The Rapala Insider: July 2009

Friday, July 31, 2009

Malaysia Tackle Challenge Trophy 2009 - Part 2

The first few spots looked truly fishy - sunken timber all around. Typical Toman country. The choice lures selected were the 'resurrected' Rapala Fat Raps. What else but Fire Tiger! FG did the same and off we went firing at the many likely spots but to no avail.

After somewhat hundred casts later and some spot shifts, we came to this little cove. Spotted some surface activity: a pod of babies with a brooding mama! We proceeded to harass the pod of babies, hoping mama would lash out angrily but no such thing occurred.

"WHOOSH!"

The surface erupted near the bank in front of us. Instinctively I fired a cast over to the bank. The lure perfectly landed on the muddy bank and with a quick flip of the rod tip, it plopped into the water and was on its way wiggling back to the boat.

Almost instantaneously there was a big take! Strike! Rod bent over! Line zipping out of the Certate Hyper 2500 at blistering speed! A solid hookup!!

Easy does it.... just don't... get... SNAGGED!!!!

And horror of horrors, it did just that. It decided to head for the nearest tree stump and in a matter of seconds, I felt a headshake and the line went limp. The lure came back with the trebles opened. Big Sebarau hunting the pod of babies earlier? Mama Toman? FG and I never had a chance to know.... all I knew - I was 'bullied'.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. The fishing was tough. We met a few other teams whom also mentioned they had nothing much to show except for some baby Sebarau less than the qualifying 1kg mark.

Over on the other boat, YH and KH didn't have much happening either save for a few pieces of Sebarau on X-Rap. Still, some smallish fish was better than none! FG and I on the other hand picked up some tiddler Toman fry and a nice Sebbie on Fat Rap GFR and FT.

By 5.30pm, we had to head back to base. As we landed, we were informed that Team Season Tackle had landed a 5.5kg Toman - the heaviest Toman for Day 1.

to be continued....

"Gentlemen, start your engines!"

The beautiful scenery of Temenggor Dam

Pee Wee Toman on Fat Rap GFR. Better than nothing

YH with Sebbie on X-Rap

So did KH!

And another!

This greedy Sebarau grabbed a big Fat Rap GFR

Strong fish that's capable of crunching trebles with ease

Somehow the snags produced lots of Tiny Tots

Fat Rap Fire Tiger strikes!

Malaysia Tackle Challenge Trophy 2009 - Part 1

25-27th July 2009.

Team Rapala consisting of TKH, YH, FG and D1 made their way up in the early morning towards the Temenggor Dam jetty. The cool morning air sent a little chill down our bodies as we stepped out of the car. We were greeted by the Rod & Line crew of Editor in Chief Mr CS Fong, CM Po, Editor for R&L Chinese and Joe the reporter.

We were there to participate in the inaugural Malaysia Tackle Challenge - a friendly tournament between Malaysian tackle retailers and distributors for the ultimate Malaysian freshwater gamefish - the Toman and Sebarau.

The tournament was divided into the Toman & Sebarau categories. The rules were simple - the team that catches the heaviest Toman & Sebarau wins each category respectively.

As each tackle company could only send a max of 2 teams, Team Rapala was split into 2 teams - Team Rapalero 1 & 2. All of us except KH were greenhorns to Temenggor and didnt know what to expect. In fact, we didnt even know the spots to fish! Nevertheless with good spirits and just hoping to enjoy the fishing and company, we encouraged each other to just go with the flow and enjoy ourselves whether winning any prize or not regardless.

We were greeted by familiar faces and who's who of the Malaysian fishing fraternity. Teams from Pure Fishing Malaysia & Taiwan, SeaTackle, TCE Tackles, Haiyen, SureCatch, Explorer & a few more were present. Some were old friends of mine whom I've not seen for ages. It was indeed good to catch up with them after a long time.

After being assigned to our boats, each team sped off to their respective spots in hot pursuit of the quarry. The first question I asked our orang asli guide was... "Abang tau lubuk lubuk mana yang ada ikan?" (Bro, do you know the spots that will have fish?)

"Tak tau. You mau pi mana saya bawak. Ada ikan tak ada ikan tak boleh jamin" (Dont know. Where you want to go I can bring you. Whether there is fish or not I cant guarantee)

I looked at FG & FG looked at me. Uh-oh. Two anglers without any experience at Temenggor Dam with a guide that doesnt really know where the fishes are. Heck, lets make the best out of it and follow where everyone goes! And off we went... our 15HP boat trailing behind the more powerful 30HP boats.....

to be continued....

The 3/4 Rapaleros

Imagine doing the bungee jump off this bridge

The inaugural Tackle Challenge Trophy

The jetty leading to our 'home' for the next 2 nights

Some fresh footprints of "Fumakilla' (elephants) that came down to the water edge

As some of loyal RapalaInsider readers may already know.... these are the 'resurrected' Fat Raps! Check them out at your favourite local tackle shops in Malaysia & Singapore after Aug 22nd!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

I FINALLY BROKE MY EGG!

After months and months of unfruitful trips, (not that there were many to begin with since I was literally buried with work!) I was starting to feel if my trip results were in tandem with the global economic outlook.

Each time I had the opportunity to take a breather from work and wet a line, I'd anticipate with hope to land something significant to buoy my mental-well being a bit, before I start to see numbers in everything (similar to Matrix) just by staring at my work computer over long periods of time. Unfortunately each trip kept yielding zilch in terms of results. Dry spell or is it a problem with the angler? Food for thought...

Nevertheless, it was a nice and overcast Sunday today and YH & FG were going fishing. Would I refuse? I needed a break - quite literally... to break my EGG! (Asian slang for '0' fishing results).

But as we were approaching the fishing spot after 1.5hrs of travel, it started to rain! And did it RAIN! But being the macho (or is it foolish?) men we were, we fished in the rain without much drama.

Plopped an X-Rap right in front of this weedy patch near the bank and out of the weeds a little black shadow charged out and grabbed the lure before leaping out of the water to shake the lure loose. Too bad - it wasnt successful and the little Haruan was winched in and quickly released after some mugshots. YES!!!! I finally broke my EGG spell! All thanks to God for taking pity on me and blessing me after countless fishless trips! Ok, so it wasnt something big to shout about but still... the EGG has been broken!!!

Walking along further, there was another patch of weed and so repeated steps by placing the X-Rap next to the patch. This time it had a bit more weight and took out some line from the reel. Turned out to be the elusive Mr T from the Peacock Bass family! And the colouration was beautiful! Just after it had its mugshot taken, it seemed as if Mr T had a mind of its own for revenge. It gave a big struggle that loosened my grip and in a way that would easily outdo the China National Diving Team, did a triple somersault and landed perfectly with all its dorsal fins jammed into my foot! ARGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good thing I was in a good mood and the fish swamp away happily after being revived and released. Otherwise.... *I'll leave it to your imagination* :)