BUSHCRAFT: LURES AND FISHING

Just 3 days back, I had my fifth camping trip to Sungai Lembing,

Pahang. The journey was quite adventurous with mount climbing, jungle
trekking, swimming in the local river, scouting for bamboos in the heavy
brushes to make fishing rod and… all of a sudden stumbled with a tiger.
Yes! The animal scientifically called as Panthera tigris jacksoni. I thought
if I was not crazy or hallucinated, it was a real Malaysian tiger focusing at
me in the brushes. And the place was a converging area between Sungai
Kuantan and Sungai Kenau. Some folks suggested as Kuala Kenau. Or
Kenau Valley. The tiger was about 80 inches long (approximate to 230
cm) and had all its eyes focusing at me. So that was me… 3 days back in
a camping trip but with primary intention – going for reflective fishing.
I started to love fishing back in the 80’s of which time I was just 9-
10 years old bloke in South West of Johore. At that time I had my parent
sponsoring my fishing tackle. It was either made of Fisherman or Daiwa
brand if I could be able to guess. I used to apply the Perfection Loop back
then, where I got it from crazy-fishing-fans. They normally casted their
lures at small rivers and ponds. But to the more ambitious me, I used to
take pride by travelling with my parent to seashores like Muar and Johor
Bahru. Whilst my mother painted the surrounding sceneries on her
drawing paper, I would wander here and there fly-fishing. Some
passersby of whom ended up either curious onlookers or buyers of my
mother’s acrylic mixed oil pastels paintings, would show me some
techniques of tying knot. And only 3 knots I did remember. But after 35
years I had really discovered their real names. Bimini Twist, Duncan Knot
and Improved Clinch. Normal line of me included the polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) with thickness between 0X-2X. Ambitiously imbedded to catch
either a Marlin or Salmon, I fly-fished like a pro. Although there was no
catch at all at the end, I learnt a few things about knots.
Lures were another lessons for me in the past. Since there were no
worms to be dug in cities or even their waterfronts like Johor Bahru and
Muar, I had to use either the fleshes of raw sardine or shrimps/prawns.
Raw shrimps were very cheap back then at Johor Bahru’s wet market;
now replaced by the gigantic building of City Square JB. 1 pound or ‘kai’
of shrimp costed only MYR1.00. Meanwhile for raw prawns like tiger
prawns costed between MYR3.00 and MYR7.00. Whenever I casted my
lures into the little transparent blue-black water, I was disturbed by
passing jellyfishes or even floating sea algae. The one and only folklore
that was frightening about jellyfishes, spread from mouth to mouth, was
that you could lose your hand once beaten by this flaccid sea creature.
As a result, the so anxious me had assumed that the jellyfish that stirred
and disturbed my fishing line would one way or another hurt my precious
hands. So many times I missed ‘what-I-thought’ my would-be precious
catch. And at the end there was no catch at all. But I learnt a few things
about lures.
When city waterfronts could no longer gave any chance to me, I
retreated to my village. Clarius batrachus or ‘Keli’, Ophicephalus striatus
or ‘haruan’ and Mystus nemurus or ‘baung’ were all the fresh water
fishes of my villagers’ pride. Elsewhere, my crazy-fishing-fans of whom
some were my school mates, often challenged themselves for a catch of
one of those fishes. Monsoon seasons were the best spot where the
water level of rivers and ponds rose high. Whenever they splurged the
muddy water in front my house and awakened me, I began to get
enthralled by their passion to fish the fresh water fishes. So I busied and
hurried myself searching lures such as earth worms, house lizards and
frogs. But there was one peculiar forbidden matter about my dwelled
land. Nevertheless like a curse, whatever life objects taken from the land
must have its own repercussion. Let’s say if I took few worms in the
morning, later in the evening I would encounter centipede or scorpion.
Meanwhile house lizard became rattle snake and a frog became
venomous spider. Just because my enthralled instinct had been furiously
warming up, I did not care anymore about the repercussion or even my
mother’s impermissible signals. I quickly ran out and chased after my
crazy-fishing-fans. “Yahoo!”, “Hooray!” were all my blurted words. Full
of enthusiasm backed by enthralled energy. That particular time, nobody
could be a bold hindrance to me. Here, during these years between 1984
and 1986, I really got my big catches. What I could easily recall were 2
fishes from the Mystus nemurus species, 5 fishes from the Ophicephalus
striatus species and 1 extraordinary fish from the Clarius batrachus
species. So many times again I had shouted “Yahoo!” and “Hooray!” like
it was my final catch for my whole life. But it turned out to be a somber
truth when I could be able to spare my time fishing ever again after 25
YEARS!
The revival of my fishing enthusiasm really happened after 25 years
at the age of 38 years old. It was the end year of 2011, just after
graduation from college. At that time I was searching for a job in Melaka
in an attempt to escape the wild, abusive and double standard Kuala
Lumpur. The Melaka waterfront was my choice for fishing. 3 spots of the
waterfront were located at Ujong Pasir, Pulau Melaka and the one right
behind Holiday Inn, Melaka. And the most memorable moments there
included taking pro-photos of Mahkota Hotel, Melaka, sneaking into
Holiday Inn for job, drenched by heavy midnight rain while fishing and
sleeping like a log on a rotten bench that was close enough to the sea.
But something was amiss. I had no parent and home to go back. But what
can I say except carry on living this life.
My lures were much upgraded since. I would include steel lures,
chicken’s intestines, fishes and shrimps. My fishing tackle included
miscellaneous hooks, 2-3 types of line, sinkers, floats, aerial-type rod,
branded reels like Daiwa and Shimano, nets and gaffs. Even though still
a recreational fishing but the upgrade of the kits made me proud and
confident. My catches included crabs, sea prawns and normal sea fishes.
Those fishes included Hampala Barb, Sea Goldie, Ark-Eye Hawkfish,
Caranx spp. Or ‘Selar’, Perciformes Scombridae or ‘Kembung’. Some
could be caught at the seashore whilst others onboard to the open
Straits of Malacca.
Though bush craft is somewhat related to camping, but my newest
approach to primitive fishing with only fishing line and hooks had some
kind of relevance. And the use of earth worms as baits had me
retrograded to the past. Only that for the new moments, I was not fishing
at waterfronts but rivers in the deep jungle. Not ponds like my old
childhood years but leftover mines that have plenty of resources. The
technique of casting lures had to be varied because of unexpected
obstacles like disturbance from jungle creatures. And one of the jungle
creatures I had seen lately was the Panthera tigris jacksoni. Or the
Malaysian wild tiger. Albeit of its ferociousness as a man eater, its beauty
was truly amazing. If not amazing to the general public, at least it was to
me.
Concluding this writing, years that passed will bring more
experiences to one’s hobby or simply one’s liking. Even if the benefits are
not actually in a monetary form however there still a satisfaction in it.
And maybe who knows, if you cannot get a fish, like me, you might end
up confronting….. A tiger.