If you are one to take in the sights whilst driving to fishing ponds in Jugra, other than the beautiful view of endless Palm trees, crossing the bridge of Jalan Pusara just off Jalan Segenting in the last few months would have brought your attention to the construction of a new fishing pond on the left which is accessible via a small road just before driving up the bridge.
On our last visit to Jugra, we saw that the pond is now open to fish & decided to explore and learn more about it on this trip. To our disappointment, 8 a.m was far too early for the pond which opens at 12 p.m on Saturdays for 24 hours and 3p.m to 1a.m on weekdays.
After passing some time fishing in our regular RM3 pond in Jugra, we went back to the pond at 1p.m which is now open and buzzing with activity.
Gansaan Fishing Pond or known locally as Kolam Memancing Ikan Gansaan is a saltwater paid fishing pond with a fixed minimum 3-hour chargeable fishing rate, RM20 per hour with a refundable deposit of RM20 as well. With that, an upfront payment of RM80 per rod gets you in. They sell live prawns as bait, large ones at RM1 per prawn. Artificial lures as well as crab bait is strictly not allowed. Small Crabs being the favourite bait of the Grouper. Like every other paid fishing pond, treble hooks are not allowed.
Fishes available in this pond are similar to that of most saltwater ponds within the area with fishes weighing above 1kg and the largest being 8kg’s, depending on type of fish. Species include, Mangrove Jack, Barramundi, Red Drum, Grouper, Snapper, as well as two Giant Groupers of 6kg’s and 8kg’s in weight. The Giant Grouper, if caught, is to be released back safely into the pond with a reward of RM50 for the lucky angler.
The first impression we had of the pond was a similar feel to that of Pandamaran, located by a bridge and surrounded by factories albeit smaller, cleaner and currently less crowded. The plus of this pond is that, its location is literally beside the sea therefore seawater is pumped directly into the pond.
With live prawns as bait, Naweshad, Saran and myself took three different spots at the back and far right of the pond, maximizing the area and testing out effectiveness of the bait provided by the pond.
I sat underneath a shelter and in less than 10 minutes was joined by two young anglers who were new in the sport of fishing however taught the method of casting peeled prawns well and confidently. I was jolted by a surprise take from one of the anglers beside me within 5 minutes, the bend of his heavy duty rod was rather terrifying, even more so when he had to cross over me as I sat praying his rod would not decide to snap above my head.
Up comes a small Red Drum, about 1.5 kg’s at most. In most counties, such sizes of game fish are set free to live years to come, for more anglers and more fish fighting fun… in Malaysia, such sizes available in a paid pond is perfect for dinner as catch and release is not allowed in paid ponds such as Gansaan.
The angler, being amateur did not handle the fish well, unfortunately, the fish did not emerge looking as fresh either, in fact, injured on some areas of its body. I was feeling a discomfort but soon took to wonder what my alive and kicking prawn is doing underwater. It was definitely not enticing any of the fishes yet.
Looking towards Naweshad and Saran, they too did not seem to have any nibbles.
I looked around the pond and noticed a certain calm. Unlike Pandamaran and maybe it being a Saturday, there were no factory fumes, traffic was not heavy on the bridge and a slight salty breeze was coming through despite the intense heat. The heat, was something we could not avoid and did not anticipate.
My calm was rudely interrupted by another take from one of the young, excited anglers, at this point, statistics were running through my mind. Number of anglers, method, time, fishes caught.
If we wanted to catch, the juicy live prawns were not going to help. We needed to cast, however, doing so and succeeding would mean the live bait provided by the pond is not suitable. I had to keep on with my live prawn as Naweshad and Saran switched to casting. Naweshad using the prawn provided by the pond and Saran using our leftovers from Jugra, tiny 20 cents fella’.
The young angler had for himself a decent Barramundi, after which, they continuously caught – Mangrove Jacks, Groupers. They were on a roll, as though it was a full moon on their end only. One thing was still evident, the fishes that emerged looked injured, regardless of species.
I was ready to switch positions as the quick and very polite fish release bell rang. Fishes are released every two hours. During this time, an old man had a take on the opposite side and was not paying attention, his rod was slowly being pulled off the ground and into the pond. A kind angler, without hesitation, jumped into the pond to save the old man’s rod. I sat staring as the crowd cheered for the heroic effort that has landed the angler with possibly, a drenched cellphone. I thought to myself, “I hope this isn’t the only action we get today”, before engaging in quick laughter with the crowd.
We all began to switch positions and by that I mean, casting closer to the released nets of fishes A.K.A increasing our chances A.K.A “a-lot-like” cheating. To my delight, I heard a familiar sound. Saran who did not have a suitable rod with him was using one of my gear and a 2000 Penn Battle scream is rather unmissable.
Evidently, it was a strong fight, the bends on the stiff Shakespeare Bara rod was promising, true to the intense fight, a 3kg Barramundi emerged out of it. Saran’s first impression was that the fish was ill, it wasn’t. Like many other fishes we saw caught on this day, the Barramundi was fresh, just…injured. A few struggles on land saw it bleeding from its body. We handled it gently, hoping to leave a good impression for the other anglers to follow. A quick photo and we left him back in the pond to roam around before taking him home.
Unfortunately, all our attempts at trying to catch after that came up empty. Casting various sized prawns, bottom fishing with cut Mackerel provided by the kind pond owner to try, nothing. The heat was intense and we called it a day after the second hour, confident that the third hour would not reap any rewards for our efforts.
Something is better than nothing, the Gansaan fishing pond is new and a good experience to try. We are finding it tough to understand why the fishes were injured but as time passes and word goes around about this pond, they will need to increase the number of fishes released every two hours to accommodate to the number of anglers. I’m certain they will.
In our experience, casting dead bait or waiting on live prawns in any pond will end up productively, however it is not the same in Gansaan. We figured the prawns were just too big for the sizes of fishes available in the pond. Saran’s tiny 20 cents prawn from Jugra did the job well to land him a 3kg Barramundi.
If you are around the area, have an impeccable prawn casting skill, 3 hours to waste and confidence in catching fishes with a total worth of more than RM60, then give Gansaan Fish Pond a try. It’s not always one can relax in a brand new fishing pond before irresponsible anglers comes in bringing with them the trash and ants, so now is a good time to indulge. Unfortunately, such is the fate of most fishing ponds in Malaysia & Singapore.
We hope that in due time, they are able to resolve the issue of the fishes getting injured in the pond. We will keep tabs on their Facebook page and as soon as it starts to settle with a comfortable trend of anglers (to determine if it will get too crowded) and probability of fishes caught, we may just give it a try once more.
To know more you may visit the Gansaan Fish Pond Facebook Page or click on the Google map below for directions to the pond. In the meantime, enjoy the short video on Saran’s catch in Gansaan Fishing Pond.
The Milkfish Lady Official Website 