Paul Arden | Tuesday, 9 August 2022
I really enjoyed last month and not just because it’s good to be working again but also because the company was fantastic. I started off training George and Declan from Tasmania how to find and make shots at Snakehead (we had had a Zoom session prior to their visit). They each caught a fish with me on their respective first days which certainly helped and made me feel good! And then Richard returned for an 8 day stay and he too did well on the boat with me, also catching fish on his first full day and more afterwards.
A couple more fishing days with the Tassies and then I headed off with Ashly for a 1/2 Ironman in Desaru. Declan and George visited KL and returned with some exciting stories and a new phone and wallet. When I was their age, and indeed significantly older, I used to wake up on roundabouts after a big night on the town, never sure how I had got there but impressed with myself for having such wits to wake up where I could hopefully discover where I was. I’m sure that the drivers were impressed too! I did lose my wallet once in NZ but it was returned to me via the police later in the day. I try not to do this nowadays :)))
Then back on Temenggor/Belum we all headed into Sungai Tiang where I was filmed making the final episode of our fishing series here in Malaysia, while the lads went upstream with the Aslis chasing Copper Mahseer and avoiding tigers. They had a blast, particularly the float out on a bamboo raft.
A few more days on the lake, where George had some excellent fishing on his own, with a two free-riser morning, and then last weekend I dropped them off in Penang to head back to Australia. By all accounts they had a great trip and if was a great pleasure to hang out with them.
So now what? Well unfortunately I will miss the WCs this year. Finances are too tight so close after the pandemic and I have to be in Malaysia for some Voice Over commitments until the end of the month. For those of you attending I wish you a fantastic competition this year.
October/November/December are Prime Times to be on the lake. If you are interested in visiting then drop me a line. I’m keen to fill a couple of weeks each month with guests. It’s not all guided/taught and you can rent out “The Ronan” for part of your trip as the Tassies successfully did. I have decent walkie-talkies now at 5W but they still need *almost* line-of-sight. But it still makes a difference when fishing together.
We are selling a lot of rods at the moment and I’ve managed to continue with Zoom flycasting lessons during last month as well. Pretty damned busy actually! I’m looking forward to a week off, catching up properly on Sexyloops and catching some fish on my own or with Ashly. Also I have two triathlons coming up so it’s back to training properly as well.
What can I take away from the last month to help guests planning trip here? Well firstly you have to train to make the Snakehead Shot so that you can make it happen in practise. Without that you are not in the game. But over the years I’ve noticed that there are many people who can do it in practise but struggle to make it happen on the fish. What is the answer here?
This reminds me a film “The Last Samurai” when Tom Cruise was practise fighting with sticks. After repeatedly getting beaten, one of the chaps came up and said “Too many minds! Mind on spectators, mind on competitor, mind on fish (or something like that)… No mind!!”
And that is basically it in a nutshell. No mind!! Just put the bloody shot in. Look exactly where you want to put the fly and put it there. No mind!
Have a great week!
Cheers,Paul