Upper river,clear water trip.(Where is the fish?)

Sarawak,Malaysian Borneo....up the river,where the water is still clear,you can see the pebble on the river bed,where the rapid and rock sing together with the birds and the wind.

This was the river used by the Iban people in the old days to get to the sea to the source of salt,the very basic need,and it leads up to Mount Sadok,the sacred mountain and the last frontier of the Iban people against the Brookes.

We started the boat journey where the Spak river meets the Batang Layar,that flow down to the sea where it meets the mighty main river,the Saribas.
We made it down where crocs were sighted,you can feel they are down there.

The crystal clear water with canopy above you provide shade from the hot sun.

This part of the river is deep enough to cruise smoothly.

The home of the Mahseer.

This can be a great spot to cast the lures.

Some of these rapids,you have to push the boat.

Today,on this river,Iban and Japanese share a boat with smile.

We tried all of them.The boat men even tried the sea jig,at lease for one cast!

The one and only fish of the day!
I got tip-toe when i pull it out,i though it was an Adong... :)

Closer view.Some of the scales came off because of the lure hooks,but when i released it back to the river,its recovered in few seconds,and speed back to the rapid after few taps on its back,to send message to Mahseers like Empurau,Semah and Adong... :) .

The boat men told us this fish is called Supit(shooting @ Archer fish*research did by Taku),they prey on insects by shooting water to the insect on the leaf or branch above water!

It was a bit frustrating.
Big and perfect river with crystal clear water,but its very hard to sea any fish.There was only one time we saw a group of five Adong about the size of 50cm long chasing the small fish until the gravel part of the riverbank.The sound was shocking,they are really aggressive predators.
We cast at a deeper part bit lower from the 'attack site'.Only one small strike,but lasted only for seconds.It managed to escape the lure hooks.

Where is the fish?The main cause is over fishing.People take everything home,big or small,no limit of catch or time period of the year.
Any method they can use,net to electric shot to poison,you name it.
One day,if this continues,with no action from the government to set any rule in fishing like in Europe,States,Australia or other part of the world,our rivers will become empty,especially from the high grad fish like the Mahseers.The local people also need to be educated and realize the important of preservation and maintain the population of the fish.Greed and pride will finish everything for the days and generations to come.