Life as an Angler begun...by Mathew Mahen Kumar

Fishing came into my life at a very young age of 11. Me and my neighbours use to scavenge all the drains even drains filled with filthy stuffs, kids never understood hygiene you know. As times passes snakehead seem to my favourite fish to hunt because it was the only big fish weighing 400- 700grams in the drains and caught using a very popular method which is netting.. hehehe.. I use to look for snakehead fry and ill net them and put into a bottle and the next thing my bicycle speeds to my house and held the babies to safety. Keep them for one week and wen it reaches 1 inch I would sell it off to my friends for RM 1 each.. 1998 it was plenty hehehe..

Slowly I started to use my dads rod for snakehead using grasshopper as baits. Gradually this evolved me into who I am today, a simple angler with CnR practice.
Well too many sweet childhood memories distracting enough...lets get back in track.

There are this few things that we need to follow whenever we are out for fishing and also to minimize zero catch possibilities.

1)Target fish

Know your target fish or know the habitats infested in the pond or lake you are about to fish. Always keep primary target and secondary target..
Eg. Primary : Toman
Secondary : Pacu
Pick a lure that these 2 species would die for.. like spoon or vibration lures.
So less chances of zero catch.

2) Setup

Im pretty sure you have basic knowledge on setups according target fish. But what I would to add on is,
-:make sure use leader and leaders should always stronger poundage than mainline.
-: lures direct to leader without snap/pin will have better presentation..
-: you pay so much for your reel because its drag technology, use it.. dont stick dead tight.. landing a fish its all in the drag setting
:- avoid using thick leaders because fishes gets fishy.

3) Dressing code ( wild)

Do not wear striking colours or glitter stickers. We cant see the fish but they have a superb vision on whats standing at the banks.
Use dark or camouflage attires.
Always use thick pants with boots for safety purpose..
Wear gloves to avoid any cuts when lifting fish and for better grip.

4) Pin drop silence...

The only thing that should be heard is nature. Maintain a very quite steps and always stand 7-8feets away from banks and cast.. then slowly approach. Try to minimize conversation with your mates because your line carries your voice vibration to the lure. Sounds funny but its true.

5) Safety

Always carry a first aid box in your tackle box. Always perform checklist update atleast once a month.
Avoid using treble hooks and debug the barbs once single hook installed. Single hook gives you less trouble and more stronger hold once strike.

6) Responsibility

Never leave your responsibility as a son, daughter, parents, husband or wife and go fishing. Trust me u will never enjoy fishing and most probably you wont get a strike. Responsibility in many terms as possible, cash or love and care. Your loved ones playes role from home for your strike.

7) Never be Lucifer

Dont ever be jealous over others catch.
Don't get angry. Always remember anger is the first steps of zero catch progress. Kill the anger spontaneously.
Teach them guide them with full heart. No one can be a complete angler if you have a heart to share your passion with someone.

8) Thanksgiving

Always pray to God for the fruit he is about ti give and have faith in yourself and your friends too. Say Thanksgiving once you get a strike.

All over the years I was looking for people who can guide and console me on my passion. I would to drop my sincere thanks to

Mr.Kanicen
Mr. Logesh
Mr. Vincent Paul
Mr. Haritharan

And not forgetting the admin who took the initiative to grow this blog, Mr. Selvakumar Arunasalam.

Mekong catfish


One of the most toughest fish in the world and even Jereme Wade admitted Mekong catfish was his toughest catch. Mekong is a mid/top water fish. There are 4 types of leader knot for Mekong.

Batu gantung, fg knot, jahanam style and Mata hantu(kinda funny names but very effective).

For Batu gantung we need a 3/4 meters leader where a Batu ladung size 5 at the end of the knot and a single hook at the other end, make a middle knot. For this technique use gardenia or potato bread like satay(for ponds that doesn't allow float).

For fg knot its very simple. Main line tight with the leader a batu ladung as a stopper. Then float and finally spring with 2 hooks.

For jahanam style the float will be attach with the spring, then tie a knot from the other end of the spring. Tie middle knot and finally single hook at the end(all about 1 meter wide).

For mata hantu style just tie a float,a middle knot and spring with to hooks.

For bait settings I normally use pellet 6363+musang berjanggut A1+soya bean. We need nothing less than pe2-4 rod(7 feet) reel size 4000 and main line minimum of 30 pound braided line. For bungsamran trips, reel nothing less than size 6000 (drag system 20kg above)and 60 pound main line.

A story behind my fishing journey with ICasters

Everything started with a call to my sifu, mathew mahen kumar, asking about his fishing activities and ports. I know him via a good friend of mine, satya, for liquor deals. Very bad to do actually, people don't really like if you ask for port. Find youself loh, nanti aku bagitahu, hang pi sapu semua ikan macam mane ?? lol

I am fishing since 10 years old and managed to become a successful kaki haruan, puyu,talapia dan segala jenis makluk parit. Thanks to my late father Mr Arunasalam Muthusamy.

But still MMK looked like a professional angler which got my attention. He invited me to Jugra, followed him. I could not cast as the soft plastic lure given by him was too light for the heavy setup I brought. Without choice, I had to use my udang galah rod and reel which I had, and I could cast well.

But again, that was the first time I am using lure and I was basically helpless and there was no strikes at all for the next 3 hours. Imagine, jugra siakap pond, no strikes for 3 hours. Kaki jugra should know the pain.

Then, I realized that I am not presenting the lure at all. You got to present the lure to attract the fish. It is not about just pulling the lure in the water. You need to make the lure looks realistic for the predators down there. With the guidance from my sifu, then I started to have strikes. 

Still, I had problem because I didn't know how to set the hook. By the time, I learn to set the hook, MMK have already landed so many baramundi(siakap). WTF wei.

Finally, after almost 5 hours of casting, I hooked up a small siakap. Happiness landed in my heart. Then I realized that, you don't really need a high poundage setup to land a big fish. Furthermore, with lower poundage, you can use tiny lures which indirectly attracts almost every fish. Presentation becomes much realistic. You are giving the fish a chance to fight. Imagine a fish weighing 2KG is being pulled by a line with 20 LB (9kg) poundage. The fish has no chance to fight.  You can basically pull the fish out from the water without any obstacles.

From that day, I started my journey towards a professional UL angler. Went again and again to Jugra pay pond, trained hard and today I can pick a pond and cast for a specific species. Not a great achievement but better than a year back.

And my hard work gave me another victory once again after I landed a giant grouper weighing more than 20KG with my UL setup. Still nothing great but bolehlah !!!

The ICASTERS team which includes me, landed 38 giant groupers and 8 huge barramundi in the recent trip to Tiger 5, Kampung Changkat Keruing, Perak. I personally landed 3 giant groupers with my UL setup.

It wasn't easy anyway, but I was quite lucky to get the first strike among us. I was very happy because I managed to set the hook and started my battle. Within few minutes, I lost. The knot between the mainline and the leader was the issue.

Set the knot again, started casting, few minutes after, another strike from the predator in the water. Managed to set the hook and I started my battle again. Another lost, within few minutes, the grouper disappeared.

I started to have doubt, will my UL make it? MMK shouted, try again! I set back my knot, casted again. After almost an hour, another strike, set the hook and started to pray. I was just praying asking god for help. By god’s grace, after about 30 minutes of battle, I landed a giant grouper weighing approximately 18 KG (according to the workers there).

I started to shout and celebrate forgetting that I should not shout or make noise while fishing, Mathew’s strict policy. I forgot, sorry boss!

With the victory, I continued my battle and managed land two more giant groupers and one of it was estimated to be weighing more than 20 KG. This once again proved that, we can land a big fish with a right and light setup.

With this successful ongoing journey, I would like to thank my sifu MMK for all the knowledge that he has given and shared. Tabik spring, sifu ! 

And not forgetting every other members of ICASTERS, you guys are great ! Lets stick together and bring this team to a different level. 

kolam bayar/pay pond is very popular nowdays..most of the pay ponds will have species like ikan rohu, patin, mekong, pacu, tongsan sisik halus, kap rumput (silver & black), leekoh, karak, keli afrika, baung, tilapia(red & black) and so on...all these fishes have their own favorite bait and techniques were different as well..so let me explain 1 by 1..

Rohu

The most popular pay pond fish..normally rohu will begin to feed after 4 days they released into the pond(1-2kg 4-5 days & 3kg above 5th day onwards)..the 1st thing we need to fish rohu we need the right bait..for me I always use dedak sky4 1kg+ dedak 929 1kg+ minyak rohu Bfw..mix all in a pile and make sure its not too soft n too hard..then use mata bom spring..at the hook just put pellet or sliced bread..apply minyak bfw on the pellet as well..done with bait now we must look at the right spot..if u are 1st time visiting a pond look at water pump position..rohu prefers side of running water..so take your spot either right side or left of the pump..for rohu you just need to drop your bait approximately 10 feet only(only patin & Mekong we need to cast further)..drop your bait at the same spot everytime..let me tell you something from my experience.. If u choose the correct day, bait and spot I guaranteed you will get nothing less than 20 rohus in 3 hours or even more..for tackle setup pe 1-3 rods, reel size 2000 and 10-15 pound line is just nice..last but not least try to avoid rainy day cause the bite rate will be lower..all the best guys

Patin

For patin the diet more universal compared to rohu..we can use dedak,pellet 6363 and bread depends on our technique..for top water floating use pellet 6363 and bread..batu gantung use bread..and bottom all 3 suits well..to prepare bait we need cut gardenia into men thumb size into a pile..then we mix half a bottle of musang berjanggut A1(you can use others as well)..once done close it n shake the pile hard to make it even..same goes to pellet 6363..for dedak we need to use our hand to mix it..once mixed make sure its closed all the time because the smell n the texture of the bait will change..done with bait then now we look at our hook setup..we just need 2 hooks for patin..size 8 berkley/morigen just perfect..we can use spring..just one hook on top and the other one below..use braided line to tie the hook on the spring..this technique good to play bottom..for floating just tie two even length hooks(around 30cm each)..that's all..for patin we need to cast further(depends on the pond)..for tackle setup we need to use pe2-4 rods,reel size 2500 and 20-30 pound line..