to catch the ferry, I started fishing again, and the move proved to be a great decision. I caught quite a few anchor tuskfish, but I also caught quite a few new species too!

A solitary redbelly yellowtail fusilier,..

...a colourful Indo-Pacific sergeant,..

...a honey-head damselfish with beautiful purple markings around its eyes,..

..and a Bengal sergeant.

After a couple of hours I decided It would be a better idea if I caught the 16:00 ferry back to the mainland and fished there for a while from South Marina Promenade where I could watch for Chris, Lee and Jon arriving back on the last ferry back from Kusu. I made my way back around to St John's ferry pier and fished near it for thirty minutes before the ferry arrived. This proved fruitful as the sandy bottom there produced lots of fish including a couple of species in hadn’t caught yet on the trip. 

The first were these oriental sillago. I caught a few of them, and they were hitting my bait pretty much as soon as it hit the bottom. 

I also caught a few pink-speckled shrimpgoby. Only the second species of the trip that I’d caught before visiting Singapore. I caught one whilst on Okinawa earlier this year. They were also pretty aggressive. 

After taking the ferry back to the mainland, I grabbed some food and a large bottle of water before heading along the promenade where I found some shade under a tree. I was slightly worried about having something to eat but it actually made me feel a lot better and my stomach had obviously settled down which was a relief. I fished for an hour or so, catching a few diamond wrasse, anchor tuskfish and notchfin threadfin bream. In addition, I also caught a nice seagrass tuskfish at distance that tried to get into a few snags as I wound it in, but I managed to bully it out of them.

My last fish of the day before I spotted the lad’s ferry coming in. 

Quickly packing up, I walked back along to the ferry terminal and met the lads as they got off the boat. I was keen to find out how they’d got on. Pretty poorly it turned out. None of them had caught anything on their heavy gear, although they had seen a large fish smashing bait fish at one point. They had sensibly all switched to ultra light tackle for a short spell and managed to catch some small fish so at least they all hadn't blanked! We thanked Jon for meeting up with us and I apologised again for not spending the day with everyone. In the evening we headed out again for food and beers. We were more than halfway through the trip, and I was pleased with my progress so far having racked up almost forty species. With three days to go I was hopeful I could reach at least sixty. 

Tight lines, Scott.

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