When I stayed for a few weeks at the coast between Kota Kinubalu, Kota Belud and tip of Sabah, I frequently did my beach hikes. Saw several fish jumping very close to the shore. Of course no rods available at that time but those fish drove me crazy hihihi. I could watch tjhem for hours. I am sure they must be possible to catch by fly. You have a huge coastline in Malaysia and I am sure some of you fishing with fly rod in coastal waters or at least experiment with some saltwater fly fishing. So I am really curious what species you have and which are possible to catch by fly. I also wonder if some of you doing some saltwater fly fishing experiments in Malaysia too?
Hmmm… i’m not too sure what it is like along the sabah and sarawak coast but over here in peninsular malaysia fishing coastal waters is a bit tricky. we have problems with both polution and overfishing along the coast especially close to urban areas.
Pacific Tarpon, Barrumundi, Snapper, Threadfin, Mangrove Jacks, Groupers, small Trevallies, and Archer fish can be found in brackish water and estuarine mangrove areas. Franky has a post on Pacific Tarpon fishing at Bagan Dato in the fly fishing section. However, size wise they are like minnows next to an Atlantic Tarpon… 2 lbs is a rather big Tarpon by malaysian standards…
Some of the guys have also caught Milkfish in Kuantan, which is a town on the east coast of peninsular malaysia.
Malaysia has abundant Pacific Sailfish in the Kuala Rompin to Pekan area, in fact, it is now the season for sailfishing. They are easily caught by drifting live bait. Sailfish have been known to be caught on fly either by trolling or the bait and switch method and i think some of the forumers have done it before. However, there are no professional operators that i know of that cater specifically to fly fishing for sails here in Malaysia. So the technique for catching sails on fly is still in its infancy over here and there is much to be learned.
I see, I didn’t know that. I indeed saw quite some (plastic) polution at some places on the peninsular. I also remember very well that when I order a drink the people keep the can (probably for recicling) and serve the drink in a plastic bag with ice. Those bags you found all over the places.
All that I knew by own experiences is that I didn’t see much fish activities in coastal waters when I drove around the peninsula but I also remember very clearly that I saw lots of hunting fish and jumping fish at Sabah’s coast, good sizes and pretty close to the shore as well.
For improved chance at salt fly fishing, taking a boat out to sea like Harriemaulana is a good idea. Some of the outlying islands in the peninsular hold species like queenfish, GT’s, spanish mackerel, triple tails, various trevallies, milkfish, and so on.
Again, this is pretty much unchartered territory as far as fly fishing is concerned. You will probably have a better chance at fishing off the beach in Sabah or east malaysian waters.
By the way, you will be able to find the hard fighting “papuan black bass” in the rivers and estuaries of east coast Sabah as well.
Last year i went, with the help of a colleague, to semporna in sabah and hired a fishing ship to take me to an island called Kalapuan where there is a police base .There are several large flats near this island just like in Maldives.I fished a few hours on the flats and caught some strange looking fish i never seen before.However i had problems looking for the right boat and had only one day left to fish before taking the flight home.One of my friends who lives near kota belud told me that his uncle catches big bluefin trevally on the beach using a very long bamboo pole with some kind of fly tied on a mono line at the end of the pole,so kota belud will be my next destination in my hunt for the grey ghost.Cheers, Sifu Hans.
Hi Dennis,I will have to see Zam when he is in Tacklebox to discuss and plan the trip.I forgot the name of the beach he mentioned which may have some bones.He can also take us to a nearby tagal for big kelahs.Cheers . Yong.
Bonefish have been caught by bottom fishing in local waters and some were seen in a fish market in Sabah by Tarpon Mike.Darrell has caught Black bass in Sabah on fly.Lets get organised and make a trip there guys.
I hope our AFFM is ready when you are planning your trip here… so the club can take the advantage of organising a fly tying workshop during your visit…