I normally catch them on lives prawn with small running sinker and circle hook at late afternoon and night.What i know is, they are a very shy species.Spotted belida at Timah Tasoh, perlis do take lure from spinnerbaits, soft plastic to deep divers. As far as i can recalled, featherbacks have been landed with grubs, sure catch softplastic, rapala rattling (blue/silver), deep diver form surecatch and i've caught it with Australian made deep diver called Predatek Boomerang (pink). They do take lures and not easy to get a solid hook up due to their bony mouth...

The Peacock Bass (Cichla orinocensis), also commonly known as the Peacock Cichlid, is a freshwater fish native to South America (where it it is known as the "pavon"), and introduced to Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia deliberately by anglers as a popular game fish. In the United States it is quite common in South Florida both in man made waterways and in the Everglades. An aggressive fish which preys on smaller native fish, it has been identified as a potential cause for ecological imbalance in its adopted habitats.

A member of the Cichlidae family, the large fish can grow 62cm in length, and can be identified by dark vertical bars on its body, as well as what resembles "peacock eyes" on the adult's tail fin, a feature which gave it its common name. The males have a prononced hump or bump on their foreheads once they reach adulthood, a feature not uncommon among cichlids.

As aquarium fish they are voracious and predatory, eating any smaller tankmates but are not too aggressive towards fish of similar size. They will only eat live foods.

Many consider this fish to be the toughest fighting fish in the world! It is extremely aggressive and acrobatic when hooked. Despite its name, the infamous Peacock Bass is the largest member of the cichlid family in Lake Guri. In some ways it does resemble a largemouth bass, but the larger Peacocks do not develop a pot belly and, during mating season, the males develop a large bump behind the head. In Portuguese and along most of the Amazon, the fish is called tucunaré. Due to the spot at the base of the tail, the Spanish nickname is pavon meaning peacock. In contradiction to North American bass, the larger the Peacock Bass, the better it fights. Be prepared for broken and lost tackle!

The Peacock Bass, or Peacock Cichlid, is a native of South America including the Orinoco, Negro and Amazon river basins i.e. Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. Regarded as a highly sought after and hard-fighting game fish, the species has been deliberately introduced into a number of waters in Singapore and West Malaysia by irresponsible anglers. Predatory in nature, and likely to feed on smaller native fish species, the long term survival of Peacock Bass will likely have a negative impact on the aquatic ecology of its adopted home.

The species is easily identified by the dark vertical bars on the flanks, and the peacock 'eye' on the tail fin of adults.

You can expect to catch Peacock Bass from 5 to 20 pounds in Guri. The unofficial known world record is close to 30 pounds. It is common that the Peacock Bass breaks 40 to 60 pound test lines. Their ferocious strikes and acrobatic jumps amaze any veteran angler and spoil him forever.

Peacock bass have elongate bodies with a deeply notched dorsal fin. Their mouth is large, the lower jaw projects beyond the upper jaw. They have a characteristic large black spot encircled by a silver colored halo on their caudal fin. Their coloration is olive-green dorsally fading to yellow-white ventrally, with three dark bars on their sides, between which are a series of dark spots. The first dorsal, upper caudal, and pectoral fins are gray or black, the anal, pelvics and the lower caudal fins are red. White spots are present on the second dorsal and the upper lobe of the caudal fin. Large adults have a yellow-orange stripe which extends from their mouth to their caudal fin.

Peacock bass are one of the big attractions to the lake, as 3 different pure strain varieties - speckled, butterfly and royal, are present in Guri waters. The Royal Peacock are the most abundant and also the largest, averaging 10 pounds or more and often reaching double digit weights. Most anglers hook over a dozen peacocks per day when conditions are right, usually boating one or more fish in the 12-20 pound class during their trips. Still, lunkers exceeding the 20-pound mark are caught every season, so it is no wonder that so many world records have been set and broken in the lake or it's head waters. With Peacocks, by the way, double headers are very common, and since these fish readily accept most offerings, they always provide spectacular action for spin, plug and fly casters alike.

Peacock bass are also notorious for following to the boat. It’s a bit like dealing with a following pike or muskie — you work your bait in a figure-eight pattern at boatside, with only a few inches of line off your rod tip. When one of them hits the lure though, the strike is nothing short of explosive. It just about rips the rod out of your hands, and it happens more often than not.

It seems that Peacock Bass travel in pairs or small packs, and are constantly on the move, feeding. You‘ll get into an area that’s really hot for a while, and then the fish move off and the action slows. So you do spend a bit of time looking for fish. Once you find them though, the fun begins.

The Northern section of the Temenggor Lake, by virtue of its military confinement, is undoubtedly one of the last havens for freshwater fishing in the country. for toman and sebarau lovers, it is must-visit if best fishing is to be experienced. Getting to fish in Belum is a privilege of sort, as the place is out of bound to the public. Permits must be obtained from several local departments before entry is allowed. And even then, the entry could be cancelled any time without prior notice, due to sercurity reasons. For those who unaware, the area was a former communist stronghold, and now uncharted routes of the smugglers and other illegal elements.
Given this backdrop, it was therefore a great relief when we, all packed on a houseboat operated by Yusof, were granted the last official clearance at the army post not far north of the second Banding Bridge.
Frankly speaking, last March was not the best time to visit Temenggor. Of late, the Malaysian weather had been getting to unpredictable and one really needs a lot of luck and faith to fish Temenggor at the right time. The water, no thanks to the prolonged rainy spell, had risen to an all time high, to partially submerge the lakeside coffe shops and public toilet which are normally about 10-15 feet above lake level. The newly built wooden jetty was completely submerged, probably under 10 feet of water. It is high time that the authority should consider working on a floating jetty, instead of a fixed one.
Fishing was incredibly good in Temenggor not long after the water had risen inlate December and early January, and news of hundreds of sebarau landed a day was spreading and got everyone's expectation level rose to an all ime high. Adrenalin was rushing.
But lucky is very much a part of Malaysian fishing, and we were deprived of the timely blessing from Lady Luck. The moment we arrived at the lake, Yusof the boathouse operator, was quick to advise us to keep our fingers crossed and 'hope' for the best; in other words, we had to work really hard to get what we came for. Okay, message copied.
Compared to the southern section of the Temenggor lake which is open to the public at any time, Belum is certainly a much quieter waterworld for total relaxation remote from the urban hustle, if one choose not to indulge in serious fishing. The million-year-old pristine rollingforest is still intact, and there are few man-made structures to spoil the scenery. With the relatively well-equipped comfort of the houseboat and close proximity of uncountable fishing spots, the 3days-2nights expedition had suddenly become too short.
The boathouse was satationed at the main lake not far from Sungai Kenarong, which allowed us to explore different types of fishing spots, such as river mouths, interior creeks and channels, half submerged trunks, weedy shallows, snaggy shorline, and sight casting for rising toman.
Fishing was to be done with Abu or Berkeley lures exclusively, all supplied by Pure Fishing. Of the lures, the latest Berkely Gulp! inevitably and immediately became the focus of attention and the darling of the lures lovers. Many things had been said about Gulp! and every body was eager to check them out.
We can never imagine that an artificial lizard would catch a sebarau. But I had ti believe it, as I'm alone accounted for three good sebarau each more than a kilo in size, using the 6-inch purple coloured Gulp lizard, rigged on a jighead.
Catching sebarau with Gulp! is a completely new experience. it is totally different from hard lure presentation, hitherto the most common method of stalking the speedster in the Temenggor lake.
After hours of trial and error, finally I managed to fine-tune his presenttation, and thereafter, started to land one fish after another, all on Gulp!. And the most exciting part was, the Gulp! lizard seemed to be effective in enticing the bigger sebarau above 1kg, nothing less.
While sharing the experience with the other buddies, I confident that the Gulp! lizard is best presented by casting to a possible swim, allowing it to sink to the bottom before retrieving it back gradually. The lively movement of the lizard body and legs, as well as the powerfull scent of the Gulp! would work by it self. All my sebarau were caught during straight slow retrieve jerking at all.
Another great advantage of the jighead with lizard combo is its weedless feature which allows it to be cast into snaggy spots where the fishes like ti seek shelter or for ambush. One of my sebarau was hauled out from such hideout, which is unlikely to be tackled using the normal hard or soft baits with exposed to hook points.
The 6-inch Gulp! is also a splendid offer for the toman. Using the normal soft plastic jigging technique, manage to hit several toman using this latest innovation from berkeley, including the biggest fish which hit the scale at 5.2 kilos.
But last and not list, it is the spirit of teamwork, the selfless sharing of information and knowledge, and the camaraderie of being together in an exclusive fishing paradise, which certainly added up to culminate in one great memory that every team mate would cherish for a long time.