FishingFanatics@Singapore: 4 day Malaysia [Ipoh] fishing Expedition

Date: 13th Feb 08 - 15th Feb 08

Location: Malaysia
FishingKakis: Richard, Ah Ong, Darren and myself

On 12th Feb08, Darren and I drove up to Perak for our Chinese New Year visit as both our partners are from the same town called Bidor. The trip from Singapore to Bidor took us nearly 5hrs to reach our destination. For this trip, we had bring along our fishing gear as we hope to have a chance to try out freshwater fishing while we are able to have some free time during our stay in Bidor.

Freshwater Fishing in Malaysia was just a dream for Darren and me after reading all the awesome catch report from the Malaysia fishing magazine. However, our dream finally came true when we received a called from our friendly fishing-kaki, Richard Yap or the infamous Captain Richard Sparrow who had made a 3 day fishing arrangement for both of us. Really appreciated to our hardworking planner as well as tour guide who helped us fulfilled our dreams and most importantly giving up his time to accompany his girlfriend just to join us for this trip.

Our Itinerary for the 1st day was to go Batu Gajah, Kampong Pisang ;which is a private duck rearing pond where only the owner’s friend are allowed to fish in his pond. In the afternoon after our lunch, we will be fishing at some potential quarry. Second day, we will be heading to Tronoh, a town which is also quite near to Batu Gajah where there are many quarry in that area and for the last day trip, we will be trying out the saltwater pay-pond Siakap fishing at Tanjung Rambutan.

On the 13th Feb08, Darren and I woke up at 0500 in order to meet Richard at our meeting point at 0630. Traveling up from Bidor to the meeting point need approximately 45 minutes of driving which was rather tiring at such hours. From the meeting point, Richard will then guide us to park our car at his sis’s placed near to Menglembu (Need to do it for the 3 days) and from there; we will set off to our fishing destination. Luckily, waking up at 0500 is just for the 1st day trip whereby the following days, we need not wake up at such early hours or else it will be extremely tough for both of us.

The Private Duck Pond

Ah Ong and Captain Richard walking to the Haruan Spot

With the help from Richard’s friend Ah Ong, we are able to reach our fishing spot easily as Ah Ong drove a 4WD Nissan Terrano which is excellent to counter all the potholes due to the uneven road. Fishing at private duck pond was the first for both Darren and I and our fishing ground looks really potential. By the time we have reached the pond, the golden timing for catching Snakeheads has already passed. Nevertheless, we still wanna try out our fishing luck at this spot.

Candidate for the first Cast- Pencil lure

The Haruan hideout

After luring for almost 2 hours with a few miss using my minnow lures, I have already surrendered myself to the hot weather no doubt it is about time to go for our lunch. Richard, who had a strong determination, kept on doing his luring. Eventually, he got a bite and everyone was able to hear his Shimano Aernos XT reel was screaming and line was peeling off at a fast pace. Without delay, I throw my fishing gear on the ground and took out my Panasonic Semi-pro camera and ran towards Richard. After fighting for a couple of minutes, a 2kg snakehead (Haruan) finally surfaced. Nowadays, catching such big size Haruan are not that easy and it’s a very precious chance to get a shot on this fish as well as the Hero of the day.

Captain Richard Sparrow with a 2kg Haruan

Aunty earning RM3K per month just to dig earthworm

The Malaysia fruits Rojak

Knife fish spot

A juvenile Knife fish

Darren with his Indian Carp

Tilapia nightmare or maybe "Daymare"

So in love with Tilapia

Total catch for the 1st day fishing

Juvenile Peacock Bass spotted

Another promising spot

After our sumptuous lunch at this town called Pusing which is nearby our fishing area, we went to another Quarry to try our luck but only managed to catch a few small Knife fish which we have released it. Seeing such poor result, we decided to change to another spot. This time round, we decided to try out fishing with fish food mixture using the Carp hook. Within 5 minutes, Darren’s 6lbs line was peeling off from his Ryobi reel and eventually, a almost 1.5kg Rohu (Indian Carp) was landed after a good fight using light tackle. After landed the Rohu, nothing was biting except other than the small Tilapia which is kind of nuisance to every freshwater anglers.

A very promising snakehead fishing spot

Time to have some cold drinks

Freshwater paypond at Menglembu

Big fat Pacu

Preparing the fish food mixture Bomb

Surface action

Pathetic Baby toman frenzy

A cooling fishing spot

As for the 2nd day fishing, we started off in the afternoon at the Quarry area at Tronoh which was a pretty bad fishing day where nothing big was caught for the whole afternoon other than luring the bunch of Toman Fries which is too small for our liking.

The 3rd Day, we went to a Siakap (Barramundi) Paypond at Tanjung Rambutan which was RM30 for 4hours per rod. Both Darren and I was not pretty sure whether our hook is poisonous or our setup is being curse or whatever as for the whole afternoon both of us got a big Dinosaur egg in a paypond full of Siakap. Anglers fishing beside us keep landing fish but not our line. Our setup was almost the same but still unsure what’s happening. Anyway, Richard got a bite but the fish managed to escape during the fight.

Eventually, all of us ended our fishing trip with disappointment. Luckily, for the past few days, we managed to find some good food which made this trip back to Malaysia pretty worthwhile. Every fishing ground which we had visited has sceneries which we Singaporean seldom come across and there are many potential fishing grounds are yet to be explored. Hence, it is a very good and fruitful experience for me.