WAVES nearly two feet high. Thunder shook the water and clapped my eardrums. Lightning whiting everything, blinding me.

I didn’t take my own advice and let myself be caught in the very teeth of a lightning storm in the middle of Lake Kenneth yesterday.

I found out first hand that when lightning strikes near enough, it is AUDIBLE. The sound of the crackling bolt is very similar to that of a matchstick being snapped in two.

Launching from Peacock Point with the first rays of the sun, the day started quite well. Other than a pleasant brace of peacock bass and toman landed, I even managed to land a table size sebarau on a 14gm Duel Shallow Stick (fire green colour). That was a real surprise; rare in Lake Kenneth. By 5pm, I was trying to get the haruan to strike in Arnold’s Nook.

This Google Earth map will probably not be very clear here. Which is fine, since it is meant to be exclusive to our gang of kayak fishers. But for illustration purposes, I was paddling from the far left to the far right on the main lake.

I could see a storm system wreaking havoc on Kampar to the northeast. It was 16km away if I draw a straight line on the map. But since the wind was blowing from the south, I figured that the storm wouldn’t reach Lake Kenneth.

Then the wind went shivering cold.

Oh shit.

The first sign of a storm coming down on heads after a hot, hot day is always when the wind suddenly turns very cold.

I studied the sky and found another, slightly smaller storm system suddenly developing from the southwest. And the southern wind was blowing it hard to join up with the system terrorizing Kampar.

I knew things were gonna get bad. But I didn’t really worry at first. I took my sweet time paddling out of the Hideout. When I reached Toman Corner, I paused for a cigarette and let the southern wind carry me back to Peacock Point. By the time I finished my puff, I realised I had made a horrible mistake. I was now right between two clashing storms.

The wind suddenly changed direction, and blew hard from the west. I was still at least 1km away from Peacock Point and right in the centre of the lake. Even as I began to paddle hard, the water took the cue from the gusts. Waves nearly two feet tall crashed into my starboard side. My Boogeese rocked like crazy. No choice. Must angle the kayak to take the waves diagonally and reach Peacock Point on a triangular route.

The crashing waves sent volumes of water up deck. Water splashed into my face and sunglasses, obscuring my vision. But I didn’t dare to miss even one stroke of the paddle to clean my face or the wind and waves would push my bow and make me face the waves fully from the starboard again. The winds and waves were so strong that I only had to keep paddling port side most times to keep the kayak in the right direction.

As the fear rose, adrenalin flooded my bloodstream. And I felt gloriously alive! I really love adrenalin, man. I paddled ceaselessly, with a power I never knew I had. The precious hormone fueled my muscles, and I laughed and whooped and shrieked and screamed for none but the jealous gods to hear. Too bad I didn’t bring my camera along. Just a photo of the bow crashing into the two-foot waves, sending spray high up, would have been beautiful.

No storm photo. But here, the section of the lake in the background is where I was caught. I was way out there. This photo makes the lake look so placid, doesn't it? Photo by Howard, with thanks.

Then I officially became in trouble. It sounds just like a matchstick being snapped in two. Just a slight ‘tck-tck’. White filled my vision. Half a second later, the thunder clapped. It was so loud that I felt it in my chest cavity.

A few seconds later. It happened again. Tck-tck. White. Thunderclap.

The realization that I was attracting lightning brought a sickening feeling of horror. I was out on flat terrain. My stupid head was the highest point on the lake. My rod was graphite composite. My paddle was aluminum. My bloodstream was now nearly neat with adrenalin.

Old photo. Nearly in the centre of Lake Kenneth. Photo by Gerald, with thanks.

When I reached Peacock Point, in one smooth flow, I jumped out, ran forward, grabbed the Boogeese tow line, pulled the kayak up the beach and raced to squat beneath a rock ledge. Always find the lowest depression on the ground. Never hide under a tree.

But 10 seconds later, I raced back to the kayak to grab my tackle box and doubled back just as quickly to the rock ledge, all the time imagining that Zeus had his sniper scope aimed directly at me. Why did I do that? Because my cigarettes were in my tackle box! It might be great to die in Lake Kenneth, but if it’s gonna be like that, I wanna die with a cigarette between my teeth!

The rain never did hit Lake Kenneth. The hard wind blew the two storms together in a mad symphony of crashing thunder. I watched the western wind send the storm off from Kampar to the Teluk Intan area.

When I finally felt safe enough to stand up, the sky right above me was bright again.

Still intoxicated with adrenalin, I drove the 20km off road to reach home while singing to Bon Jovi at the top of my lungs.

Alive. Gloriously alive.

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.

I had quickly drop my son off at his school before meeting Neoh and his friend, Daniel, at our rendezvous point along MRR2. They were already there when I arrived at 7.35am…I guess pilots are trained to be punctual. We wasted no time and headed off to Batu Dam immediately. 

Kenny called me a few minutes later to say that he was about 5 minutes away from Batu Dam. Chris was to meet us at 8.00am. Kenny was the first to arrive, followed by us and later Chris. By 8.00am we were ready to set off for our kayak fishing adventure for the day. It was Kenny’s, Neoh’s and Daniel’s first time kayak fishing at Batu Dam. Ironically, Chris, who is from South Africa, has been kayak fishing off Batu Dam more than any Malaysian, including me. That makes him the expert in this water. 

Launch point...see the rubbish left behind by irresponsible anglers.

Neoh and Daniel on their Boogeese X'plorer

Anyway, it was a beautiful morning. The sky was clear and sunny…and the air was refreshing. We headed to the westside of the lake which is not accessible to shore anglers. Our plan was to cover the whole length of the lake, about 2km…paddling and fishing all the way to our final stop at Sungai Pamah for our lunch break. Batu Dam has many fishing hotspots…coves, feeder creeks, drop-offs, side vegetations, underwater rock structure, and even an island. Some days you can see many rises and some days, dead silent! Some days they bite and some days they don’t! Why? Sorry, you gotta ask the fish. 

Kenny wading in knee-depth water next to a drop-off. See the color difference in the water.

Kenny and his toman caught at the drop-off.

A juvenile toman caught on surface lure.

My Malibu Mini-X is equipped with a depth sounder – fishfinder. The deepest part of the lake is about 60ft but mostly under 20ft. It is about 0.5km across and 2km at its widest. Yes, my sonar showed many fish, large and small ones, mostly 5ft and below and swimming in groups. What fish are they? Not a clue… and I plan to equip my Mini-X with an underwater video camera for this purpose. 

My cuppa and depthsounder-fishfinder

But this is what we spotted with our naked eyes at Sungai Pamah when we arrived for our lunchbreak — groups of palm-sized dark greyish body with reddish tail fish swimming in the crystal clear water. Looks like lampam, but they were not lampam. Later we learned from the locals they were Mata Merah (red-eyed). I did some research on the internet and learned they were also known as Kelabau. Mata Merah or Kelabau is an indigenous fish and found in most rivers with crystal clear water. It grows up to 11 inches and feeds mostly on algae…i.e., it is a “vegetarian”. So, lures, keli, cacing or crickets are of no use for this species. According to the orang asli, oilpalm seeds will do the trick. Like Terubok, the Kelabau is bony (the reason why they are not popular with restaurants) but the meat is “sweet”. Also, this fish is seasonal…which explains why we have not seen them in our previous trips. 

Paddling down Sungai Pamah...we could see many fishes in the crystal clear water.

Mata Merah or Kelabau

While I have been to Batu Dam numerous times, I have never grown tired of it. Each trip brings as much excitement and refreshment to me as the previous ones. However, it saddens me to see the rubbish left behind by irresponsible anglers and the indiscriminate netting in the lake. When will these people learn! 

Total tally for the day: 11 tomans (all under 1kg); 5 anglers (all using lures) and 4 kayaks.

This time, I used the Malibu Kayaks Pro2-Tandem. The cool thing about this kayak is the center hatch. It’s water tight. And you can even store your sleeping bag inside for extended travels. But for me, I open it and leave the hatch in the pickup truck. Then I have a hole in the kayak where I securely put my tackle box, and any fish I want to keep, I just throw it into the hole.

Not very good fishing. Heavy rain has the water level up by over a foot from last week. I did have one take. A strong toman whacked my redhead Rapala Skitter Pop. One yank and the line broke. Sigh….another lure bites the dust.

Arriving at Third Lake was exciting for me. This lake has quite a lot of jelawat (sultan fish). Can’t wait to bring my kayaking fly buddies to come and try the fish.

Then I got hungry. Only had a glass of Nescafe and biscuits for breakfast. And I forgot to bring lunch.

So what to do? Luckily, I spied a large patch of lotus. Ah…..free lunch.

When you read enough about nutrition, you’ll know that seeds are great food. High in energy, zero trans fat, easily digestible and full of good quality minerals and vitamins.

This lotus leaf is big! Nearly 2ft in diameter.

I must collect some next time. There are very good for a wide variety of cooking techniques. Steamed fish, rice, chicken taste well when wrapped in lotus leaf.

I rowed right into the lotus patch. And started picking young lotus seed pods. Never take the big ones, the seeds tends to be rather bitter, unless you are in the mood for bittersweet. Nonetheless, the fatter, green pods are still quite edible in spite of the bittersweet tang.

In a short while, lunch is served.

A bunch of lotus seed pods, with the MalibuKayaks Pro2Tandem, the lotus patch and Third Lake in the background.

Eating the lotus seeds is easy. Peel off the thick pod to get the green baubles out. Peel off the green skin. Eat the little white seeds. The sweetest seeds are those with a bit of lavender purple on the tip. Brownish colour tip will tend to taste bitter.

Note the little lavender purple tip of the seed. Sweet and refreshing taste, they give.

I sat in the middle of the lotus patch, happily popping one lotus seed after another into my mouth. It’s a warm, happy feeling to dine on Mother Nature’s wild offerings while sitting on a kayak. And with no one else around within 100 acres, one will discover one’s nobility.

It’s like this. When one is satisfied with a simply nutritious meal provided by Nature. When one is using a craft propel not by automation but only by one’s will and way. When one is cut off temporarily from society like this. One learns the meaning of composure and keeping a level set of shoulders, and being true to oneself.

I’ll not trick you. There are dangers. My kayak buddies often chide me for being alone in such wild places. But it’s addictive. There are moments of insight found in solitude in the wild that can never be found anywhere and anytime else.

I even had entertainment during lunch! Haruan and maybe toman were coming up for air, making their unique gulping sounds.

No chance of hauling them out of the lotus patch, though. I ruefully mused that I would need a rod made of 100% pure fiberglass, and braided line of at least 50lb test in order to yank them out among the tough, spindly lotus stems.

Lunch done, I rowed on and explored Third Lake. The windblown lake made it hard to spot fish. But at one corner, when the wind died down for a few precious minutes, I saw movement: toman fries!

Adrenalin coursed through me as I paddled stealthily to the spot. Closer, I realised they were juvenile tomans. Their parents were no longer looking after them. If they were small fries instead, I at least had the chance to catch a good-size toman for the home freezer.

Out of boredom I cast at them. As usual, all 200 over of juvenile tomans tried to eat the lure at once, resulting in a boiling frenzy. One of them inevitably caught the treble hook. I reeled the lure back to free the fish.

Not bad. Over 11 inches long. I sampled fried juvenile toman nearly 10 years ago, out of curiosity. Quite good eating. Fine flesh.

Then I remembered that my family needs fish. And these juveniles were ideal for making fried fish so crispy, that you could chew the bones.

So I caught 19 of them for the house.

Some of the 19 juvenile tomans I caught. Used a variety of lures. They will attack anything that moves so just have to choose smallish lures to easily set the hook.

The easiest way to dress them is to cut off all the fins and the tail, and also the head. There is so very little flesh in the head so it’s a waste of time and energy frying the head too.

Dressed, frozen, and thawing.

A fine and productive day it was. Such are the pleasant joys of a kayaker.

Sporting a gleaming golden hue, stark black vertical stripes, and a conspicuous black mark framed in bright yellow on its tail like the peacock, the fish has won a regal name for itself in our local tongue. Its Malay name is ikan raja, while its Chinese name is wang ti yue (literally, “emperor fish”).

With this monster, Boon Cheng gets life membership to the Peacock Bass Hall of Fame.

It is a delectable fish. Its firm, white flesh compares well with saltwater favourites like the tenggiri (Spanish mackerel), bawal hitam (Black pomfret) and kurau (Threadfin salmon).

This is the sort of fish to fry. Or to make curry or asam pedas. Any attempt to steam it would result in an unhappy culinary adventure, for the fish is a speedy hunter that runs down its prey and it is, therefore, a muscular thing, low in juicy body fat. Being a carnivore, it is a difficult fish to farm.

Lake Kenneth

The hands-down, most popular place to catch the fish is in Perak. Specifically, in the ex-mining lakes of the state where the fish thrives. A well-known ex-mining lake to catch the Peacock Bass is in the general area of Air Kuning, not far from Tapah.

The lake has no official name of its own and is known informally to the sports fishing community as Lake Kenneth, in honour of one gentleman angler called Kenneth who helped spread the word about the lake.

Jubilantly hugging a 8.87kg giant snakehead.

Getting to the lake involves driving with 4WD vehicles across more than 20km of uneven, at times flooded, ex-mining terrain. Thus, the lake is far from human civilisation. Once badly scarred by tin mining activities, Lake Kenneth is now part of a naturalised, lush wetland system spanning over 200ha.

Viewed from Google Earth’s satellite images, Lake Kenneth exceeds 40ha in size. The rest of the wetland system comprises narrow canals, meandering channels, and weedy marshes. The system is also connected to the Kinta River, bringing with it a wide variety of fish species.

Over the years, sports anglers who make almost weekly pilgrimages to the lake have put fancy names to the fishing spots, such as Peacock Point, The Hideout, Toman Bay and Haruan Hole.

All in all, Lake Kenneth is a freshwater sports fishing haven, rich in Peacock Bass, Giant Snakehead (toman) and the Striated Snakehead (haruan).

Catching the Peacock Bass

Catching the Peacock Bass is not a simple matter of baiting a hook. The fish is drawn to schooling minnows. Here is where their brilliant colour becomes an offensive tool.

The Peacock Bass uses speed and its brilliance to thwart and dazzle a school of fish into chaos. Working as a team, a pack of Peacock Bass dart around a school of fish, bunching them together, preferably pushing them to the surface. When the prey becomes confused, the Peacock Bass picks them off one by one.

Juheni Omar, 28 and daughters Ratana (left) and Ariya out for a paddle on a Boogeese X'plorer.

They lunge at their prey with jaw-dropping dexterity.

The best way to catch them is to patrol the water in search of schools of baitfish darting around just below the surface for seemingly no apparent reason. Managing live bait while searching long stretches of water can be difficult, so the stock method for Peacock Bass fishing is to use lures.

The standard fishing lure is a thing of plastic, wood or metal that is shaped and coloured exactly like a fish and comes attached with hooks. When the lure is in motion, it will appear to swim like a fish — many in exaggerated wobbles like injured baitfish.

Since these hunters roam so widely, you need patience and a good eye to find them. Some means of moving on the water would help too. A boat and an engine would be conventional, but not optimal, because the drone of the engine can spook a hunting party of Peacock Bass.

A more effective method that is becoming popular in Malaysia is to use sit-on-top fishing kayaks. Sleek and light, the kayak is mobile and stealthy.

Traditional sit-in kayaks have openings in the middle for paddlers to snuggle into that leaves them visible only from the waist up. These are great for long distance paddling or white-water tussling.

Sit-on-tops are different.

Moulded from plastic, these allow fishers to sit on top of the water craft, granting them a greater degree of comfort and mobility. They allow anglers to roam about with relative ease compared to rowing a boat.

The following is a personal account of kayak fisher Arnold J. S. Loh, 37, who has been fishing Lake Kenneth almost weekly for two years:

The past week, the daily downpour had drummed down to a forgiving drizzle.

Lake Kenneth’s waters would have dropped a little. The Peacock Bass would have just left the grass-choked shallows and could be mulling about in the open. So the next morning, I found myself standing on the banks of Lake Kenneth.

Before I had time to unload my gear, a pack of Peacock Bass was busting baitfish in the water right beside my car! I hurriedly tied on a pencil lure, designed to flit across the water surface on a fast retrieve. They gave chase immediately. Two, sometimes three, V-shaped wakes tailed behind my lure as I skittered it back to me.

But they would not bite! Must change the lure. I picked a lure that would still play on top, but would sink the moment I stopped retrieving. They gave chase again. I slowed down the retrieve but kept the lure flitting on the surface. The predators closed in a little more. Then I stopped. The lure wobbled meekly as it sank. And suddenly everything became tight.

A Peacock Bass gulped in the lure and turned away in a flash. The hooks firmly set. I could not crank my reel. Must loosen the drag to let the fish pull some line out. A minute later, I guided the tired fish to the bank. Table-size, a little over 1kg. Victory!

The kayak finally in the water, I paddle to a stretch of shallows near Peacock Point. The water was shielded from the breeze here. It reflected the sky like a mirror. The slightest movement of fish near the surface would show. I stopped and scanned the water for several minutes. Finally, a disturbance.

A circular patch of water about a meter in diameter began to shimmer. Baitfish were being pushed to the surface. I closed in quietly and picked a top-water lure again. The swim here was littered with underwater vegetation that would snag a diving lure.

I cast into the centre of the shimmering water and made it streak back towards me. Nothing. They must be lurking a little too deep to bother. The shimmer died off. Then, the water rippled a little ahead at the edge of a solitary lotus leaf. It was just a small swirl. If not because the distance and direction of the rise made it so easy, I would not have bothered to send my lure there.

The fish was still swirling near the surface as my lure landed centimeters beside it. I twitched the lure only twice, and pandemonium seized my world.

That single lotus leaf disappeared beneath the water as a large Peacock Bass sucked in my lure with an oddly sickening sound. As it dove away, the tightened line caught the leaf’s stem, pulling everything under. The fish swerved to the right, tearing apart large clumps of underwater weeds that rose messily to the top.

I could only hold on.

The fish was pulling my kayak around. I regained some line when the fish stalled in its confusion. As I reeled it in, the fish realised that the silhouette of my kayak was a source of danger, and pandemonium struck again.

Minutes later, the fish finally tired out and came up gleaming beneath the mid-morning sun. It was the largest Peacock Bass I had ever hooked! A male, judging by the over-developed hump on top of its head. Length: 62cm. Weight: 3.1kg. I broke my Peacock Bass record!

I decided to try a further spot called The Hideout. The 2km of paddling was invigorating after the cold drizzle. On arriving at this system of broad, meandering channels, I had to grin. All the fish were having a party. Rises everywhere. A peculiar sort of rise caught my eye in the distance near a curving stretch of weed-line. Could it be?

I drew in closer, dipping my paddle silently into the water, hugging the weed-line as closely as I could to camouflage the kayak’s silhouette. The fish, a large one, rose again in the same spot. Oh! Could it be!?

As close as I dared to go without raising an alarm, I cast hard to reach the spot. The lure only just made it. Phew. I still had on a top-water lure. This time I moved the lure in a technique called Walk-The-Dog. By cranking the reel slowly and twitching the rod at a correct tempo, the lure began to swish left and right in a clumsy and heavy fashion.

Slorrp.

I swear that was what I heard before my line went so tight that it played a whining note as it rubbed hard along the rod guides. The situation was out of my hands. The fish made a break for the middle of the channel in search of deeper water, and I was compelled to follow on my kayak! I actually became scared that I had finally caught one too many fish.

Slowly but surely, the fish got tired of towing me and showed itself. A black torpedo with a white underside draped in emerald blotches. Meet the venerable Giant Snakehead. Length, 1.1m. Weight, 8.87kg. It is, in every sense of the term, a specimen size. Now I’ve broken my Giant Snakehead record.

An old friend once said: “A bad day at fishing is always better than a good day at work.”

Well, a good day at fishing is surprisingly quiet, making us feel humble and thankful to nature. Those wishing to fish Lake Kenneth are advised to observe good fishing ethics to preserve the haven. Stick to bag limits and take no more than three fish per angler.

Release all fish under 1kg. Avoid littering. Allow common sense to prevail. Be cordial to other anglers on the lake.

Good or bad, Air Kuning is not easily accessible by road. Yes, you need a 4WD to access some of these lakes.  But, that’s not all. You need a boat too, if you want to explore the many hotspots around the lakes and the river system. Air Kuning is definitely an ideal place for kayak anglers.

Our first stop is a lake we named Tasik Tucunare (also known as Lake Kenneth, depending on who you talked too). Other than Sungai Kinta, all other water bodies in the area are nameless. Tucunare is a common name for Peacock Bass in Brazil, the country of their largest native region. Tasik Tucunare (or Lake Tucunare) is the largest lake in the Air Kuning wetlands.

The journey to Tasik Tucunare from Kuala Lumpur took about 3 hours. I found the journey itself exciting. The drive from Kuala Lumpur to Temoh (exit Tapah toll) on the North-South highway took about 2 hours. From Temoh to Lake Tucunare, it was off-road for one hour all the way. Going off-road with a convoy of 4WDs and driving through oil palm estates and ex-mining areas was an exhilarating experience itself.

Lake Tucunare proper is approximately 380acres in size, making it easily in the top 5 largest ex-mining water bodies in Perak. Our depth sounder showed uneven bottom and depths of no more than 30 feet.  To paddle around this entire lake while combing the water for fish took us 6 hours. The whole wetlands system that Tasik Tucunare is a part of is about 2,000 acres. We’ve explored less than 10% of this area.

Peacock Point. Viewed by satellite, the amazingly good fishing in Peacock Point is understandable. This is the largest area in the lake that is a lagoon that ends in a narrow point of less than 45 degrees. We believe seluangs and lampams who find their way into this “V” will be boxed in for a time, leading giant peacocks to swim right into casting distance to hunt them. The largest PB we caught here is passed the 3kg mark.

Kenny with his catch at Peacock Point

Muara Tucunare (or Tucunare Inlet).  Here, a feeder creek flows into the lake and if you know where the drop-off is, you will find both PBs and tomans patrol this inlet. There is a slight drop-off at the mouth of the feeder where the water has gouged out a hole in the lake. Even a minor drop-off of only a few inches offers many fish a place to hold and wait in ambush for food washed out of the feeder creek. If you use teeny, tiny hooks to catch the really large minnows here and use them as live bait, you have better chances of hooking up good size PBs and even tomans. 

Muara Tucunare

Toman Bay. Frustrating place. We have lost some very good lures here. Our sonar showed a shelf in this location. The top is less than 8 ft. The bottom is more than 20ft. PBs are aplenty too. But on a windless day, anchor your kayak, light a cigarette, keep your rod cocked and ready, and vigilantly watch the mirror-like water. Tomans will rise calmly, showing only their pointy nose and not a ripple more. Some times, the rises are less than 10 ft from your kayak. Casting accuracy is so crucial here. Too close and you frighten the toman into the depths. Too far, and they ain’t bothered. The cast has to be just right and when done so, the strike is almost immediate and very ferocious.

Toman Bay. Caught a PB instead.

The Shallows. The water here is shallow and fighting toman in shallow water will be a challenge, but the number of tomans here are really shocking.

Buffalo Lake. We named it so cos the water smells like buffalo dung. A friend once caught a toman here that was so large that it was beyond control. Probably about 7kg. In the end, the fish crushed the treble hook and spit out the lure. You can also find PBs around 2.5kg here. The lake’s earthy, chalky, mineral smell and in some parts, it smells like buffalo dung, since buffalo dung is probably what contributes to the water’s tint, is probably the reason why you find the fish there. 

Mystery Fish Cove. There’s a lot of a strange kind of fish here. They school in packs of 30-50 strong and rise in unison, making a rolling motion that reveals the whole of their dorsal fins. Dunno what they are.  That’s why I call them mystery fish.

The River System

The trip is mildly challenging because you will have to paddle out of Lake Tucunare and cross the river system to reach this cove. The current is meandering and just nice to give you a good workout. Fishing pressure here is delightfully low cos the cove is impossible to reach on foot or wheels. Must have boats to reach it. And tomans and haruans abound here too but the water is shallow, so fighting a big toman here will be tough.

North of this system, there are two more small lakes where you can find more PBs and tomans, but prospect of getting the monsters are much higher in the Lake Tucunare system.

Lake Tucunare (also known as Lake Kenneth)

By the way, if you are there on Saturday, head into Kampar town pasar malam for the best luk luk ever. All the stuff is fresh, especially the cockles. The sauces are spectacular and if you love pedas, the chilli sauce will make your hair sweat!

Best Luk Luk ever

Last but not least, please practice ethical bag limits and release those less than 1kg size.