Paul Arden | Tuesday, 9 December 2025
It’s been an entertaining week. It didn’t turn out to be the prime week of the year, as the recent years have all produced; 18 sets of babies over 5.5 days is decent but not record-breaking. There was some free-rising activity, as well as 5 Gourami sighted, two of which we were unlucky not to get a shot at, because they would likely have eaten had they stuck around. And that would have made for a blinder of a week! Two Snakehead in the boat, chases, other eats, a 5Kg “T-shirt” fish breaking the wire, a couple of other huge fish shot moments, elephants, gibbons, good food, wine, beer, lunchtime swims, discussions about flycasting, life, the jungle and very much more!
More like a good week in July than a prime week in December, particularly with the weather, but fishing is anything other than predictable, and if it was predictable then we probably wouldn’t do it. Matthias did well, put in some really fine shots, and the two fish he landed were on his first shot at each respective adult. And one of those in particular was a technically hard shot to execute. Had we had more of that, after he had figured out that he could do it, then we would have seen more fish to the boat.
Catching one adult fish on your first trip here is the goal, extremely difficult, many don’t, and an excellent result. A group of regulars were fly fishing Royal Belum in a houseboat at the same time. Matthias will be pleased to learn that he had the most successful trip of everyone fly fishing the lake on these days.
What I will remember is the big one that broke the wire on the first day (I’ve never seen wire broken like that), and the big one that surfaced one morning, that was screaming out for the perfect shot. The funny thing about shots, is I can replay certain ones back in my head. And that one will stick with me for a long time. A window appears, time slows, and then it’s gone. And that’s why I love it. Had that shot appeared after Matthias’ two fish in the boat day, then I’m pretty sure I would be ordering a T-shirt for him now :D Next time!!
For me it’s about seeing this magical shot window. And then performing. And that is it. To create the shot, and then perform the shot. There is nothing else like it. It’s very difficult, but then you experience a small slice of perfection. For me it’s every bit as incredible as laying on the boat roof stargazing.
Something that very few people learn and experience is that creating the shot is every bit as rewarding as making the shot itself. By that I mean finding the fish, reading the fish while you can’t see them, and having the boat positioned so that you can see the fish when it rises, having the boat at the right angle and distance for the quick shot. In other words, whoever is controlling the boat is creating the shot window.
My success as a guide is not measured in how many fish guests catch, there is only so much I can do about that, obviously it is part of the job! But I actually measure my days by how many shot windows I create. And in particular, early shot windows. To see the fish, get into the right place for the early shot. If you are sitting on them following them about for ten minutes then the chances of catching them are slim. But those early shot windows are all catchable fish.
This is important, because it means I can have a great day even when a guest fails to put in a single shot! Nowadays I don’t get so much of that of course, because I train everyone via Zoom first.
Before I started guiding, maybe 8 or 9 years ago, I invited locals to come fishing with me, mostly to see what they knew. I remember one chap who stayed three days, complaining on the final day that he didn’t have many shots. But on that particular day he had also managed to fuck up possibly the easiest shot of the year! It was a 30’ cast in open water to a fish swimming at 90 degrees, slowly rising this side of the babies and it was over 5KG. It was a big fish, it was perfect, it was over deep water, it was a three or maybe four second window that felt like twenty, and his shot landed 20’ away from the fish! You have to seize your moment!!
Nowadays I very carefully vet my clients to ensure that they are a right fit for me and the fishery. It’s not for everyone.
Very few people have the skills here to create shot windows. I can do it – obviously – because I’ve been fly fishing for Giant Snakehead full time for the past 12 years. I think catching a fish off babies on your own, is one of the hardest fly fishing challenges there is. We are only talking a very small select number of people who have achieved this. In my boats I believe that two other people have managed this on their own: Stu and Flavio. With freerisers maybe a dozen people have managed this on their own. Gourami is another level and I think two others have caught Gourami solo. Only one person has done all three, and that’s Flavio. It took him a month to catch his first Gourami.
On a fishery like this, the feeling of success when you put it together, is beyond words. And hardly a day goes past when you don’t have a magic window at some point, and it may be the biggest fish of the year. Driving around the lake is like opening multiple Xmas presents, mostly the boxes are empty and then you open one and find a trophy fish… that you then have to catch. And usually by putting the first shot right in on the money. There is nothing more exciting, more challenging, more rewarding, than this. Or if there is then I haven’t found it yet.
Tomorrow, Rickard arrives for a week. Rickard’s plan is a day of guiding/coaching with me, and then the rest of the time partly in The Ronan and partly sharing a boat going shot for shot. Which also means I get to fish too! It’s definitely not easy, in fact it’s remarkably difficult, but swimming in the deep end also has its rewards.
What I haven’t decided yet, is where we are going to fish. We do have heavy rain forecast. Which is definitely what we need. Probably the largest territory I fish, which has around 5 full days of fishing, is unusually unproductive at the moment. So there are five (currently unproductive) days in the middle, four days East and three days South and one day North. From East to South, by Battleship, takes 3.5hrs. Which makes life a bit complicated, because I think those are the two areas we currently want to fish and I don’t want to lose 1 + 3.5hrs + 3hrs of fishing time relocating. The complicated part becomes, do I relocate the Battleship while Rickard fishes his way up/down, or do we go down in daily steps, because the incoming rain might make the middle zone highly productive over this next week?
Fishing always has these decisions that need to be made. Sometimes I make the long trip in moonlight. Which is possible, but that’s then a very late night with the current moon phase. It’s an interesting conundrum, that I’ve been musing over for about a week! But first we will head East and see what happens there. Weather will play a part in the eventual decision and here you don’t know what the weather will really do until it’s doing it!
Talking of things that are coming… The Sexyloops Tornado. (Name to be formalised by January 1st). Andy Dear, one of the finest rod builders on the planet, is going to build Sexyloops rods in Texas. Hang on to your shorts…
Now to clean the boat and tie a few flies. The boat is shipshape and stocked for Rickard’s arrival. I have a lesson tonight with a new student from Texas. Two new students started this week. I am free between 20th and 30th for Zoom casting meets with all you existing students this month. Yes even Xmas Day!! I’ll wear a Santa hat and put flour in my beard.
Thanks Matthias for a great trip!
Have a great week!
Cheers, Paul