ha ha! i enjoyed that… pushing the boat through the rapids… like real!!!
After 1 hour of tracking… this is how I look…
At our second camp site…
The Tents…
The Kitchen…
The Breakfast…
This is our lunch served when we are fishing…
ya, it was really tiring treking through the dense undulating jungle and wading thru the slippery algae covered rocks in the river! luckily we’re all so fit… ahem…
The food is sooooooo GOOD… I end up like this…
[:(][:(][:(][:(][:(][:(]
talk about the food… lose 1000 calories hiking/fishing/wading… gain 3000 calories breakfast/lunch/dinner!! Someone please tell Jerry that fishing is supposed to be hard work! He brought a cook along, and a damn good one… god bless him!!
Here we would like to salute to the boat man… our guides… under extreme conditions…up and down the rapids and waterfall… without them… no way we can fish in these rivers…
Some of their stuns… their team work…
We watched with our jaw…drop all to the water… if put me in their place… I might be Tapah’s dinner by now…
the last pix where the boatman dive into the water to latch hold of the canoe is amazing… capture the essence of adventure!
One of the photo with nick holding his trophy…
Now… after pouring all the poison… time to discuss on some real stuff…
what flies pattern should we use…?
During our 4 days 3 Night… we have tried on bead head nymph, Tackle Box Split tail, stonefly nymph pattern from small to big, clouser minnow, Seducer, Charlie, surf candy, craft fur candy, small craft fur deceiver, syntactic fiber deceiver…
But info from the guide is… silvery bait fish pattern will be the best… and make it big… about 4 "
We have been asking Jerry… what will be the best fly pattern that he think… will work on Kelah… after showing my fly box to him.
He pick up Buah Maris and say: He is very confident the Buah Maris fly will hook up Kelah… cos the buah Maris is like ‘Durian’ to Kelah..!!! they always waited under the trees for the fruit to drop. ( according to Jerry, after consuming some buah Maris, Kelah will get drunk…that is why they are so hook with this fruit. )
The other Fruit pattern that he advise all Fly fisher to tie is the Buah Neram…
What should we wear…
The answer is the our Mr Matrix style…
Tights…Tights…Tights… That is the answer…!!!
Reason:
low water resistant… as we will be wading in the river, under extreme fast water conditions. And sometime, we need to cross the river…
Quick dry… Cos we are going to be soaking wet.
SPF+++… Cos we are under hot sun whole day.
Leeches… They can’t bite tru… believe me, they are every way… especially when we need to track to next spot tru the jungle…
Flies… During our trip, millions of flies and little bees stick to us to ‘suck’ mineral from us… after we sweat…
And the MOST IMPORTANT REASON… ada GAYA…!!! [:)]
What about the wading shoe…???
Personally… I’m wearing a felt sole with stud… it ‘SUCK’… it does not work on dry, when you are tracking tru the jungle, climbing over some big dry rock… Few times I almost got my self into trouble…!!! the studs is not gripping on the rock non good to track..!!!
Rubber sole with stud will be the best…!!! second will be a pair of rubber sole tracking shoe… OR… Jerry’s favorite ‘FONG KEONG’ rubber shoe.
Forget about the Croc … the EVA base shoe will not grip and it’s too soft to walk in suck hash condition.
Stocking… or Gaiter…
Will be ideal, if you do not have any neoprene sock… get your self a pair of good soccer sock… so you can fold it over your ankle… this is helpful when your are wading…to prevent your ankle hit by the rocks…or gravels getting into the shoe…
What about fly line?
I noticed that most of the time we are fishing fast pocket water, behind rocks and boulders. Fish lie waiting in the slower current ready to ambush food that drifts past.
These little pockets, i noticed while wading, is between 2 to 5ft deep. My preferred fishing method is high-sticking with a heavy streamer, keeping as little flyline(Rio Gold Trout) off the water as possible. The fish would come out of its hiding and hit the streamer as the line finished its swing and was being stripped back. It’s very exciting watching a fish darting out of nowhere to tail your fly! I caught 2 and missed another two fishing pocket waters. I also noticed that Dron landed fish in a similar situation.
During our stay, even when the river was in its best condition it was still rather high and tinted. Line control and the ability to present your fly at the right depth is all important. I think nymphs and buah maris fly would have worked just as well too, however, conditions were not conducive for experimenting too much.
I also brought along a SA Ultra Wet Tip line with a 10ft Type IV sinking tip intending to fish the runs(stretch of water behind the riffles). However, lack of casting space saw an end to that idea. The only fishing from here is to find an island far enough in the river and cast from atop. Nick had some hits here I believe while fishing an intermediate line.
While fishing the slow pool right in front of our campsite, Nick also hooked a few Daun Tengas on intermediate line and beaded nymph.
Fishing the river above Lata Berkoh does not require distance casting. First of all there is little space to acommodate your back cast. Secondly, anything more that 15ft away from you and it is rather impossible to mend and control the line properly. Fishing here is quite technical as it is not what one would consider a classical fly fishing river. However, the stretch of waters above Lata Berkoh is in prinstine condition and the fish have never seen a fly before!! The tranquility, excellent food, good guides, and promise of monster Sebarau and Kelah is reason enough to make me look forward to many more trips!!
Massive swell in Tahan ! Jerry called be up a day before your trip to Tahan, asking me to shed some weather forecast for you all. Called up Docsyed, he voiced that Sat till Tues there will be rain ranging from 11am-3pm. Sat and Sunday will be electrical storm in the early noon. Whereas, Mon and Tues will see some rain clearing off.
So did the weather prediction was spot on guys ?..hehee total catch ?..no mega fishes ?
once an angler, always an angler
Rain came during the night. Water level had risen a bit on Sunday morning resulting in a murky and swift river. It dropped and cleared up a bit on Monday and we were able to catch some fish, but then heavy rains came during the night… although not what i’d classify as a torretial downpour, it was enough to mess up the next days fishing completely.
River fishing are all depend on the weather… if our timing was no rain for 3-4 days before the trip… I believe the result will be totally different…
But yet, we have enjoy… after all… is the trip that mater… the right company, good food, good service, nice place, new experience…and we are happy…( and the leeches also very happy..)
Hopefully next trip we will be bless with good weather…
Those who wish to go Fly Fishing at Taman Negara, may contact Jerry Cheong at : 012 3226098, he is so kind that he is willing to link up and organize the trip for you …