About Me

My photo
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
At present I am retired and spending my time mostly on fishing and photography. I bought my first SLR way back in 1982. It was a Minolta XG1. My last film camera was the Maxxum 9000. When the fantastic Sony Alpha 100 was launched, I changed over to the digital system. My Alpha 580 was acquired followed closely by my Alpha 77.

My main interest in photography is lifestyles, sports, sceneries, nature, birds and macro shots. Lately, I have spend more time on bird and nature shooting. As a regular contributer to some fishing magazines, I shoot quite a lot of photographs of anglers too....hence my photography blog is named 'SHOOT THE HOOKER'.



Having grown up near the confluence of two, the Kangsar and the Perak Rivers, it is not surprising that one of my main interest is fishing. My younger days were spent swimming and fishing.... with a bamboo pole, line and small hooks.Now while fishing, my friends and I do take a lot of photographs of anglers in action. The anglers must be careful so as not to accidentally hook on to a photographer. So I think as a reminder, I would like to name my fishing blog as 'HOOK THE SHOOTER'.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

THE LADIES VERSUS THE BRUTES


This article was published in the May 2002 issue of Rod And Line fishing magazine.



For ladies to go fishing in car-toppers, a very complicated problem arises – privacy. It is easy for you guys as it is a matter of just standing up, balancing yourselves and then contributing a minute rise in the level of the river. For those not so agile, empty mineral water bottles do come in handy. The catchword now is recycle, man. Our brain storming session came up with a very simple solution for the ladies. An empty powdered milk tin and a sarong helped solved the whole problem. Easy as that!

My wife, Siew Mooi, beaming proudly with her 3 kg toman.

 With problem solved, James, Poh Yean, my wife and I were cruising excitedly along the Simpang Pulai road to collect the 14 footer fiberglass boat from my friend’s house in Batu Gajah. Suddenly, we were flashed persistently by another vehicle from behind. As it was still dark at 6.00 in the morning, stopping to investigate was a bit too foolhardy. Slowly, the other vehicle drew abreast and signaled us to stop. You don’t argue with a police patrol car, do you?

See what I meant? Just 3.6kg and he bent backward to pose.

After asking us a lot of questions and shining their torches into our faces and car interior, we were waved cheerily on. We suspected the reason the police picked us out was the home made rod holder on top of James’ car. In the dark it really looked like a rocket launcher. How could we blame our keepers of the law for being suspicious as the Janalek Incident was still fresh in everyone’s mind?

This one was Siew Mooi's personal best of 5 kg. It was worth all the discomfort and hardship.

Anchoring our boat at a spot where we liberally ground baited, we set up our tackle. All the toman seemed to have gone on vacation. In the calm cool morning, the silence on the pond felt as though you could cut it with a knife. After almost half an hour, James’ bait was the first to be taken. A 3.5 kg brute was released after a bruising fight. Five minutes later he released another smaller toman. My wife and I were getting restless, as James seemed to be getting all the attention from the tomans. The smug look on his face when he posed for the photographs really got on my nerves. Add on the running commentaries when he was fighting his fish, he really was rubbing it into us.


This was the rod holder that caused us to be stopped by the police.
The action stopped as suddenly as it had begun. The inaction lasted for more than half an hour. Getting impatient, I declared that there was no more fish here anymore. Before we could pull up the anchors, the line from my wife’s reel began slowly moving out through the guides. Closing the bail arm, she struck, and the kilo plus toman was subdued and released unharmed. Almost immediately my wife tied on again, this time a giant. This brute just kept going with the reel screaming in protest. Suddenly the rod snapped back and the fish waved goodbye. On closer examination the line was rough. It could have been cut by the hundreds of rawais criss-crossing the whole area.
Again the lull set in and we changed place. This new place was very promising, as the water was neither too deep nor shallow. Our boat was secured near a huge patch of floating vegetation, which we suspected, could be home to some huge tomans. Our suspicions were proven right. Poh Yean connected to one brute that did not know how to stop. The knot tying the line to her reel parted with a loud crack when her spool was emptied. We could only look at each other with wide eyes and drooping jaws. Taking the chance to gain some fame, James declared that that brute must be more than 10 kg. (Now you know why the public always ask for the photos when anglers tell ‘the big ones that got away’ stories). What followed was the landing and releasing of countless tomans weighing between 1kg to 2 kg. For the ladies, it was good fun and plenty of practical experiences.
When another fish ran with the bait, my wife was pointing the rod directly at it. “Lift up the rod to pump,” I advised her. “I can’t,” She gasped. Thinking that she must be exhausted from all the actions, I tried to help lift up the rod. It was my turn to gasp. I could feel the energy on the other end of the line, which was shooting out quite fast despite the drag. After taking quite some line that fellow swung to the left. Cranking like crazy, my wife gained some line back before losing them all out again. Slowly but surely the fish was being brought back to the boat. It suddenly headed under the boat and my wife dipped the rod tip into the water. Our worst fear was realized when that smart fellow wrapped the line around the anchor rope.
After stalemating for some times, the fish somehow untangled itself from the rope and headed out to the right. In the end a 5 kg toman was landed and release. We congratulated my wife for besting her personal record of a 4.2 kg barracuda caught while trolling near Pangkor.

James struggling with one of his catches.

When I was busy helping my wife with another fish, I heard some clattering sound behind me. James shouted that his rod had dived into the water. While giving a helping hand to Poh Yean, James left his rod unattended for a short while. That few seconds were enough for Murphy’s Law to work.
Looking around, I could see a bubble trail caused by the fleeing toman with a set of tackle in tow. After releasing my wife’s latest catch we gave chase. When James reached out to grab his rod handle, which by now as floating in the water, it shot out of reach again. There was nothing we could do but to wait. Suddenly the rod popped up some twenty meters away. Cruising slowly over, James made no mistake this time around. What surprised us most was the 1 kg p.us toman was still on the line……

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