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| This article was published in the December 1999 issue of Rod and Line fishing magazine. |
It had been quite sometime since I went toman fishing at Temenggor Lake. Needless to say, the pull of a toman was getting the better of me. Anglers are such if you own an outdoor vehicle, you're quite popular and if you have a car-topper, your rating will double up. My friend Ronnie, had both! The main problem was he had lost interest in fishing since joining our photographic club. In fact, he had stopped fishing for almost a year. Luring fish to take baits have been our specialty. Enticing Ronnie to fish, well.....
Stories of giant tomans (blown up a few kilos of course) chewing up Rapalas were told within earshot of him. Exciting tales of our fights with the freshwater tigers were discreetly circulated during our photographic club meetings (Much to the chagrin of our club president). Slowly but surely, the tales sank in. He swallowed the bait, hook, line and sinker. The day he invited James and I to go fishing with him was the anticlimax.
Being quite busy, we decided to go on a day trip to Tanjung Tualang. This small town near Ipoh had being a toman fishing paradise for ages. Lately, the uncontrolled harvesting using nets and rawais is devastating the toman population. To be able to have a reasonable good result, we have to go to places, which are quite inaccessible to most others.
Our favourite is the Stargate Pond. Just like its namesake, this pond is accessible at certain time only. The narrow and weedy passage between two adjoining ponds is closed most of the time. Our boat must be pushed with us standing on the floating weeds. If you are unlucky, one of those giant leeches might home in on you. Most of the time, you'll be unaware until you feel the sharp pain. Pulling out one of these aquatic Draculas is no easy task and the bite mark resembles that of a bearing scraper puncture.
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| The perpetual nuisance. Water hyacinth near the entrance of the Stargate Pond. |
After passing through the Stargate, the other side is an immense pond. Here the tomans are quite ulu, as most have never seen a Rapala before. One word of caution though. While you are here you have to be knowledgeable about Feng Shui. What I meant is the wind and water flow. One moment of inattentiveness and your exit will be cut off by water hyacinth, which are in abundance. Now you know why the name Stargate? Being stranded mean you have to spend a night here as the wind direction will only change the next day. Well, if you don't mind being sucked dry by those flying bloodsuckers that come to you by the million at night, then you need not worry.
On Sunday 5.00a.m. sharp, Ronnie was at my front gate with boat and everything loaded on his van (His employees helped to load the boat the previous day). After picking up James, we were on our way. Breakfast was the delicious loh shi fun of Tanjung Tualang.
By 6.45 a.m. we were unloading the boat. Ronnie is always boasting about his unbreakable reinforced boat. The boat is unbreakable, our backbones aren't. Unless you are in pretty good shape, lifting his boat is a torture. After unloading everything we still had to break our backs holding the boat steady for our Emperor James to board.
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| Ronnie and his huge toman. The keli bait still intact. |
Anchoring near a water inlet, we cast our keli to one side of the boat. James and I were casting lures to the other side. After just ten minutes, Ronnie shouted excitedly that something had taken his bait. Sure, line was shooting out from his Calcutta. When he struck, the bend on his rod told the whole story. He could only hold on to his rod while the fish ran. Grunting and pumping, he had the fish close before it shot out of the water. Wah so big lah!" we exclaimed in unison. When it jumped, water sprayed everywhere. The keli bait rode up the line swinging left and right, just like marlin fishing, but on a much smaller scale. There were two more aerial displays before it was finally netted. We guesstimated its weight to be around 7 kilos. It was released after photos were taken.
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| Tail-walking toman. Just like marlin fishing, but on a much smaller scale. |
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| Emperor James and a battered toman. Notice the teeth marks? |
Moving to a narrow channel covered with weeds, the three of us were casting with lures. James, being a good cook, fried us a plate of sing chow mai with his bait caster (You must be well verse with bait caster jargon to know what I meant). It was the first of the two fried mee hoon he had that day. Ronnie soon had a strike, but the fish had the last laugh. After untangling his fried mee hoon, James was casting with a jig head which promptly invited an attack. Following a short struggle a 2 kilo toman was boated.This fish must have jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. There were teeth marks on both sides of it tail end. My outstretched palm and fingers could barely cover them all. Only a granddaddy of a toman could have made those teeth marks! The fish was kept as it would never survive if released.
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| The monster that did this must be huge. |
The proof that giants did lurk here gave us renewed energy and enthusiasm to cast. But tried as much as we did, there was no taker. James practised his frying skills again, serving chin heong mai this time. While he was busy getting untangled I was observing the surroundings. Once in a while the water surface was broken by some monsters coming up for air, but there was no hits. Maybe the hot sun was making the fish lose their appetite.
The wind direction suddenly changed bringing the hyacinth our ways. Being a bit anaemic I suggested we leave, as I was not generous enough to give blood donations that night. Loading the boat on to the van took us almost an hour, as it was very heavy, especially when we were very tired. During the drive home we were excitedly planning our next trip. With teeth marks like that we must be crazy not to go back for more.
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