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.