July 2020 - Sport Fishing Asia

If you are looking for fly fishing stuff in Malaysia, Tacklebox Adventures is definitely the place to go to.

TACKLEBOX ADVENTURES
99, SS15/4C, Subang Jaya, 47500, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Phone: +603-56370268 Mobile: +6019-2025524

Business hours: Monday – Saturday 11AM-7PM. Sunday 12PM-6PM.

Tacklebox Adventures Website

Go to Tacklebox Adventures using Google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/M17Gr

Drive to Tacklebox Adventures using Waze: http://waze.to/lr/hw281x8q7x

Rock Star

The owner of Tacklebox Adventures is Nick Ooi, the rock star turned rod star. Nick is the bassist of the very popular band Headwinds that rocked the country back in the eighties. Nowadays, he lives a much more quieter life manning his tackle shop with the help of his wife.

Nick is also among the pioneers of fly fishing in Malaysia along with the likes of CK Ling and Irhamy Ahmad.

In the early years, Tacklebox Adventures along with Nick, Dr Ling, Irhamy and a group of keen fly fishers organised many fly fishing and fly tying activities to promote the sport both locally and around the region. Some fly fishing competitions were also held – which later on led to the formation of United Fly-Anglers Organisation of Malaysia (UFOM).

Wide Range of Fishing Products

Established since 1996, Tacklebox Adventures stocks a wide range of products and brands. When you walk into the store, to your right and left you will find conventional fishing gears such as spinning and bait casting reels and rods from Yamaga, Shimano, Abu Garcia, Ryobi, Okuma, etc.

Soft plastic lures, hard body lures from Berkley, Rapala, Storm and more. Teminal tackles such as sinkers, swivels, leaders, lines, high-end-hand-crafted lures and poppers are also available at Tacklebox Adventures.

Just after the glass door on the wall to the left is the wall-of-fame, or shame :-] Here, plastered onto a board are photos of various catches both trophy and tiny by friends and customers of Tacklebox Adventures.

Photos adorn the walls of Tacklebox Adventures

Racks of spinning, bait cast, popping and jigging rods

Lures and jigs take up one section of the wall

Big-game hand-crafted lures are also available

Rows and rows of hooks for tying any imaginable flies line the wall

All throughout the walls and shelves of the Tacklebox Adventures you will find many photos of trophy catches.

As you venture further in to the store you will find endless rows of fly reels, fly hooks, fly lines, fly tying materials, fly rods, fly fishing accessories and apparels.

Tacklebox Adventures is the Malaysian authorised dealer for fly fishing products from almost all established brands such as Sage, RL Winston, Redington, Temple Fork Outfitters, Orvis, Ross Reels, Rio, Scientific Anglers, Hatch, Nautilus, Tiemco, Waterworks Lamson, and many more.

There is a huge difference in being able to walk into a shop and be able to see and feel the things that you are interested in getting hold off, compared to just looking at picture of them.

If you can’t get to the shop, Nick can arrange for your orders to be sent to your doorstep. Just give him a ring.

Caress the best reels in the business - Hatch, Tibor, Nautilus, Sage, Echo, Orvis and more. — Caress the best reels in the business – Hatch, Tibor, Nautilus, Sage, Echo, Orvis and more.

Fly reels to suit all budgets - even used ones — Fly reels to suit all budgets – even used ones

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Learn Fly Tying, Fly Casting and How to Catch Fish

Nick also gives great advise on both the equipment and how-to’s which can be invaluable if you do not have enough experience and knowledge in the subject. If you’re nice to Nick he will also allow you to test cast the rods before you decide if they suit your style. Something very useful when deciding on a fly-rod. Seriously, he’s a nice guy and will even buy you coffee.

Nick at his fly tying station and some of his proven fish catching flies in the foreground

Both Nick and Tacklebox Adventures is certified by the International Federation of Fly Fishers

A deceiver fly for sailfish tied by Nick

Nick is also an accomplished fly tier and his flies not only look great but are proven effective in catching fish. You can see some of the flies he’s tied displayed in a cabinet. The flies are for sale and Nick also takes orders for custom tied flies on request. Just tell him what you’re trying to catch! Many many fish that you see caught on flies in Sport Fishing Asia is tied by Nick.

Tacklebox Adventures organises many fly fishing trip to many great destinations around the planet. Ask Nick if you’d like to fly fish in places like Royal Belum for sebarau and toman, Pulau Jarak for giant trevally, Kuala Rompin for sailfish, Thailand and Sabah for mahseer, Mongolia for taimen, Bosnia for trout, Maldives for fly fishing on the flats and more.

Tacklebox Adventures also offers free fly casting lessons to beginners who would like to start-off fly fishing the right way and to more advanced casters who may want to fix a bad habit or problem that they are having. Nick and his bunch of regulars who are experienced and qualified casting instructors are usually available to help out with some casting.

For the latest products and news from Tacklebox Adventures, like their Facebook Page or follow them on Google+.

• Tacklebox Adventures Facebook Page
• Google Plus page

Huge selection of fly lines for all applications

Rows and rows of fly tying materials for any fly you can imagine

Lots of fly rods from combo sets to the high-end rods and new models are brought in as soon as they are launched

Masterpiece flies by some master fly tyers

Reference to what fish are caught locally and abroad

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Guess what fish has dentures like these?

Rock Island Fishing Pond (RIFP) opened as a recreational fishing pond at the beginning of 2020. It was used as a fish farm of sorts before that.

You can still find duck breeding and goat farming adjacent to the fishing pond.

GETTING THERE

Watch out for a small fish sculpture at the turnoff from the main Simpang Pulai road that turns off into a narrow road that leads to the pond.

There are ample parking space once you get to the pond entrance. We had to go through the extra steps of registering our name, getting our temperature checked and hand sanitised before getting to the fishing part.

We had our nasi lemak and teh-o breakfast at the pond. Which was delicious!

OPERATING HOURS

I understand currently their opening hours are 9am to 12 midnight. It’s best you check beforehand if planning to go as it may change. I’ll leave the location and contact information below.

We only fished the morning session and left the place after lunch to head back to Kuala Lumpur. The bites were also slowing down as the sun rose overhead and temperatures climbed.

POND LAYOUT

The pond is slightly rounded and rectangular in shape with a small island right smack in the middle making it look like a moat if you’re fishing around it and pretty much the shape of an “O”.

The depth we are told varies from 5 feet closer to the pond edge to around 12 feet at the deepest.

We had the privilege to be the first to fish from the island as before this all fishing are done from the mainland sides.

Lure casters and fly fishers may be allowed to fish from the island from now on.

We were told beforehand that peacock bass and Chaophraya catfish lurks around the island.

There is a small stream and waterfall that feeds cool freshwater into the pond making the water clean and keeping the fish healthy.

High-tension electricity cables run overhead across the pond here. They are too high to get in the way but you won’t want to be under them fishing if there is a thunderstorm.

THE FISHING

Peacock Bass

There are 5 species of peacock bass in RIFP including the largest of them all, the Cichla temensis, that can grow up to 100cm and weigh up to 13kg.

JW managed one temensis that measured at 45cm.

We found the peacock bass are mainly concentrated along the edges. That is unsurprising as peacock bass are known to use cover for protection and ambush.

Beautifully coloured temensis taken at the edge of the island with a chartreuse Charlie fly

There are said to be 5 species of peacock bass here. Photo of Ajid with a beautiful specimen taken at the island with a soft plastic lure. Check out the colours on the fins.

Peacock bass are found almost everywhere along the edge of the pond

There appears to be a healthy population of peacock bass in RIFP. I also personally find them to be very nicely coloured with bright patterns and fins.

Many peacock bass readily took our flies and Ajid who was fishing with us on the island caught around 10 peacock bass with his lures such as soft plastics.

Chaophraya Catfish

There are more than 200 chaophraya catfish in RIFP ranging in size from 10kg to the largest caught to date at 25kg.

Almost as soon as Nick stepped onto the island he connected to a good sized chaophraya cat. It was his first cast with the Charlie fly and he just started a figure-eight retrieve when the chaophraya catfish took the fly and took Nick round and round the little island. We had to come to his rescue with the huge landing net from across the pond.

Nick with a nice Chaophraya catfish at the get go

This fish took Nick around the island as it put up a good fight

No other chaophraya was caught the rest of the morning, although I had a bite/break off I think that’s more likely a pacu than a chaophraya.

First impression is the chaophraya appears to be more active around the island as we can see them rising but that’s non conclusive.

Pacu

Some of us landed a few small pacu but saw some in the 7-8kg range landed by bottom fishers.

Other species in the pond include:

Patin (Iridescent shark)
Jelawat
Lampam

There are also the the odd haruan snakehead and arowana.

Plenty of jelawat (mad barb) in the pond

Conclusion

There is a healthy population of fish here. The easiest way to catch fish is obviously by using bait. Target species would likely be the pacu and patin.

The chaophraya and peacock bass are aggressive predatory species and will be a rewarding good sport for lure and fly fishers willing to work for them.

Ajid and Din who manages RIFP are very friendly and together with their onsite staff are very helpful.

Rock Island Fishing Pond location

RIFP is located not far off the Simpang Pulai exit of the North South Highway along the same road that leads up to the hill resort of Cameron Highlands.

Business hours: 9am – 12 midnight. Closed on Friday

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Click to watch the trip video

Tacklebox Adventures – Home of Fly Fishing in Malaysia

Rock Island Fishing Pond SP (Simpang Pulai)

GETTING THERE

OPERATING HOURS

POND LAYOUT