Fishing Day @ Tasik Banding

Early in the morning we woke up and get ready for the important day. We arrive at the jetty around 8 in the morning. Our boatman was late by 30 mins as he was held back by the elephant on his way to Pulau Banding from Gerik. How lucky of him. We wish we too had had the same chance to see the wild elephant along the Lebuhraya Timur Barat but no luck. According to him the elephant was upset and throwing woods to the road. Luckily no car was damaged as the result of the elephant tantrum.

Scene like this is pretty common among the locals. But it definitely big thing for people like me. Yea, I do admit I am quite jakun..Hahahaa

According to local, Tasik Banding was a man made lake as the result of Temenggor dam constructions. Water from nearby river spill over the lower part of the jungle thus the lake was made. The dam was build in 1970 and completed in 1974, according to wikipedia. This lake is located at Lebuhraya Timur-Barat, between Gerik, Perak to Jeli, Kelantan.

The lake is well known with fresh water fishing for Kelah, Temoleh, Baung, Kelabau, Loma, Sebarau, Haruan among others.  According to our boatmen, the best season to fish is December.

 See my other half is a happy man when it come to fishing. His second hobby is shopping for his toy. On this trip he mis-step his own fishing rod. He was extremely upset and I asked if he did that on purpose so he can have a reason to buy a new rod? He said I was insensitive towards his feeling.... Well, you can't blame me because just recently he hinted he needed a new rod but I stopped him from buying as he already has 4 fishing rod at home.

We couldn't get the live bait so he has to do casting. Casting means using fake bait and throwing the bait repeatedly. After few try I gave up as my throwing skills sucks and having trouble with the rod.

The boatmen took us to the side of the lake - fish favourite hiding place.

While in the middle of the Reserved Belum Royal Forest, we heard a few gun shoots. At first we were worried as there has been constant highlights on newspaper of recent gun incidents Later we were relief when we saw a group of army were jungle trekking between the jungle and the lake as part of their practise. We later learnt that those shots were from them as part of their training. 

Peaceful lake reminds me of malay proverb - Air yang tenang jangan di sangka tiada buaya. 

An old tree blocking the part of the route

At the close up, see an old bee nest @ old tree.

My other half nearly caught a Haruan but that fish bite off the bait within few second. We conclude that the escaped fish must be at least 3 to 4kgs because the rod that we used actually mean for smaller fish. 

By the end of the day we caught two small fish less than 1kg, it was just too small for my other half appetite we release the fish back to the lake.

Overall, we had lots of fun and will definitely be back again.