Fishing Log

Holiday fish-cooking... And New Pacu Record - 1kg

Last week (my last week of sem break), i decided to cook some of the fish i've been keeping in the freezer. I decided to cook two Peacock Bass and two Pacus.

Man! Scaling and cleaning the fish without the proper tools can be gila tiring! After almost 2 hours cleaning the fish and getting pieces of fillet from them, i put it through the usual deep fry process.

Turned out to be quite nice! The peacock bass actually no fishy smell at all. The Pacu got a bit la, but just at a certain part. It was quite nice la, cooking and eating self-caught fish at home. Just that it was tiring la.

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Besides cooking some fish at home, mummy also took the 1.5kg keli to the Bagan Restaurant and they cooked Kong Po style, then we brought back and makan at home. Fuyoh! Sedap man! Very well cooked la. We decided from then, better leave it to the experts.

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On sunday (25th may), daddy wanted to buy Ps Mike n Sis Diane lunch at Bagan Restaurant, so we took the 3 remaining peacock bass and asked them to do sweet n sour stlye... They fry so much better than the ones we did at home.

It's not only the fact that they're experts... But when it comes to these kinda things, they've got the big woks, and huge fires too, and all the right tools, so i think it'll always be difficult to do it as well as they do.

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Last Saturday (24th May), went with DanR to Tanjung Syawal. We used dedak only... And brought back one fish only...

Actually i caught one more smaller one... But really disgusting coz sick dy and the skin being eaten by... Er... Anyway, some pak cik took it back... Yuck!

DanR got 2 hook-ons actually... But he lost both. Wasted!

It was a bit sad for us because quite a lot of ppl pulling up Pacus easily... But i'm glad at least i set new Pacu record... And this was one really healthy looking Pacu. Perfect. Just over 1kg. Around 1.1kg la.

It's in the freezer now... Not sure how wanna cook this...

Back to Pacu fishing at Tanjung Syawal

Last night (Wednesday night), went with Teh to check out Russa Emas freshwater pay pond, which is like 5 mins from my place. It's got 2 really small ponds, n is kinda next to the Klang River. Haha.

Anyway, spent 3 hours there n both of us got nothing. Ustaz (regular at the fish shop, and also the one who recommended Tanjung Syawal n this place), who was there at that time too, caught like 1 Patin n 3 Rohu in his first hour! He got i think at least 2 more Rohu before he left! Frustrating la, can see so many big fish in there, the pond is small, and only 3 of us fishing, but still din get anything. I only got 2 small tilapias that i eventually fed to the cats.

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So... Since i was disappointed last night, this morning (15th may, thursday) went to Tanjung Syawal with DanS. Spent 2 hours there n i got 2 pacus. Sad that din get bigger fish, but at least i got la. Dan only got 1 small Leekoh, which i brought home n fed to my Alligator Snapper.

The first Pacu was close to 1ft. Not a bad size. Small, but not too small. Caught it using "mata bomb". The second Pacu i got on float with dedak also. This one smaller.

Hmmm... Ok la... 2 hours of fishing... 2 Pacus. A bit sad compared to the first time i visited Tanjung Syawal, but i'll take it. Better than nothing. A few other guys fishing also, all with "bomb" n all got Pacu also, all around same size.

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Tmrw leaving for Kairos Reach Conference at Bukit Tinggi (near Genting). Will be away for 2 days, that's why had to fish yesterday n today. Next week is my last week of holidays. Already got some other stuff planned, Hope i can squeeze some fishing into the week, and get BIG FISH!

Clearwater Sanctuary Trip on 6th-8th May

Been lazying for the past few days... But i better update before forget stuff...

Long awaited 'fishing trip' to CWS in Perak finally here...

First day, Khang Yinn got 2 Peacock Bass, and i got 1. All 3 about 9-10 inches.

Second day morn, went casting at the driving range. I got 2 Peacock Bass, n lost one more close to the bank. The ones i managed to pull out, one was a good size, the other was too small, so we threw back. Khang Yinn got so many fish that morn, he got 4 Peacock Bass and 1 Haruan. All of his was about the size of the big one i caught, around 10-11 inches. The haruan at least 9-10 inches also. He actually almost got a big Hauran at the Anna n the King set, but it got off when just a few feet away from the bank.

The last day, Khang Yinn got 2 more PBs.

All that we caught was on casting alone. We tried bottom fishing and float on the second day, at night... No bites, except for some tugs at KJ's rod.

Overall a bit disappointed that we didn't get any big fish. But at least all the fish we got were eating size. KY was quite disappointed that din get big fish, KJ was alright, coz he still had fun even though he din manage to get anything, i felt it was a good learning experience. After all, this was only our first trip there, and we mainly only did casting, so couldn't expect to get 14kg Temoleh n all... Haha

Also, visiting Ipoh was fun too. And we had lots of good food. Overall the trip was a good one for me.

Exam time... Thinking of fishing!!

It's 22nd April today. I just finished JR2 paper in the morning. I just started my semester finals, but all i can think bout is FISHING!

Coz i'm planning to go for a trip to Clearwater sanctuary in Perak right after exam finishes in bout 2 weeks... I just can't stop thinking of the possibilities... Possibilities of me lifting up a temoleh!!! Man! A Temoleh!!!

I know this is not fishing... But it has everything to do with fishing... I so crazy tak tahan, that i had to succumb to my urge today... I bought a new reel and rod!!

I consider this my most expensive reel and rod combo so far. Altogether, it was originally priced at RM148. I got it for RM105. Hehe. Pays to have a friend who owns a aquarium/fishing shop. I paid this by contra-ing the money that Ah Choon owed me for selling most of my fish to him last week. RM90 for the fish, and i topped up RM15 just now.

Before this, my most expensive set was also RM105. That one, i bought the rod first (X Puyu 7ft - RM30), then only bought the reel (Banax ST2000C - RM75). The reel was originally priced at RM95 back then in December. Now i saw that reel, Teh just brought in one unit, he's selling for RM105! Coz prices went up. And that's a mighty fine, super strong reel.

Anyway... So, yeah... I'm in the middle of exam, and instead of studying, i just spent like 3 hours at the shop, choosing out a new reel and rod! My 5th set. Hehe... Can't wait to use it. Oh... It's a Santec TA610 which he gave me for RM60 orignally (down from RM78), and a Figo VIP Stik Deluxe 5.5ft which he gave me for RM50 (original price tag - RM70). Altogether supposed to be RM110. But he gave me the combo for RM105. Great! I love the feel of it.

It's the best feeling rod and reel combo i've got now. I can use this for medium to almost light fishing.

I also ordered 10 packs (RM30) of earthworms for next week. Coz i need to order early to make sure i get the bait at all. Really can't wait.

Next day gotta talk to Dr C's dad (Uncle Charlie) and ask him where are the good spots at Clearwater.

Ok la... I better take a nap or something. Then tonight study a little, then fo for exam tmrw... Haha... Got exam tmrw, buy fishing rod pulak!

Big Keli!! Caught 15th April. New Personal Record! / Also Meeting with Dr C's Dad

Tuesday (15th Arpil) night, went to Giant Shah Alam. Fished for about an hour. Got a small 5-6 inch Jaguar. Released.

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After that, about 11pm entered Tanjung S Pond with ZF. Just before midnight, got a huge pull! The bell rang like crazy and the rod would've probably went in if i din grab it quickly. Everybody looking. At the start, gave a good fight, but quickly tired out. Not a tough fight. Ok la. When came close, saw that it was a big Keli. When it came close, it struggled quite a bit too, but more than able to handle la.

It was a Keli, almost 2ft long. Fat! We weighed it when going out, it was 1.5kg at least! It's my personal best in terms of weight. Previously, my biggest was the last Jenahak that was 1.3kg.

That was all we got. I got a small palm-sized Leekoh, but released.

Super happy bout breaking my personal best! Came home at 1.45am n took so many photos. Haha.

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Today (16th April), met Dr C's dad, Uncle Charlie. He's such an interesting person. Super experienced angler. Ultra light fishing veteran n fly fishing expert. One of his great achievements was getting a 12kg Patin on a 2lb line! Fought for 1hr 45 mins!! Totally awesome!

Most of his stuff quite expensive la... He was selling some stuff, but nothing really caught my eye la. 

After meeting with him, went for dinner with Dr C, Sharwin, Amy, J Chee, YeeV. Uncle gave us a tilapia (more than 1kg!) that he caught recently, to take to the restaurant to cook. Sedap!

He's a very interesting person, with lots of knowledge on things like woodwork, cars, bikes, all sorts of stuff... and fishing of course. Hope to go fishing with him sometime. Hope to learn lots about fishing from him.

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Some updates...

On March 25th (Tue), went to Giant Shah Alam Pond. I got 3 kelis. average size... About 1ft each.

Zhi Fung got a bigger one. Almost 1.5ft. Nice.

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On 6th April (Sun), after church went to Tanjung S Pond with Teh. Brought Uncle Nelson to try out too. Teh brought 2 friends, and we met the Ustaz there. Ustaz got quite a lot of fish before we came. Our group only i got one small pacu. Ok la. Almost 1ft la.

Very sad la overall.

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More Pacu Fishin'

Last week, on wednesday (12th march), went to try at Tanjung Syawal again. This time with Dan S. It was cloudy, wasn't hot enough... So we didn't do well. Dan got 2 pacus. Small ones. Smaller than the previous visit's (the ones i caught with Dan Raj).

Heard from the ppl there that the bigger pacus all fished out dy. They just put in new ones, but really small. All around 500gm only maybe. I tried bomb fishing with bread. I got a small 6 inch Leeko. Threw into the river behind.

That's all. So sad. We left after 2 hours. No point staying since not good.

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This morning (17th march) went with Dan S again. I fished for 3 hours, he fished for 2. He played float the whole time, din get anything. I got a small pacu (approx 500gm) and two 6-inch Leekos, all on bomb. According to the worker, they din put anymore pacu since the last time coz now added more Leeko.

While i was there, saw the chinese uncle caught a 1+kg patin on float... But the biggest was a young guy who caught a Leeko, at least 3+kg. He fought for i think close to 10 mins just to get it in the net. So nice! Wish i had that! Other ppl din get anything.

Polling Day Pacu Fishing

Yesterday (8th March) was polling day. Before i get to my fishing stuff. Just wanna say that i'm glad with the results. It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next 4-5 years.

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Ok... I heard bout this place about a week ago, from Teh at Teluk Pulai Shop. There's a pakcik who gets like 30kg of pacu in like 2 hours all the time here. It's called Tanjung Syawal.

Went to try it out with Daniel Raj yesterday, since both of us not elligible to vote yet. Haha.

We use cacing tanah and cengkerik. All also very laku. In first 1hr15mins, each of us got 5 pacus! Good fights! I got double hook-ups twice! Daniel also got once!

Then we cahnged to bottom fishing to see if can get bigger fish. Nothing. Only the last half hour of our 3hour session, we went back to float for pacu. Got 2 each, both double hook-ups.

Our rods maybe a little too big la. It would've been nicer to fight those pacus with smaller rods. Nevertheless, they gave us good, thrilling fights at times. The score ended 7 - 7.

So, after everything, we sold all the fish to a regular there - a chinese uncle. All 14 pacus = 8kg = RM18. He offered me RM2/kg, in the end gave me a little extra. I know it's kinda low, i could sell for RM4/kg if i know some other ppl outside who wanna buy for makan. This guy probably will kumpul, then sell to them.

Since we paid RM20 for 3 hours each, after we minus the money we each made from the fish, we only paid RM11 each for the day's fishing. Great! Actually, i kinda consider it 2 hours of fishing. If we did seriously stick to pacu fishing, we could've finished at 2 hours with the same 8kg or more! So we kinda only had to pay RM14 per person for entry, and that would make it RM5 per person at the end of the day. But nevermind la... Had great fun!

Must go there again next time. Saw some ppl got Patin and Tilapia also. And some ppl went home with huge 3+kg Liku, caught before we went there. Next time must bring Bom dy.

Ok la... That was a good trip. Can't wait to go there again!

CNY 2008 Fishing

Back to class this morning (12th Feb). CNY holidays are over. Guess i should give my CNY fishing report too, before procrastination leads to memory loss.

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Day before CNY. Went to Uncle Stephen's house for reunion lunch. Just the night before, he called my dad to tell me to bring my fishing gear. Out of nowhere! I didn't even ask.

See... Uncle Stephen lives in this huge house in Tropicana. It's got a big swimming pool out back. Beyond the swimming pool, a low fence is all that stands between his home and a river which flows through the Tropicana Golf course. It's beautiful. The river is filled with fish... Filled to thre brim (or in this case, the banks?). And we're so close to the golf action as well. In fact, there are 2 greens (2 different holes) that are both less than 50-60 metres away. So ppl can see me fish.

Needless to say... Fishing is not allowed. Not really, at least. But since my uncle is rich... Haha. No la... My uncle is nice, so he has good relations with the course marshalls. So anyway, he said no prob to me fishing. He saw that i was excited to see the 'untouched' river last year, n knew i'd love to be able to fish.

So... the bait. Even though on so short notice, i managed to get a few frogs, some prawns, n some bread. Frogs didn't work in the end. Bread n prawns were great winners. But the champion of champions was my "diamond imitation Rapala" lure. It almost got me a big haruan, and it eventually got me my biggest catch of the day... An adult Jaguar Cichlid. Approx 12 inches! Good fight! Biggest Jaguar i've ever caught.

Other than the huge Jag, i caught at least 30 other fish. Some tilapia, some smaller jags, and quite a few "lucky fish". Good play la overall. I used only 10lbs, and 12lbs lines.

The funniest part was when one of the tilapias i caught jumped out of the bucket n into the swimming pool when i was about to release it back to the water... (Catch n release! That's the way to go, anglers!)... All my cousins spent the afternoon trying to get the tilapia from the huge pool. Anthony (my 10-year-old cuz from NZ) got it eventually. Funny la... Dropped a tilapia into the swimming pool. That was a crazy task... Trying to get a relatively small fish in that huge, huge pool. We didn't really have nets too.

It was good fishing la. Very glad i managed to fish there. Next time i go there, maybe will get a haruan?

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Saturday (9th Feb) (3rd day of CNY)... Afternoon, went prawn fishing with Uncle Nelson n Khang Yinn. I stopped after 2 hours, coz so many ppl came in. And it was difficult to fish. I got 250grams to add to the 1kg in my freezer. Khang Yinn did all 3 hours, n got about 350grams. Uncle Nelson got about 650grams in 3 hours. He continued more at night, but we didn't join him...

Instead, me n Khang Yinn went to Giant Shah Alam Pond. We wanted to try freshwater fishing after all this time. Expected to get a few keli la. We went at 9pm, came back at... 2am. Haha. Shhh...

We used prawns and worms. I got a small Jaguar on worms early on. Then about 11+pm, my rod tipped like crazy... The entire rod lifted, and was almost pulled into the water! I grabbed the rod, whacked, and fought! It was a huige, heavy animal, whatever it was. I'm guessing it was a carp. Or possibly a toman or huge haruan. Tak sangka can get a fight like that there anymore. Anyway... I fought it a while, then all of a sudden the line was loose. I thought i lost it. But suddenly, it went off again! This time stronger, the rod was bending like crazy. I thought it would break! Finally, the line snapped! Aaargh!! The two of us were screaming! Couldn't believe we missed that! Dunno what it was, but i'm sure that would've been the biggest fish i ever caught... If only i had.

My hands were shaking right after... I was trembling... My hands were weak. Even though it was like about 1-2 minutes only, the fight was incredibly thrilling. The fight - That's what fishing is about. Wooo!

We tried to get our minds off of that, and continued fishing. Khang Yinn got a Keli about half an hour before we left.

He was happy with his new rod. I helped him pick out a rod, reel, and line just a few days before. He's already got a good sized Keli with it on it's first 'voyage'. Not bad.

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That's all my CNY holiday fishing.

Will go back to get that monster soon... Till i do, mayhaps?...

Tiger Prawn Craze

On Jan 11th, went for prawn fishing with Uncle Nelson. Each of us only got 4 in 3 hours! So the boss kesiankan the two of us beginners n gave each of us half a kilo. That's about 18 prawns each. Mum cooked it all a few days ago, Baked with cheese. Goooood.

On friday (1st Feb) and yesterday (2nd Feb), went again. Friday got about 10 prawns + 1 small one (flicked out). Yesterday got 21! 630grams. Its usually 30grams per prawn. That's big... And their real sweet too. Haha...

Now i got almost 1kg in the freezer downstairs. Can't wait to makan.

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Haven't gone fishing much. Thaipusam (i think it was like 2 weeks or so ago...) went to Jeram but didn't get anything.

Want to go fishing soon...

CNY around the corner... Need money... To help fund my fishing...

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Till next fish...