UNLOCKING THE CODE

Jugra SW Pond is one of the closest and coolest fishing spot situated just 60km from KL. It is a Saltwater paid pond or fishing park, that has been on of the preferred fishing location among lure fishing enthusiast. I have done an entry about Jugra and it was back in 2014! Asrazi has been pushing to do a remake of Jugra and see how is it faring now. Back in the old days haha, it was just a “mini Siakap” pond. It has grown ever since and now anglers can choose to fish at 4 different ponds. To do a post on our fishing outing Jugra were a bit too ordinary, thus I changed the format and share some insights on how to land 4 main species that are available at this fishing park. Grouper, Red Drum, GT and Barramundi.

Before we begin, let us go through some of the necessary equipment or best practice to fish at this fishing pond. A light casting or spinning rod is the preferred choice, although you may go to ML, but to me UL or L is good enough to wrestle the fish from the depth of this pond. Using a 2500 class daiwa reel, equipped with 10lb braided mainline and a 20lb FC Shock leader.

Bang! Fish on, Red Drum are the easiest target from the famous four species in Jugra.

Red Drum, Senangin Taiwan

Red drum is a non-native species introduced here in Malaysia and mainly for the purpose of fulfilling the seafood demand. It has been breed here in Malaysia and eventually it was found stocked in SW fishing pond around Klang area. Red Drum to me is an awesome fish, it fights hard and if you are on a light tackle, it will surely put some pressure on your wrist haha. Me likey!

How to catch them? over 2 outings, we have tried several range of lures and top water plugs but the best way to catch them is to use a scented soft plastic. Between a scented soft plastic and a non-scented, scented outscores non-scented by 10-0. Berkley Gulp Salwater seems to be the best choice for the job, but you can try Matsumoto Umpan 3D scent oil and use it by soaking soft plastic lure. It may work, who knows :).

Ok, we have the best lure, so how to work it? Simply cast the bait close to the edge of the pond 1-2ft. Wait for about 5-10 seconds let the scent do the job for your. It is important to watch the line and once we feel there is movement at the end of it, quickly hook the fish. Out off maybe 10 tries, we hook 8 out of 10. Super cool! The scents attracts the fish and Berkley has done a good job with its lure. However, to use this technique, anglers at risk injuring the fish. The hooked went in to deep can cause massive bleeding and the only way to avoid further injuries is probably use a circle hook to rig the bait or keep close attention to the line movement and hook the fish at the best moment.

Great soft plastic lure, comes in all shape and sizes.

Red Drum is one badass fish. Hookup one and your up fighting with one of the best contender of Jugra SW Pond

Asrazi has been guiding us over the pass 2 outing, the result were outstanding 🙂

Even first timer Scott can hook one easily 🙂

First time fluke? Naahh, Scott hook another Red Drum :).

4kg Red Drum is an awesome fighter!

Grouper, Kerapu

The next main attraction in this fishing park is the grouper pond. It can grow up to 5-6kg per fish and to they are the second best fighter after the Red Drum. Tackling this monster requires a different approach. Using the same Berkley Gulp Saltwater soft plastic lure, simply retrieve it along the pond floor and wait until a certain bite. It work well, me and Scott hooked one using this same technique. I guess the scent works as the attractant and the movement and vibration along the pond floor triggers the grouper to bite the lure. Make sure to use a stronger jig head to avoid any hook failure.

Master Bob with his nice grouper hooked on a soft plastic lure 🙂

Clean hook! Just at the corner of the mouth!

Scott with his first Jugra SW Pond Grouper 🙂

A nice grouper caught in W1, again on the Berkley Gulp Saltwater 🙂

The next range of lure including top water, crank baits and sinking pencil were being tested. Sinking pencil proves to be a better choice for the Grouper pond. Fast sinking action, 5cm-7cm and any color from natural silver bait fish to the most vibrant gold or florescent green yellow. We have seen a lot in social media, that portrays Japanese made lure works better in this pond. I doubt it. I think any sinking pencil will work equally as good as a Japanese made ones. In terms of balance and action, yup they probably a notch or two better than other manufacturer but that doesn’t mean other are not fit for the task.

I took the chance to test out Raden Inten latest creation. 2 handmade sinking pencil. Gold and bright Green. Both work equally well, although both same specification does not have the same balance but a subtle changes is required to ease off the difference when we present the bait. Every 10 cast probably we have a good chance of landing one. A standard hook proves to be a bit small, I lost one because of the fish wrapped itself on one of the platform but landed my second fish after an intense battle with my Daiko ULS. The hook stays on and I got my Grouper :)Lee Tomato tried out Ima Sasuke and it has done a great job for him. Sets the bar high on W2 with 2 big size grouper. The Japanese precision and enthusiasm of creating a masterpiece lure like the Ima Sasuke cannot be ignored. It cast out better and has a great balance. Perfect for hunting grouper of Jugra SW Pond.

Lee Tomato with his first fish of the day in W2 🙂

Gaping single hook probably is good choice when fishing for large mouth fish

Raden Inten Sinking Pencil, proven and tested 🙂

Giant Trevally, Gerepoh

Our next fish is the Giant Trevally. Haha although the size range from 1-2kg, catching one is not easy. Bob caught one on the soft plastic but that the only GT caught in 2 straight outing. We can see them played around the surface at the edge of the Red Drum pond. I tried both SP and popper but they just ignored it. I’ve seen reports that anglers catch them on Clouser lure and even sinking pencil. Nothing much can be shared as GT is a bit illusive in this pond. They only thing I can share is probably after several times being caught, they adapt quickly and become more cautious in taking lures thrown at them.

The true trophy of Jugra SW Pond. A Giant Trevally 🙂

Barramundi, Siakap

Finally we have reach the final known species that are stocked in Jugra SW Pond and this is one of my favorite fish, Barramundi or Siakap. Although the size may not be as big as compared to  Bedong, Thye Fishing Village.We can always enjoy it a bit more when we scale down our tackle to UL.

During our W1 trip, the bite rate was so good. I think because of the perfect weather, the fish tend to be more active and just took everything we throw at them. We tested micro lures ranging from minnows, soft plastic grub, micro poppers, spoons, spinner bait and jigs. All of them were successful but during W2 the fishes becomes wary as the weather condition were a bit cloudy. What surprises me is that usually Barramundi don’t take spoon, but the ones Jugra proves me wrong haha.

Less than a kilogram each, on light tackle it can still be fun. Strong dashes and acrobatic feat is some characteristic of the great Barramundi. I’ve seen many anglers bring their children to this pond and it can be a stepping stone to trained their loves on lure fishing. Barramundi pond provides the best bite rate, almost 1 fish every cast. A good bit rate will stop newbies from feeling frustrated of not catching a fish but you know you got to work hard a bit to catch your dream trophy 🙂

Aina, Kasih and Me, posing with their catch 🙂

Next generation of Anglers? Maybe.. 🙂

Ebikko, from Tetraworks, mimicking a small prawn. A perfect lure for Barramundi 🙂

Poco Poco popper, from Tetraworks. Micro poppers are irresistible to Barramundi 🙂