Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Some People live as a burglar

Location: pok tih's pond

Line up: Farmi

Abby

Sunday


Some People live as a burglar. They earn their living by sneaking in from house to house just to grab anything that is potentially valuable. Many starts from petty thief. As time goes by, their confident growth. Breaking in, is just as simple as urinating behind the bushes in the central park. Few people even getting old and died as a burglar. But plenty of them either got chase once a while or simply caught by the authority and serving time.

There are stupid or clever and even a god-like burglar. Robin Hood is the hero of the ancient time. People worship him for what he did. And Joe Manneti was a stupid one as he was caught by the police stealing women’s undergarment.

The good thing about burglar is that opportunist will have a business. First there are insurance company that will charge you for their service. I know a friend who insured his house from burglar for RM250 (about USD 78) per year. He’s being doing that since the scheme was introduced in 1999. Since then, never once he make any claim. But he keeps paying.

Secondly, there are pawnshop type store that sells secondhand goods. Or maybe a carboot sale, a garage sale . If you lost a pair of shoes in Penang, try looking for it at Lorong Kulit. Some bloke might have it at his stall for RM10.

With that, here come the third reason.

You could buy something at a knock out price. Imagine you can buy a sparkling bottom shaking Shimano Bait caster at RM50, if you are lucky to find one. Never in my life, I buy something that is so cheap that you might think it is a thing that is stolen from someone else. Not because I’ve got good morale ( neither is bad), but I never come across one. And that leads me, surprisingly, on to this week topic, THE CATFISH THAT ALMOST KILL ME.

The biggest fish you caught is almost the same as the burglar I mentioned above. When they hatched, their struggling to live kicked in. Their instinct and cleverness lead them to a happy life. Just like the police to the burglar, predator is a big threat for every baby fish. Quickly but not all, they learnt how to escape death by playing safe. In a few years time, with luck, the fish become huge and enjoys courting and breeding. Normally, those fish have their own house to live in.

But, one simple mistake, a mistake drive by overconfident and clumsiness, lead the freaking fish to a tasty smelly bait on hook. Just like the burglar when first time they ever got caught by a police, they tried to run as fast as they could. If because of the years of smoking and drinking and with no exercise, his lung starts to protest and the muscles become vegetables. Eventually, The burglar had to stop and face the threat. The struggles start with a hectic movement as he tried to kiss any freedom left. When it failed, he will grab anything to use it as weapon for his freedom. And sometimes, when we read the newspaper, we learnt that some cops died in the line of duty.

That what was happened to me. I’m not dead. But the fish stab me with its humongous sting as it tried to free itself.

It was a cat fish. Fish out by Farmi at Pok Tih’s. We thought it was a pacu as the energy felt from the very end of the line was unspeakable. So strong that Farmi’s antique reel could not control the fight. The drag scream and scream. We could hear the line gonna break anytime soon ( the sound tringgg ting ting tinggg still echo in my head). But being cool, he managed to force the ‘burglar’ closer and I netted the fish safely.

As we studied the handsome creature, the fish thrashed it body in all direction. Sharp pain came from my left ankle as the fish stung me. It hurt like you’ve been stab by a crazy menopause nurse that went Amok when she knows her Viagra-addicted husband run off with their Indonesian maid. Tears streamed down to confirm my pain. But, after the hot-balm applied, and a couple of ponstans, the pain was reduced to a slightly burning sensation.

The cat fish who tried to kill me was weighed at 6.7kg. The fish ended up in Pok Tih’s Frying pan. It tasted like a carrot fossil. Hard and dry.





the fight... tuff one




















you can run... but you can never hide...
























Abby stared in disbelief














just after the photo, the freaking fish buried its 'needle' at my ankle.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Tengku Anis Info gallery-Kelantan

Date :11 march 08
Location : Tengku Anis Info gallery-Kelantan
Objectives : silverBarra
Line up :
farmi
abby
sunday


The monsoon seasons seemed not going to slow down at all. eventhough, less rain, but the water quality of the affected places were at their worst. Despite the condition, I wrestled with farmi about my opinion we should check out Tengku Anis Info gallery, 30km from Kota bahru.

He finally agreed with me and off we went to the well-known casting spot.

It is a beatiful place , at the border between malaysia and thailand. It is separated by the GOLOK RIVER. From the fishing magazine i read before, this spot is rich with silverbarra and mangrove jack. Even there is a photo evidence of a lucky caster with his 10kg barracuda caught with a popper.

But as , we soon realized, there was nothing we could do as the water quality not on our side. There were dozens of people went home empty handed that day. I promised myself to come back at this promising spot this coming MAY .

more info: http://mdt.kelantan.gov.my/tptinfogaleri.html







A decent place for you to fish. You can bring your kids
as there is a playground nearby.















Open sea in the distance. The man in yellow is
Cikgu Zul (featured in local fishing mag before)
















Not a single bite

















Thailand on the other side. The weird thing was,
there was no one fishing.















Thailand. You dont have to fight for perfect spot.
Nobody is Fishing. May be Fishing is not in
their blood.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Soft Plastic - I've made it!!!

Date:17th Feb and 2nd Mar
Location: Pekan , Pahang- the Royal Town
Objectives: snakehead- Haruan
Line up: Madie
sarul
Boy
Jojie
Sunday

I made a promise last year. To be involved with the soft plastic thing. and if i dont catch anything by April 2008. I'll quit using those rubbery things. So whenever i went fishing (bottom) i brought my casting set with me. From the day i went to the seminar, i never stop casting using SP. But, i caught nothing and the morale sunk.


It all happened when a caretaker at my office showed me a picture of her ( yeah ... u got it rite.. its a she.. lady angler) with a bucket full of snakehead. I dug out the information from her ( not until i 'belanja' the fellow at the canteen) and texted my associates.

the date was set, and i brought 3 'bakau' spinners ( green-yellow, green-red, white-red), a packet of 'bakau' green grubs and white grubs. Not forgotten, a packet of red-white berkley grub.

While, everybody else busy with their baits, I casted from the second i step off from my ride. I changed the lures every 10 minutes . Not a single bite. Getting frustrated, with the boys teasing me to get my hands dirty on baits, i went further up stream and casted. The boys were having their sweet time landed fish after fish.

As boredom set in, i just simply cast without giving much attention to it. Then... a sudden jolt at the end of the line! As i pulled, the line moved to my right. and wham, the freaking snakehead jumped. the fish went free along with the spinner.

I again, changed the lure to a green grub. After 2 casts, without knowing what happen, i've landed my first snakehead on SP. i screamed with joy...



the spot... look promising. And it is a snake head's kampong.













Our newbie... BOY















Sarul ... catching a grasshopper for baits.














My 1st snake head.
My 1st snake head on SP.
















PART 2.

With the previous victory as a moral boost, i went to the place again with jojie.
I made my first cast, targeted at the snags 10 feet in on the opposite side. Nothing happened.
Made my second cast, retrieved the line slowly with few pause , and it got stuck. I raised the rod higher just to get it free from the snags. The line moved to the right, very fast. Panicking, the creature jumped. My heart just pounded, reeled in fast, and i've landed my second snakehead using cheap bakau SP. The fish weighs just under 800gm. I set the beautiful creature free.

Actually, i didn't remember much on how i reacted. It happen so fast, my instinct did the rest.
Casting is so much fun. But i hope, i will experience more of this phenomenon at the snag free spot so that i can enjoy every second of it.

What next?

Madie and me , for the past 4 weeks, were actually doing some casting at some secret spot with lots of gigantic tomans (Channa micropeltes). We were using abu tormentor lures. Up until today, its just fishless. There are lots of things to be learned. Madie is better than me as he went to several casting trips before. So i'm still learning, and madie gives his good hand on it.















Rod: Sabpolo Lightning
Reel: Abu Garcia
Line
Leaders: 12lb berkley
Shockleader: 30lb eupro
Lure: Bakau Soft Plastic
Species:
Channa striatus - snakehead - haruan(malay)
Weighs: 800gm


I set this fella free.. CNR!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Belat River- The hunt of GPs

January 2008
Madie
Jagung
Jojie
Babyface
sundayman


The GPs season is kicking in.

We team up again just to hunt for this tasty creatures. We split into two boats. Jojie,babyface and me in a boat and madie + jagung in another boat.

the result was not spectacular, but the fun was beyond words.


Jojie...
















Madie and Jagung













Murky water. The monsoon just went by, but the water quality was still at worst.































The catch

Junior Got Talent

January 2008
Semuji Agro Resort

My son is dying to fish with me. Every time i went fishing, i left him crying at the gate as bringing him might cause me a trouble or just simply the safety issues.

The safest place i could take him fishing with me is Semuji Agro Resort. It is the last place i would go fishing, but no other option left.

My son is 7 years old. And like many others 7 year old, he will jump around without thinking the dangers lurking in the corners. He had to wait 2-3 years before he could be fishing with me.

The main target was Patin. I used "dedak" ( speacial powdery bait sold at anglers store). Mixed the dedak with a chicken egg, cat's food and flour.

I actually doing nothing but set the bait for my son. He did the rest. And he was happy like a clown.


he's got talent eh?

















need momma's help, the fish was too big to handle













yeee haaaaaa...














a 1kg specimen...

















me with boring face. but satisfaction sparked from junior's face

it's 3-2


The race continues....

slowly approaching, the score's now is Farmi 3 and 2 for me...