CHENDEROH RENDEVOUS.

Chenderoh Rendezvous was published in the November 1999 issue of Rod and Line fishing magazine.

   

    The awesome structure of Chenderoh Dam never failed to impress anyone looking at it from the bank of the Perak River. Being the first hydroelectric power station of our country, it indeed was an engineering feat at that time and still is today. Of course more modern and bigger ones like Temenggor and Kenyir had overshadowed it, but Chenderoh still holds a lot of memories for me.

    When I first started fishing at Chenderoh back in 1965, I was still in school. You know lah, while in school, where to get money to go fishing far away from home? Luckily one of the engineers there took a few of us under his wings and taught us the finer art of fishing at Chenderoh. I am forever indebted to him, but sad to say, he had since gone to the fishing paradise.

    My second pilgrimage to Chenderoh was around 1972 to 1980. Those days we practrically made it a monthly affair as most of my kakis then were working for Perak Hydro or Kinta Electric Distribution Companies(Now absorbed into Tenaga National). In fact among them are two of my former classmates. We used to spend our Saturdays and Sundays at the dam. Nights were spent fishing, barbecuing and having 'happy hours' right up to the wee hours. Our catches consisted of featherbacks, baungs, kaluis, tengalans, lampams, tomans and sebaraus. During our sojourns there, we used to see a lot of locals using winch-like reels filled with 50lbs to 80lbs mono attached to broomstick like rods to foul hook at the spillway. They sometimes did hook on to whoppers too, but most of the time the lines were broken or fish scales of 50 cent coin size were left sticking on their trebles. Even those days we were already cursing them for being unsporting. Well, time moved on. Some of us got married. Some were too busy making money. While others got other interests to occupy their time. So our trips to Chenderoh stopped.

    Recently, Foo invited me to fish at Chenderoh with him. When something good was offered don't ever stop to think. My yes was loud and clear .He told me that he and his friends, consisting of Leong, Tan and Chooi (Tengas Reconnaissance Team) would be going.

Even the foot of the concrete
dam was not spared by the nets.

    We had our breakfast at Kuala Kangsar at around 6.30 a.m. Kuala Kangsar being a sleepy hollow did not have 24 hour restaurant. We managed to find a stall that started to serve at 6.30 a.m. As they say, "Beggars got no choice", so we just filled our stomachs before pushing off. After another hour of winding road we finally reached the foot of the dam. Looking at the majestic structure, nostalgic feelings kept flooding back. As we came here to fish, Foo and I wasted no time to tackle up. I was using shallow running shad raps of different colours. Casts after casts were made but there was no result. A few sampans were seen cruising up and down with their owners casting their cast nets. Some were collecting fish from their nets and rawais strung all over the place. Even the concrete foot of the dam was not spared. These go on day after day, year after year and we anglers are always being blamed for the diminishing fish stock!

My sebarau taken with a
Rapalla shad rap deep runner.

    By 10.00a.m. most of the sampans were gone and things quietened down. Changing to a shad rap deep runner, I hit paydirt at last. With the help of the strong current, the fish shot down river. Pumping and winding, I managed to gain some line before it careened off to the opposite side of the river. The less than a klio sebarau was no match against my Ambassadeur SM3600c and 17lb class Daiwa Procaster rod. Ten minutes later I hooked another almost identical sebarau with a fat rap deep runner. All sebaraus caught and released  (except for two)  that day were of almost the same size. Could be they were having an age group gathering.

Another worker with
 a sizeable kerai.

    Taking a rest as the sun was very hot overhead, I sauntered over to the walkway at the dam. Some workers were fishing at the railing. Kerai after kerais were pulled up. Another guy was using handline to fish for kaluis. The giants were seen swimming and being tossed around in the turbulence of the spillway. Once in a while one could be seen coming up for air. Surprisingly they still could managed to take baits. Their method was quite successful as a number were caught this way. Unfortunately, a few dropped back into the water while being hauled up.

    Foo and I decided to see what the rest of our friends were doing. The three of them were further downstream happily pulling up and throwing back lampams. Leong suddenly pulled up a freshwater buntal. This rascal immediately puffed itself up like a balloon. Puffer fish are fascinating creatures. Some species have poisonous roes that the Japanese relish as a delicacy. Maybe the uncertainty of being poisoned made the dish more appealing.

    Seeing this puffer fish remined me of my younger days in Kuala Kangsar. Those days we didn't need politicians to tell us about muhibbah. We kids of different races used to swim and fish in the Perak and Kangsar Rivers. Pollution was unheard of, except once in a while someone's overnight meal from up river was seen floating pass.

Four happy young men.

    I learnt to paddle the sampan then, as many of my Malay friends owned at least one. Our carefree frolicking in the rivers sometimes were interupted by someone screaming in pain, which would result in a stempede for the bank. No it was not the jaw, though the scenerio was similar to the film of the same name. (I have seen freshwater sharks, saw fish and rays being caught and sold at the riverbank market back then).You see, some of us swam in our birthday suits. In the water, our male pride looked very much like some tasty morsels to the buntals.The bite from their shear-like teeth was enough to even make adults scream. Fittingly the buntals were refered to as ikan laxxxx (Colloquial for male pride).The buntals were also the curse of the prawn fuishermen as lines were always cut by these rascals. They were not called cham sin kwai (line cutting devils) for nothing, you know. The poor fellows were the butt of torture of many a frustrated prawn fishermen. As the sun was already overhead, we decided to call it a day. Stopping at Sauk for lunch and to freshen up before the long drive home. We felt quite happy with this trip, which also prompted our decision to come back soon.

Note: Sigh! On our subsequent trip, we were not allowed to fish anymore. As  always, there are some inconsiderate, selfish and ugly Malaysians in anglers' clothes to spoil everyone's fun by misusing and overtaxing the hosts' hospitality. Remember we were banned once from certain Internet facilities too?