Paul Arden | Tuesday, 6 September 2022
Yesterday, while flying the Rocket Condom back to the Battleship, we noticed a herd of elephants. It was no doubt the same herd that had kept us awake partying the night before. So we went over to film them. It’s normal to see elephants maybe once a week during the early Wet Season and I think we are coming into the Wet pretty fast now. Which is great because we will see more Snakehead babies action! But it’s the first elephants I’ve seen around the lake now for some months. And there were seventeen of them!
Elephants have poor vision, but excellent smell and hearing. If the wind is right and you use the electric thruster, you can get to within 30m of them quite safely and without them knowing. Sometimes I’ll get a bit closer too but you have to be conscious of the fact that wild elephants are actually dangerous!
We had been quietly filming and secretly hanging out with them for close to two hours when I noticed a few free-rising Snakehead around the boat. “What a great video”, I thought to myself, “catching a free-riser with seventeen elephants in the background. Perfect!” However, alas, when I reached to pick up my trusty HT8, I accidentally knocked the reel against the side of the boat. Seventeen elephants immediately stopped what they were doing, stopped flapping their ears and stood perfectly still. And then all of them, immediately and in unison, quietly disappeared into the jungle! A mass spook!!
I’ve seen and done that with trout of course. Many times. Snakehead too. In fact just about all fish. But a herd of wild elephants has been a Sexyloops first for me. And so now I have a new and exciting fishing challenge: to catch a Giant Snakehead in front of a herd of wild elephants. It’s absolutely possible and I might have done it yesterday, if I wasn’t such a klutz.
So, a couple of Zoom casting lessons today. A bunch of emails to send. Wednesday FP to organise. Then I plan to head offline for a few days if fishing in the far south, while looking for elephants and Snakehead. It’s all about to happen…
Have a great week!
Cheers, Paul
PS As always, if you are interesting in a Sexyloops fly rod, fly fishing with me here in Malaysia or a Zoom flycasting lesson (I offer a 12 lesson course), then please email me on paul@sexyloops.com. Thanks!