Bersiar-siar in Bersia 5th July

Following reports from my fishing buddy,Marcus that Bersia had not been visited by ANYONE over the past one month(which equates to low fishing pressure) ever since the petrol price increase and babies are spotted everywhere(according to the boatman),I've been badly tempted to give this place a go.I was actually in a dilemma before this as I was unsure of going for this trip or to go for the Tenggiris in Yan(budget constraints which limits myself to only a 'major' trip for the month).After much considerations on the pros and cons of the two,I've finally decided to go Bersia as the temptation of hard pulling Tomans was too great to resist.

As usual in our previous two trips,we first met up at Recsam first before Marcus gave me a lift in the Pajero.I hopped into his jeep when he arrived at 5.45am.

The journey took us one and a half hours to get to the Bersia.Getting to Bersia could be a lot longer if it was not Marcus who drove.The road was covered with thick fog but Marcus drove with not much trouble as though he knew this place so well.He did know they place very well.To date,he visited Bersia close to twenty times!

Just a kilometer away from the jetty,we packed our lunch at a local Nasi Lemak shop.To our surprise,we will not be the only ones in Bersia for the day.We met Dolah and Takin at the same Nasi Lemak shop and how sneaky of them not letting us know that they were going Bersia.Not only the two of them that will be joining us for fishing that day,but FIVE of them.That also includes Akashah,Defender and Din Idola.Oh well,all the best to these lure casters.

After grabbing whatever we need,we soon headed off to the jetty.Poje was seen standing near his bike coolly and patiently waiting for our grand arrival.After parking the car and unloaded the stuffs into the boat,we began our fishing adventure for the day.

I was in an upbeat mood in facing the hard fighting Tomans of Bersia.

My fishing buddy,Marcus whenever I go Bersia.He's been there close to 20 times over the past 2 years!He told me Bersia is and will always be his favorite playground.I fully understand why with all the great species the lake has to offer.

Our really friendly and helpful boatman,Poje.He will always keep us updated with the number of babies spawned in the lake.Talking about customer relationship!

It was pretty misty that day with mist covering most part of the forest.

More beautiful sceneries to behold.

At 8.18am,I struck Jackpot!Marcus lost 2 Tomans earlier so he decided to let me cast(we took turns casting until had a hookup) which I made the best out of the chance given to me.A well over 6kg Toman was landed without much problems.The current catch will be my new personal record erasing my previous biggest at 5kg."Melvin,taruh itu ikan ke bawah.",Poje instructed.I asked Poje politely why."Itu ikan kencing!",Poje said.What the hell?!I put the fish down immediately.I must have scared the fish until it pissed onto...my pants.Gosh! Nevertheless,it was a good catch to start out the day.

Marcus posing with my fish.He couldn't resist handling a big one like this I guess.Hehe.

When I was releasing the fish,I was hoping that it would nicely swim away which I hoped to snap a few good pictures of it but it managed to break free from my grasp as it was still powerful.Oh well,at least I'm pretty darn sure it would survive!



At 8.35a.m.,we spotted another school of babies.Not wanting to lose another Toman after the previous two losses,Marcus struck hard and gave the Toman no chance of going into the snags.A few blistering runs,up came an estimated 3kg specimen.It was a beauty.It had apple green colored scales and surprisingly,it fought hard despite its small size.Like what Poje mentioned in the video,"dia kecik tapi dia gila".It was so true.



At 8.56a.m.,we spotted yet another school of babies.WOW!Things were getting really hot that day.In just less than an hour of fishing,we've already encountered 5 schools of babies.I wasted no time and cast towards the babies.As I saw bubbles emerging from the depths,I knew my offerings had been taken.I struck hard and was rewarded with a smaller specimen this time.It was estimated roughly 3kg as it was something like Marcus' size.

At 9.20a.m.,Marcus landed another Toman.This time,it was bigger compared to his last and it was even more beautiful.The apple green like scales on its upper part of its body were even brighter than his previous and what a catch!

This picture was taken during the release of the fish.Check out the Mohawk-styled fins.Looked badass and the fish sure was a badass with an attitude.



Note the rod in my mouth and the one Poje was holding.It WAS an Abu Conolon ONE PIECE which became TWO PIECES after landing this fish at 9.21a.m.It broke below the last guide while I was fighting the fish.Armed with a broken rod to fight a brutal fish was not an easy task at all.The reason why my rod broke was mainly because of my reel drag being locked too tight as I wasn't high rodding.I seriously underestimated the breaking strength of the 30lbs Stren braided line that I was using.Hmm...I think what you guys said about the breaking strength of Stren lines were very true indeed.I've proved(not proud at all in proving this point) that a PE1-3 rod breaks before the Stren line does.

When reality kicked in,I certainly wasn't too happy with the rod being broken.What a very expensive Bersia trip indeed.I looked towards the bright side soon afterwards and came to a conclusion that there was no point whining as what was over is over.5 fishes already caught in a mere one and a half hours of fishing.I began to visualize and daydream about how many will we end the day with?The numbers kept playing in our minds and off we went in search for more Tomans to keep ourselves entertained.

I had yet to take much pictures of the sceneries in Bersia ever since we started fishing as the fishing was just too good.When the fishing slowed down,I started to snap a few shots and I love this picture best.I don't think I could've taken a better picture than this.


We always kept our eyes open on the lookout for more babies.With the aid of three good pair of eyes,we just could not spot them.The wind picked up and this made the sightings even worst as waves formed around the lake which complicated our sightings for ball of ripples on the water whenever the Toman babies surface for air.

We met up with Choo(we nicknamed him Kerbau as he's so huge in size) in Bersia again.He popped out from the bush just to ask us how was the catch rate.I told him it was good and he then told me he's busy.My wild guess would be he was busy having an orgy with the Busty Buffys.

Time flied and soon it was already afternoon.We decided to take a break as our stomachs began growling for food and it was timely as it was scorching hot.My wish was granted when I prayed to God for a hot day ahead during our car journey.At that moment,I just wished it would rain as I was sweating profusely.I couldn't take the heat anymore and decided to take my clothes off to cool myself down.Poje on the other hand,opted the more traditional way of cooling himself down;by taking a piss to release the heat from his body.

We spent around half an hour to take a valuable rest.Soon afterwards,we were venturing everywhere in search of Tomans again.Our hopes for landing another Toman increased when we saw bubble trails leading into a disclosed area.We then knew the babies(remember that I mentioned they surface for air?) were inside so we headed in to check if our predictions were right.

Bubble trails were everywhere but where were the babies?


As we were searching for the babies,we saw a pair of Tomans circling each other it what appeared to be a mating ritual(sadly no pictures).It was an awesome sight as they were trying to reproduce more hard fighting Tomans for our fishing pleasure in the future but I had to admit that we did try to disturb them but the fact that they were so close to the snags,it would be 99.9% that we would snag so we decided not to even attempt our casts.Though we were a bit disappointed not being able to fish for them,I was still a happy guy.The fish did what they were supposed to;which was to ensure the survival of their species.They were very responsible parents indeed

Soon afterwards,we saw a ball of red little creatures submerging from the bottom.Yes,Babies(*Toman babies were red in color when they were first born and will slowly change in color to black,then brown and lastly the black+white/purplish black+white/green+black and white as it grow)!They were playing hide and seek with us actually and we spent 15 minutes or so in hope that they will be out from the snags.They eventually did after we applied our ninja(stealth and silence) approach as they probably would think that the boat that we were on was actually a floating log.

Though we managed to lure the babies into safer waters,we didn't had much luck with its guardian.The ball of red babies had no parents looking after them and my guess would be their parents must be the ones that we saw sharing intimate moments together near the snags.

With no parents around,Toman babies were easy targets for predators,local fishermen and poachers.You must be wondering why on earth people would take these cute little creatures as they don't have any meat or value?WRONG!Local fishermen use the babies as bait to fish for the Featherbacks or the Baung(known as Pak Suk Kung) while the poachers can sell a baby EACH for RM0.70 cents to aquarium shops.Now that's a lot of money involved.Thank God for these babies as we were Toman conservationist and mean to harm to these little ones.

Due to lack of sleep the night before,both me and Marcus felt really sleepy during our fishing.In fact,my back ached so bad that I asked Marcus to swap places with me as I needed a place to lie down.Instead of sleeping where Marcus was sleeping,I slept at the place where he placed his feet.It was scorching hot as mentioned earlier and yet I could doze off.Now just imagine how tired I was that day.I believe I was so tired that even with three more cans of Redbull,it would not help me much.

To make things worst,we had only 3 bites in the evening session and that sums up our day.Though we started the day brightly,8 hours without a fish landed and only 3 hookups between that period,it felt as bad as Mangkor(in Longkang Gang dictionary,it simply meant : fishless).

As we were heading back to the launch area,we saw some really heart drenching sceneries.Forests being chopped and burned down illegally to make way for rubber plantation as told by Poje.My prediction was it would not be long before Bersia being stripped of its beauty if no actions were taken by the Government anytime soon.Oh wait,the Government?They were so power crazy that they wouldn't want to waste their time and money in preserving nature but stamping their ground to gain the citizen's vote of confidence and left us anglers in the dark.Sigh...

The autopsy on Abu Cono-Gone.

OK?

Boooo!Usually rods will break at the upper section which led to some of my friends saying that it must've been a manufacturing defect.

Introducing the new product by ALABAI GARCIA(my fishing friends named my Singh friend this after I brought my friend to the tackle shop one day)...ABAI CONDELONG...

Summary : 5 fishes landed in first 1 and half hours of fishing.Zero landed after that.
Boboi : Landed 3 out of 4 hookups.Lost the only one during the evening session with a borrowed setup.Not performing under a different owner I supposed.
Marcus : Landed 2 out of 6 hookups.That included two bulldozers that were really unstoppable and made me having goosebumps.Shot straight to snags with lightning speed although drag was set at its maximum.
Bait : Geli Keli(live catfish)