The Benster® Chronicles

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Fishing at Tg Pinang, 4-6 Apr 07

Time for a long-deserved holiday!!!

Went fishing with some family/friends on Ah Kiang's boat off Tg Pinang, Indonesia on 4-6 April 07.

Bottom fishing was not that good (full moon, rough sea, only 4 live squid caught for bait).
In the mornings and evenings, we focused on trolling this trip as mackerel were in season. The spot was a rock formation 5 hrs out to sea from Tg Pinang. The sea was (((choppy))).

Our group's catches:
10x Narrowbarred Mackerel on lure, 5lb to 30+lb
1x Bonito on lure 3-4kg
3x Bulat trevally 1-2kg
1x Diamond Trevally, 3kg
1x Wrasse 8lb
5x Grunters1-2kg
3-4x Sweetlips 1-2kg
1x Golden Snapper, 2kg

numerous small snappers and coral fish, etc..

some photos:

Trolling for mackerel

My first-ever Tenggiri Batang (Narrowbarred Mackerel), 7lbs, on a Halco Laser Pro 190 lure.

My 5lb baby mack on Surecatch 150g jig

my 16lb mack on Rapala CD14

My 25lb (!!!) mack on Rapala CD18

I lent my rod to Alvin, who caught this 30+lb (!!!) mack (maxed out my 30lb boga weighing scale!) on a Rapala CD14

Nick & his nice leatherjacket, being held by our cook. We had it for lunch that day =P

Alvin's 8lb Wrasse

Notable catches (smaller fish not photographed)

Riding into the sunset..

Posing with our final catch.. L-R:
Fred, Nick, Alvin, Mark (my nephew), Me, Vince, Ben, Jeffrey (my cousin), and Alan.

guitar update..

peekaboo.. =]

it's not finished yet.. the colour hasn't been applied yet.. but here it is as of now:

http://schroederguitars.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=27

Fishing on Ah Fong's boat, 12 Feb 07

Went for a long-deserved break today from work - fishing with Michael Mok, Ah Yong, and some other friends from Sabre Tackle shop on Ah Fong's boat.

We started late, only reaching the first spot outside CNB at 9:45am! =P

Action was very slow in the morning, but picked up in the late afternoon, when most of the fish were caught.

Me with a nice sized orange-spotted grouper. I had it steamed HK-style for dinner at my aunt's shop in the evening. Yummmmmy!

Leslie & Alvin caught 2 queenfish at the same time, on opposite sides of the boat! They were even the same size, around 5lbs.

In the afternoon, the action picked up and we caught many tasty Gu-Hoods (Grunters). Ah Fong our boatman caught a very big, beautiful and elusive red snapper!

GET READY.. here's the CATCH OF THE DAY!!!

I caught this WHOPPER of a queenfish at 4pm using a small live prawn!

I felt a small nibble - something small was eating my prawn. So i waited a while for the fish to swim off, struck and set the hook. initially, i thought it was a small fish as it did not offer much resistance. But as it neared the boat, it suddenly panicked and took off towards the horizon, nearly stripping my small Abu 2500C reel of all its line!

A long and exciting fight ensued, with the fish diving, reel screaming, and me being dragged around the boat, forced to clamber over various chairs, rods and fat fishermen! LOL! It was all the more exciting as i was using my light rod (G-Loomis IMX 8-14lb), and it was one tough fight!

When the fish finally surfaced next to the boat, my jaw dropped at the size. I wanted to release it, but Mike said that the fish had most likely fought to its death and wouldn't survive, so he gaffed it.

I weighed it on my Boga scale - 15 pounds or 7+kg! This is my biggest queenfish yet, and a catch of a lifetime for me! WOOHOO!!!

I was sad to see such a magnificent fish have to die. But not to worry.. this great fish will not go to waste.. it is going to be our curry dinner tomorrow night =]

Here's more photos of the queenie..

15lb Queenfish caught on a small live prawn with a G-Loomis IMX CR722 8-14lb rod, Abu 2500C Nostalgia reel, 10lb Fireline.

Another angle where the fish looks smaller :P

Total catch of the day! (minus 2 smaller queenfish)

One last photo of the queenie at changi beach carpark.. WOOHOO!!!

~The Velvet Dream~

www.thevelvetdream.blogspot.com

Hi guys. Shujun, Kat (her sister), & i have just opened a chic little shop selling hip ladies' clothes at Bugis Village!!!

We opened on Sunday 4th Feb 2007, & have been doing quite well so far! =]

Yup, we have many very nice clothes for all of you babes out there! So please, do drop by if you are free to support us! =]

ps- this is a lousy photo of the shop when i was still setting it up, it looks MUCH nicer now hehe :P

Location:
Bugis Village, Unit #ABFL/F2, situated on the first level, directly opposite Queen Street hawker centre. It's the 2nd unit from the entrance, which is beside Cheers convenience store.

Opening hours:
1pm-10pm Mon-Thu
11am-11pm Fri-Sun

See you there!!!

What do i spy with my little eye?

Hur hur hur! >=]

Gold Mother-of-pearl stars on a gorgeous Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard.
This is just an initial layout, the stars haven't been inlaid yet. i specified some slight changes in the layout of the stars, but this is pretty close to what i have in mind. Beautiful!!!

For those of you who don't know, this is my custom guitar that is being hand-built for me by Jason Schroeder (www.schroederguitars.com) in California. It's been almost 2 years in the making, and is going to be completed really soon.

This is the current state of the guitar's body.

This is another guy's guitar, recently completed by Jason Schroeder. Just imagine this, without the hollow holes, with a fixed bridge, but with the star inlays, and the body in a more orange colour. :P KILLER!

Fishing on Ah Chai's boat, 28 Dec 06

Oops.. forgot to post this before the new year party pics, but nevermind..
Went fishing on Ah Chai's boat with Gin Hin as well as Joshua and his G12 guys.. check it out!

Asaph and a nice 'Chow Xi'

Naresh and an Ah Seng!

Charlie and a yellow croaker!

Me & a baby shark! (released)

Gin Hin zzz

Fish On!!! Its a BIG one!!! Gin Hin hooked something BIG and couldn't handle the strength of the fish, so he passed the rod to me.

After a long and tiring fight... what do you see??

Ah Chai readies the gaff..

And there it is!!! WOOHOO!!!

Yeah!!! 18 pound Stingray!!! caught on 10lb Fireline, ABU 2500C reel and a 8-14lb GLoomis rod! WOOHOO!!!

We caught quite a lot of Ah Seng catfishes and had an Assam Ah Seng party at Jon's house that night. The next day, i threw a Curry Stingray party at my aunt's cafe. Yummy!!!

2007 New Year Countdown Party Pics!

Sheesh, it's almost february and NOW THEN i'm posting this. I apologize for my long absence, its been a helluva busy month for me. Things are only looking to get busier as my family prepares to sell 'Fa Cai Yu Sheng' during the Chinese New Year season. Will be facing long queues of people and working like mad. Oh well.

Anyway, here are some photos from my church's countdown party on 31st Dec-1st Jan: