fish of yesteryears

1) sematan trip. fish is a small gopeng. caught using bottom fishing with sotong slices.

2) sematan trip. fish is an almost 1kg angcho aka tanda aka red snapper. caught using bottom fishing with sotong slices.

3) sematan trip. posing with Chen's diamond trevally. the dt weighed 3kg +. bottom fishing using market prawns / sotong slices.

4) sematan trip. fish is 800g kerapu grade A. caught using bottom fishing with sotong slices.

5) 4kg sting ray at rambungan. bottom fishing with live prawns.

6) 4kg+ barramundi at pasir pandak. my first wild barra... on lure samore. lure is caparang brand.

7) 1kg mangrovejack from kampung stoh (pay pond)... using halco sorceror.

8) assorted fish from my first ever fish sematan trip!!! bottom fishing using squid. among the catches... grouper grade A, red snapper, silver grunter and sea bass.

9) assorted fish from another rambungan trip!!! bottom fishing using live prawns and fish fillet. among the catches... grouper grade A, red snapper, bream, whiting and gelama.

kampung chupak, gunung chupak and... tasik chupak?

13 january 2007


a week earlier, i saw a pix of a location "allegedly" called gunung chupak. the place looks pristine and the best part was, it had a huge pond that looks FISHY!!!. so, a plan was setup between me and Chen to explore the place.

came saturday afternoon, we were off to find the place... based on some tourist map that Chen managed to acquire and also some google map images that Chen had "captured" and my memory of looking at the topomap from office.

kampung chupak is actually located around mile 22 kuching-serian road, near the former Dragon School. (nope... no dragons there!!!) due to our oversight... we got lost at a turning before the correct turning... so we ended up driving along jalan padawan. thankfully, we were clear minded enough to ask for directions. and soon enough we found our quarry.

from wat i can describe, the place spells Beauty with a capital B. it's actually a kampung where the locals plant paddy (as far a the eye can see). lime stone hills comes out of nowhere from the ground, and they are lushed with secondary forest. right in front of the hill (gunung chupak) is a large pond. water from the pond is controlled by flood gates so as to control the water that irrigates the paddy field.

we tried fishing at the pond but there was a lot of water plant but not a whole lot action. then we saw some local ladies pole fishing along the (earth drain, canal, channel). we went over to see their catch... a bucket full fish... mainly, puyu, haruan and barbs. so, immediately, i rigged my 14ft pole and started fishing the area. i got bites but can't seem to set the hook... until i changed my hooks to a smaller one. it was then that i consistently got fish... all in all 6 barbs.

we plan to visit this place again... with more variety of baits and also bring our scoop net and try to catch some bettas... if there are any. as for Chen... better go get ur 14ft pole... soon, so as not to miss out on the action.

p/s: sharma... i think those fishes are worth 0.5 points. wat say you???

sungai pinang farm (re-visited)

6 january 2007

2pm, chen was right on the dot at the gate of my house. packed my stuff into his old faithful... we headed for john's house. he was not ready... as usual. soon enough, we headed off to our first location, suggested by me, some oil palm plantation near uitm, samarahan area. unfortunately, the condition of the streams there weren't conducive thus we opted for another location.

it was either we go all the way to the water gates at samarahan, kiong's pond or sungai pinang farm. the latter was chosen and by 4pm... we have arrived there. going right to the action... john caught a skinny but healthy haruan weighing close to 1kg with his berkley blade dancer (fire tiger). later, chen foul-hooked a tilapia which put up a good fight. john switched to float fishing and got many small tilapia and puyu (climbing perch). i was still zero.

we all moved to the back ponds to explore. we got to 1 huge pond, way back at the farm. it was huge... as big as a football field... but it had drained, leaving pockets of water that was 1-2ft deep. lots of action on the water surface, and with polarised sunglasses, can see that the fishes around were... red tilapia (1kg+ in size), puyu, haruan and even catfish. john was the first to catch a fish, a puyu. then chen got a haruan, but as he reeled the fish in... it tried an escape trick that would make houdini proud. i was getting restless. still zero for me. then out of the blue, my blade dancer was whacked. hook-up. a fiesty haruan (500g) was reeled in. after a quick photo session, it was dully released. soon after that, chen pulled up another 500g haruan with his halco sorceror.

then on, we moved back to the front ponds. plenty of puyu and tilapia were caught but we didn't bother to take any more photos. chen did try float fishing for the huge patins, but there were no takers. around 6pm, we called it a day after a satisfying half-day of fishing.

a friendly wager!!!

Salt Water Category

top class fish
parrot fish (ketarap), threadfin salmon (senangin & kurau), spanish mackerel (tenggiri), tuna (tongkol), coral trout (kerapu bara, kerapu pisang), eron (ibu gelama), sailfish (layaran),

middle class fish
red snapper (tanda/jenahak), mangrovejack (siakap merah), barramundi (siakap), grouper (kerapu), trevallies (gerepoh, cermin, etc), queenfish (talang), grunters (tebal pipi), sweetlips (kaci), barracudda (alu-alu), cobia (haruan tasik),

bottom class fish
(gelama), whiting (bebolos), garfish (todak), stingray (pari), shark (yu),

special class
prawn (udang galah), crabs (ketam), squid (sotong), octopus (sotong kurita)


Fresh Water Category

top class fish
marble goby (ketutu), mahseer (kelah, empurau, semah), jungle perch (sebarau)

middle class fish
channas (toman, haruan, bujuks), mekong catfish (patin, baung), kalasoma (pacu), giant gouramy (kaloi), knife fish (belida), carp (grass carp, tongsan, lee koh, rohu, sultan)

bottom class fish
catfish (keli), cichlids (tilapia, peacock bass)


top class fish (3 points per kg)
middle class fish (2 points per kg)
lowest class fish (1 point per kg)
special class (2 points per kg)

fish caught with lures, the points will be multiplied with a factor of 2.0

fish caught but not weighted, will be determined it's weight by rough estimate by opponent. (pictures are necessary!!!)

pls add onto the list of categories of fish, if you find that the list is incomplete. pls highlight which category that you have updated.

fishing prize... RMxxx worth of fishing tackle or RMxxx cash/cheque!!!


the above are the "terms & conditions" of a friendly wager for year 2007 that i proposed, on 29 December 2006, to Sharma aka crazy fisherman, an angling friend all the way in Subang. it was dully accepted by him with minor adjustments and additions. so on 1 January 2007, it was... "gentlemen, start ur engines... i meant setup your tackles!!!"

as far as i know, from Sharma's smses, he went fishing right away... but caught nothing. me on the other hand, gave him a day's head start. the result as u can see, is posted on my maiden post. now, i have 1 point!!!

p/s: sharma... just a friendly reminder, u still owe me a surecatch tackle bag and a minnow lure!!!

first fish of 2007

tuesday, 2 january 2007 accepted an invite from a regular angling fren, john, to go fishing. the destination was ah kiong's pond, a semi-wild pond. armed with our fishing tackles, we arrived at the pond and started fishing by 3.30pm. weather was cloudy with intermitten showers. true anglers are not bothered by mild weathers. the order of the day was casting. my preferred lure was the mini berkley blade dancer, which has brought me great results in 2006. no takers on lures after more than an hour casting. frustrating is the feeling, to be able to see the channa straita (aka haruan, leihu) but cannot entice it to bite. took the next course of action, which is to do float fishing. as for bait, it was the small shrimp and rasboras that i managed to scoop up with a net that i brought along for the trip. few minutes after i placed my baited float, a havana cigar sized channa straita was cleanly hooked-up at the lips. a quick photo session and the fish was released back to the pond. john not wanting to miss out on the action rigged up and in a few minutes time, he also caught a small channa straita. later, it was my turn again to get the last channa straita for the day. it was a good feeling as i got my 2007 fishing to a reasonable start. "why?" you may ask. do stay tuned for the next update.