Fishingkaki

[http://www.fishingkaki.com Fishingkaki.com] (aka Fishingkaki, FK.com or simply FK) is one of the world's largest fishing internet-based message board and is based in Singapore. It currently has more than 19000 registered members and more than 10 affiliates including internationally known brands such as fish hook manufacturer, [http://www.mustad.no/ Mustad] of Norway and lure maker, [http://rapala.com/ Rapala] of Finland.

History

Fishing Singapore

Originally started as Spikeman's Fishing Singapore, it was a hobby website created by Spike Choo in 1997 with angling as its main theme. In 1998, KC, an administrator running the Singapore ONE Community Portal, invited Spike to host his site in the S-One Portal. Spike took the opportunity to re-name the site to Fishing Singapore. KC also helped to create a Fishing Forum as part of the new website. As Singapore's first ever Fishing Internet forum, it rapidly gained popularity among the younger generation of anglers in Singapore. It was then known as Fishing Singapore Forum. Spike got to know John Hooi via the forum and after a few fishing trips, invited John to help manage the site with him.

John Hooi served as both the administrator of the forum and the webmaster of the Fishing Singapore website together with Spike. John later invited fourforum moderators to run the forum. They were Michael Lim, Jimmy Aw, Abang and Loh Tee.

The technical functions of this board were limited which gave rise to many controversial issues that escalated into countless internet flame-wars. Among the issues were the administrator John Hooi's capability to oversee the forum, the four moderators' ability to moderate and much mud-slinging among the commercial entities in Singapore's fishing industry. It was a very active and chaotic period with constant flaming among many parties.

Fishingkaki.com

The transformation from Fishing Singapore to [http://www.fishingkaki.com Fishingkaki.com] took place in 2001 when S-ONE announced that they were shutting down the Fishing Singapore Forum.

John Hooi then started funding the site himself and officially registered the domain name Fishingkaki.com and with the help of his friend Viper of [http://www.consolecity.com Console City] , began FishingKaki with a forum based on the PHP Bulletin Board system. The site was hosted in the U.S.. All users of Fishing Singapore Forum migrated over to the new site and soon after that, the company S-One ceased it's services.

With the advanced functions of PHPBB, the forum was structured into different categories. A special fly fishing section was introduced, headed by Jimmy Aw. With this new forum, members were now required to register with a valid email address to access its functions as opposed to how it was done before.

Spike and John had ideas to turn Fishingkaki into a web portal but plans for this were soon abandoned. Spike, who designed and conceptualised both the Fishingkaki logo and motto, handed the rights for the design to John as a goodwill gesture when he retired from active participation in the running of the new site. During this period, Fishingkaki grew into a successful internet forum with more than 5000 registered members managed by more than 16 moderators.

Fishingkaki.com was migrated from US to Singapore in 2002. In 2003, Fishingkaki.com was officially registered as a Private Limited Company [http://www.acra.gov.sg/general/directory.html (ROC NO.: 200309549W)] with John Hooi and Mike Goh as the company's Directors.

The site crashed in March 2005 and a new server was found and Fishingkaki was recreated on 20th April 2005 with the help of Mike Goh and staff of [http://www.fragnetics.com Fragnetics.com] , who still hosts Fishingkaki at present.

Jeffrey Tee joined Fishingkaki.com Pte Ltd as a Director in 2004. Together with John Hooi and Mike Goh, these 3 Directors are officially known as the Consultants of Fishingkaki. Each one has their own unique areas of expertise relating to the running of the forum.

Present

Fishingkaki.com is now a thriving forum for fishing enthusiasts in Singapore and beyond, getting visitors from many parts of the world including the US, UK and Australia.

The site consistently receives more than 10 million hits a month, consuming an average of 300 Gigabytes of bandwidth.

"*A Fishing Singapore was set up in 2004 by Roy Chua. Although sharing the same name as the ex-Fishingkaki, it is not related to the current Fishingkaki.com."

Motto

The 3 words found in the official logo of Fishingkaki.com represents the spirit of sport fishing by encouraging anglers to practice Catch and release. Spike Choo conceptualised the motto and the design of the logo in 2001 and it was officially unveiled at the launch of Fishingkaki.com, which signified the end of the old Fishing Singapore Forum.

As quoted by John Hooi, the founder of Fishingkaki.com:

"In a country like Singapore where there exists no rules or regulations with regards to recreational fishing, there is nothing to stop an angler from killing a hundred fish per trip. The fishing quality of Singapore has deteriorated drastically over the years. All we can hope to do is to spread the message that every fish not killed contributes to a better fishing future for our next generation to enjoy. We do not wish for anglers not to kill fish, we simply hope anglers do not indulge in excessive and unnecessary killing of fish that they don't really need. Even if they were to release 1 fish out of a hundred, we are still thankful and appreciative."

Awareness

To raise awareness for the need to preserve our environment and fish stocks, and encourage all anglers to adopt the right etiquette and attitude to sport fishing.

ustainability

With heightened awareness, everyone can play a part to help sustain the local fish stocks and environment for future generations to enjoy.

Preservation

We will strive to preserve and uphold these values from the way we conduct ourselves as members of fishingkaki.com, and to inspire future generations to uphold these guiding principles.

Forum Structure

The structure of Fishingkaki.com is divided based on the few major categories of fishing.

General

This is the flagship of Fishingkaki.com and caters to any and every angler. Latest gossips, information and catch reports as well as latest promotions by commercial entities are discussed here. The moderators of this section are Michael Lim, Jerrick Lim, Jack Lai and Melvin Ng.

Includes a 'Classified Section' for buying/selling of personal second-hand fishing gears and accessories.

Lure Fishing

This section caters to lure anglers, a type of fishing that is fast gaining popularity, especially among the younger generation of anglers. This section is moderated by Michael Lim, Ben Tay, Francis Thong and Nick Matthew.

urf

Refers to surf-fishing and long distance sport-casting. This section is currently moderated by Jack Lai, Jeremy Koh, Neil Daniel and Melvin Ng, Derrick Lim & Azzahar.

Fly Fishing

Includes fly tying and patterns as well. Moderated by Nick Matthew and Christopher Soule.

Blue-water Fishing

Includes boat fishing, popping and jigging. Moderators are Jamie, Kelvin Gerard and Jeremy Koh.

Affiliates

Manufacturers

[http://www.mustad.no/ O.Mustad & Sons] of Norway
[http://rapala.com/ Rapala] of Finland

Commercial

2000 Tackles
[http://www.fishingkaki.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=64 Fishing Mania]
[http://www.fishingkaki.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17 Lure Haven]
[http://www.ultimateangler.net/ Ultimate Anglers]
[http://www.fishingkaki.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=59 Zarach Supplies]
[http://www.fishingkaki.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=49 Pasir Ris Fishing Pond]
[http://www.kelongfishing.com/ HotBoys Kelong] in Sibu, Malaysia.

Charters

[http://www.piscatorialparties.com/ Piscatorial Parties]
[http://www.pelagicanglers.com/ Pelagic Anglers]
[http://www.fishingkaki.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=50 NightAngler Charter]
[http://www.fishingkaki.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=63 Ah Bee Charter]

Fishing Clubs

[http://www.sfas.net/ Sportsfishing Association (Singapore)]
[http://www.ntu.edu.sg/ Nanyang Technological University] [http://www.fishingkaki.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=16 Angler's Club]
[http://www.sim.edu.sg/ Singapore Institute of Management] [http://www.fishingkaki.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=55 Angling Club]

Activities

Operation Liberty

FK Fun Fishing Day

Accolades

FK is consistently ranked in the top 20 on "100 Top Saltwater Fishing Sites".