HUNTING FOR MY DREAMFISH – THE TEMOLEH

This article was published in the May 2004 issue of Rod and Line Fishing Magazine.

When you mysteriously went missing most weekends and could not be contacted by hand phone, all your regular fishing kakis would accused you of ‘peh loh’ (Secretly fishing at some secret spots).

Well I do admit that I was guilty of ‘pei loh’, but it was not because I was selfish. You see, this spot required that I climb down a steep bank of about eight meters to reach the river edge. Then inch my way along a narrow ledge, holding on to tree roots, branches and climbers for about fifty meters before settling down on a piece of rock jutting out to the river.

My good friend Shamsuddin or Din Siam, as the locals call him. Shown holding up Ma'at's 12.6kg temoleh. Pity though, his 16.4 kg temoleh was not recorded on film.

 

 The climbing part ruled out quite a few of my not-so-fit friends. After crossing out those not so-patient ones too (Temoleh fishing was just a matter of hours of patient waiting for that pull), I think I was the only one left (See how easy it is t get rid of unwanted companies). On top of that I had to prove to my source that I was not a ‘tourist guide’ (Someone who would bring a busload to your secret spot complete with flags and whistles).

This rong took Ma'at's oil palm bait and landed in trouble.

 

Since time immemorial, mention the word temoleh, I would somehow break into the cold turkey symptoms. Well, you cannot blame me for that. When temoleh fishing fever was at its peak in Kuala Kangsar, I was just a kid ‘to be seen and not be heard’. Those huge temolehs caught by my father’s peers really stemmed their marks in my mind. Whenever I could sneak away to fish, I was always dreaming about catching those giants (Even though I was using bamboo rods, 4lbs line, small hooks and split shots as sinkers). By the time I could go fishing on a sampan without getting the daylight beaten out of me, the temolehs were gone. Even then, I never give up my dream, for every time I go fishing along the Perak River, I am always pestering the locals for news of this illusive giant.

Mohamed Faizal told me that this kelah was small compared to a few whoppers caught here before.

Din Siam must have cursed the day he was introduced to me. As one of those blessed individuals, who had caught a temoleh before (16.4kg to be exact), he immediately became a V.I.P. to me. Being thick skin, I must have worn him down with my persistent pestering and begging. As a result (Leave out the boring details of how I got him to disclose his secret spot), I found myself sitting next to Din at his temoleh spot near Kuala Kangsar one day.

The multi-hook rig used with cut oil palm. Very effective for a variety of river fish.

Fermented oil palm seed was the standard bait here instead of bananas, worms and yow char kwai of Lubuk Mat Anjing, Kuala Kangsar. Din introduced me to his gang too. After many trips there just to fish for temolehs, I was accepted into his inner circle and considered as one of them (In my heart I knew they had their doubts about my sanity going for that one fish only).

Li saw the tiny water sprays on the water surface, cast out his bait and got this krai.

I met Ma’at, a handsome young man, who related to me how he landed my dream fish one day. After hooking on to a runaway roller coaster, he panicked as his line kept on going out. Someone had the presence of mind to ‘hijack’ a boat for him to continue his fight in, thus making his job a lot easier. That Cyprinid pulled the scale down to 12.6kg.

There was one occasion when Din’s brother hooked on to a giant. The poor fellow was fighting a losing battle, until He intervened and the fish somehow got entangled onto another angler’s hook. With its mouth and tail hooked, that temoleh never had a chance.

Many others had close encounters with the temolehs too. Most of them were just fishing for other fish with light tackles and not really prepared to do battle with the giant. You guessed it; the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Try hunting for an elephant with a peashooter and you will know what I mean.

Huri, a professional, was the one credited with most of the catches. His exploits and the number of temolehs caught by him could be compile into a book! Of course, he used a cast net to catch them. As always the case everywhere when anglers and netters are going for the same fish, there will be a clash of interest. Maybe we should emulate the friendly spirit practiced here.

There was an unwritten understanding among the netters and anglers in this kampong. The netters would end their hunt by 9.30 am after which the lubuk would be left to the anglers to fish. Of course, many stretches were still criss-crossed by jarings strung at certain discreet corners. Their stories of torn nets and broken lines only made me more determine in my resolve to catch one.

The numerous trips I made in the months of April, May and June of 2002 were pak kor (empty handed) trips as it was then way past the temoleh season (Normally the temolehs would move upstream in the months of November and leave in the month of March). Therefore, in 2002, even though I made numerous forays here, the end results were still naught.

When the North-East Monsoon ended in 2003, I started to fish here again. From the numerous feedbacks I got from the locals, the population of temolehs that came here was rather dismal. I did see splashes made by a few of these frolicking giants, but never land one. News from the netters was the same story.

These were some of the scales from the temolehs caught here. Din kept them in a photo album as souvenirs.

 

The result in 2004 was even worst. Not a single landing was reported. Even the netters reported pak kor outings. I made a few halfhearted peanut eating trips here this year. The pathetic result spoke for itself. We all concluded that the whole temoleh population that came here in 2002 was almost decimated. It is always the same old story all over Malaysia. Without any legislative control, whenever a promising fishing spot was located, the whole place would be ‘cleaned’ in the wink of an eye. If the powers that be do not intervene, then the temolehs would follow the footsteps of the dinosaurs.

I would like to suggest that certain stretches of the river be close to any netting activities, and be open to fishing (Strictly catch and release) during certain time of the year (Not during the spawning time please). One do not need to be a Ph.D. holder to deduce that, when protected and regulated, the temoleh fishing industry can be on par if not better than the masheer fishing industry in Cauvery, India.

My forays to this temoleh hotspot did bring me some good though. First and foremost, I made friend with a bunch of very friendly and sincere anglers. From them I learnt how to look for krais. Whenever they were around, the surface of the river would be splattered with numerous tiny sprays of water. If a bunch of climber shoots (Found in abundance along the river bank) were tied and one or two tiny hooks embedded in them, catching the krais is considered as almost 90% of the time.

The locals used to cut up the oil palm seeds into tiny cubes. These were then attached on to the gang hooks they were using. This method was proven to be very effective from the number of lampams, rongs and kelabaus caught. I even witnessed a kelah been landed using this method (This one was rather small compared to the few whoppers they had landed in the past).

This climber plants found in abundance along the river bank proved to be very effective bait for catching krais. Notice the two small hooks embedded in the shoot (Marked X).

What about using boats, you might ask? I was toying with the idea, until I saw what happened to some outsiders who came in some boats. The aims of the locals when casting with their number 7 or 8 lead sinkers became very bad suddenly. They almost always land near or in the boats.

From my many trips here, I gained a lot of fishing knowledge from the kampong folks. Would I try to fish for my dream fish even though catching one now is just like trying to catch a T-Rex?

Come the next season, I hope to make a few more trips here, hoping….just hoping for that one gigantic pull from my dream fish.