Malaysia offers some of the best fishing anywhere in Asia. Besides the sea and numerous rivers, there are many stocked ponds if you need a quick fix. We decided to make a short weekend trip to check out the Kakilai(Chinese for Do-it-yourself) Pond in Sungei Petani, Kedah, Malaysia. As shown in the GPS Map below, the journey from Penang Airport is about 45mins and cost RM100 if you choose to fly. Alternative, you could take a bus as most of the group did.

Before the trip, we had heard good stories from our fellow fly anglers from Malaysia who had visited the place. The pond is stocked with Barramundi, GT, Grouper (Coral Trouts) and Mangrove Jacks. I’m quite sure there are a few other lesser known species in there too, but these were the 4 species we caught.

The trip started on Friday night (25 July 2008) with a bus trip all the way from Singapore to Sg. Petani, an arduous, almost 10+ hour journey. The team started at just past 9pm on Friday evening and reached on Saturday morning at just past 9am. Fishing started immediately, even before checking in to the hotel.

The pond was huge, able to cater to our 28 anglers with no problems at all. Fishing was hot in the morning with numerous double hookups. However, the fishes were smaller ones in the 2kg or so class.

However, as we started to explore further, we began to understand the habitat a little better to know where the bigger ones lurk. Productive areas included “dangerous” areas near the pumps (see leaping barra near pump below) and further out in the open areas.

The afternoon saw lots of rain cooling the water down. Fishing slowed but were still hot near the regular daily “feeding” area. Very soon, our group were all congregating near the “feeding” grounds, harvesting the action!

During the trip, we saw good action further out, so a good 80ft cast is almost necessary. You can also use a long double handed rod as what Mah is doing below (picture below). With this rod, his roll cast alone is as far as many single handed cast, allowing him to fish areas with little backroom.

There were also some action on Poppers although not enough to justify the tiring job of hauling the poppers back and forth, even though the surface action alone is enough to justify some of the effort.

The Kakilai pond is set in a beautiful scenic country side with high mountains in the background (see picture below). It is huge, “swallowing” all 28 anglers in with more than enough room to spare. Certainly no tangled lines like in some of the commecial ponds in Singapore.

The first day ended with 28 tired anglers, trudging back to the bus which took us back to the Duta Hotel, a low cost backpackers outfit. The rooms and facilities were basic but most importantly, the air-conditioning was working well and the bedsheets were clean. No five-stars standard here but adequate for a good night’s rest before the next fishing day. The hotel was situation in the middle of town, which means that we could find a good selection of food and drinks within walking distance.

The next day started early at 7.15am and we were fishing by 7.45am. We decided to pack breakfast and lunch to maximise fishing time. The owners of the pond had a good supply of drinks available on a pay-to-drink basis and he even bought us durains from the local estate. For the durain lovers among us, this was one great fishing / eating trip!

Fishing on the second day was even better than the first. Numerous bigger barramundis were caught together with a good selection of GT’s, Mangrove Jacks and even a Grouper by Aaron. The fishes were alot more active, chasing flies which were stripped at a slightly faster pace than the first day, and entertained us with alot of arial acrobatics. I had a great time capturing all these action on my newly aquired Nikon D300.

Mah was definitely the outstanding angler of the day with the most number of fishes caught, although Aaron would have caught the most species as he landed 3 of the 4 species that were in the pond. The double-handed rod surely had an “unfair” advantage, being able to cast further with less effort, and being able to fish tighter areas just by roll-casting the fly to incredible distance!

All in, it was a fantastic trip, with good food and good company to match. For those who want a little more challenge, with a few more species than the Bangkok Barramundi Pond can serve up, this would be an interesting place to check out. The Barra’s may not be as big as those in Bangkok, but at least when you hook a fish, you won’t know what it is until it jumps or come to shore!

If you want to try out this place, recommended tackle will be a 5/6wt rod with a clear sinking tip line eg Scientific Anglers Bonefish Taper, with an assortment of clousers, crazy charlies and deceivers. And if you have a double-handed fly rod, bring it along… it’ll be a great tool to fish the tighter and further out areas.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Ever read reports of angler’s landing giant tarpons, marlins and sailfish on 8-10lbs line? It used to be the rage many years ago and I even read reports of a several hundred pounds marlin landed on 6lbs line. However, anglers are beginning to realise that it’s not such a great achievement anymore, once they know how it is actually done. I read an article that describes how they back the boat onto the fish while reeling in really fast, tag it and let it go, and they consider that “landed”!

Practically, it is almost next to impossible to land a 100+lb fish on anything less than 10lbs line. The long runs, the hundreds of meters of line out dragging in the water may create enough drag alone to break the line, not to mention the giant fish hanging on at the end of the line. There may not even be enough force to create a proper hookup. I had the opportunity to fight a roughly 120lb striped Marlin in Cabo San Lucas several years ago on 15 lbs line and boy, was it tough! The Marlin was swimming around as if it does not even know it was hooked!

Ok, what am I driving at? Well, regardless of the above, I still enjoy big fish on light tackle. However, I prefer something more practical, like catching a 10lb fish on 6lb lines, or a 5lb fish on 4lb lines, on tiny reels and rods. Two of my favorite “reel jewels” are the Abu Cardinal C300U and the Ofmer Axis 6.

The Abu Garcia Cardinal 300U is a real Jewel of a reel. With 7 ball bearings, it runs as smooth as silk! Despite the small size, the mechanism features a proper line-laying mechanism to ensure that the line is laid on the reel as neatly and tightly as possible. This ensures that the line does not tangle when cast, especially when you have filled it with a little more line that you should or if you use those new braided firelines.

The only issue I have with this reel was that, straight out of the box, the line was laid in such a way that there’s more line at the base of the spool, so much so that there is a sharp forward taper (unlike the reverse taper pioneered by Daiwa) to the line profile. This is not good as the line tends to tangle more when not wound tightly enough. I had to do a little bit of “surgery” and add a small washer to the spool rotor to move it a little higher so that the lip of the spool gets filled with more line. The spool could be a little taller too!

I landed a number of peacock bass, as well as a couple of barramundi up to 10lbs on this jewel, and it performs admirably. The drag was smooth as silk and purrs in a perfectly refined tone. It’s certainly not in the class of Daiwa Certates or Shimano Stellas or Fireblood but hey, it’s about a quarter to one sixth the price of those premium models! Still, defintely one of my favorites!

The Fly Fishing Loop is sponsored by flydepot.com
[ Home Waters |Next |Random |List |Search ]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The Fly Fishing Loop is sponsored by flydepot.com
[ Home Waters |Next |Random |List |Search ]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Was feeling a little tired after attending a late night class last night so decided to do a spot of fishing to relax. Decided that Bedok Reservoir would be a good bet as there were no major dragon boat events disturbing the water today. Got there at about 5.30pm and decided to give Mel’s Pee Bee Special fly a try.

If you have already forgotten, here is how the Mel’s Pee Bee Special looks like. I wrote a short article about it some time back. It certainly is an effective fly but recently, Melvin told me to try a faster retrieve. I decided to take his advise and give his baby a go!

Well, it was certainly even more effective on a faster strip! My first few cast resulted in this good size Peacock Bass that put up a great fight on my 3wt Redington and stillwater line.

You can see in this picture where the fly was lodge when he hit. I had to fight it quite gingerly as my last experience hitting a biggie ended with a straightened hook. This time, I made no mistake…. play it soft just like a trout!

After about 30mins of fishing, I moved spot and was rewarded with 2 more good hits at the new platform. Now, I’m beginning to think this is the most effective Peacock Bass fly ever developed for local waters. Don’t be fooled by the small size. Always remember that small hooks can catch big fish but big hooks cannot catch small fish!

Decided to call it a day at about 7pm but I’ll definitely be back for more!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites