Sg Kedah, Tasik Temenggor – 21 MAR 2016
DAY 2 – AIR KEDAH, TASIK TEMENGGOR
After a disappointing Day 1, we headed out to Air Kedah or Sg Kedah which is only accessible during the early part of the year due to the high water level. It was 3-4ft higher the last time I was here with Scott. It seems like a small river connected to the main lake. The river is shallow and slightly yellowish in color. A perfect condition for lure fishing, in my opinion hehe. Before we reach the spot, it is important to enter the war zone without being detected. Pok Jan maneuvered the boat using only boat paddle and we would cast along the river bank.
Started off with my trusted XDeen Custom Pencil and started to cast my lure right at the edge of the grass area and the water. After several attempts, a small fish decided to leave the submerge tall grass and slam my custom pencil. It was a small Toman who cant resist the bright colored lure. We reach our first point. We would ambush moving predators that when upstream and downstream. On the same lure, I would cast freely along the river section. Same goes to Chris and Leann who started the day with top water lure. It seems like a quite river when all the sudden, BOOM! Another fish hit my lure and it is a juvenile Sebarau. There are Sebarau in the area, thus I would focus more on guiding Leann on how to Walk the Dog plus I even gave her my lure since it has been on top form recently.
Small fellow not intimidate with this 7cm lure
After several cast, finally she can walk the dog my lure. I decided she should use a spinning set rather a baitcaster to reduce time spend fixing birds nest. Finally she has been placing lure at a much more proper distance plus lure presentation has improved significantly. The mood changes as now she knows how to walk the dog, I think when we are relaxed, we tend to present out lure better. As the lure were about to reach the boat, suddenly a huge suction forces the lure right into the mouth of a Sebarau. Game ON!! The new Shimano Stradic 2500 were spilling line as the fish attempts to run away from our boat. The drag has been set in a range of maybe 2-3kg. I just had to tight the drag a little bit to stop it from swimming underneath the grass filled river.
First Sebarau in Day 2, its up to them to beat the benchmark 🙂
Seeing her trying here best to win the game excites me. Major Craft Volkey were hanging on dearly as occasionally the rod were pushed over 45 degrees in operating angle. The fish just wont give up easily, but Leann manage to handle it with great composure. As her contender finally surfaces, it was the biggest Sebarau I’ve ever seen with my naked eye. A beautiful trophy finally landed in Day 2, her first Sebarau and the first female angler to do it with Fishyology. A respectable feat, a quick Hi-5 to congratulate Leann. Woohooo!! what a great start!! Its a shame that the lip grip doesn’t have any weighing mechanism in it but I think from rough estimation it has to be 1.8kg plus or even a solid 2kg. It came out of no where, we took our time for her to get the best picture, this will probably go down to one of her best FW species, a trophy catch indeed.
Fishyology first female angler, and this is her first Sebarau catch.. A record breaking Sebarau! Congratulation!
Swallowed the whole 7cm pencil lure. Great stuff!
This huge Sebarau were safely released
Finally she does it! This time I suggested Chris to try out my lure. After several attempt, finally it was Chris turn to hook a Sebarau. This would be his first top water action and landed one juvenile Sebarau. We stayed at the same place for about 2-3 hours. Pok Jan maneuvered the boat heading down stream in Sg Kedah. We pass the grassy area and stopped by at a tall rocky wall. Another deep spot and quite a common geographical preference for a Sebarau hiding place.
Immediately we’ve saw 2 Sebarau surfacing the area, and it has been surfacing within the same area. Chris Tan and Leann continue on fishing using surface lure and metal blade. I switch to a Rapala TDD9 and started cranking along the rocky wall. Cranking on my Daiko ULS is a very hard and after a few cranks I can feel my arm muscles are burning haha. I stopped for while, catch my breath before start cranking all over again. 11.30am the condition is getting hotter. Luckily we park the boat under a shade, away from the burning sunlight.
Next thing you know, a Sebarau would surface just 10ft away from the boat. Splashes and dashes, the Sebarau is chasing a bait fish it happens for about 5-10 seconds. Circling the same area, and the bait fish would jump out of the water hoping to evade the menacing Sebarau. It is an amazing sight, like a jet fighter 100% locked on to his target, finally the bait fish were swallowed by the hunter. It all happen in seconds, I asked Chris and Leann to cast out in the area. Leann get the placement all wrong but the fish notice the top water movement and turn its head straight to her surface lure. We can see the fish dashes to the lure and BOOM! Fish ON!
Chris Tan and his first Sebarau on Top Water Lure.
Leann second Sebarau of Tasik Temenggor. Slightly smaller then her first one, fallen for Raden Inten custom made lures.
Clean take!
Chris Tan scored his second fish of the day on a metal blade.
Sebarau would surfaces near to the grassy area. which is shallower compared to the tall rocky wall on the right hand side. We can use 6m crank along the wall.
A great start to the second day. It was already afternoon thus we head back to Trapia fish hut for our lunch. Chris even try out fishing within the surrounding area as it home to massive Toman. Pok Jan even light up one of his firecracker to force the Toman out from its hiding area. The explosion was deafening and it echoed across the Belum-Temenggor Valley. Soon, Toman would surface and Chris would try to catch them on Buzzbait but no luck.
We head out further south of Temenggor after we had our lunch break. We came across a small channel, a very tight one and the water path is very shallow and narrow. Your perfect close quarter battle field. On a buzz bait and jumpfrogs, we would cast in the weeds and top water vegetation. Chris had one real chance when a Toman storms for his Buzzbait 3 times but fail to connect. Chris is enduring a huge amount of frustration and losing one big fish was not what he has in mind. We continue on a different spot. This time we explore another small channel, a small river that connects to the main lake. The water was clear but we cant seem to find any Sebarau inside the river. It was late and clearly this is our last spot of the day.
Entering our first afternoon session, we ventured into a narrow pathway.. hunting for Toman!
CQB can be very tough as it demands angler to be accurate in placing their lures.
As we head out from the small river, then I notice the Sebarau is actually playing just outside the river. It is an open area thus topwater or deep crank is a great choice. I switch to my TDD9 and started cranking the same area. It took a lot of effort to entice them to take our lure. Probably it wouldn’t be so bad if I use a cranking setup. Then I saw it surfaces, this time I have the right moment. I casts my TDD9 and quickly retrieve it and all the sudden something took it with a huge force, spilling my line with ease. I hooked it once but did not connect. ARGGHH!! Another skunked evening.
As we are about to explore more, the wind started to blow strongly and we can see dark cloud forms behind us. The wind was so strong that it knocked off 2 huge trees. The sound of falling trees just wreck the silence of the jungle and it feels like in a movie set, according to Leann haha. We can’t head back now and we need to seek refuge from the rain and strong wind. We stopped by underneath a tree, away from the wind. We waited for about 30 minutes before the intensive rain finally ease off. We want to continue fishing but more rain still coming thus we called it a day. It was getting dark and rain is still pouring, Pok Jan with his years of experience manage to find our way back and finally we are back in Casuarina all soaked and wet.
Sudden tropical storm hits us, overall I think Day 2 were great with massive Sebarau caught earlier. Surely we will continue on our push and effort in fishing in Day 3.
