Paul Arden | Tuesday, 13 January 2026
The lake level is seven, maybe even eight meters below where expected for this time of year and the Wet Season appears well and truly over. This could lead to some very low water levels later this year. In fact it’s low now. We shall see how that works out.
There are Snakehead with babies and Snakehead still spawning however, so that’s good. It also means Sungai Tiang is gin clear. So one option for Feb would be 3-4 days on the lake and 3-4 days on the river. Come March and April I’m looking to mostly base myself up the river to promote Sungai Tiang and give it broad exposure.
So if you fancy Mahseer fishing in the Malaysian jungle then get over here as quickly as you can! Email me!!
I have a very busy week of coaching and organising for the rest of this week. Then Marcel is over for a week of Snakehead fishing, arriving on Saturday. Marcel is a fly fisher in Germany, who I’ve been coaching since last year. He can be very competitive at the WCs if this is what he chooses. But first he has to catch some Snakehead. Which is far more important of course. Fishing comes first, then flycasting, then everything else in life.
Marcel is also training to be a CI, so as we navigate the lake I’ll be asking him questions such as “what is the Sixth Essential?”
It should be interesting too because there are some freerisers around and I caught one yesterday. For a while I was saying that the Wet Season was a month behind. Now the Dry Season is a month early! Last year there was no Dry Season at all, and it was intermittently very wet right through the time that it should have been stone dry.
The other interesting thing is that the forest is not currently in bloom. Typically I’d expect to see many of the trees flowering now. I don’t know if it will, or it won’t. I’ll try to have dinner with the Perak State Park Corporation manager, who happens to stay in my Gerik “villa” more than I do, and get his expert view on all things to do with the jungle.
I am looking forward to turning my attention to Mahseer for some months. Walking through the jungle, getting followed by elephants, tigers and Hantu Tetek is just what I need in my life right now. And I’m going to fish the HT5 this year. Prior to this I have been fishing the HT4. But it will be good to give the 5 some airtime. Look out big Mahseer; I’m coming for you!
I’m also looking forward to campfires, getting sweaty and swimming in the river. A bit of Huckleberry Finn living is good for the soul. And we could all do with a heavy dose of this right now.
Cheers, Paul
PoD. A juvenile Snakehead caught freerising. I could hold it in front of the camera to pretend it was bigger. But I don’t. Notice the low water level in the background.