This project done by Dominic, Francis, Wilson and me and the aim was to release fish we caught in the commercial pond into the wild (Catch and Release).

We had planned for Tuesday, 8th of September, 1998 - the day where a second attempt at "pond liberation" would be made. The first attempt had yielded 2 mangrove jacks - not a number that warranted any fish being released. This time, however, it would be different. The anglers involved all met up at the fishing spot itself: near the yellow metal bridge where the Pro' Pond connected to the big pond at New Pasir Ris Fishing Pond. An early start - before 8 a.m. - we started fishing. Our main goal was to catch enough fish for release into the wild.

EQUIPMENT:Francis and Dominic were using baitcasting outfits and Wilson and I were using spinning outfits. Landing nets and styrofoam boxes were also brought.

The first fish that was landed, struck Wilson's dead kuning spinbait - provided by Francis - and a jack soon found its way into the keep net. By 10 a.m. Dominic had hooked and landed another jack and a barra - this one with eerie green eyes - on his baitcaster.

The rain found us soon after and later on at lunchtime, and the action came in short bursts. The bait was constantly running out due to the irritating tilapia closer to shore and towards the late afternoon,we all stuck with lures. Wilson lost a purple Scorpion 68 to a snag but I hooked and landed my first barra on a lure, in this case a little gold-red Duel minnow. At the end of it all the total tally was 6jacks, 5 barra - including one rather shell- shocked one given to us by a fellow angler - and 2 fingermark bream (We lost many fish that day and if i am not wrong, more than six). Everyone had caught fish but now the 4 of us had to decide where to release the fish. With no car, we had quite a time hauling a water-filled trash bag with a net full of fish in it to the sea nearby. Making sure that our activities did not draw the attention of poachers (those confounded netters in particular!), we opened up the bag of fish. The jacks were photo-shy, powering off before the camera could get organised(The jacks are real hardy fishes!). It was low tide but they appeared to have made it out to sea. The 1 barra we planned on releasing was the shell-shocked one - after 15 minutes of 'swimming' down(reviving) at the seaside, it was diagnosed as brain-dead and unfit for release. It was kept.

The 4 of us nevertheless considered this to be quite a success. We now knew that while the jacks were hardy and could survive the transfer, any barras we would release in the future would have to be firstly HANDLED WITH CARE WHEN LANDED (actually that applies to allfish!). We were considering getting a car or van with an esky/aeratorsetup to make sure the barra survived any future tranfers. It was a good pond trip, but the satisfaction of seeing the releasedfish (5 jacks) was the main thrill and of course the original intention of this trip.

(Story by Wilson, Edited by Colin)