Weekend Fishing Trip - A Complete Letdown (Part 1)

Saturday: ex Kapar

Our weekend started off with much enthusiasm for an impending fishing trip. Where? We have not decided on the fishing spot just yet but we wanted to try paypond fishing today. We can’t wait to catch some fishes and this trip will be my first since Jacob’s birth. After a hearty breakfast, we sent Jacob to my parents’ place, pick my brother up and headed for Kapar 7th mile. Apparently, they have good paypond spot so we decided to give it a try.

Hubby knows his way around town so it didn’t take him long to figure out the location of the paypond. The pond is situated quite deep into the interiors of Kapar Town. Initially, we turned into a wrong route that led us to a fresh water paypond but managed to find our way around to the one we’re supposed to go to. The paypond centre is splashed with banners that reads “jenahak, pari, siakap, bawal,…” (snapper, stingray, seabass, promfret,…) and that got me excited. But we decided to check the place out first before trying and made a brief tour of the pond to see if anyone caught any. (Pic: Sea Bass: courtesy of Tan Heok Hui at http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/marinefish/text/261.htm)

The sun was scorching but we were not deterred. I, for one, had applied the new Lancome UV EXPERT Neuroshield High Potency Active Protection SPF 50+++PA on top of my SKII Treatment Essence and Estee Lauder Time Zone moisturizer. I wanted to test the UV EXPERT and thought that this fishing trip gives me a good reason to try since I’ll be out most of the afternoon. (Note: The Lancome product came as a free gift with the purchase of Malaysian Tatler July 2009 Issue) After making one round tour of the pond, we unanimously decided that the pond was nothing but a sheer disappointment. It was already 4pm. There were about 10 odd anglers fishing but only three of them caught one fish each, including one snobbish Indonesian man who was lucky to have caught two fishes. All the fishes were medium sized sea bass and probably only one silver snapper. It wasn’t inviting enough so we left for the next potential paypond: in Jeram.

Where in the world is Jeram? I don’t have a clue about this place and the only clue we had from my brother is that Jeram is a small village after Kapar Town. After a 15 minutes drive and several stop (to ask directions), we managed to locate the paypond. Different folks gave different directions. One said the paypond is in Tok Muda while another said it is in Sungai Sembilang. The latter was correct. Contrary to the earlier paypond, the carpark at this paypond was almost full when we arrived. The crowd was big and there were more activities, much similar to Sea Lion in Port Klang. Cost per entry/per rod is RM12 per hour and the minimum period is 3 hours. A minimum of RM50 must be paid for each rod used and refunds will be made upon exit.

Bought some fishes and live prawns as bait which cost us RM1 each. Sat there with anticipation. Hubby set up the rods and cast on my behalf cause my casting skill is hopeless. I couldn’t cast far enough. Besides I was feeling inferior among the male dominated anglers that I didn’t attempt to try for fear of failing miserably and bring much embarrassment upon myself. At 6pm, my brother caught his first fish: a sea bass, using the casting method. We, on the other hand, didn’t feel any bite. We waited, waited and waited. Nothing. Restless and sweating in such humid weather condition. Change our already dead prawns with ikan belanak and re-cast again. Still nothing. At 7pm, we decided to call it quits. It was depressing if not hopeless.

I must admit that paypond fishing in Malaysia is awfully pathetic. Perhaps, pathetic for people like us who spent like 3 hours feeding mosquitoes, sun ‘baking’ and coming home empty handed. I felt like we’ve been ripped off in broad daylight. But of course, our decision to fish at these spots are solely a result our hasty, impromptu plan. This trip was a major disappointment to hubby and myself. Nothing like fishing in Perth.