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Monday, March 26, 2012

A Short Getaway...

I have always been fascinated by Malaysia's freshwater fishing scene. Many species of fish native to South East Asia are available in Malaysia's waters. Although freshwater fishing in Malaysia has grown increasingly challenging, the country still has some great locations. Some of the most awesome fishing can be found in large stocked lakes and ponds.

When I was invited to join Robin on this trip, I agreed with no hesitation. I had seen reports of the giant-sized snakeheads in Jurassic lake and was truly excited about trying my hand at engaging one of these beasts in battle. However, I knew that these fish are very elusive to find and even harder to catch. Fish don't grow big by being stupid!


Jurrasic angling park. Our hearts were set racing the moment the lake came into view. We could see rises everywhere from our vantage point!!!
All set up and ready to go before the sun is even up. Check out the light boats powered by electric motors. Stealth means everything in freshwater fishing.




Casting paradise. Looks can be deceiving. Fishing in this lake was extremely tough and not for impatient anglers.
First catch was a beautiful golden catfish taken deep on a Jackall TN 70 vibe.

Topwater fishing was fruitless. Changing to deep divers started to produce some fish. Evergreen combat crank 320 have a solid reputation as a big snakehead lure in Thailand. They work on Malaysian Snakeheads too.
Long, slim minnows like the Ima Flit worked fast and twitched wildly induced reaction bites and we used this tactic a lot to locate schools of fish.
Imakatsu Crank 400 accounted for this snakehead
After an epic battle and a lot of drama banging the boat into everything that was not even close by, this 7 kg beautifully marked snakehead was taken at 12pm in the afternoon on a deep diver. Target achieved!
Imakatsu Crank 400 again. This lure was my star performer in this location.
We spent the later part of the day wandering the many smaller ponds in the vicinity. It was very kampong style fishing. Juvenile snakehead taken on Zipbaits Raphael.
Dave with a nice sultan fish taken on Duo Ikkako. It was a nice surprise that the squid imitation lure could work on freshwater fish as well.
Strange local species of fish taken on Zipbaits Khamsin Tiny DR. There is no saying what you will catch in these ponds.

Black Pacu taken on Zipbaits Khamsin Tiny DR. Zipbaits lures produced outstanding results in the micro lure category.
Rawang Jurassic game fishing pond. Good fish. Beautiful surroundings.
Nice Pacu taken on Zipbaits Calibra Vibe.
Asian red tail catfish taken on Jackall Mascle deep. Knocking on the bottom with deep divers and vibes really stirred up these bottom dwellers
Another Asian red tail, this one was taken on Zipbaits Khamsin DR.
Surprise catch! The beautiful golden freshwater catfish. The Khamsin lure produced fish after fish consistently.
That’s a super fat 3 Kg tilapia!!
Evergreen Kaleido Alley Oop bent in action.
They even had sebaraus in the pond. This one was taken on Zipbaits Rigge 46S.
Thomas with another surprise catch. 7 kilos of slimy walking catfish taken on Zipbaits Rigge 70S.
Redtail cats are the most common fish in this pond. As long as your lure is near the bottom, you will find some eventually.
Check out the dorsal fin on this one!
Jackall TN 50 Vibe. Probably the best vibe ever made. Dark colored lures stand out better in the milky, muddy water.
We really caught our fill of redtails.
Jackall TN 50 Vibe in spawn tiger color.
A spectacular white colored sultan fish taken a zipbaits rigge 70S. These fish are not a common catch on lures.
Lunch time at the ponds café. It was a tough decision indeed. We were deciding between Friend Fried and Mix Snake.
Next stop, crazy toman and haruan action at the next pond just 5 minutes away.
The haruans were big , willing and many!
Jackall TN vibes jiggled on the bottom were attacked on every cast.
One fat haruan taken on Zipbaits Calibra vibe.
This pond was like a giant pot of haruan soup. There must be thousands of fish inside this pond.
Tomans were aplenty too. They love fast cranked lures worked erratically.
An angry tilapia fell for this red Jackall TN 50.
Good size but really not much of a fight even on ultralight gear
A second one came along. Wonder how these guys survived in this pond with so many snakeheads inside??
Topwater action was red hot in the evening. Jackson RA popper did the job on this fish.
The fish were all generally of a standard size. Typical of a stocked pond.
Duo Pencil was loud and clear. Dave stopped counting the number of Tomans taken on this lure after a while.
This pond beside the owners house holds some of Malaysias rarest freshwater fishes. Black Carp, Temoleh, Kelahs and giant sized tilapias.
The day ended with one of KL's famous bak kut (teh) dinner. Big thanks again to Robin for organizing the trip.