Sumatran Magic

THE MAHSEER OF MANINJAU

The AirAsia plane coasted to a stop in front of the Padang Minangkabau Airport Terminal. We disembarked and proceeded to the exit area. There was an irritating jam at the immigration counter; two flights have arrived at once, and only two personnel were on duty. It took almost an hour before we came out into the clear air of Western Sumatra.

Foo, Jeay and I were on a week-long vacation here, with lots of fishing thrown in. Cousin Dayat – I have Indonesian relaives based in Padang – served as guide for the whole trip, driving his Kijang along the challenging roads.

We climbed the mountains, avoiding careening lorries and overloaded passenger vans and potholes. It took hours, but we finally reached a beautiful blue lake called Danau DiAtas. It looked like a mini Lake Lucerne, with absolutely clear blue water nestled among the volcanic mountains.

We couldn’t hire a boat for fishing, so we went on to another lake, the huge Danau Singkarak. Here, we checked into a tranquil hotel with the archetypal horned roofs. Next morning, we managed to get a wooden passenger boat. It was not quite designed for fishing, but it’s better than nothing.

We tried the coves and drop-offs, casting small lures for the sebarau, but to no avail. Apparently, these fish grow to 5-kg. here. We saw several locals fishing from the banks, but they were not catching anything either. By lunchtime, we called it quits and headed back to the lakeside hotel.

We left Singkarak, stopping only to buy some Ikan Bilis – dried small fish that looked like seluang. They are delectable when friend to a crisp.

We climbed even higher up the mountains. At this apex, this hazy green lake came into view, some 1000 metres below us. It was a sight to behold, a crystal clear cold lake nestled in a crater guarded by a ring of volcanic mountains.

Dayat negotiated the 47 hair-pin bends down to the lake. We nearly threw up, but arrived without event at Danau Maninjau.

There’s 70-km. of tarmac road circumventing the lake. We drove along, looking for a ‘fishy’ spot. We finally stopped at a place called Muko-Muko. Here, the lake water exited into a hydro-electric generation scheme. More importantly, the shallow areas were cordoned off for angling. We paid our dues – 10,000 rupiah or RM4 for a day’s fishing – at this tiny fishing shop at the lakeside, then joined the local anglers at their game.

Bait came in the form of paste made from fish pellets and flour, mounted on small hooks below slim floats. Small fishes were caught: ikan nila (tilapia) and manjalaya (a plain version of our terbol).

We enquired about better gamefish. They indicated a small island just off Muko-Muko where we could get decent barau (sebarau) if we were lucky. And that’s what we did on the next day. An old wooden boat took us there, and for a few hours, we fished off the island.

There were hundreds of lampam, baby sebarau and terbol in the shallows. Occasionally, sebarau in the 2-kg. range would make their entrance, look around and return to the dark green depths. But try as we might, we couldn’t entice these elegant fish to take bait or lure.

We gave up and returned to Muko-Muko. After a council of war over hot tea and local sweets, we decided to drive down from the lake in search of better waters.

It was a good decision. We came across a place called Antokan. A rocky river flowed by the road, and a water gate at the village created a pool of sorts. Here, locals were fishing with pellet-paste and oil palm kernel for the garing (kelah).

We discovered that this stretch of river was a sungai larangan – a tagal program – and the fishing is opened for only two weeks. We arrived smack in the middle of it.

We hustled some bait off the locals. Actually, they were a benevolent lot. They even made space for us on the riverbank for our fishing. But we were made to eat humble pie – we just couldn’t hook a fish whilst the villagers with their RM20 rods and reels were hauling in fish almost like clockwork.

We realized later that they were extremely specialised in this sport of garing fishing. They were using ultra-light lines of 3-lb test, with similar leaders, and hooks so tiny they could hardly accommodate a grain of rice. Not the kind of kelah fishing I was used to!

Well, we ended up fishless, but it was great to see the Maninjau anglers gracefully trotting their slim floats down the current and hooking up to the elegant garing.

The sun had gone down, and we finally gave up on the fishing. Foo bought a small garing from one of the locals. Both he and Jeay had never tasted a kelah before, so this was as good a time as any. We proceeded to the eating shop downstream, and had a rice dinner.

I have vowed not to eat kelah. It’s been seven years now, and I have lost the yearning for it completely. But Foo, Dayat and Jeay attested that the garing was the best tasting river fish they had ever taken.

It was good to end on that note. We would be leaving Maninjau tomorrow, heading for the highlands of Bukit Tinggi and beyond. But our short spell in Maninjau certainly had a lasting imprint in our minds. As I gazed down on the droning river rushing down the channel into the black of night, I had that feeling that I’ll be back, one day.



OTHER PLACES OF ANGLING INTEREST IN WEST SUMATRA

• Danau Singkarak
Large sebarau are reputed to dwell here, living off the thousands of ikan bilis. There are gazetted areas for land-based fishing, but it’s better to rent a boat for your lure-fishing.

• Danau DiAtas & Danau DiBawah
These are smaller lakes, with small fishes like terbol and lampam, and some sebarau up to 2-kg.

• Sungai Sangir
A long, clear river about the size of our Tembeling River in Pahang, with plenty of riffles and pools. Sebarau and garing can be found here. There are no larangan areas, but you need 4WD wagons or at least a hardy Kijang (similar to the Toyota unser) to get around and find the choice fishing spots.

• Kolam Ikan Sakti at Air Putih, near Bukit Tinggi
This is a permanent larangan water, but worth a visit just to see the huge garing. You can fish the almost-tame fish with bread and river clams. The garing average around 4-kg. I have spotted several giants of around 25-kg.!

• Sungai Minturun, Padang
A small river about 30 minutes from downtown Padang. There used to be a larangan program here, but now you can fish the larger pools upon permission and some contribution to the local village.

• Padang beach
Padang holds an annual fishing competition at its beach. Locals frequent the esplanade for their late afternoon fishing.

• Persisiran
Located about 2 hours’ drive south of Padang. The river is a larangan, and is only opened once a year for an angling competition.



FISHING TACKLE FOR RIVER AND LAKE FISHING IN WEST SUMATRA

I suggest you bring light and ultra-light tackle. The waters are generally very clear, so the fishes are naturally shy of your terminal tackle.
• Mainlines of 3- to to 8-lb. would suffice. Leaders should be near-invisible, e.g. Vision and Daiwa Crystal Clear.
• Small hooks – size 12 or smaller – are recommended.
• For lure fishing in Singkarak, small lures are the order of the day, to match the ikan bilis – not more than 5 cm long.

Good fishing tackle are hard to come by I West Sumatra. It is recommended that you bring all you need. Bring extra spools of decent light monofilament line. The locals will thank you for them!