Paul Arden | Tuesday, 6 January 2026
This Wet Season has been particularly non-wet. The lake came up 2 metres in late November but is still 8 metres down and hasn’t risen since then; in fact it’s dropped again slightly. Snakehead have spawned but not yet in the anticipated numbers. Travelling the lake is still challenging with the low water levels and ever-present stumps. It hasn’t rained now for well over a week and it currently doesn’t look like it ever will again! I bet Sungai Tiang is gin clear right now…
David has has one eight-set day with me so far. That’s sort of what I expect at this time of year. But it’s currently very much the exception. I’m hoping we get some heavy rain soon. I haven’t even bothered putting down the side canopies on the Battleship at night for sleeping. That’s unheard of for the Wet Season. Normally it rains all night and with heavy tropical downpours.
I have noticed over the past years that the seasons here are now all over the place and highly unpredictable. Anyone who doubts climate change simply cannot be spending enough time outdoors!
David has elected to take out the Ronan and attempt the almost impossible. Which is great and why I have the second boat. He certainly seems to be enjoying himself. It also means that I can fish too.
My 50lb thrust Minn Kota died. I can’t believe that. It’s only four months old. So maybe 100 days of fishing. Unreal. I’ve bought another and I’ll take this one back to the shop. There is an Australian brand called Watersnake. I might try one of those next, at least if they write back to me.. I’m also tempted to try to build one of my own. I certainly have enough bits and pieces to do this! I’ve always thought that the motor should be at the top, above the water level, with a shaft that descends into the water with a small gear box to feed the prop. It’s usually the motor compartment filling with water when the prop rubber seals corrode that causes the premature death of the motor. Maybe this is why they build them that way?
Anyway I found ten sets today. Caught one fish. Should have done better but the Chinese Heibo motor spooks fish in reverse gear. My replacement Minn Kota arrives in a few days. It should see me through to about April.
I’m on a supplies trip to town. David is fishing. He flies out on Friday, so hopefully he manages to catch a fish by himself before then. I can’t begin to explain how difficult this is; finding the sets, reading their movement and positioning the boat accordingly, while simultaneously making the shot. And then you have to fight and land them, often while still controlling the boat. There are a lot of new and challenging skills involved.
Typically guests find about 1/3 the sets that I do and very few have actually caught a snakehead off babies by themselves. It’s certainly the deep end of the pool! But there are many upsides; the day is at your pace, the searching is more interesting because you are searching and controlling the boat, I believe there is slightly less pressure when making the shot and of course when you are successful it means very much more. So I do encourage it! It’s what I would do. In fact it is what I do.
Have a great week.
Cheers, Paul