Last year, when I went back to my home town for the Chinese New Year, I was told that someone caught a temoleh about 20kg about a mile down from the mouth of Sungai Kangsar. This year, I went back for the Chinese New Year, again, I was told that a temoleh about 40kg was netted in upper Sungai Perak, and sold for 2000 ringgit.
To me, though I do not fish temoleh any more, the goods news was that there are still big temoley in the Sungai Perak. However, the bad news was that they all ended up on dinner tables. But, at least, bad news is better than no news at all.
So next year 1 week before CNY, I will hunt for Temoleh…
Enjoy the fishing process…including fish borrowed for photoshot & wooing mermaids & snow whites</font id=“Script MT Bold”></font id=“size3”> Apek Cina’s Main objective / Vission / Mission : Non stop landing of Plabuk at any location / pond</font id=“Georgia”> </font id=“size1”> Accomplish, Jimmy can superimpose as photos above.</font id=“size2”></font id=“red”> Looks ugly is not an offence, Failure is a step nearer to success, Obstacles are part of the challenge.</font id=“Script MT Bold”>
Happy that they are still around. Aznir’s “Fishing Forays” has a good account of Temoleh fishing around Kuala Kangsar in the 90’s … also mentioned the famous Ming brothers, if I recall. This book is a great read. (Pl. note I have no commercial interest in promoting this book.[:D])
Yea i was the 2nd generation of the Ming brothers…too bad my generation i hardly see a wild temoleh with my bare eyes !..its devastating knowing our country is blessed by so many wonders of nature..
The temoleh could have been our national sportfish.
India has its giant mahseer. S America has its arapaima & mega catfishes. MOngolia has its taimen. Africa has its nile perch and tiger fish.
Malaysia? Toman? Sebarau?
It could have been (or can be?) the temoleh. This species is unique, found in only three rivers: Perak, Pahang, and a river in Thailand. Nowhere else in the world. And it grows beyond 30 kg. These factors can make Malaysia a serious destination for the world’s anglers.
If only the powers-that-be have a bit more grey matter in their cranium, they would have gazetted and managed Sg Tembeling and upper Perak, conserving these historic temoleh runs. They are worth millions to the tourism industry.
And while they are at it, manage Temengor and Kenyir as well. Think 40-kg toman, 15-kg sebarau, 15-kg kalui, 6-kg haruan, 18-kg kelah, 8-kg kejor. These are fishes I have seen or caught before.
Agree..agree[:)]…had experience getting giant toman, kalui, tapah, kelah, sebarau, haruan, belida at Kenyir[^]…but that’s history now[V]…those in the relevent guvmen dept better wake up b4 even the small ones goes [xx(]</font id=“purple”>
malaysia is a fishing haven, but we have to pressure the GOV to do something about it. i bet no one can… atleast 10 yrs from now.
how do we stop the lively hood of netters, illegal aquarium trade and fight the likes of those “datuks”? just to name afew hurdles.
Also who can implement fish restocking, season, licensing and limits?
Not to be blamed are the people who lovesss to eat fish, empurau/kelah.. omega 3 lah, haruan for medicinal values etc etc..
Have to understand our GOV interested in putting money into their own pockets than wasting time on fishes.. in their eyes, we are small minority compared to other mega billion projects.
It will be amazing to fish haruan RAIGYO style like in Jp.. Btw our haruan does grow to 5-7kg “if we stop culling and eating them”
Belida 10-15kg, Toman 15-20kg is the norm last time.. i bet our sportfish is one of the best in the world if we can do something about our fisheries and stocks..
The japt.perikanan that i know is not that bad. They have been doing something without making things official, such as closing some rivers during monsoon times. Or whether they have been reserving the best pies for themselves??
Yes, temoleh could have been or can be Malaysia’s top sport fish. I cannot agree more what JungeBum had said. India has mahseer, and Malaysia’s temoleh should have no problem to match it. Temoleh would not surrender easily in their fight, and that make catching the fish on rod and line one of the most exciting experiences in fishing.
Luck alone is not enough to catch a temoleh. One has to be ready, be prepared. I don’t know other river’s temoleh, but if you hooked, say a 20 kilo one in Sungai Perak, you almost have to be on a sampan to be able land it. If you are on the river bank, your 300 yards or so line could be easily finished in less than 20 seconds in its first run.
Thanks to JungleBum who brought the attention and awareness of this marvelous fish to all anglers when he wrote an article in a fishing magazine more than 10 years ago. Through the photos, many anglers, for the first time saw such a beautiful big fish in Malaysia. In those days, people in Kuala Kangsar, many did not believe there were such big fish in the River.
I’ll never forget the big crowd standing on the bridge on Sungai Kangsar watching the huge fish that dragged behind the sampan while I was punting up the Sungai Kangsar going home.
Netting is the only one reason for this fish disappearing. Catching a temoleh on rods and lines is a huge challenge to any angler even in the good old days. Not many angles had caught one in their whole life.
Some time ago, I heard that “somebody” was working on making a stretch of the Tembeling to be a gazetted a temoleh sanctuary, much like the kelah sanctuary of Sg Tahan. Chances are, it wud have covered the big pools of Lubuk Panjang and Lubuk Lompat (between Kuala Tahan and Kuala Keniam). These two pools were the main ‘homes’ of large temoleh.
However, things have gone quiet after that. Anybody got any news?
quote:Originally posted by JungleBum Some time ago, I heard that "somebody" was working on making a stretch of the Tembeling to be a gazetted a temoleh sanctuary, much like the kelah sanctuary of Sg Tahan. Chances are, it wud have covered the big pools of Lubuk Panjang and Lubuk Lompat (between Kuala Tahan and Kuala Keniam). These two pools were the main 'homes' of large temoleh.
However, things have gone quiet after that. Anybody got any news?
quote:Originally posted by JungleBum Some time ago, I heard that "somebody" was working on making a stretch of the Tembeling to be a gazetted a temoleh sanctuary, much like the kelah sanctuary of Sg Tahan. Chances are, it wud have covered the big pools of Lubuk Panjang and Lubuk Lompat (between Kuala Tahan and Kuala Keniam). These two pools were the main 'homes' of large temoleh.
However, things have gone quiet after that. Anybody got any news?
><<:>
JB... FYI, a guy by the name of Laili (www.tamannegara.org) & Azran (our Sg Keniam boatman) is doing some conservation initiative for Temoleh between Kuala Tembeling & Kg Bantal... Oakinn might know some info [:)]
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I dont think Sg Kangsar got temoleh lah: thw water is so shallow, it probably wouldn’t cover its dorsal fin!
But Sg Perak does. The classic temoleh water is the run directly above Lubuk Mat Anjing, just downstream of the kuala. This is where the Ming brothers caught many of their monster temoleh, using an alum/zinc sampan they built themselves.
They were using 12-lb gut line, and later Dupont line (the first commercial nylon mono). They got the line via a Mr Lim of The China Emporium in Penang (does TCE ring a bell?).
As far as I know, temoleh use to be found from below K Kangsar, all the way to the headwaters of Sg Perak (eg Sg Kejar in Belum). Hence the occasional landing of the fish in Temengor. We once saw a 27-kg fish in a van at Pulau Banding. Sad sight.
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