CM's pond on 13 January 2008

bro ajay_cyber... trying out fly fishing

bro zigger using a baitcasting tackle setup

chiam setting up his telescopic rod

the only haruan landed that day. 5 anglers, 1 fish

the fish was the biggest i've caught, to date, at CM's pond

size comparison. my shoe is almost 1ft long

close-up shot of the haruan and the killer bakau sp

the 3" bakau sp was securely lodge onto the lips of the haruan

the haruan stretched out on my arm. i measured my arm, from tip of finger to the elbow. it was 15". i estimated the haruan to be slightly over 1kg in weight

next target... the carps in the pond!!!

the trip was planned a day before, at the MFN forum. the trip was also the day where i finally got to meet fellow MFN forummer... bro ajay_cyber, bro ziggerx and bro alex. have been sharing fishing ideas with them at MFN for a while now and today i finally got to fish with them. we shared informations and ideas on fishing... and got to the business of fishing for the haruans.

the haruans are getting very educated... due to the c&r practice. they would surface just outside our casting range, and they don't hover around the area for long. they would come up for air and swim back to the weeds. bro ajay tried fly fishing and sp. bro zigger tried using popper and other surface lures. chiam used bakau SP and me, i used berkley blade dancer which didn't work. then i switched to bakau SP... which landed me a 1kg+, 15" haruan, the biggest that i have landed from this location. i also used another berkley sp, but to no avail. bro alex joined us a bit later.

how i landed my haruan was spotfishing. i saw a rise about 30ft away and cast the bakau SP to the location. i was on target and when the lure touched the water, the haruan hit it with such a force that my rod bent doubled. it then dove into the weeds. judging from the fight that it put up, i have a feeling it was a big fish. a short tussle ensued. but i managed to drag the tired haruan out of the weed area. took some pix and released it.

while fishing today, something caught my eyes. i was using polaroid glasses and i could see into the water very clearly. what i saw was, to say the least, damn interesting!!! it was a sebarau... a big sebarau... of about 1ft in length. it was just cruising around. i tried casting my lure at it but it was not interested and swam away. now i know there is sebarau in the pond and i will certainly find ways to lure it in the future. in the future, i also plan to try and catch one of those carps in the pond!!!

roadside longkang fishing

this haruan was landed just before it started to rain heavily. managed to lure it with my trusty berkley blade dancer. had 2 takes on the bbd prior to this haruan being landed, but because i didn't set the hook properly, i lost those fish.

the same haruan. a fiesty little fellow of about 400g. it was a healthy specimen as the body was meaty. it was release after a short photoshoot.

the location. area is used to be peat swamp. that explains the coloration of the dark but clear water. it also explains the dark coloration of the haruan that was caught.

the spot where the 3 haruans took the lure. 2 managed to escape. water was probably just 1 ft deep, in the middle of the trench.

the marker to identify the place!!!

first fish of 2008 from The Land of Kiong

over an hour of fruitless casting, i finally landed this 800g fella when i work my bbd over a patch of floating weeds, that i just heard some splashes. this haruan is a quasimodo... meaning it had hump on its back.

the same haruan, after the BBD was dislodged.

the second haruan i caught was slightly bigger. my estimate, 900g. it was deceived using the same lure... the deadly bbd. i cast over to a patch of clearing. it was a blind cast, that i had done countless of times earlier to the same spot. the dark cloud was moving towards the area where i was fishing. i was to be my last few cast. then i felt a thug as i was retrieving the lure. i did not strike immediately. instead i counted 1, 2, 3... and only then did i struck. the hook set. the fish put up a valiant fight. when i got it near the bank where i was standing, i realised i didn't want to risk breaking my fishing line by lifting the fish + weeds that were entangled. used a scoop net to lift the fish up. my tackle setup... shimano slade 2500 and ryobi 2-piece rod.

just how dark it was when i caught that fish.

beginner's luck @ CM's pond

one of the 2 tilapias that were caught on lure that day. this one was caught by me using mini berkley blade dancer. the other (no pix) was caught by chen using eupro upside-down top water lure.

my first and only haruan for the day. caught using BAKAU 2" softplastic swimbait. the haruan was about 500g. after posing for the camera, it was tagged and released.

the same haruan from another angle

another haruan (800g), caught using the same type of BAKAU lure, by the newbie

chiam (the newbie) proudly posing with his catch. the haruan was his first ever fish on lure.

chiam dislodging the hook from his second haruan. a 400g feisty fella. chiam put me and chen to shame as he was the only person to catch 2 haruans that day. i only managed to catch one while chen caught none.

with that kind of luck, i'm sure chiam will continue to fish for a long time to come

i have long believed in "beginner's luck" when it comes to fishing. many a times, i personally witness newbies at fishing either catching the most fish or catching the biggest fish of the day. today was no different. chen and me had made plans for a short fishing session at CM's pond today. i met chiam last night, during our regular badminton session and invited him to join, since i happened to know that chiam has started lure fishing quite recently and he has yet to catch any fish on lures. well, i'm sure he's glad he accepted the invitation for he put myself to shame by catching 2 haruans on lures and one of his haruan was the biggest caught during that session.

chiam, care to join me and chen to fish at kpg stoh sometime soon? we plan to go there to stock up on siakap aka barramundi aka kimbakloh, for the coming chinese new year.

CM's Office Pond (14 Dec 2007)

1st haruan of the day. i estimated it to be around 800g. my reel, shimano slade 2500 which cost around rm100. line is 12lb no brand name mono.

bakau soft plastic lure which cost about rm1.33 a piece. it comes with a jig head and treble hook, but i have removed the treble to avoid sangkut.

2nd haruan, also using the BAKAU sp that looks like a baitfish

close-up of the haruan with the sp in its mouth

an even close up view of the haruan. with a single hook jighead, there was no problem in dislodging the hook from the haruan's mouth

took a few days off work to clear some outstanding stuffs and since i have managed to get the things out of the way, i went fishing today. i revisited the CM's Office Pond. the rain the night before caused the water to be murky but that did not deter me from fishing there from 8-11.30am. the first haruan was caught less than 15 minutes after i started casting. i saw the fish rise and hover a few inches below the surface. a few cast to the area using the newly bought BAKAU soft plastic minnow lure managed to entice the fella. the fish was landed safely and after a couple of snap shots, it was released back to it's habitat. then there was a long wait before the next fish. i moved around the pond, blind casting at "potential" places with both the BAKAU sp and also the yozuri banana boat lure but there were no takers. about an hour later, i saw another haruan rise near where i was casting. casting the yozuri lure, i tried to walk the dog over where the haruan was but, it did not attack the lure. after a few more cast with no result using the top water lure, i switched back to the BAKAU sp. immediately, there was a take on the lure and i had a solid hookup. after that, i decided to stick to the BAKAU sp only... and i also tried sight casting. meaning, when i see a haruan rise, i would cast over that location and bring my lure swimming right in front of the fella. i managed to get 2 more taps on the BAKAU sp using that technique however, the hookup was not solid and the fish managed to get away. BAKAU sp is cheap. RM5 for 3 nos. of 3inch sp... complete with jighear and a treble. i took out the treble cos the location i was fishing at, is full of weeds. the action of the lure when retrieved it really mimics that of a baitfish (eg. seluang, bilis etc).

an advise to newbies at fishing... the haruans at the cm pond is getting smarter so you must continue to change the presentation of your fishing style. my last trip there... i caught all the haruans on top water lures like popper and banana boat lure, however, today those did not work at all. another thing is, some of the haruan rises far out in the middle of the pond. so u need a proper setup of fishing tackle to win them over. so... invest some $ for some good fishing tackle.

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.