Paul Arden | Tuesday, 28 November 2023
The Wet Season hasn’t really come in yet. It’s raining most days now, but not the continuous torrential downpours that we used to expect at this time of year; indeed the very wet and highly predictable Wet Seasons are now predictably unpredictable, and for the past 4-5 years have become considerably less intense – at least in this part of the tropics where I float my boat.
Normally I would say that the first week of December is the very best week of the year to find Snakehead parents with their babies. They are not out in numbers yet however, and I expect this exciting week to occur mid December or even slightly later. The Snakehead spawn mostly in the Wet when lake levels are rising. I think it’s fair to say that fish numbers here are in decline. Ten years ago there were a hell of a lot more fish in the lake. Maybe three times as many as now. Ten years before that, there were three times as many as then, I’ve been reliably told. At least the decline is consistent.
My plan is to be away from here in three years time. It makes me think about my two decades fishing in New Zealand and how that changed in my time there too (and even more so now with the introduction of Apartheid Rivers) and even longer ago before that, when the cod were virtually wiped out on the East Anglian coast of Britain in the mid ‘80s. One thing is for certain: humans are not very good at protecting anything. Whether that’s the planet, animals that live here, fish, forests or even themselves.
What’s the root cause of our problems? I point my Hot Torpedo directly at human overpopulation. In fact arguably that’s been our problem for over 100 years, when we passed the two billion mark. By the 1950’s, with the human population at 2.5 billion, we started to see decline in ocean fish numbers. Ever since then it’s been catastrophic, both on land and in the seas.
Good these Front Pages are, aren’t they? “Feel Good Tuesdays” we should call them.
Short of human catastrophe (which let’s face it, with the current state of the world, can be expected), I really don’t see how we go from 8.5 billion to less than 2 billion. Economies are dependent on population growth and not decline. Economies are in competition with one another. How to support an aging population when an upcoming younger generation is in fewer numbers? That’s why in China they are trying to encourage adults to have more children after years of a one-child policy. And as we all know, having children is always a very bad idea, because then you have to give up your freedom to fly fish every day.
It’s a not-to-distant train-wreck whichever way you look at it. And actually it’s an essential train-wreck, bar intergalactic space travel fly fishing missions. If we can send 6 1/2 billion people to live with Elon Musk on Mars, or preferably planets even further away, then all our problems will be temporarily solved.
And then there is Artificial Intelligence. IQ3000 plug-ins that can be inserted directly into the human brain. The question is, do a few leaders/depots/incredibly rich have sole access to the plug-in? Or a race or nation perhaps? Or do we all plug in and become highly intelligent humanoids? These and other important topics need to be deeply discussed around a Sexyloops campfire very soon.
It sure is difficult to save the fish when we have so many problems. We have war in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, as well as other active conflicts. We have climate change threatening to run away from us. And we have an out-of-control, energy consuming, plastic waste creating, human population that is scourging the planet. And I want to save a few fish…
I’m still right though.
What this lake needs is no-kill zones. Preferably on all the lake I’m on! Which is not going to happen. Failing that, all of Royal Belum should become C&R fishing only, with zero netting. However what will actually happen is that the fish population will continue to decline until it collapses completely, as it has elsewhere. And then maybe something will be done about it. It will probably bounce back though. Ten or twenty years of C&R and no netting on Belum-Temenggor and you would have one of the most extraordinary sport fisheries on this planet. Not that we will ever see that happen but it’s nice to imagine.
What other joyous news can I pass on to you today?
Well I’m pleased you asked! I’m looking forward to finding Snakehead again. I’ve been coaching flycasting students most days, which I really enjoy. Some are real arse-kickers now. Truly. And I’m back on the bike, having not been on the bike for over a month! Ouch is right. Today I will try to run 20km. I tried that last week but couldn’t even muster ten. This running fitness comes always back to me pretty quickly though and I’m feeling reasonably strong on the bike already.
Nice to have a break. Especially at this time of year. But it’s time to move up another gear now. Otherwise how am I going to be around to see the end of the world, right?
I’m 53 next month. Christ. How did that happen? The good news is I feel half that age.
We are almost up to date with rod builds (thank goodness!!) and so I can start promoting them again. And yes you want one or two for Christmas.
Have a great week!
Cheers, Paul