My Fishing Life...: How it all started...

I was wondering through an old photo album (an actual photo album) and came across some of my old fishing photos...

The best thing about photo album is how it touches you...bringing back the memories...the good times, the bad times....

The trips captured in the photos was ages ago...some are when I just started fishing....

Sometime it's good to sit back and reflect on how far life has taken us...

When I first started -or should I say "re-started"- fishing few years back, my targets are just the small fishes that make up the ecosystem of the local Palm estate streams. The catches are 'Puyu', Selat and the occasional Haruans. Equipment was as basic as it gets, a pole rod, 5lbs line, a small enough hook and earthworms as baits. It was fun though, and it gave me the opportunity to spend time with my son teaching him some life lesson along the way.

Just like everything else in life, progress is inevitable. The next phase was of course an upgrade of equipments, so pole rod is safely tucked in the store room and in its place a new (but cheap & basic) spinning rod with a spinning reel.

No more small fishes, target has now move to predatory fishes...haruan or snake head...and the baits has grown larger...no more earthworms...its live frogs...

The dwindling fish stock in the Klang Valley meant that I was having a very tough time catching fish...out of 5 trips, I would end up empty handed in 4 of them...

In order to have better success rates, the best place is pay ponds. So I paid a visit to several ponds that I know off but didn't fish. It was more of a visit to check out the action and learn the resident anglers best practice.

It was not untill more than 2 months that I started to fish at these ponds. I started in a pay pond in Kampung Subang as it was the nearest and also the cheapest pond around. It was after work and I was a little nervous since it was my first time fishing in a pay pond. The time was almost up -fishing is 3 hours per entry- and I was going through what I did or didn't do right that is resulting in not getting any catch when something took hold of my bait and started to make a run...my first strike in a pay pond...after brief battle, the fish finally show itself and it's a Mangrove Jack, estimated to be about 2.5kg.

These pay pond trips becomes my only fishing trips for almost 2 years. Although there are times when I returned home empty handed, most of the time I would be bringing at least 1 fish home. The catches varies depending on the pond from Siakap, Mangrove Jack, Jenahak, Kerapu and Senangin Taiwan.

I grew tired of fishing at these pond mainly due to the fact that my fridge at home is full of fish...(you basically eat what you caught from these ponds)...Then I found this pond in Kundang that practices Catch & Release...it's a fresh water pond and this is where I record my biggest catch to date...a 11.3kg Patin (a type of Cat Fish)...and to make it more impressive (and a bragging rights among my friends)...I caught the fish using a very light rod, a tiny reel and a thin 8lbs braided line coupled with a 10lbs mono leader...it took me a good one hour to finally land the fish...

Although the fishing was good, I was not really satisfied with the experience and there seems to be something missing. I wanted to try my luck fishing the sea or river for wild fish but there are very limited place to do so in Klang Valley nowadays...I did went to Kuala Selangor and managed to catch some cat fishes but they are simply too small to give a good fight.

It was then that I found out my neighbour is actually an avid angler, and a writer for an angling magazine. Sharing the same interest made us a close friend and I started to tag along on his fishing trips. He was the one who teaches me the art of lure casting, jigging and fly fishing. After my first outing to a lake in Perak where I made my first catch using artificial lures, I was hooked!

Below are some photos of my fishing from my album over the years....I hope you enjoy watching at them as much as I do...Ride On...Fish On...

Starting small....very small...

These are among my first catches...a Puyu or Indian Tree Climber, a baby Haruan or Snakehead by my son and a juvenile Haruan using live frog as bait...

Some of my catch from a pay pond in Kundang, Selangor...

Catfish (Sembilang and Duri) caught in Kuala Selangor

My first ever Peacock Bass caught in Clear Water Sanctuary in Batu Gajah Perak. I used a River2Sea Rover Pencil bait but note that I was using rod meant for bottom fishing instead...still very novice in lure casting...

Not yet an expert but still a very impressive catch...my first Giant Snakehead aka Toman...