With the passion for fishing taking new levels within me (haha!), I took it upon myself to learn, discover & understand the sport through various avenues; from friends, websites, online fishing forums to books and magazines. Every month, there are a few local fishing magazines that I would purchase, mostly to read on new places to try out. One such magazine is the Rod & Line, currently priced at RM 16 (SGD $9.50).
In the September 2013 issue of Rod & Line, I came across an article that caught my attention for the species of fish I saw on that page, a juvenile Tarpon. The Tarpon is a species of fish that was on my “to catch” list and the header that read “Star Cruise Fishing Pond, Tarpon on Fly & Micro Jigs” certainly got me interested.
The pond, which is known as Kolam Pancing Pulau Indah on Facebook, is conveniently located on Pulau Indah, just off Port Klang and is deemed a “natural” Saltwater pond as it is, and I quote from the Rod & Line article, “connected to the sea via a short canal”. That’s right, coming to Pulau Indah’s Fishing Pond requires planning in accordance with tide conditions.
Next thing you know, we’re off with our friends Dave & Sumy to discover Pulau Indah, it was their very first fishing trip and discovering a new pond added to the excitement.
Upon arriving, we were awestruck by the size of the pond. Instead of taking a walk around to pick a spot to cast our lines out, we needed to drive to the spot. You could walk but the overwhelming size (for a paid fishing pond with fishes from the sea lurking beneath!) would require resistance and patience to not cast a line out immediately. Therefore, a vehicle to the ideal spot is, in my opinion, essential for a peace of mind.
Ever since the first visit to Pulau Indah, we kept coming back every weekend. Every trip was exciting, fruitful, beautiful and serene. There was no one… ok maybe one or two fellas somewhere around the corner, but the place was so big, we barely notice anyone else there. It was always a peaceful weekend fishing trip, with at least one catch to accompany us home. Despite not catching a tarpon personally on any of the trips, I was rewarded with a Milkfish instead, a species of fish that has been said to swim into the pond from the sea.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), our quiet fishing pond soon became crowded from the news of my Milkfish catch. My catch was being published on fishing sites and community online, it definitely was a lovely experience, one that I am still thankful for; it propelled the Pulau Indah fishing pond to a whole new level. The once serene fishing location was filled with people on the first weekend since my catch went “viral” (My photo was being shared and viewed for a span of two weeks and my YouTube video was getting constant views on a daily basis).
Since then, our trips to Pulau Indah has been taxing, with the crowd and lack of fish. It was evident then that the Pulau Indah fishing pond, though having an added advantage of fishes swimming in from the sea alongside fishes they release (Barramundi, Grouper & the occasional Red Drum & GT), was lacking in fish population to accommodate the now increasing number of anglers.
Our last trip to Pulau Indah left us searching for other fishing pond options as the frustration was getting to us. Not only were there limited fishes to catch in a large pond, the only ones catching fish seem to be the children of the pond owner himself.
After a 5 hour unsuccessful fishing attempt at the pond once, one of the owner’s son made a remark, “You can’t catch anything with prawns, use worms instead!”. That remark left us furious, not only did he have a 3kg Barramundi in hand, the pond required you to purchase prawns as bait, not worms! Worms can be purchased along the highway heading to Pulau Indah, however, having fished there for months only to find out that the reason we were not catching and their sons were, was because fishes NOW preferred worms, definitely left us ticked off.
After searching for other ponds to try out, we were still keeping tabs on the Facebook page of the Pulau Indah Fishing pond, after all, it was love at first sight along with a lucky catch for myself. True enough, picture’s of the owners son kept emerging week after week catching some of the biggest Barramundi in the pond.
For the fact that we have paid to fish in this pond only to be told our bait was incorrect after weeks of attempts has left us rather bitter. However, when the pond was not visited by many anglers, we used live prawn as bait and it worked just as it should.
The Pulau Indah fishing pond allows the use of lures which is fantastic, especially if you need to practice on your lure techniques and getting used to the methods. I have tried a few micro jigs and artificial lures, all of which unsuccessful however it allowed me to practice and understand the lures I had better.
Fly Fishing is also famous in the pond, my husband and I took to the pond to practice our fly fishing cast and I managed to get a bite on a Crazy Charlie fly and lost it too!
It may take awhile before we would return to Pulau Indah. Especially since recently we have come across a few more ponds which allows us to practice the same methods and reap us the reward of a catch, to further complete our attempt at trying different lures and fishing techniques.
Nonetheless, if you haven’t already visited the pond, you may want to give it a shot. The Pulau Indah Fishing Pond is truly unlike any other, and if you’re lucky, with a live prawn or not, you may catch yourself a decent fish to talk about. We did have a lot of good memories and fun in Pulau Indah initially, it is a pond that one could bring the entire family to have fun at. We trust that in due time, with positive changes (if any), the pond could go back to becoming one of our preferred ponds to visit frequently (or so we hope!).
In the meantime, video, Information and directions to the pond are as follows.
The Milkfish Lady Official Website 