It's a fishing life

Day-2 Lot Region (River Fishing)

2010-06-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

Illex fishing headquarters in the Lot region. All set and ready to go!!!

A very scenic view indeed. France is beautiful!!!

The anglers headquarters. Lure, lures and lures...

The beautiful Lot river

Staring... David Mailland, Sylvain Garza and Fishingboy (who is he?)

This is how the pro's do it.

David and Sylv. I miss Malaysia...

Only one fish??? better than nothing

Things could not have been better. Day 2 in the Lot region with David and Sylvain. It was to be a boat trip to fish the upper Lot river. The targetted species were pike and perch. Although most of us didn't catch any, apart from David, we still have good fun.

First day in France...

2010-06-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is what I call real fishing, minus the mosquitoes

It's OK guys, I can handle it! Sylvain Gaza with his monster carp

Went on my first fishing trip abroad and it was a blast! I just could ask more from a fishing trip that started with a bang and I broke my jig rod on the first day of fishing. Thanks to both David Mailland and Sylvain Gaza. They really showed me what French fishing really is. This is the real French connection. If you like David's carp recipe, then I am sure you'll love this one. It's a Chinese recipe for steamed carp. First, you will have to remove the lure then follow the rest below.

Ingredients:

1 carp (approx. 2 ½ pounds in weight)

4 slices ginger

2 sprigs scallion

Marinade:

2 tbsps dark soy sauce

1tbsp wine

Dipping sauce:

6 tbsps dark soy sauce

150 g sugar

1/2 cup stock

1 tsp sesame stock

Directions:

1. Remove head and tail from fish, gut and wash. Cut into 1/2” thick round slices. Marinate with marinade for about 1 hour.

2. Slightly press ginger. Wash scallion.

3. Bring dipping sauce to the boil over low heat. Add ginger and scallion. Bring to the boil. Then remove from heat.

4. Heat wok with oil. When smoke appears, put in fish slices one by one. Deep fry until golden brown. Remove and soak in dipping sauce for 10 minutes. Drain excess sauce and arrange fish slices on serving dish.

Serve hot or cold.

Yummy!!!

September 11th (the 2006 version)

2010-04-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

September 11th. What a day not to remember, I meant the 2006 version. Started
out just like any ordinary autumn's morning. But, not after I landed a decent
size perch by U.K standards. Then, followed by another even better size one. It
was almost like the scene was on playback. I landed yet another good size one.
But this time, it was my personal best. Didn't had any weighing scales with me
but this monster is easily more than 3lbs. I ended up releasing it without even
taking a close-up. Damn...

My personal best? you bet. Perch of this size is very hard to come by in the U.K. In southern Europe, it's a different story.

A quiet day at the canal

Secret spot? Not really, not when it's next to a busy foot path about 5 mins walk from town.

Oh... What's this then? My first Zander.

A close-up view. Noticed the bite wound at the rear of the dorsal fin. Must have been another pike or a zander. That probably
explains why the line went tight.

A day at the dump(site)

2010-04-28T13:36:00.001-07:00

A day at the dump... Tarpon fishing here used to be very good. Fishes were
rising leaf and right and were biting most poppers and minnows. Apart from the
hazardous conditions, fishing was fine. Zam landed quite a few decent size
tarpons and so did I. Funny some lures seem to work better than other even
though they are slightly out of proportions. Least is there to say about color,
or the lack of it, as shown by one of Zam River2Sea Bubble Walker. I myself
stuck with what works best by keeping things small and simple.

Not bad for a not so good day

Secret weapons? Or is it not. It's all down to trial and error sometimes and it worked

Another 'mini' silver king

One of the decent size tarpons. Mind the weed line in the background!

Small, simple and conventional

A bad day at Bedong angling park

2010-04-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

A day in Bedong, near Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia. Had an amazing start
with a 3kg barramundi but I faded in no time. Didn't land any decent size fish
for the rest of the day apart from a few small ones. Definitely a day worth
forgetting.

A bright and hot day in Bedong angling park

The 'Pirate' was kind enough to help with the net

Nothing seems to want to work (for me at least)

Nohthing it seems was working...

That's all folks. Time to call it a day

Blue sky day at Ayer Kuning

2010-04-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

On a blue sky day in Ayer Kuning, the weather was more than great. But, it
felt as though the lake was drying up fast. Needless to say, the catches weren't
great. The trusted Luckycraft Flash Minnow didn't seem to work as they should
have. Most of the fishes are laying low for the last bit of cooler water. On a
day like this, the Tacklehouse Necton minnow proved to be the lifesaver. I was
somewhat amazed by this modest looking lure. The peacocks just love it. On this
trip, I made sure that I had one for myself, which I borrowed for the day from
Jey. God I miss Ayer Kuning.

Robert with a nice peacock on a dropshot spinfly rig.

Even with the Tacklehouse Necton, size wise, this was the best that I could do for the day.

One of the peacocks about to be boated

2nd Ayer Kuning trip

2010-04-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

Just a normal day at Ayer Kuning. The lake was quite low and dry.

My second trip to Ayer Kuning with Robert turned out to be slightly better
for the both of us. As usual, Robert took the spotlight. He caught most of the
peacocks. It was only my second trip to Ayer Kuning which then I'd began to fall
in love with. I just couldn't get enough of the peacocks (someone help me). As
with the last trip, the lake was quite low. The lack of rainfall didn't helped
at all. However, we were glad that 'our' boat was still waiting for us on that
day.

The morning started quite well, I landed another of my personal best peacocks
near from fish traps at the far corner of the lake. By then, Robert had already
landed quite a few. If it was not for the Tacklehouse Nector minnow that I
borrewed from Robert, I would have probably blanked in the morning half of the
day (talk about fishing skills or the lack of it).

My 2nd personal best peacock on a Tacklehouse Necton minnow

By mid-day, I decided that it's about time my then stock Pixy had a proper
peacock workout. I must say, the stock drag is rather useless. To sum it up, it
was hopeless. I was actually glad that I didn't actually hooked on anything
larger than this medium size peacock. Otherwise, I might need a line cutter. Not
long after, Robert was celebrating his first. but this time, it was something
out of the ordinary. It was a catfish!

A first for my Pixy. For once, I was actually glad to have caught a fish of this size, otherwise... (Clue-1: stock Pixy drag)

A first for Robert. A catfish on a Duel Zombie crank. Well, not from cranking but from trolling!

After a mostly productive day, for Robert at least, we manage to save the best for last. First, while we were casually trolling a Luckycraft Classical leader
deep diving crackbait, a Toman came from possibly deep down below and devoured
the lure. Weirdly, it missed the lure on its first attempt and came back for a
second attempt. Next, I was hooked on to a torpedo. On the tackle I was using
then (St Croix Premier medium light 6-10lb fast action with a Calcutta 50XT
spooled with 10lb Fins PRT braided line), I barely had any control over the
fish. If it was not for Robert's boating skills, the fish would have probably
snagged us long ago. After a long 10 minutes, we manage to boat the fish. It
tipped the digital scales at 5.5kg, which isn't bad for a toman from Ayer Kuning.

Don't do this anywhere else... I say this because I've tried doing the same thing at Air Ganda a few years ago
(and btw, that's supposed to be a fast tapered rod?).

Monster on a Luckycraft Classical leader crank anyone? (who's going to Air Ganda)

10 mins of hard wrist work. So much for short grips. The fish was released
unharmed.

Now, did we save the best for last. You bet. We didn't even have to catch this giant big head
Asian carp (a non-indigenous species in Malaysia). On our way back whilst
trolling long, I hooked onto something which initially felt like a piece of log.
But this was a moving log. It was a very slow but strong swimmer. All it wants
to do was go deep. Again, if it was not for Robert's skills and patience, we
might not even see the fish, let alone boat it. This was a really long and
strenuous fight. I am not kidding. On light tackle, something like this could
send you to a session's physiotherapy. In all, the fight
lasted a good 20 mins. For safety purposes, we decided not to weigh the fish was
it looked to be very tired. After a quick photo, it was released unharmed. Well
then, that's all for this trip. How I wished something like this could happen
more often (dream on...)

Now that's something you don't see everyday. A big head alien!

1st of the Unplanned series (2006)

2010-04-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

1st of the unplanned trip series. What a day and what a way to start an
evening's fishing trip. Never has anything been so unplanned so to speak. The
weather didn't help at all. Not to mention the insufficient gear.

In all, we didn't do too bad at all. A mangrove jack and a couple of tarpons
to end the day.

A juvinile magrove jack (my first)

An ordinary day in Chenderoh

2010-04-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

Just an ordinary day at Chenderoh. This was actually my 5th trip to Chenderoh.
Also, it's one of the very few times that the onboard engine did not disappoint any of us.
My long time friend Saw organized the short trip especially for me. I really admire someone like
him. He is a guy really into his fishing. But on the last few trips to Chenderoh, he could
control his 'urge' to fish. Needless to say, I did most of the fishing. Thank
you very much Saw, you complete me as an angler. Looking forward to fish with
you in the future.

Although the catches weren't great. Yet, I had fun after being away from the
water for almost a year. Enjoy some of the pictures below.

A small toman (hanna micropeltes) by my fishing guide of the day on a Yo-zuri crystal minnow

One of the smallest sebarau I've caught so far (Hampala macrolepidota)

This one is no better. With the scenic backdrop, all we seriously need are some decent fishes!

My fishing guide who doubles as a fishermen with a sebarau from under a tree in mid-day

Well, that's all for this trip. Until my next post.

1st Ayer Kuning Trip

2010-04-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

Just a little background of my fishing endeavour to start off. Before I fell
in love with fishing in Malaysia again, I used be to a 'die-hard' snakehead
enthusiast. Gone are the days where my friends and I used to venture deep into
the swamps and plantations in the north western region of the peninsular. Those
were the wonder years of fishing and I guess many of you know well too. Who
knows how many innocent frogs I've killed. Those were the days before I switched
to lures and never looked back. Unfortunately, back then, I wasn't that keen in
photography. All I did was fishing and nothing else. More so, the non-digital
photography era didn't help things. Photography especially analog photography
wasn't that easy and simple.

A few years ago, I tried to re-live all those good old years by doing the
next best thing that's taken the western seaboard of the peninsular by storm (at
least how I see it). Next to snakeheads, peacock bass (butterfly pavon)
offer M'sian lure anglers a whole new dimension in fishing. I wouldn't hessitate
to class them as the ever so popular largemouth equavalent. Regardless what
others say about this species, I've learned to embrace its existence by having
fun fishing and releasing every single one I caught so far. From my point of
view, pound for pound, peacocks are one of the most powerful fighters. Not only
that, they don't require the 'world' to exist and would happily co-exist with
some other local species in Malaysia. To a certain extent, it's readily
accessible by the masses offering pure trills and fun in fishing. As much as I
love the indigenous local species, peacocks are here to stay.

Here's some of my catches from my first trip to the ever so popular Ayer
Kuning, Perak.

The modest leaking craft we borrowed (Ayer Kuning in July 2006)

One of my personal best peacocks (picture taken by Robert Tan)

A hard fighting fish at the other end of the line down below in the deep (pic
taken by Robert Tan)

An Ayer Kuning standard size peacock (picture taken by Robert Tan)

A close-up view of the lure (Tacklehouse Necton)

It's a fishing life

2010-04-26T05:10:00.000-07:00

First post. What can I say. Been fishing for who know's how long. Just to keep things simple, I love fishing. Not the sit and wait get your hands all sticky and dirty type of fishing, but lure fishing. I'll let the pictures do the talking.