What is fly fishing? Simply put it is a method of fishing using hand made flies tied to a hook to imitate real life flies and aquatic insects that form part of the diet of the intended target fish. It was invented in the West long time ago to target Trouts and Salmons in the rivers and streams. You can google on the internet to get more history and other details on this subject. I have to qualify that i am not an expert on this subject, as a matter of fact i am still a novice but i thought it would be nice to have something to share with you on this new interest of mine.
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| Trout - Great game fish and good eating fish too. Source: Internet. | | |
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| Salmon |
A few years ago i picked up two Scierra fly rods no.7 & 10, a Tica reel, #7 WF fly line, a 9 foot leader and some flies from the Tacklebox Adventure fly fishing shop in SS15 Subang Jaya to try whether it is my cup of tea so to speak. I gave it a try starting with learning how to do a back cast, stripping and a bit of fly tying. I gave up after sometime since i never caught anything with this method of fishing. My main problem was to find fish within reasonable distance which readily take the flies in Malaysia like the Trouts, Salmons and Graylings in the West. Now there are not any of these fishes in the Malaysian rivers or streams as the water temperature is too high for them to survive.
An effort was carried out by the British in 1950s to introduce Trouts in the streams of the Cameron Highlands where the temperature was cooler but failed as the Trouts either could not adjust to the new habitat, not enough insects or hatching around for food,or illegal fishing. They were all disappeared!
However, Malaysian waters do have some local species willing to take the flies if presented correctly. They are Peacock Bass, Sebarau, Tengas, Lampam, Kelah and Sikang which has the honor of being called a "Malaysian Trout" due to their similar look to the Trouts even though they are not as big. These fishes main diet are small baitfish, shrimps, certain wild fruits and also insects. All these fishes are found in clean freshwater streams with high oxygen content in the jungle and mountainous areas, while the Peacock Bass and Sebarau can also be found also in lakes and dams. The Lampam can be found almost in any freshwater rivers, canals, ponds,lakes and dams. I am sure there are other fishes in the wild that can be caught using flies if we can match the flies to their diet and presented properly.
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| Sebarau on fly. Source: Internet |
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| Sikang aka Malaysian Trout. Source: Internet |
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| Below: Green Kelah, Above: Red Kelah. Source: Internet |
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| Above: Red kelah, Below: Tengas. Source: Internet |
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| Lampam Source: Internet |
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| Peacock Bass aka Ikan Raja Source: Internet |
So lately i decided to give fly fishing another go after failing in the past, and i am determined to improve my skill in casting, fly tying to match their diet and presentation until i find success in catching the above top six targets. Then i will move to fly fishing in saltwater, but that is another story. Of course my ultimate dream is to go fly fishing for Trout in New Zealand, England and the US, or fly fishing for Tarpon in Florida ( i used to live there for 6 years ) and eventually go for the Bonefish in the Bahamas. In the next post i will write about the gear required for fly fishing, but until then happy fishing.
Cheers
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