Finally the time has come to continue our FW exploration in Royal Belum. After months of preparation and recruitment, finally we have 6 anglers wanting to experience FW fishing in one of Malaysia’s best fishing ground. Hiccups is always part of our lives, we thought we are able to explore slightly further up closer to the main stream system. Due to unforseen event, our permit into the Perak State Park were not completed on time. Thus we were left to explore the center and lower part of the Belum – Temenggor Lake.
It was last minute when we recieve the breaking news, and almost had this trip cancelled last minutue. I knew I had to keep everyone interested to continue this journey, thus came the war speech. It was true from my heart that speaks about dream and glory once we conquered the Jungle Perch that roams in the water of Tasik Banding. I guess everyone were moved by my speech, and finally we are on our to begin our Pre-Monsoon fishing in Tasik Banding.
Belum-Temenggor lake is one of the largest lake in Peninsula Malaysia and divided into three different section. Royal Belum is the protected state park that shares its borders with Thailand. Tasik Banding or Banding Lake is situated in between Royal Belum and Temenggor Lake. An area that surrounds Banding Island promises several great fishing spot for us to venture like Teluk Y, Sg Gadong and Sg Kedah. Temenggor lake is situated further south that completes the complex Belum-Temenggor lake system is an unknown territory for me and that awaits us all.
We leave KL around 2am and reach our final step of civilization in a small town of Gerik at 7.00am. We waited for breakfast and after that we drove to the jetty to begin our fishing adventure. It was full of people, several large group of people take a weekend outing in huge boat house which is great for a large group retreat. A quick pickup by my trusted boatman, and we carry our rations and stuffs on-board the exclusive Casuarina in Shark Island. We were lucky as The Casuarina were not schedule to sail across Royal Belum, and we can use it as of Forward operation Base to stage our extensive assault on Jungle Perch Muahahaha
Knowing 2 days all inclusive TV, Room, Shower, Air-Condition and Electricity does put a smile to our team member and hopefully the next 2 days will be an awesome experience for them.
We begin our morning session with haste and set off to Lubuk Y. I was there back in August and it does proves to be a good spot to begin our fishing day. The journey doesn’t take long and soon we started to cast our metal spoon. A week before this trip, I manage to get Tokwan Lure to permit us to run product review for their newest product in the market Tokwan So’Do spoon. Thanks to Hasya Joran, Tuan Anhar and Tokwan for sponsoring us 4 sets of 4g and 7g spoons. It was not long when Riduan landed our first Sebarau of the day hahaha. It was not big but its a start, at least we know the fish is around.
The most effective way to entice Sebarau is to use metal spoon or spinner bait. Other than deep diving lure like Rapala TDD9 or other deep cranking lures. Fast retrieve spoons will trigger the killer instinct of the Sebarau and surely they will go for it. Duwe demonstrate a fine presentation of his spoon, hooking 8 small Sebarau which we will release it once we change our fishing spot. While Badrul was on fire too hooking several Sebarau but still all size are less than 20cm.
The fundamental rule when we do Sebarau or Jungle perch fishing is that smaller specimen are the first fish to be caught and the size of the next fish will be bigger and bigger.The idea is not to lose a fish while hooking it, once it is off the hook it will spook the other fish thus it reduce the bite rate significantly! Our trip to Lubuk Y were cut short as Duwe and Badrul both loss a fish thus from fishing frenzy it turns quite within seconds.
Duwe on fire this morning, with 8 to his name!
As bite rate drops dramatically, we head out of Teluk Y and proceed to our next location. This time we position the boat on a shallow bank, using a thruster to reduce water disturbance and avoid from spooking the fish. I cast a 7g Gold Tokwan So’do spoon on one of the emerging tree branch and all the sudden I receive a great knock and soon the drag is whistling haha.
It was a good size, 35cm specimen weighing less than a kilo, a good keeper for our lunch today :). Soon after I landed my fish, it was Badrul’s turn to have a taste of a keeper size Sebarau. His Daiwa Morethan 8.1 LPBC was up to the match and safely landed another Sebarau! almost identical in size and will fit nicely during our lunch on the table.
We continue on to our final location for the morning session. Situated closer to our FOB. We only landed a handful of small Sebarau, but Badrul manage to land one keeper to seal the morning tally of 9 Sebarau. A great start to the day after a tiring drive from Kl to Banding. We head back to our base and prepare the lunch. Deep fried Sebarau is on the menu and some meat curry and sambal, perfect for our lunch treat. Boat 2 came back with only 2 Sebarau, and loss several fish but it is still early and we still have one more session today.
