We were driving down a narrow dirt road flanked by dense greenery on both sides, smiling, somehow we could tell that an adventure was about to unfold. More than fishing for Peacock Bass, we were excited about the concept of this brand new pond – it was a little tough to grasp therefore experiencing it for ourselves was the only way. The ad posted on Facebook was pretty straight forward except for two points that had us scratching our heads;
- only for boating
- gated private pond
We contacted Leong on the number listed and found out that his pond is indeed sizeable and boating is left in the hands of the anglers too. We were a little worried as we have yet to try operating a boat on our own however Leong assured us, for his pond, it was a breeze.
We arrived to a jaw dropping sight; with Leong keeping it to two boats, one a 13ft and the other a 12ft, powered by the MotorGuide 55lb thrust trolling motor (max 3 anglers per boat) within a session, the entire body of water surrounded by thick jungle seemed promising. One look and you could sense how the depths were rich with more than just Peacock Bass. Leong informed us that the opportune time to fish, naturally, was just before Sunrise.
7.30a.m on the clock and we were still sipping takeaway Mcdonalds coffee, wallowing in the serenity; lush greenery, birds chirping and what sounded like Monkeys whopping complimented our disconnect from the city. There was no way you would think it was a pond, no way. Endless nature only 45 minutes from the city was almost surreal but Leong’s vision of maintaining most of the land’s natural state takes you into a tranquil realm, its effects were decreased efficiency in setting-up our gears.
The pond’s caretaker gave us a crash course on how to work the boat, a 30 second instruction was all it took; operating the boat and manoeuvring around the pond was plain sailing. We have yet to catch sizeable peacock bass anywhere else, in fact, we’ve only caught palm sized tiny ones. In the Semenyih PB pond, the common sizes for Peacock Bass are 20 – 30cm, anything above 30cm meant you got really lucky!
On our ultra light gears, we started the session with a spin-fly, on Naweshad’s second cast, he caught on to a PB! Though tiny, it was most definitely bigger than his first ever caught and that in itself was an achievement – we celebrated. Soon after, we decided to try our go-to soft plastic, the 2-inch Berkley Powerbait Pre-Rigged Swim Shad in Firetiger, and it was all we needed for the entire half-day session. One lure, and the both of us were trying to balance on the boat as we saw constant chases and kept hooking on and landing PB’s within the size range. By the end of the session, we caught 11 Peacock Bass total and lost count of the ones that got away.
Refreshing is not a word that does justice to this experience. It was not just a new location to fish at, it was an entirely new concept that works. Keeping only a minimum number of anglers per session meant the serenity of the area was preserved. Today, we understand that the Semenyih PB Pond is fully booked, not surprising- but that was before we booked another session immediately for the weekend after and got lucky from a cancellation!
We were delighted that we caught 11 Peacock Bass on the first trip and found bliss and contentment in the process as well, our second trip was as exciting as we started catching more ferocious PB’s using a variety of pre-rigged swim shads and even an unknown grub we have grown to love from Singapore; landing a total of 11 again! True anglers speak about fishing as an entire experience, not JUST about catching fish – the Semenyih PB pond allowed us to indulge in that. The PB’s were beyond exciting on light tackle, their colours were mesmerising under the morning sun and the naturally kept state of the pond added to the amazing experience.
Don’t take our word for it of course, enjoy the photos and video of both our trips to the Semenyih PB Fishing Pond where we explain the lures we used and give you insight on the boat!
The Peacock Bass pond is strictly Catch & Release.
Photos from our trip
Videos of our trip
Trip 1 – Endless PB Excitement
Trip 2 – With introduction to boat and area
The Milkfish Lady Official Website 