KurauKing’s Fishing Journal

Kenyir – a 20 year journey

I am just sharing a personal experience on how Kenyir has evolved between 1986 and 2008. This is based on the fishing spots that I went to and I am sure that others who have been to different spots may have had a totally different point of view. This is not an expert opinion on the place but a personal nostalgic journey to a favourite playground.
Other factors that need to be considered is the seasonality, fish species targetted and even the methods of fishing- we were targetting Tomans on bait only in 86/87

Down Memory Lane
My 2008 journey to Kenyir started at 1am (aussie time or 10pm Kl time) on board a MAS 777, arriving on Saturday 26th Jan at 5.30am. On Sunday I was taken to a “warm up” fishing session about an hour’s drive out of KL where we were soon joined by about 40 Water Buffalos who decided to take a swim. I have never shared a pond with Buffalos before so it was an interesting experience.
The next stage was the drive to Kuantan on Wed, leaving at 5.30pm and arriving at the Awana Hotel at about 9.30pm, ate slept and resumed the journey at 4am the next day, arriving at about 7am. So after 4 days of travelling and waiting I am FINALLY HERE!!!.
The first thing that struck me was the bitumen roads all the way to the lake. It also looked like a holiday resort. In 86/87 the last 40 minutes drive was unpaved gravel road leading to the edge of the lake. On getting there the vehicles would be covered in brown Bull Dust. The built up Kenyir took away some sense of “adventure”
Nevertheless the scenery was stunning and the anticipation growing.

Beautiful first light (photos untouched)

Next step was to find the houseboat. There were quite a few parked around the area – like a marina

And we are off

With our Armada

This will be our abode for the next 4 days. Parked in an area of Tranquility. Apart from fising, the scenery is worth the trip. One major difference between now and then was that in 86/87 we never saw another houseboat in the 3 days of fishing. Wherever we went we were alone. After two days our so called “exclusive area” was like a supermarket carpark – well a bit of exaggeration – there were about 6 houseboats around us.

The weather was not great and it fluctuated from quite hot to absolute drenching. We explored a lot of water, from River mouths to inlets. Looking for Toman, Seberau and Kelah

This is Kelah Country – remote river, slippery rocks (I fell in the water 3 times and soaked all my gear). Got a Kelah follow the lure but no take.

The other thing that struck me was the lack of snags. I remembered that there were snags everwhere we passed or fishied. The Houseboat operator mentioned that logging for the submerged trees were permitted hence the lack of snags. Perhaps the Toman hideouts were devasted????
Then rain came and the fish was biting. There were 14 of us and not everyone caught fish. I think all in we caught about 25 fish – Toman sebbie, kelah (1 only), buang and some small Lampams. The following are sample photos only as not all catches were photographed.

Baby Toman on soft plastics

Sebarau on lure

Toman caught trolling a red head

Toman on Lure

Sebbie on lure

Sebbie on Lure

Toman on lure

Fishing in drenching rain and enjoying it.

Back to 86/87
July is supposed to be the peak Toman season (according to the houseboat operator so I guess it wasn’t suprising for us to catch more Tomans. There were six of us and on the first day we caught about 15 Tomans on the first day. We were bait fishing in areas full of snags and the bust up rate was very high.
The Tomans seemed to come in passing schools as once the hook ups start they continue for a while, then shut down. Time to move to another snag. The Tomans were about 2kgs to 7kgs so they weren’t much bigger than today’s. Evans’ Toman was 5kg.

Note the amount of snags in all the photos. All the Tomans were caught amongst the snags

This was the first days catch (a fraction of the hookups due to bust ups). It is evident that CNR was not the flavour of the day. However after we ate the first steamed Toman, all further catches were released as no one wanted to eat them anymore. The kept fish were taken by one member of the group for making saltfish.

The old houseboat amenities were also lacking compared to this houseboat.

Conclusion
In summary, for me Kenyir still has its charms – magnificient scenery, good company, serenity and miles and miles of forest and rivers to explore.
We saw a lot less wild life or evidence of wild life this trip than in 86/87.
The obvious questions – was the fishing as good? Hard to say due to the seasonality and different areas. I do believe that the devastation or natural decay of the snags has caused the Tomans to have gone elsewhere or declined in population.
I also believe that the operators keep taking customers to the same spots to fish so these areas are “fished out” but not neccessarily the whole lake is “fished out”.
Perhaps there are other areas to explore as the lake is huge.
There are better amenities and the trip is more comfortable. This leads to a reduced sense of adventure (for me anyway) and the large numbers of houseboats in an area makes it a bit “touristy”
The forestry’s attempt to ban fishing in certain areas (sungai cacing) is to be applauded as fish stocks can replenish themselves given some assistance.

Story and Picture by Flicker

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MFN U5 2007 at Clear Water Sanctuary, Perak

When the cars start arriving at Clearwater Sanctuary (CWS) on 20th October 2007, it was actually a sight for me to welcome the anglers, as they are proudly dressed in their best team uniform. How many Malaysian fishing tournaments do you know where the anglers actually present themselves at their very best to demonstrate an exemplary decorum to non-anglers? They do it here at the U-series!

Everyone had a big smile on the face when I shook their hands. Like what Lucky Samurai said in his MFN posting, “it’s like a big family reunion”. In short, it is because everyone seemed to be comfortable with one another, albeit the typical Malaysian shyness before we warmed up to each another.

We had a total of 28 teams that actually arrived for the start of the event. Some teams actually arrived the day before in preparation and also to take a good rest before U5 begins. U5, after all, besides being a tournament can also be considered a social event for some – a family reunion of anglers – a national homecoming of sort.

Pure Fishing Malaysia gave away Berkley Gulp and Powerbait for each team, while TCE Sports gave away their 90 Daiwa caps to early bird anglers. Not to mention, CWS provided an extra long sleeve fishing t-shirt for every angler, which came in helpful in the late afternoon.

It is also good to see corporate teams coming to the plate to show support for this event. They include Team LKG Lucky Craft headed by Lansi Latok; Team Abu Garcia Gangsta and Hu Kah headed by Oakinn and Marlin respetively, which is backed by Pure Fishing; and last by not least Team Bassday headed by Mejor Ismail which is backed by Sea Tackle.

Day one fishing started at 2.00PM, on a hot and humid weather. We were fishing at the West Lake for the first time. About thirteen boats left for the lake to look for lubuks while the rest explored around the golfing around. But then ka-boom, at 3.30PM a fierce thunderstorm hits CWS. It was a reprieve from the scorching weather. The anglers rushed back to the car park. Many were soaking wet but in good spirit. In another way, the rain was also a warm ice breaker on that sudden chilly afternoon. People got to mingle around in the rain and started to talk to one another. Some cold water on a sizzling body is refreshing. As Kurauking puts it, “it makes me feel like a kid again.”

The storm begins to sizzle out close to 4.30PM and since we are supposed to end at 7.00PM, we sounded the horn to continue again after consulting with CWS that it is safe to proceed. But slowly within minutes after everyone is out on the course and lake , the weather began to change again. The drizzle suddenly picks up and the downpour continues, albeit without any lightning now. I called CWS again to verify whether will they sound their air horn to stop but they gave the green light to proceed. This time it was pure rain and a lot of it!

And it was chilling cold when you are all wet with the wind howling down on your soaked clothes! By 6.00PM the anglers from the golf course started to trickle in. It was getting cold, really cold! But the 13 boaters kept hanging on; continue to seek out the Peacock Bass hideouts without stopping. Alas, they too succumbed to the pouring and began to call to port one-by-one like airplanes landing. 6.30PM we sounded the horn to end it early as it was pouring cats and dogs. A full thirty minutes before 7PM.

The rain, although was an annoyance to some, can also be considered an added element of a challenge. In a typical fishing scenario, the weather can change without notice. The hot afternoon followed by the heavy downpour created a yin yang condition that forces a good angler to adapt. And some experienced angler actually managed to adapt their fishing style to suit this varying condition quickly and still bring in fish. Basically, they worked hard in this all-weather condition. Lesson learned from this is that an angler must be prepared adapt to fish in treacherous conditions (some were prepared with the cheap disposable ponchos that helped them to fish longer in the rain).

After a much needed hot shower we all headed for a quick dinner at the ballroom, followed by a generous lucky draw sponsored this year with items from TCE Sports Sdn Bhd, Clearwater Sanctuary Resort, JD Artac, JT Fishing Bazaar, Kedai Pancing Akapiman and Tacklebox. Gifts were presented by MFN Akapiman’s brother, Kurauking, Uncle Thomas (man, that Thomas Stoker hurts my armpit) and Peggy from Phong Lee Tackleshop, Ipoh.

After the dinner euphoria died down we all adjourned to our cosy chalet for a nice deserving sleep after battling in Day One under both hot and then stormy condition. Of course, almost everyone stayed up late to catch up with friends across the country swapping tales and rummaging through each others tackle box.

Day two started with a hearty buffet breakfast at 6.00AM for many. Fishing started promptly at 7.00AM with a fine cool weather, courtesy of the prolonged rain that stopped in the wee hours of the morning.

Everyone was in a jovial mood as they went to take their position. In fact, this made marshaling a breeze in a way. To marshal friends is not an easy take for Joey, Janet and I as we had to step on the line between friends and competitors. Fortunately, many made it easy and accepted our decision without much protest. This demonstrates their forgiving spirit in making things easier for the organiser.

With the better weather, more fish were caught and it was like a seesaw battle in many cases as hundreds of Peacock Bass were landed. In fact, I observed that anglers are more prepared and serious this year for the U5. That can be attributed to more than the estimated 500 Peacock Bass we caught in two days!

The second day of fishing was supposed to end at 11.30AM but with the sun rising and the weather getting warmer, many anglers began to trickle in around 11.00AM. Most of the boaters stayed until the end of session. U5 was finally ending….

We had to rush to tally the results of the fish collected and it was a lot! And it was quite a pressure for them to get it all done as quickly as possible so that we can all leave after lunch.

The results for the U5 is as follows:

As you can see the different in points between the 1st team (PAW) and 2nd team (LKG) was miniscule – 7 points difference! It was an exciting and tightly fought race between both. I remembered each team angler came in, weighed the fish in front of Janet and then rush back in to continue fishing. Basically they went all out! And as a marshal and spectator, it was exhilarating to see them both working so hard! With such a tight score line, any both team could have been the champion! Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to re-count the fish as they have been released into the holding tank. Both were equally good! So now I think the next U6 will be an exciting battle ground to see how far both teams can now go…or will a new team upset them?

Every U-series we also recognised anglers who demonstrate gentlemanly conduct and sporting behaviour while fishing. This year, we recognised 4 anglers from two teams: Jackpot and Yeap (from Team LKG PBG), and Lucky Samurai and Dr. Shafie (from Team Water Gorillas). When I sounded the stop-fishing horn at 4.30PM on Day 1 to end fishing due to the storm, these anglers who were on the boat fighting the fish decided to release their catch even though they don’t have to. The could have quietly kept their catch for points but not! And it was witnessed from afar by other boaters who informed me later. MFN is proud to share the water with such fine sportsmen-like anglers. This is what the U-series is all about and the exemplary attitude shown by attending anglers is something the fishing community should be proud of.

As much as I had to say everything is perfect, it is not and I do need to improve on some shortcomings. This, especially so during the counting of the fish. For U6, we will change to a new format which will instead count the weight of your fish instead of the QUANTITY. It is hell managing so many fish! We need to simplify the whole process and also to look at extending the fishing time. If possible, we may fish the whole of Saturday and we leave the morning half of Sunday to let the laggards chase back their scores. I am quite excited on planning for the upcoming U6 judging from the fishing prowess displayed by everyone this round.

Overall, I enjoyed hosting and planning for this event. And we would not have been successful until today without everyone’s support; from the anglers to the corporate sponsors. I am exhausted but pleased, not satisfied yet, because I know more could have been done to make things better.

In the end, everyone walked out of U5, in my eyes, as winners, for the event and the country — there were no losers. As MFN forumer Fishnut framed it nicely, “as long as we’re moving towards the right direction of sportsfishing, I think we’re alright.” So far, I think we are…

By Vincent Chin

More MFN U5 Fishing Competition Pictures at MFN U5 Photos Gallery

U5 Video Clip

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One Fathom Bank/Permatang Sedepa Lighthouse is a great place to visit if you are around Port Klang, Selangor, Malaysia. A freedom away from the bustling city, the sea breeze and the wonderful scenery. There is two visible lighthouse at One Fathom Bank. The old lighthouse which is no more in use is built in 1907 and was replaced by the new lighthouse in 1999. One Fathom Bank is located on the shoal, about 30 km (20 mi) west southwest of the Klang Delta. Accessible only by boat.

The Old Lighthouse

In 1874, Screw Pile lighthouse was launched. The name Screw Pile was given to the design of the lighthouse being built on top of metal piles buried as deep as 11 feet 6 inches. In 1907 it was replaced with a new structure called the One Fathom Bank Lighthouse.
This particular lighthouse has its origin in a report by hydrography survey, General Thomson, who reported the existence of a sand bank at the coordinates of 03 10′N and 101 00′E, between North Sands and South Sands, in the Straits of Malacca. The sandbank emerges during low tide, with waters depth of not more than two and a half fathoms and is now being preserved as a memorial.

OFB Lighthouse: An aid for navigation and pilot at sea, a lighthouse is a tower building or framework sending out light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire. Lighthouses are used to mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, and safe entries to harbors and can also assist in aerial navigation. Because of modern electronic navigational aids, the number of operational lighthouses has declined to less than 1,500 worldwide. Situated 10 nautical miles west of Port Kelang. (Follow 170 when you are out from the west port entrance)

It takes about an hour to reach One Fathom Bank (OFB) with a speedboat and about 4hours with a fishing boat due to the rough sea. There are currently 2 lighthouses standing on this area with a sunken lighthouse house located about 500meter SW of the new lighthouse with a steel pole as the marker. A shipwreck is also located west of the new lighthouse with another steel post above the water level during low tide.

The New Lighthouse

Station : One Fathom Bank Lighthouse

Location : Selangor

Position : Lat. 02 53.3′ N
Long. 100 59.8′ E

Light Character : FI(4).W.20s

Range : 23 n.m

Elevation : 43 m

Structure Height : 43 m

Date Of Building : 1999

The Boatride to OFB

OFB Bedrooms and Kitchen

With a good chef, you can practically cook up a feast on OFB

Cooking your freshly caught fish at OFB is one experience that you’ll never forget

For more OFB pictures, please go to OFB Photos Gallery

Some tips on fishing at One Fathom Bank

From my experience, i can tell you that OFB has its unique way of fishing. This is due to the varieties of fishes found there and the lighthouse structure. It’s is very hard to predict what fish you”ll get at OFB. I’ve caught most of the spesis/ fishes found at the Straight of Malacca, from bottom dwellers to top feeders at One Fathom Bank. Bottom fish like snappers and groupers are abundant there as well as mid and top feeder like Queenfish, Barracudas, Batfish, Tripletail, Mackerel, Cobia etc.

Using the right fishing equipment is essential if you are serious in landing a big fish at OFB. This is due to the lighthouse structure where the fish will runs to if hook on. Those lighthouse structure is also the home to many predatory fishes. Beside the lighthouse structure, there is a sunken boat which is visible during lowtide not far away from the lighthouse. This sunken boat is also home to many snappers and groupers if you do bottom fishing. Drifting a live bait at OFB for mid to top water fishes is a must especially Queenfish, Barracudas and Batfish. Trippletails can be found around the lighthouse structure, the sunken ship area and floating debris on sea around OFB. Trolling around OFB with a Rapala CD18 Red Head or Halco Sorcerer is very rewarding too if those barracudas or queenfish is on feeding frenzy.

Baitfish like Tamban and Selar Kuning can be found around OFB by using apollo jigs, sometimes squid can be found around OFB too. Live baitfish and live squids is one of the best bait at OFB. So, keeping the baits alive will ensure you of getting a big ones during the night falls. We normally keep our baitfish alive inside a foldable baby swimming pool regulated with a battery operated air pump. Sometimes, it’s difficult to get baitfish during the night so it’s important to reserved some live baits for night fishing where sometimes, the really huge predatory fish will come out to hunt for food.

CHEERS AND HAPPY FISHING

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