Fish Valley is one of my favorite place to visit between major trips. I find that the spacious land and the luscious green backdrop around the place peaceful. It gets crowded during the weekends but sometimes you’ll find a quiet weekend here, depends on the crowd. It’s also a great place to bring family along for a picnic while fishing.
Located in Semenyih, Fish Valley isn’t far from KL. Traffic is usually good unless you’re going on a weekend where everybody seems to be heading to Semenyih. Because I reside in Puchong, I prefer to stick to the Southern part of the Klang Valley for outings like this. I used to make frequent visits to Fish Valley circa 2009-2012 but that later become a less frequent event. Last year 2015 I probably went once for a picnic with the family, this year 2016 I’ve only gone for these two visits.
Fish Valley is home to several fish species namely pacu and the Mekong catfish as the star of the pond. You’ll also find a variety of carps here such as Leekoh and Golden Leekoh, Grass Carp, Tongsan, and Rohu (Indian Carp). The less frequently found on the catch and release pond is Baung. There are also plenty of Tilapia (Red and Black) and the Lampam Jawa (Javanese Barb).
Equipment
Rods and reels anything from Ultralight to Medium Heavy is recommended. Line poundage from 6lb to 30lb is ideal to tame the fishes here. Hooks from 1/0 to 5/0 paired with 15-40lb shockleader, long shank hooks is ideal to tackle Pacu’s sharp teeth. Other must have items include rod holder and landing net.
Baits to use
Plenty is effective at Fish Valley, from simple bread to pellets to ground bait. Recommended essence to use are soy based like taucu or fermented soy oil, cake-like essence will do well with carps while the liver and earthworm are smaller pacu favorite. Soften oil palm (kelapa sawit) is also effective with Pacu.
Visit 1 – 12 Nov 2016
Jason who was a client of Reelyology Reel Workshop has been inviting me to come along to Fish Valley and we finally got our dates in agreement. It was a rainy day but the rain was coming and going for a few times. Bernard and I came knowing that we couldn’t stay till 7pm when the pond closes, both of us had separate reception to attend later. There were four of us Jason, JX, Bernard and I we started fishing in the afternoon. When I arrived, JX was already hooked onto something monstrous. It was drizzling but that didn’t faze anyone.
JX got his first Mekong, a juvenile regardless more than welcomed. We didn’t realize it was a Mekong until we looked at the photos closer. This visit we were using bread as the main bait while I whipped up some plain pellets to use with the bait spring. I had two rods, one using the pellet and the other using the bread. Didn’t catch anything on the pellet which is rigged with weighted spring to stay at the floor, only a few weary runs nothing serious.
Jason, JX and Bernard seemed to be more successful using bread catching scores of Pacu, Rohu and Tongsan while I only managed to catch a lousy Javanese Barb…It seemed like Fish Valley hasn’t missed me at all, damn pond hahaha.
Things got merrier when several Fishyology Team members arrived to check us out, however still no fish for me. It was good though plenty chats going around. As Bernard and I left, Jason and the Gang were still fishing and Jason caught a good size Mekong Catfish to end the day.
Visit 2 – 25 Nov 2016
Jason rounded up several of his angling buddies and we were off fishing again at Fish Valley. This time he had made sure to bring more bread in hopes of getting more fish. Kenny, JX, Jason and his dad made it to the pond around afternoon and we began our day by first having lunch. It was fair weather with dark clouds lurking, no surprise as we’re getting closer to end of the year monsoon.
Soon after lunch the fish were ready for our bait. I couldn’t start fishing till about half an hour later because I was busy landing and taking photos of the catches. The fishes were hitting the bread and there was a frenzy. However soon the frenzy stopped just as I began fishing.
The frenzy came in waves this time, frenzy then slow in cycles. Probably when you catch a fish the other fishes get weary, then after 10-20 minutes they start munching on our breads again. When nothing was hitting my bread, I rigged up my pellet setup this time with soy oil as the flavoring. It was less than a minute after I casted that a strong run hit the bait and I knew it was a Pacu, finally! Though I lost it when it bit my shockleader and went away.
This time I used a float setup with my pellets because the fishes seem to prefer hitting baits near the surface, also I wanted the bait to stay at where I was casting, unlike bread which will follow the breeze. It rained soon for about 30 minutes and when it cleared I noticed that my float was missing and there was a slow and steady run on the bait. Hooked it up and pulled it in, heavy and no dashes this must be a Tongsan, and I was right!
Throughout the day while Kenny was crowned the Rohu King title, I have caught a total of three Tongsans with the largest being 10kg, earning me the title Tongsan King for the day haha! I have never caught Tongsan before and during this visit I caught three!
JX’s moment came when he had a feisty fish. Runs after runs you could see JX was really working it out, I figured it must be a sizeable Rohu or a Patin. After about 5 minutes battling the fish with his ultralight setup, a Mekong Catfish surrendered. Earning JX the title of Mekong King of Fish Valley for catching two Mekongs in two separate visit.
Jason and Bernard had their fair share of catches reeling in Rohu, Golden Leekoh, and Pacu. I caught a few Pacu but nothing to top what Bernard (Budgie Bernard) and Kenny had caught. Bernard’s moment came when he hooked up a 6kg Pacu with a 500 size Shimano Sienna, a fact that he made sure all of us remember, ok we’ll remember alright!
But soon the smirk on his face was wiped when Kenny landed his Trophy Pacu weighing in at 8.2kg. There were accusations that Kenny kept stealing their spots, but I must say that I’ve seen it too well when your moment comes, it just comes. Right?
The rest of the anglers had to leave early while this time Bernard and I waited till the end of the day. I finally caught a sizeable Pacu to end the day, still sadly nothing to top the 8.2kg Kenny had caught. This time I felt Fish Valley has welcomed me back after being absent for a while…
Bro, can I have your contact? Been going to fish Valley for 9-10 years and have caught all species but the mekong. I need help Man, im about to give up. Haha. It would be nice if you shared some tips on the rugs and bait.