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Hope you're having a fantastic Christmas Day!

On Monday I talked a little about one of my homes for three months/year, Malaysia. Today I'm going to talk about the three main target species of fish that I fish for here in the jungle.

Snakehead (Toman),
There are two species of Snakehead here, Common Snakehead and Giant Snakehead. The Giant Snakehead can grow to 10Kg and more. Although anything around 10lbs to me is a great catch. They're indigenous to Malaysia - I realise that they are invasive to the USA, and that's serious problem, one that obviously clouds your opinion regarding them, but here they are top predator fish.

Snakehead are a lung fish, this means that they can extract oxygen through both their gills and by breathing/gulping air. Tarpon can do the same incidentally, which is useful for baby Tarpon living in water with low oxygen content. Here in the jungle, during the middle of the day Snakehead will surface and gulp air. They won't do this when it's raining - I don't know why not - but given a hot sticky and preferably windless day Snakehead can give their presence away by surfacing every five minutes or so.

There are three ways to catch Snakehead. The first is to catch them when they are rearing their young. Personally I don't like this approach and think that they should be left alone. I'm told that the fish will return to their young on release - but still... Anyway generally both adults will supervise their young - they are easy to track because they rise more frequently than their parents as they roam the lake (and they certainly roam the lake!). Because the young are easier to see, rising more often to at the surface, it makes the shot easier when one of the Snakeheads rise too. It's still a difficult shot and when you first start out probably the only shot you are likely to make. The shot window is less than three seconds.

(Incidentally Snakehead will still rise when spooked, but then it's up-down and not a three second shot. You can spook them with the outboard, stomping around the boat, throwing flies at them when they're on the way up and not heading down, and just generally not being super stealthy).

Even without the babies, it's still a maximum three second shot. That's a hard shot to make. In fact of ALL the fly fishing I've done anywhere in the world this is the hardest casting there is. For not only do you need to be lightning fast with preferable none, or maximum one false cast, but you need to be accurate, have everything lay straight, because you're fishing a Gurgler and you need bloop the thing to bring them back to the surface. IF you can make the shot then a strike seems quite likely.. and they can really hit it!! A huge explosive destructive take!!!

So now you need learn something else about Snakehead - not only do they have many teeth, but also a razor sharp gums (so I'm told) and this makes wire (and long forceps!!) mandatory. They will bite through 80lb Flourocarbon instantly. So I use 30lb Tyger Wire of approximately 5-6 inches in length. And I then use either 30 or 40lb leader, and 80lb butt section. I'm fishing a 10wt most of the time, but have used 8wts in the past. Quite frankly it doesn't matter because you're going to point the rod at the fish and try to pull him backwards. He's not going to like this, but you have no choice because they are incredibly strong fish and will snag you in a second. All my knots are now Slim Beauties and Bimini Twists. The fly knot is a Lefty Loop. This is the weak point. Incidentally I've had two Snakehead chew through wire! One fish hooked and I always change my wire.

It's like hitting a storm in a Teacup. Imagine hitting a 15lb Trevally and giving it virtually no line and you have an idea what the fight is like. Don't expect to land every fish - because you won't! Even with this set up I can land only maybe 1/3 of the eats - anything that can go wrong will go wrong! Snakehead taste like shit incidentally and this is good for their survival. Unfortunately it doesn't stop everyone eating them! Undoubtedly one of the most fascinating fish on the planet. They appear in my dreams.

So the second method is to catch them free-rising taking air, without babies. The third method is to fish the water, hitting the banks. When the water is high, as it is now, the fish can be found right in on the edge. Peninsulas also appear to be very attractive for Snakehead. All my fish taken this way so far have been small and no more than 2Kg. However I know this method works for others and Steve Sinclair has taken a 5.5Kg fish hitting the banks.

There could be a fourth method. Catfish are Snakehead's primary food source, and bouncing heavily-guarded Clousers on sinking lines MUST work somewhere. But so far for me it hasn't!

Jungle Perch (Sebarau),
pound for pound Sebarau may actually fight harder than Toman. These are an interesting fish too. More of a shoaling fish, sometimes you see a "feeding frenzy" with a shoal moving across the lake. They eat Baby Snakehead! And by all accounts this is the best subsurface lure to fish. I'll be tying some up this week. All my Jungle Perch so far have been caught on either Gurglers fished tight to the banks in the evenings (Sunrise and Sunset here at the equator is incredibly quick of course!) or on Dry Duns! The Dun fishing had been interesting, it's like fishing for Trout that pull 30 times harder.

Sebarau don't have teeth, so you don't need the wire, but it's a pain to change and they will eat the same Gurglers fished for Snakehead with wire attached. For a pure Sebarau set-up I fish an 8 weight (same deal with knots). I enjoy first (ha!) and last light fishing for these fish, but being the non-morning person that I am, morning fishing rarely happens. Evening fishing can be problematic too because the lake is difficult and dangerous to navigate at night (hence I'm turning my boat into a bedroom!).

Sebarau love snags. Trees that have fallen into the water, or dense bushes that overhang the water attract them. But also if you can find these snags subsurface you are in for some action. So I will buy a Fish Finder/Sonar soon. The method here is to fish your Clouser or Baby Snakehead pattern that is heavily guarded through the snags on a Fast or Intermediate sinking line and then once clear of the snags to speed up the strip and WHAM!!! But as I say, so far I've only targeted them off the top. This year that all changes.

Talking of which, this year there appear to be good numbers of 1Kg Sebarau. My biggest so far has been 1.5Kg (two years ago). Landing a 3Kg Jungle Perch is certainly possible but unlikely, not because they don't exist but simply because they are so hard fighting and the jungle is so snaggy.

And the third fish that interests me is...

Gourami (Kalui),
These I believe could actually be the most interesting fish here. Few of these fish have been caught on fly. I hooked three last year and landed one. The one I landed was 8lbs and took a size 16 ant fished dry during an ant rise. These fish often appear in pairs, or two pairs, and will rise to the surface to eat. And they eat everything, from insects, to small fish, to figs and berries!

There is a not a lot of information to go on as to their behaviour, but what I can tell you is that they are territorial (for a while at least) and will rise and feed in one place for a prolonged period. Whether they live in one place permanently I can't say. However if you do see one, there is probably more than one, and it's worthwhile hanging around to try to understand how they are working. Often I see one rise, cruise around and then dip down. Four or five minutes later - maybe ten - and he does the same thing again. And later again and again...

They eat duns, spinners, terrestrials, but certainly when they were on ants they only wanted ants. The Gov' hooked one (and missed it) on a sunk wet fly last week. Certainly I've been thinking (damsel) nymphs on a Slime Line (clear Intermediate) might work. I've had two eat a static Gurgler (and missed them both).

These are another lung fish and they are tough fighting fish as well. Their rear half of the body acts as a large paddle tail, one flip and they nose dive down. The only fish I landed I hooked at maybe 20yrds, but didn't give him pressure at first, just enough to keep him at the surface, only when I got close could I keep the rod tip over him and take the fight to him. Maybe I just got lucky that time - time will tell.

So that's it - my three primary target fish of Belum-Temenggor. Over the next week I'll be kitting out the boat to include a bed and waterproof tent-like tarp. Sleeping on the lake makes perfect sense to me. It keeps me out of the jungle where the wildlife can be a problem and yet gives me first and last light fishing access. I'll keep you informed as to my progress.

Happy Christmas 2014!!

Cheers,
Paul

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