Kayak Fishing @ Empangan Talang

Empangan Talang – Sunday, April 11, 2010 (by Gerald K).  I have not heard of Empangan Talang until a week ago when I received an sms from Tee inviting me to join him and his friends to explore the dam. “Hmmm…a new location!”, I thought to myself. I have been thinking of exploring a new location after my last trip to Empangan Batu and when the sms came, I jumped at the opportunity and immediately replied Tee’s sms. I quickly posted the event on facebook to see if anyone else would be interested. 

Then it struck me that I have a meeting with Howard and Yong that weekend. As it turned out, the timing could not have been better. Howard and Yong agreed they would drive to KL on Saturday, spend the night, pick up Yong’s kayak early next morning, and head straight to Talang Dam. It was a perfect plan afterall and it was to be Yong’s maiden trip on his Malibu Stealth 12. 

Yong, the proud owner of the Malibu Stealth 12

Checking out Tee's kayak rack

Shortly before 0800hrs, we arrived at the Senawang toll exit. Tee and his friends (Ng and Lim) arrived 20 minutes later. The journey to Talang Dam from here would take another 45 minutes. Our journey took us through narrow winding country roads…littered with cow dungs, passing through rustic kampungs (villages) and beautiful countryside. 

Our convoy, 3 4WDs and 6 kayaks...stopped for breakfast and to pick up our day supplies.

Narrow winding country roads...watch out for the dungs!

We arrived at the launch site just before 1030hrs. The launch site is located at a small tributary river that flows into dam. We noticed right away the water level had gone down…exposing all its sides. Like always, we couldn’t wait to get underway. 

After paddling a short distance, it immediately dawned on me that Talang Dam was unlike any other bodies of water I have paddled in. It looked like a large winding river with many branches, jagged edges and islands. It has so many turns and corners, it is easy to lose your bearings if you do not constantly keep track of where you are. A tracking GPS would be very helpful…but none of us brought one. 

The launch site

Tee and his Hunter Green Stealth 12.

Lim trying out kayak fishing for the first time

Ng and the first catch of the day

Yong and his brand new Stealth 12

Me and my Boogeese X'plorer

Howard and his trophy catch

We paddled and fished for about 3 hours, constantly making a mental map of our track, before we spotted a good site for our rest stop. Here, we took shelter from the midday heat and have our lunch. Tee, a keen explorer, recced the place for a campsite for his next camping trip. Ng, a hardcore angler, did not join us for the break, continued fishing non-stop. 

Half an hour later, we were back in the water. It was already past 2pm and we decided not to paddle too far off and just fish around the ‘bay’ as we would have to make the return journey by 1500hrs. 

Tee (left), Yong (middle) and Lim taking shelter from the midday heat

A view from our rest stop.

The catch for the day...an 11-pounder Toman (Snakehead)

Heading back to the launch site

The night before the trip, I have googled for more information about Talang Dam. Other than it is the largest dam in Negeri Sembilan and that it supplies water to the general population of Seremban and Kuala Pilah, I found no other useful information. GoogleEarth, on the other hand revealed far more useful information. It showed many kampungs in the vicinity of the dam. Instantly I knew, like many other large bodies of water in Malaysia, the kampung folks would have depended on it for their daily lives and the dam would have been heavily fished. True enough as we discovered. 

As for me, the real trophy catch is the fresh air, tranquility and beauty the dam has to offer…fishing is a bonus.