Borneo | Last Frontier (casting hampala, mahseer, snakehead)

Deep upper river,in the middle of the jungle of Borneo,where the last forest,the final frontier to deforestation,oil palm plantation and mega hidro electric dam project...the native enjoy the bless of their nature and spirits of their ancestor...while it last.
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Empurau / Kelah / Malaysian Masheer

When you catch a fish like this...it's like hitting a Jackpot !

From Layar to Krian...

It's been a while that we don't go fishing to this river,due to busy life style that this modern world required.And two days ago we just decided to 'escape' for a retreat for a while. 

Another journey to the nature

We get to the town of Betong around half past six in the morning and had our old time favourite breakfast,the Mi Rangkai or the Kolok Mee as the Sarawakian known it at general. After buying some food,including 2 kilos of pork meat for barbeque by the river,we headed to Nanga Spak where the boat men and his assistant waiting for us. 

The river water was slightly murky but it is just perfect for lure fishing,since it blurs the visual of the fish.If the water was too crystal clear after a long spell of no rain,the fish can recognize the lure easily and wont take a strike on the lure. By half past seven we were already drifting down the river and not long after few casts,a big strike was received.It was a big Runtu,the upper river snakehead.But after reeling it for few meters,it lost the hook and claimed its freedom,at least for this time around. 

Welcome to Paradise...

Another strike few minutes down the area,this time was stronger...most probably it was an Empurau,the Malaysian Masheer..it doesn't have a vertical stripe on its body like its cousin Adong(Hampala Barb) or the three stripes Juak, or the smaller cousin Semah.The size was at least 3kg,and it fought so strong until the 2 hooks(total 6 hooks) went straight....we just get a glimpse of it in the water before its disappeared before our eyes. 

It was not too long for a quiet time before another strike,and came on board a decent size Runtu.It has a beautiful pattern on its scales,similar to a python,probably that is how they get their name. After this strike,we get few more strikes,some from the Supit,the Archer fish,which is one of the less favorite species since they are not really good fighters.But none landed until we reach a lower part of the river...this was where we saw a show of the nature,the hunting by Adong...we can see a school of small fish jumping out of the water not far from the river bank.This is the best sign of the existence of Adong in the area...it is hunting,and this the state when it is very aggressive and attack anything that move in the water. All three of us were casting at the same area...but no strike until the third cast,and it was until the spoon lure was reel almost reaching the boat.The strike was strong,but the reel was fully locked and not giving any chance for the fish to run far or swim into the drifted woods in the water which if happens,will increase the chance for the fish to escape.So,welcome on board to the beautiful clear water upper river species,Adong,one of the most favorite sport fishing targets for upper river. 

Dream place for a retreat..

After this strike,we landed few more Runtu all the way down the river before we took a lunch break on the pebble bank of the river under the shade of a hundreds years old ancient tree. We start an open fire and made a simple barbeque set out of drift woods and big rocks.Slow fire and the heat from the burning woods gave a special aroma to the jungle and the hungry fishermen.As always,dining in the middle of the jungle by a beautiful river is always special,simple barbeque pork,fresh catch fish and your sauce is just sea salt...no spoon,fork or steak knife,but your bare hand,no porcelain plate,but big wild giant leaf as your plate.Save the the washing or pollution from disposable plates and cutlery. 

Just like python,you feel sleepy after a big meal,but we keep on casting...we drifted down for few more kilometers down the river before we start the boat engine for the first time of the day and headed up the river,more upper from the point we started,Nanga Spak. We get few strikes but none landed.So by sun set,we call it the day. 

We spend the night at the town,at a brand new 2 stars hotel,the biggest and the finest in the town. We went out for dinner and past an 'entertainment' place,but it was not really appealing,so we went back to the hotel and call it the night after watching The Mask of Zorro. 

Crystal clear water flowing down from the mountain.

The original plan was to head back straight to Kuching the next morning...but its feel not enough fishing(its never enough),so made a spontaneous move by heading further,to another hometown,Saratok.We entered the Ulu Krian road,and stop at a bridge,over a crystal clear water river. 

No boat waiting for us this time..after asking for direction from some kids that playing at the river ,we walk town the river and start casting,with some new lures that we bought that morning at a shop at the Betong town. 

Can you hear the trees speaking the words of wisdom?

It didn't take long before we get a strike from Runtu and landed..and a strike later from Adong,but didn't hooked up. Not far later,we reached a longhouse,one nice lady and her daughter that just finished their afternoon bath and washing at the river invited us to their longhouse...before her sister took us to the room of the Tuai Rumah,the Headman of the longhouse.His wife was kind enough to let us use their old boat.We wanted to rent it but she said it was not worth to rent,just use it for free.We joke with her that we will take the boat all the way back to Betong.She just laugh and said something like 'Good Luck'. 

There was no paddle on this boat,just two wooden stick,that not long enough for some deeper parts of the river. We guess that the fish in this river never see artificial lure in their life,even if they have,its maybe once in a blue moon.

We receive more strikes here compare to the day before at a different river.Just that the size of the fish here is smaller,maybe because the river is smaller,its a subsidiary river to the Krian river. Its not easy to fish on a small boat,its not stable and you have to control it yourself,no boatman and no assistant. 

We fished until its almost dark,we caught more fish here,four Runtu and three Adong,compare to three Runtu and two Adong the day before. We gave all the fish to the Tuai Rumah and some money that he reluctantly accepted. We walked back to our car that park by the bridge.After a long day standing and squatting on the boat, and pushing and pulling the boat at the shallow parts of the river gave me some muscle cramps after a few minutes walking up the hill on the way back to the car. 

After changing our wet cloths,we drove back to Kuching,we made a stop for dinner at rest area at Simpang Ulu Layar. The journey back always feel so long when you are tired and sleepy..but always with satisfaction and relief,even just for a small retreat from the routine daily life.

Decent catch of the trip...we caught five jungle perch all together and seven upper river snakehead.

Great reward..but you always want bigger..
One strike was escape,it made the 6 hooks of the Rapala lure straight...most probably it was a 3kg Masheer.

When its get too shallow,you have to pull or push.
The second day at a smaller river with a smaller boat without paddles....

Push it hard..back to the basic when there was no engine..

Teamwork is crucial here..

Those logs are the home for the fish..

It can be very shallow and narrow..

You still have to cast it accurately while balancing yourself on a unstable boat...

Cast it right next to the logs..not on them or over them.Too far before the logs means too far from the fish..too far beyond the logs or on the logs means trouble!

Its almost like walking on a wire...

You just have the privilege to smile like Mr. Matan!

If you can't stand it,you can always squat...

Sometime,its not only fish make home under the logs,it can be the big lizard too!

Its always good to have a friend that can watch your back for you..

The old and rotten tiny boat..

This boat did the job pretty well tho...

Until next time....
We will be back!

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.

Empurau - The King of Fish

The empurau – a swimming gold mine

By Puvaneswary Devindran

IT is often said nature and development can complement each other on the basis of a “sustainable” co-existence. This binary tie-up with an eye on nature conservation is important if we want the future generations to still be able to see wild life in their natural habitats rather than on a web page for extinct animals.

Consider the empurau(Malaysian Mahseer/Tor tambroides) — a local fresh water fish. Its numbers are dwindling but certainly worth replenishing because of the good price the fish can fetch — reportedly RM380 or more per kilogramme. Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) Forest Resource manager Dr Elli Luhat is currently experimenting with breeding the empurau in the backyard of his home at BDC. Elli, who grew up in Belaga, took naturally to fishing because of the many streams and rivers in the district. But he was especially drawn to the empurau, intrigued by its vulnerable and somewhat elusive character.

“In the last decade, people have been talking about how difficult it is to catch the empurau. What’s more, its numbers are decreasing. So I feel it is my role as an environmental scientist to look into why the fish is likely to become extinct,” he said. According to him, the empurau is found mainly in trans-Himalayan countries like Nepal, Afghanistan and all the way to Burma. It is known as “mahseer” in some of these countries. Touted as the undisputed king of the Himalayan rivers, the mahseer belongs to the Tor family of fishes and is the largest member of the carp species.

The local empurau (Tor tambroides) is the most exotic big indigenous fish, and often confused with the Semah from the same family. Elli said the empurau is found in most of the major rivers in Kapit, Belaga, Limbang and Lawas with some in Ulu Baram, depending on the environment. The fish thrives in swift, clear streams with rocky bottoms. “The empurau needs a quiet place to breed and survive, and is very sensitive to pollution. Its breeding is seasonal — normally three times a year, particularly during the Landas when it will swim upriver in search of a conducive place to spawn,” he explained.

Elli pointed out for the empurau to thrive, three conditions were essential — a temperature between 19 and 33 degrees centigrade, dissolved oxygen content in water between 3.5 and nine milligrammes per litre, and cleanliness. Despite the stringent requirements, Elli believes breeding the empurau in an artificial environment can be done, pointing to his three-year-old brood stock as proof. He started out with four parent fish trapped from streams in Kapit and Limbang. Hook and line were not used because the empurau is notorious for shunning bait, making it the angler’s ultimate challenge. After examining both pairs, Elli found one of them ready to breed, and from the first successful try, 2,000 fry were produced.

Under ideal conditions, one fish can produce 10,000 to 20,000 fry, excluding the mortality rate. The empurau is a slow breeder and will not produce eggs even if induced with chemicals.
Elli has 12 pools at home and eight more in Serian where he keeps the bigger fish. The setup has cost him not less than RM40,000. He breeds the empurau mainly to assess the economics involved. For the moment, however, he is doing it more for research and development purposes.
He said a lot could be discovered and done to help boost the empurau’s depleting population like coming up with the type of food to help it grow faster, stressing that this was very important given the species’ slow growth rate. “We hear of people catching 20 to 30kg empuraus in the wild but we do not know how long it takes for the fish to grow to that size,” Elli noted.
Another aspect of his research is to investigate the nutritional values of the fish which he believes produces a substantial amount of Omega 3 nutrients. Elli does not rule out the possibility of commercialising his stock but reckons now is a bit too soon.

“Right now, I don’t have the numbers to talk about going commercial. But if I can do breeding in a controlled environment, perhaps I can get thousands and thousands of fry to make commercialisation viable,” he said. With a roughly 800-strong brood stock in hand, he reckoned a 50 per cent yield would be good enough to produce a sizeable number of fry a month.
Moreover, from the productive stock, he could also select “an elite or plus fish” for breeding to keep genetic disorders at bay. Although presently doing his own the project, Elli hopes to collaborate with the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry to secure research funds and facilities, and work closely with the Tarat Indigenous Fisheries Research and Production Centre which is carrying out a similar project. “We should look into this seriously. This is our natural resource, our wealth from the environment, so we must tap the economic potential of this fish and turn it into a huge industry for the State and the Dayaks in particular,” he said.

The market price for a kg of empurau is RM380 but there are reports of people paying up to RM450. So, in simple arithmetic, a 30kg empurau can send a fisherman laughing all the way to the bank … with more than RM10,000 in his pocket. There have also been reports of people catching empuraus weighing up to 30 kg and of gourmets who won’t mind splurging just to get a taste of the fish. The empurau is much sought after by the Chinese community who regard it as a symbol of prestige and prosperity … and of longevity as well. There are three common local species — white, red and black — and market preference for the white variety has also pushed up its price.

According to Elli, those who have eaten the fish say the taste depends on where it is caught. For instance, empuraus caught in Limbang taste different from those caught in Kapit. This could be due environmental and nutritional factors. Although he sees no difficulty marketing the empurau, Elli believes the main reason it’s not considered a favourite option by food business operators is that they do not understand or are aware of its economic potential.
The other thing is, of course, the difficulty in finding empurau fry. “I’m trying to encourage empurau-rearing among the Dayak community and had presented papers on the fish at seminars in the last few months not only about ordinary breeding or rearing but also smart farming,” he added.

Elli suggested promoting smart farming to make fish rearing and production profitable, saying businessmen should venture into different areas of the industry. “Like right now, I’m breeding empuraus. Perhaps others could explore different areas like producing feed for the fish or bigger-scale rearing. Such collaboration will prevent us overlapping each other’s specialties.”
Breeding empuraus can create a win-win situation for both the State’s environmental conservation efforts and economy. Towards this end, Elli is trying to promote rearing the big fish in areas set aside for forest plantation. While some quarters welcome his move, others feel the empurau can breed on its own. Unfortunately, the latter have failed to realise that without conservation efforts, the species could soon become extinct. Indiscriminate logging is affecting the empurau’s population as its food source comes from some of the vegetation and trees along the riverbank.

Even with a policy to conserve certain trees in force, wanton logging has resulted in the trampling of trees that sustain the habitats of the empurau and other fish.
The empurau’s food source comes from the ensurai trees and the engkabang which are as highly demanded as the meranti. These trees also provide shade to keep streams cool and adequately oxygenated for the empurau’s survival.

“During my school days, we ate empuraus nearly everyday. As Orang Ulus, we pride the empurau as the king of fishes because of its size and value. Personally, I dub it to a swimming gold mine,” Elli said. He can be contacted at ordrelliluhat@ gmail.com.

Kapit,Sarawak 2008.(25kg)

Main bait,'buah kepayang'.

Alternative bait,'buah engkabang'