Upon hearing what Ah Man said to us, Robin & myself headed straight to our fishing rods. As mine was the closest to the pontoon, I reached out for my fishing road, untied my rod and handled the rod immediately. As I started to reel in the rod, I could feel the hard tugging and the powerful lunge of the Giant Snakehead. It darted off to the left but I had not set my reel on drag and so it was making me move but I did not want to snap my line or my rod. I handled it for a while and made sure the leash on the fish was short and it was unmistakeably a Giant Snakehead fish.
Just then, I heard Robin exclaimed, “ Uncle Ivan, I have a fish too! “ That was the most resounding affirmation of joy ever! Two blokes, each having a fish on the line! As I held on to my fish on one hand, I was trying to reach out for the net but there was none to be found. Frantically, I searched around for a net to scoop up my fish while feeling very happy as Robin fought his Giant Snakehead. By the look of it and out the corner of my eyes, I knew that Robin’s fish was way bigger than mine. I was so happy inside for Robin as it is always an angler’s dream to have his/her partner get fish together and celebrate the fun together. I was prayerfully thankful to the Lord for providing us the fish. That’s why I say it to you, prayer works. Just be humble and let God allow His blessing to you.
I remembered lifting my fish over first before getting help from one of the OA workers to help me get Robin’s catch into the net. So, we had two fish in the net. Woo hoo! After some silly celebratory dance Robin and I made together with firm congratulatory handshakes, I took the hook off the fishes. By this time, our group members were around and we managed to get some photographs together – Robin and I. We were truly elated, very happy and all tiredness of the day just escaped us for that moment. Even our boatman, Awang was there to congratulate us and told us of bigger sizes of the Giant Snakehead species.
As I realized that the group members had not tried Giant Snakehead dish before, I was thinking if I should keep this two fish for dinner. Looking at the size of it, I knew that both fish would provide enough meat and a decent dish for the 11 of us in our group. As if in telephatic mode, I shouted to the chef from the pontoon while he was way up at the café area if he would be kind enough to prepare a dish for us with the fishes. His immediate response was “ You are the guest! Can!” in Cantonese. Mission accomplished then!
So, as the fishes were put in the net and carried off by the OA worker for cleaning process, I have asked the worker to weigh the fishes before sending them to the chef for our dinner. I then checked on my line and noted that the wire trace line was badly stripped while there was some main line caught in it. I had to cut it off and that’s when I noted that even the hook was no more sharp or rather the edge of the sharp hook was snapped off. Such was the brute force of the Giant Snakehead.
Still dazed by the bumper harvest of fish, the OA worker returned to inform me that Robin’s fish weighed in at 2.2kg while my fish was weighed in at 1.8kg. That’s good enough for me. I was clearly elated and happy that finally, both anglers have fish to show. I would have been happy even if I do not have fish to show, anyway. It has been such a bonus to be able to fish here itself and to get a fish to take your bait was truly the ultimate joy, I guess. I informed Robin of the statistics of the fishes and he was smiling ear to ear, man! Proud of him for bringing in the heaviest fish of the day! I decided to stop fishing as we were out of frog bait that day.
I then went on to check on the next rod which was nearer to my first rod. As I pulling up to check on my bait, I felt a quick lug on the bait and a powerful run by a fish. To my complete surprise, there was another Giant Snakehead on the line. This one was a young one which I believe to be in the region of 1kg in weight. It was smart at first by trying to shake off the hook but it was stuck between its’ razor sharp teeth. I had to get it out before it escapes. It then turned ferocious and fought me the whole way. By then I had shouted “ Another fish on the line! Another fish on the line! “. This caught the attention of SLing and she gave me the thumbs up. That was encouraging! Others soon gave me congratulatory encouragement. There were four Mat Salleh guests on the pontoon and they stopped as they watched me battle the fish. Lousy hairdo or not, I’m gonna take this fish down, baby!
After much reeling in and fighting the fish, Robin scooped the fish out of the water and ended my nice battle with the fish. Smaller and slender in size, the razor sharp teeth are unmistakeably deadly. Easily could have chomped off the live frog and make mince meat out of my fingers if I mishandled it. After some photographs, I released the fish into the belly of the lake to fight another angler another day. I guess, that is the most humane way to do it and to replenish the fish stock as the fish grows up in the lake.
After a while, I sat down reminiscing what had just happened. I had three Giant Snakehead ( one for dinner and two released ) and Robin had one Giant Snakehead. ( the biggest one and dinner definitely! )
Happiness and joy fills my heart at that moment. I could not have asked for more. I thanked the Lord for His gracious blessings indeed. I felt like I won the World Cup, yunno, It was that unmistaken feeling of accomplishment. Most importantly of all, Robin had a fish too and the biggest and heaviest one. To me, we come together, fished together and get fish together was important for me.
That night, during dinner, Borhan brought out our Giant Snakehead fish slices with ginger and spring onion dish. The taste? Heavenly! Heavenly was the word. The chef did a marvelous job on the fish and what smooth but firm texture indeed. The taste was surprisingly good and there was no muddy taste nor smell either. That’s a big bonus and a big plus!
I personally thanked the chef of Belum Eco Resort for cooking us the dish and making the dish tasted so nice. It was really good and ends good for a day we have had.
It had been a very tiring day for all of us but to get rewarded with good food and great tasting fish was the icing on the cake as far as I was concerned. I thanked the Lord for a great day from the rising of the sun to the setting the sun. It has been a rich learning experience and what a day it was for all of us.
That night, I slept like a log and SLing jokingly told me that I had the widest silly smile on my face that night ……… and I wonder why……………….hahahahahahahahhahhahahahaaa…….
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