SNAKEHEAD FISHING

Snakehead species are very common in Malaysia and Southeast Asian countries. They can be found as South as New Guinea all the way up North to Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Southern China. There is also a snakehead species in Japan propably Channa Argus which is a vicious species with a skin pattern close to Python's skin. Lately, news broke out that somebody had introduced the snakehead to United States of America and had caused a concern as this species has spread fast into the ponds and rivers and threatened indigenous species. There were also news that these snakeheads had attacked the public in the water which caused panic to a point that the authority had to poison the ponds, lake and rivers to reduce or eliminate them. Interestingly news of these snakeheads attacking the public in Malaysia is very rare, as a matter of fact it is the other way around where people would go hunting for them with rod and reels either for fun or to put them on the table as their meat is quite tender. In Malaysia common snakehead species are called Haruan, Toman, Toman Bunga and Bujuk. 

The first one Haruan(Channa Striata) is so common that they can be found almost anywhere, by the roadside drains, swamps, canals, ponds and padi fields. This is because they are a hardy species and can live in areas where the water quality is poor. They usually share their habitat with the like of Sepat(Gouramy), Puyu(Walking Perch) and Keli(Catfish). Most anglers in Malaysia started out their fishing hobby fishing for these fabulous four species as most of them lived in kampung(villages) or in the suburbs where their habitats are still in abundant before moving to big cities. Haruan can be caught using worms, crickets, grasshopers or frogs as baits or lures like spoons, poppers, soft plastic or topwater small lures. I have been successful using live frogs casted near vegetation line along canals, mining ponds and lakes. But i prefer using soft plastic frogs and crankbaits as it is more thrilling when the Haruan attacked them with such explosive power to the point that they practicall shot to the air when they missed the lures! However, compared to Toman, Haruan quickly lost their fighting power after a few minutes of fight and can be easily landed. The trick is try to avoid letting Haruan dive into the vegetation where the risk of entanglement and breaking your line is high. Haruan is active in the morning and late evening and can be fished using light set up like 6-10lb or 8-16lb spinning or casting rod with 8 to 15lb line. Slightly heavier set-up is required in heavy vegetation areas to pull the Haruan from the vegetation areas and to avoid line snap.

My favorite artificial soft frogs

Frog poppers and buzz baits

Haruan country in Chuping cane plantation, Perlis

Beautiful Haruan country

Me all excited before casting, note: modified fly rod with a spinning reel

Slow retrieve can work wonders

This one kilo species struck late in the evening

Another one kilo specimen struck almost nightime using live frog

This is the biggest Haruan i have ever caught almost 1.5kg, the fins and tail are bluish in color

This one kilo size on fly rod is awesome

A smaller specimen in another location near Timah Tasoh Dam, Perlis

Yellow and green color jigs are very productive

A pair of good size Haruans

Catch and release practice

The Tomans (Channa Micropeltes) is a bigger species than Haruans(Channa Striata) and can grow up to 5 to 6 feet in length. I have heard from a few anglers who had caught Tomans in excess of 30kg in size from the Batu Dam, Selangor using small live Keli(Catfish) as bait. Personally i have only seen fish of 3 to 4feet in size caught during the early days when the Kenyir Dam was opened to public. I personally had an experience of my rod snapping in two fighting a three feet long Toman in Laketown Tasik Merah, Perak a few years ago using frog popper. Pound for pound Tomans are easily ten times a tougher fighter than Haruans. So far i have only managed to catch baby Tomans using spoons but they were still aggresive and gave good fight on light tackle.

This baby Toman was caught using soft plastic red head anchovy

This baby Toman was caught with Abu Garcia spoon

Toman Bunga(Channa Marulioides) are very rare and can easily be found in aquarium tanks in shops instead of in natural habitat. They can be caught using the same methods and technique as fishing for Tomans. They are found in the remote areas and share the same habitat with Bujuks.

The Bujuks are less vicious that the Tomans in fact are a bit shy and lazy. They are found in remote areas like oil palm plantation peat swamps, edge of jungles and canals along logging tracks where there are a lot of dead woods in the water where they hide and make it their homes. Bujuks rarely venture far from their homes and would prefer to ambush whatever food come near them. I have caught one near the Timah Tasoh Dam using live frog but the fight did not last long and it was easily tamed.

I will more photos of Snakehead fishing in the future.

Happy fishing.