The rains have arrived

I have a few chores to accomplish before Matthais arrives. I have half cleaned the boat, and so far have removed the mould from the ceiling, which is caused by lake insects using it as a portal into Insect Heaven. Next I’ll clean the side tarps and floor. But I also want to construct some fancy never-been-done shelving unit in the front half of the Battleship; for pots, pans and flycasting books. To do this I have moved the boat down the lake to where I cleverly spied some timber driftwood, which might just be perfect for such an operation.

I may not be the most beautiful worker of wood; tolerances, straight lines and smoothness are not my strong points, but what I do make, is indestructible. Long after the end of humanity has occurred and Gourami grow legs and evolve into Fishman, millions of years from now, and Fishman archaeologists discover The Battleship, my cupboards will still be as they are today.

The other advantage of this change in scenery, is that I can station the Battleship half-way down the lake, so that when Matthias arrives, we won’t spend the first morning driving the Battleship for three or four hours and instead can fish straight away. The only potential downside of this otherwise outstanding plan, is that Matthias’ first experience of Malaysia might be to drive down the lake in the dark, through a tropical thunderstorm.

We will have the moon on our side too I believe, which would normally mean that we can relocate the Battleship after dark. But if it’s raining, which is now highly likely, principally because of my lack of pants, this won’t now be an option, because the moon will be hidden behind limitless dark storm clouds. The mornings here, thankfully, are usually dry.

I’m looking forward very much to meeting Matthias in person. We have been casting together via Zoom for some months now, working towards his MCI. His Snakehead Shot looks good. So all we need now is for the Snakehead to be impressed by the rising water level, and to make little snakehead.

This is now officially the start of my Wet Season guiding. Traditionally the first week in December is the best week of the year. I really hope it’s good this year too. I’m sure Matthias will have a great time whatever, and we will be able to cast and so on. But I also want Matthias to experience great Snakehead babies fishing.

As we say here at Sexyloops: we won’t know until we find out.

At this time of year, what we typically do, is to hunt for babies. Find the babies and you find the parents. To do this I cover much of the lake. Over the next months I’ll fish every nook and cranny, and often multiple times. This is an enormous undertaking and the lake is a labyrinth.

When Matthias is here, we will typically cover 20-30km of bank every day, searching for babies. It’s extremely unlikely that we will fish the same water twice. On a typical day you can expect between 4 and possibly as many as 10 shots. 10 would be a blinder of a day. Nowadays this happens about once per year. Last year David was here for this week and we averaged 8 shots per day for seven days. That was the prime week last year.

I very much doubt we will see any other anglers, although we will see and say hello to the local Orang Asli who live in the jungle here. Maybe we will have a campfire, but that really depends on the weather. We will fish a location that I haven’t fished since Ronan visited at the beginning of September. It doesn’t get much attention because it is so remote. It’s too far for a day trip, even by speedboat.

Then I have a week off, followed by Rickard’s arrival. Another week off and then David returns. And then another week off and I welcome Marcel.  Christmas, my birthday, New Year and our wedding anniversary, also all occur over this same timeline too. And this is why you need to be organised, boys and girls. Because for most people this would be completely impossible.

Sometime around March/April of next year I plan to spend a considerable amount of my time in Sungai Tiang. This is the fly fishing conservation project where I assist in Royal Belum.

It will mean mooring the Battleship in the vicinity of the river/village. Since Ashly and I don’t plan to be in Malaysia for very much longer (maybe two more years), it’s now imperative that I put Sungai Tiang, as a fly fishing destination, properly on the map.

So if you fancy an unforgettable jungle experience, fly fishing for Mahseer, then please do get in touch.

Now, I think I’ll go fishing…

Cheers,  Paul