RIVER OF LEAPING TOMANS

This article was published in the September 2001 issue of Rod and Line fishing magazine.

     Hmmm, the steamed bujuk tasted fantastic. We were having a bujuk meal at Tan Soon Wai's stall, when Liau Swee Onn (he contributed the bujuk) told us about his secret spot. For two over years, he and his friends made regular trips here for bujuks. To access this spot, they got to travel by motorbikes, carrying all their gears and an inflatable. It was a real tough journey as all journeys through oil palm estates are. Reaching the bank they then inflated the boat and crossed the river to reach the swampy jungle, which was their hunting ground. As the inflatable could only accommodate two persons, they had to take turn to cross. After rowing across the boat would then be reeled back with a fishing line tied to it (most anglers are very innovative fellows). On further inquiry, I guessed the river to be Sugai Tumbuh near Pengkalen Nibung area. We finally decided to access the swamp by travelling up river by boat.

The boat landing, where En. Din has his drink stall. The main road and the bridge are in the background.

     Cruising slowly along, I noticed the current was unusually strong. This river being widened and deepened along its whole lenghth, was no longer the slow flowing river that we once knew. We never really went on plane as there were a lot of sunken trees and branches being washed down by the current. It was good that we were travelling slowly as there were plenty of residential storks, egrets and other waterfowls feeding on both sides of the banks. The whole flock would fly up together on the approach of our boat. The sight itself was worth all the efforts that we had put in to come. Gliding with the wind, they sure looked graceful in the morning sky. Sweeping from left to right and up and down, one could only sigh and drink in the poetic motion being played in front of us.

Soon Wai and his bujuk.

     Finally we reached our destination. A week ago, Swee Onn caught quite a number of kilo size bujuks here. Climbing on to the bank after putting on our wading boots, (I never allow anyone to wear wading boat on the boat for safety reasons) we began to struggle forward. The bank was a whole layer of soft mud dug up from the river. The trick was to step on the branches and stumps of roots. With wading boots it was never easy. One misstep would find us sinking right up to our knees. To extract our legs, we had to exert and pull slowly until our legs were free. If you pull to fast and hard, you either lose a boot, suffer from hernia or worst, lose a leg. With the hot weather now prevalent, our strength was drained in a short time, struggling in the mud trap. Sweating and panting, we began flipping our baits. Small rejected carps from the aquarium shops were our baits. Compared to last week, the water level had fallen substantially, according to Swee Onn. As such, our catches were mostly 500gms and below. All of them should be thankful as we were in benevolent mood and all were released.

This was our fishing ground. The river was behind the angler.

     We moved upriver to a small pool of water parallel to the main river. Due to the deepening and widening of the Tumbuh River, the swamps on both sides were already drying up. As it was of higher level to the river, the water draining from the swamp has got to flow into this pool of water first. We correctly theorized that many of the bujuks, forced out of the swamp, must be taking refuge here . We were proven right as on my first cast, my bait was stolen. The take was too fast for me to react. The second cast got me a small bujuk. When my line moved again I struck hard and my line came back minus the hook. Cursing myself for being so careless for not checking for weakened lines, I retied and landed another cheroot. All in all I caught and landed nine small bujuks and a kilo size toman. Well, at least  I could console myself that my broken line was not due to my carelessness. I released all my fish. Swee Onn's disbelieving look when informed of the releases told the whole story. I gave up explaining about conservation long a go.

Swee Onn struggling through the mud with Soon Wai in the foreground.

     Soon Wai fishing 10 meters away, was more productive. He kept on hitting fish after fish. This was only his second experience at bujuk fishing., but he was getting all the bites and all were above a kilo in size.The moment his bait hit the water, a burst of tiny bubbles could be seen floating up. Most of his fish were lost at the end stage of the fight when the fish gave a final burst. He was using 'no contact point system' fighting technique for street fighting brawls.He forgot that these bujuks were slump dwellers. As such sportingly thin line and light drag setting would not work here. More appropriate, would be the elbows, knees and teeth (on the ear if possible). Out of the more than fifteen strikes, he landed only two. Swee Onn landed one of presentable size.

This patch of dried grass produced the most fish.

     When another boatload of anglers from Lahat joined us, we were already worn out. With the hot sun burning mercilessly on us plus the struggle through the mud all but physically drained us. Surprisingly the newcomers immediately began to land fish. Mr. Chan was landing fish after fish from a clump of grass on the opposite bank. More than eight strikes  were registered and he landed six good size bujuks.

This was how we rigged our baitfish.

     One surprising thing here was we never encountered any haruans. All the bujuks were rounded and in very good physical conditions. Sadly though with the extensive widening and the deepening of a few rivers in the Lower Perak region, the swampy jungles of this region will be a thing of the past. With it will vanish our productive fishing ground and the plentiful water bird populations too. Well, nature lovers' and anglers' losses are planters' gain I supposed.

The Lahat folks with my gang and some of our catches.

     Leaving our new friends to carry on fishing we pointed our boat down river. Suddenly, a two kilo plus toman shot out of the water, crossed the stern of our boat and dropped back into the river. I wonder how Soon Wai (he is rather handsome) will look if the toman. with saw-like dentures, hit him in the face. Five minutes later a deja vu occurred with a smaller toman. Swee Onn was wishfully saying how nice if the fish landed on the boat. (Well, I wasn't sure I like ferocious, panicky tomans landing in our midst). All too soon we crossed under the bridge spanning the river and were back at the landing where En Isa Din has his stall selling drinks. He has a few boats for hire too.

THE 10:90 PERCENT RULES

This article was published in the June 2001 issue of Rod And Line fishing magazine.

     How many times have you heard someone exclaimed, "So lucky lah, always catching so many fish and big ones too." Yes, there are guys who somehow exude some mystical a aura around them, causing the fish to queue up to commit 'hara kiri' at their feet. There are also the 'stinkos' or 'otters' that the fish avoid like the bubonic plaque. Could this phenomenon be due to luck, or is it something more than that?

     The slogan '10% of the anglers catch 90% of the fish' seems all too true when we really look at the whole angling situation. Why are these ten percents so lucky? Many might not agree, but I think luck is only a small tiny piece of the jigsaw. The rest of the pieces, I would like to discuss here as I think they are the main reasons why some have all the 'A. Ls'.  These are the people who are willing to put the extra effort that made the difference between getting their mug shots with the big catches or posing with market bought ones. Listed below are some of the reasons, which I think are the main contributing factors.

Do you think this ball bearing will give you a smooth action?

     1:  Reels should be cleaned and well oiled after every trip. Care must be taken so that sand, salt particles and other grits should be remove to prevent failure while a whopper is on. Strip and overhaul your reel at least once a year. I have come across reels where the grease had dried up like tar. Many have their ball-bearings jammed up too. The bail roller must be inspected regularly so that sand or grime does not prevent the free running of the roller. Use a water repellent spray like WD40 to protect your reels.

     2:  Drag System. Most spinning reels have drag washers that need oil on them. Care must be taken so that sand and grit do not caused the metal discs to get scratch. If water ever gets into the drag discs most will give a jerky movement, which may result in broken lines. In case of star drags no oil is needed on the drag discs to give a smooth action. As for lever drag, the drag discs are encased in a watertight housing. Should water, sand or oil get into the compartment, it will be disastrous, especially when you have a big one on. All drags should be loosen after a fishing trip. Otherwise it will stick together and may need a stronger force to turn thus causing line breakage. Of course, the correct setting of the drag in relation to your fishing line is very important. It should be 1/3 the breaking strain of your fishing line, which should be adjusted before fishing.

The pressure plate 'A' will press on the....

......drag disc 'B'.

Both 'A' and 'B' are sealed by 'C'. There should npot be any dirt, grit or oil on the drag disc.

     3:  Rod. Get the proper rod for the job at hand. A well balanced and built rod can reduce a lot of stress and strain on your casting arm (one of the reasons for custom built rods). Never bend your rod pass the critical angle, which normally is around 90 degrees. Spend some money for quality rod bag so that all your rods are not knocking against each other or some other hard objects during transit. Care must be taken if you want to leave your weight and hook on the rod while on the move. The modern graphite rods do not tolerate nicks and cuts as much as the older fiberglass ones. After fishing, they must be washed with mild detergent, rinse and dry before storing in proper rod bag. A lot of attention must also be paid to the guides, as any grooved or broken guides should be replaced immediately. It is advisable to clean your guides and reel seats regularly with an old toothbrush and mild detergent. Failure at the critical moment is the most frustrating thing to happen in fishing.

Another example of a grooved guide. Be meticulous when inspecting your guides.

     4:  Fishing Line. Mono filament and braided line both suffer from nicks and abrasions, albeit at different levels. Check regularly, especially the first five meters as this is the place most of the frictions and cuts will occur. As the ultraviolet ray of the sun is very damaging, I suggest lines should be change regularly to prevent breakage at the critical moment. Reels filled with lines should be kept in cool, dry places away from the sun's damaging rays. To cut cost, the line in the spool can be reverse once. That is the line at the bottom of the spool should be reverse to the top and those at the top reverse to the bottom. Fish should be brought in by pumping and not cranking with the line slipping as the line twist that results might cause line failure. The ever increasing pressure of the line on the spool will also cause the collapse of the spool.

You can be sure the sinker will be knocking against the rod. Any nick on the graphite rod spells disaster.

     5:  Knots. The are many types of knots for anglers. Learn up a few most suitable for your fishing. Be meticulous when tying your knots. There is no short cut to it. Be sure to wet your knots before tightening it. Any loose end or sliding in the knot will result in another "big one that got away story". There are knots specially created for braided lines. Due too their slippery nature, they must be tied very carefully to prevent slipped knots. There is no necessity to learn the myriad of knots available. If you can, master all of them, then congratulations! Otherwise, be very good in tying a few knots that give you almost 100% knot strength is sufficient. Of course they must be suitable for the exact purpose. One Karate grandmaster when asked what are the best techniques a student should learn, answered, "One block, one punch, 500 times each hand, every day". Hope you get the meaning.

These dud hooks are found in freshly opened packs of hooks. All of them are from branded names.

     6:  Hooks. Most of the lost fish stories can be traced to the hooks. Some will straighten or snap with minimal pressure. Do check your hooks before tying them on as there are always some duds around no matter how meticulous the manufacturing process is. With the chemically sharpen hook nowadays, it is still necessary to sharpen them before fishing. After an hour of so of fishing please do touch up the point with a file or a slip stone. I always carry a small piece of slip stone in my tackle box. Just a few rubs on the point is enough to restore sharpness to your point. Test it by scratching the point against your thumbnail. If it sticks then it is sharp enough.

The nail test. Scratch your nail with the hook point.

 If it digs into the nail then it is sharp.

     7:  Know Your Quarry. 'Match the hatch' had been bandied around for ages. The importance of presenting food that is attractive to your quarry cannot be denied. Fish area very finicky feeders on the whole. A bait or lure, which worked on one day, might not catch any on another day. Therefore, your knowledge of what attract the fish is the utmost and will decide whether it is a good or bad day. Do look for signs of fish and also study the water for any likely hiding places where the fish like to hang around. The temperature of the water is also important, as it will affect the feeding mood of the fish.

     8:  Local Knowledge. Never ever ignore advice from the local experts. In fact make it a point to chat up the locals and actively seek out their expertise. The pak ciks and even the adiks literally play marbles with the fish in their area, so their knowledge of the method in catching and the characteristics of the fish are indispensable.

     9:  Camouflage. Hiding and keeping yourself as inconspicuous as possible cannot be overly emphasized. The fishes in the water are being preyed on all the time. It is a 'big eat small world'. In order to survive they have to be be very alert every second. If they are whoppers they are even smarter. Therefore should they detect any danger or hear any foreign sound they'll break all the 100 meter sprint records in  the world. Try to keep quiet when you move around and stay behind any bush or tree if possible. Do keep back from the edge of the bank too. If you are using a boat do have some rubber mats on the floor of the boat as sound gets transmitted and amplified into the water. Try not to wear bright clothes so that you will not be so conspicuous.

     10:  Go Light. With modern technology at hand, I can't see why thin line cannot be use. The present premium lines are very thin and tough for their poundage. The thinner the lines the less visible they are, which translate into more bites. When I say thin here, I mean thin and tough lines. Too thin and low poundage lines will prolong the fights, which will cause irreparable damages to the fish thus defeating our catch and release program. The size of the sinker too must be suitable for the job. Try using running sinkers, as you can feel the bites earlier and easier. The fish will hold on to the bait much longer too if they do not feel the weights. Many anglers like to use snaps and swivels to connect the leaders or trace. Choose the branded and good ones to prevent any disappointments due to breakages or the snaps opening by themselves.

     11: Do Not Be A Stinko. I always keep my hands clean from chemicals. Try washing your hands before fishing and after you have handled any chemical, like sun block, petroleum products or cosmetics. The fish can detect the tiniest amount of such chemicals in the water.

     Well, I guess these are some of the tips that I can think will help you to be among the ten percents. If everything is in order then pray hard and the finals piece, that is luck, will fit in to complete the puzzle. There are of course plenty more ways to improve your catches. Hopefully you cam learn through your experiences and share them with us.

(Note: Equipments shown are the kind courtesy of Perniagaan Wing Sam, Bercham , Ipoh).

NIGHT FISHING FOR BELIDA - at Suka Suka

This article was published in the July 2001 issue of Rod And Line fishing magazine.

     I was sitting at the front of the 12 footer keeping a sharp lookout for half-submerged logs and nets in the water of Chenderoh Lake in Perak. Some how boating in the dark on any stretch of water always gives me the creep. My eerie feeling was compounded by the small size of the boat. It magnified the feeling of me been so naked and exposed too.

Raymond with his belida caught at night.

     "Ng, please shine the touch to the right," Raymond's voice cut into my thoughts. Raymond really earned my admiration as he could guide our boat to the fishing location with just a spotlight. After anchoring our boat, I found to my horror that there was not even one light stick in my tackle box. With heavy heart I had no choice but watch Raymond and Soon Fong cast out their baits. In the dark, their lighted rod tips were like the magic wand of Cinderella's fairy godmother. Well as they say, necessity is the mother of all inventions. When you were frustrated and itching to fish, somehow your innovative traits would surface. What I did was to cast out my rig and held the line in my hand like a hand line to feel for the bites. Then the three of us settled down in the dark to wait for our quarries, the belidas of Chenderoh Lake.

Three proud anglers with three belidas and a sebarau.

     When Raynond suggested we go night fishing in Chenderoh Lake in Perak, Soon Fong, Richard and I immediately agreed. In the end Richard and Soon Fong brought their families along as the resort of Suka-Suka run by En. Aziz and his wife was to be our base. This home away from home is a small resort that gives one the feeling of being close to nature. The home cooked food of Mrs. Aziz can only be described with one word. SUPERB! The resort is quite near the sleepy hollow of Sauk and Kampung Janalek of the Al Maunah arm heist fame.

Being quite innovative, Soon Fong managed to retrieve his snagged lure with some big snaps tied to a weight.

Come Sunday, saw our two boats of crazy anglers and a few not so crazy families heading to the resort. When everything was settled, Soon Fong and I went casting for sebaraus. After hundreds of fruitless casts later, we decided to rest at a cove with patches of water weeds. At around 4.30 pm the water surrounding our boat suddenly erupted with the sound of sebaraus chomping on fleeing bait fish. Both our lures flew out in different directions. Luck would have it that my shad rap went too deep and got hung up with the aquatic weeds. By the time I managed to dislodge my lure, Soon Fong had two missed strikes. On his next cast his lure was stopped and a kilo plus sebarau leapt out of the water shaking its head desperately. Luckily the hook stayed and it was finally netted.

     The fish vanished as suddenly as they had appeared and we were back to casting fruitlessly. By now it was getting a bit dark and I was forced to steer our boat back to the resort. There fish less Raymond and Richard were already back at the resort.

After a tasty home cooked dinner prepared by the better half of En. Aziz, Raymond, Soon Fong and I decided to head out to the lake for night fishing. Richard chose to stay back to fish from the bank. That night the weather was quite warm. Fishing in the dark was quite interesting too. After a few minutes in the dark, the whole scene would slowly appear bright when our eyes got acclimatised. We were reluctant to switch on the lights, as it would attract hordes of irritating insects. Suddenly Raymond was seen cautiously reaching for his rod. When the lighted rod tip took another dip, he struck. The 'beautiful' X-rated adjectives that followed told the whole story. The wary belida outsmarted him and his hook came back cleaned. Being relatively new to night fishing, Soon Fong missed his two strikes too. After these, things seemed to quieten down a bit. To stave off the boredom and sleepiness, we talked about everything under the moon.

Raymond tensed up suddenly and we all held our breath.Slowly his rod tip began to dip and he made no mistake this time. Before it breaks the surface we all knew it  to be a belida as most will jump when hook. The unlucky fish was boated after a few jumps.

Richard showing off his belida caught from the bank of the Suka-Suka Resort. Sometimes you need not go too far to catch a decent fish.

     While relating an X-rated joke, I felt a slow steady pull on my line. Letting go my fishing line I held up my  rod. When I felt the next pull, I almost overturned the boat in my eagerness to set the hook. Missed that sneaky fellow though. Many small baungs and lawangs were caught. We were wondering what happened to their parents. At 3.00 am we just couldn't keep our drooping eyelid up. All our fish were released except for the belida. Back at the resort, even before my head touches the pillow, I was already snoring.

     By 6.00 am the next morning, my eyes were already wide opened. While getting my boat ready, Richard came staggering towards me with bleary eyes. The moment we could see where we were going, our boat was already heading out to the open lake. While casting for sebaraus, Richard  related to me how he landed a belida at the doorstep of the resort. He almost had his fishing tackle pulled into the lake by something big. Luckily his line broke when his reel got snagged to some roots.

I guessed E. Aziz (owner of Suka- Suka Resort) knew better. His tip to us that sebaraus only strike in the evening was true. After countless lure changes and getting a stiff arm from the hundreds of fruitless casts later, we headed back for breakfast. If only the sebaraus and belidas were as hungry as we were, the morning's outing would have been more interesting.

     By 9.00am our two boats headed out again. Soon Fong was in charge of the anchor on my boat. We anchored just twenty meters up current of a fallen tree. Plenty of bites were registered but they were all small baungs and lawangs. Anyway, all were released with a friendly pat on their buttocks.Suddenly, Raymond who was fishing with Richard about 10 meters from us was seen struggling with a fish. He triumphantly brandished his belida of about 2 kilos and thumping his nose at us.

     When the rain came at around 3.30pm it was more like the water tank upstairs had suddenly burst. Soon Fong kept on turning down my offer of sharing my raincoat. I was bailing out water more than I fish. By 3.45 pm the rain finally stopped and we decided to change place. Following closely at the heel of Raymond's boat we skimmed across the surface of the lake. Soon Fong who was huddled up in the front of the boat started gesturing and pointing to the direction of the resort. Veering off we headed back to the island leaving Raymond and Richard to carry on to the next spot. From the way Soon Fong gobbled up his lunch, I knew he was cold and hungry.

Soon Fong proudly showing off his sebarau taken with a shad rap.

     I wondered how Richard would be feeling as he was soaked to the skin. With only breakfast to fuel his body, I really pitied him.When both Raymond and Richard dismounted from their boat at 5.30 pm Richard was shivering and shaking too. Needless to say, the plates were emptied in record time. What table manners! We bade farewell to En. Aziz and his wife soon after we packed up.