We didn’t exactly “roll” in to camp here in Borneo last night easy breezy like I made the end of yesterday’s blog sound it would be. It was a hellacious 4 x 4 grunt that surpassed the difficult factor I once met on a Bolivia 4 x 4 camp transfer years ago. While the drive typically takes four hours, it took us six.
It wasn’t like we jumped right out and hit the road from Melak either. Fajar had to shop for supplies. Then he and his crew had to pack it in our transport. This small truck carried a driver and five passengers along with all our gear. We even made a fuel stop for bottle poured diesel.
The first two hours were amazingly smooth with nice weather and no rain. When we made our first stop I even treated myself to a tallboy Bintang beer. A half hour later, as we reached the top of a small mountain or huge hill, whatever you want to call it, one of our suspension springs got damaged by a rock.
We pulled off the dirt track fast. The noise and vibration was a true attention grabber. I thought to myself, oh man we’re gonna lose another day. But no. I’m not sure the details, but our driver and Fajar’s crew pulled some magic and after about 45 minutes got us back on the road.
It got dark quick after that. On paper we had two more hours to go. But because it was dark, it took four more hours and it was a painful bumpy muddy drive. Such an uncomfortable ride that it was impossible to sleep. Not even a doze off nap. Worst of all this weeks’ worth of vigorous travel has triggered my dreaded shoulder pain that I’ve kept under good control all year.
We didn’t drive to camp. Instead we arrived at a Dayak tribe village on the Jeromai River where our boatman lives and Fajar spends the night at some friends house before going to camp. We actually took off in the boats from here today.
The hospitality of his friends was beautiful and these nice folks even made us dinner upon our late arrival. Once dinner was done we threw down some matts by the front door and called it a night. It was hot and there were a few hungry sandflies and no-see-um types, but I smiled and thought, “Finally we’re here!”.
The big fear for me when I fish any rainforest is being rained out. Flooded out basically. Rainforest rain is unexplainable and rivers can rise not feet but rather meters at a time. Its not unheard of for a trip to get completely blown out and no one touches a fish. Alarmingly, early this morning heavy rains started.
Naturally it worried me when the rain began. I convinced myself it sounded more serious than it was because we were under a metal roof. But when I woke up and looked out over the village at first light, there were gigantic puddles everywhere. Once Fajar woke we walked down to the river and it wasn’t only high – it was the highest Fajar had ever seen it. I thought “Monsoon Currier” was a thing of the past but apparently not.
This led to yet another delay. Our boatman met us at 7 am. Luckily the rain was completely stopped. Regardless, he announced we wouldn’t leave until we were sure the rain stopped and the river was dropping. One thing about jungle rivers is that as fast as they rise they come down as well. Our amazing hosts enjoyed our holdup more than us and made us a full on breakfast.
No more rain fell and at 9:30 our boatman and crew arrived. It took about 45 minutes to load the boats with our camping gear, food and tackle and more. It’s a little crazy watching all your gear and food load up in tipsy boats in wild water conditions.
Once loaded up Austin, Fajar and I settled in. Its comfy if your back and butt can take it. Without a lot of fat on my bones, I’m good for the first 30 minutes. After that I get restless. Luckily the Borneo rainforest scenery was magnificent.
The river was still in poor shape. It was roaring and bright red with mud. There was all kinds of drifting debris from branches to logs to entire trees that surely if we hit one it was game over. It was flat out dangerous for a boat ride but no one was going to stop our progress to potentially making that first cast.
Fajar’s crew drove with all the gear in two boats. Austin, Fajar and I were in another long narrow typical boat of Borneo. I’ve fished in similar vessels but all regions of the world have their own. We had a front man with a paddle that directs the driver from unseen danger while also able to do some emergency steering. Our motor man just ran the motor which by the way is unique and noisier than most. It has a super long shaft angled so that when it hits a log its likely to jump over it without so much damage.
We weren’t going for camp to set up. Fajar’s crew was handling that. We went fishing and made a beeline for a creek where we hoped the water would be low enough to fish. As suspected it wasn’t even close and we continued on to the next.
The main river was in such bad shape I was sure we were wasting time. But it’s funny, the longer you spend on a terrible condition-high-water river, the more it starts to look fishable. When we arrived at the next creek we were pleasantly surprised to at least notice a difference in that it was lower and clearer. And when we reached the third creek, a good 1.5 hours of boat travel at this point, it was fishable. By no means clear, but this is the jungle and the local fish species can feed in such conditions.
Just making some casts after what was now a week of travel from Hayward, WI was a godsend. I could stand up and feel free for once. I was no longer at the merci of air travel, cars, trucks or boats. I launched my first cast in Borneo towards the bank with hopes for our target fish the, Borneo Red Kaloi.
All fish of the rainforest are burly with strength. The perfect rod here is a 9-weight and I tossed my Winston Air 2 Max with the Scientific Anglers Jungle Taper. This is the only fly line I know that has a head specifically designed to toss obscure non-aerodynamic flies and also has a finish and core that doesn’t get too soft in the heat.
The red kaloi specializes in eating leaves and fruits and the occasional huge insect as they fall from the trees and drift down. You could make a fancy fly but Fajar prefers poppers and huge Chernobyl’s on saltwater hooks. Today with the extra muddy water we chose the color black which is always best because in poor conditions it has a strong silhouette.
I fished awhile then offered Austin a turn. He generously told me to continue until I got tired. He badly wants to see me catch my first kaloi but we all know I’m not going to get tired of fishing. Luckily he was comfy kicking back chatting it up with Fajar.
These boats are by no means like drift boats where you can backrow and move along slowly. Our two boatman simply keep the boat in the middle of the river and steer. You need not only to balance and stay standing but also to fish fast and accurately. When the popper hit the water I had a mere three seconds before casting again. No doubt its not the best strategy but it’s the only option and very fun to test your casting skills.
At least three hours pass and we took a break balanced up against what was once an old house boat (not like what you’re thinking). Austin still enjoyed chilling and chatting with Fajar. When we pushed off again I cast back to the bank however instead of dead drifting my fly then casting again, I dead drift it then strip it back fast. Fajar tells me I might catch a Hampala Barb with this technique.
It could be the smallest no-name nothing of a fish and I’m ok with it. A Hampala Barb looks a lot like a mahseer and catching one is already on my wish list for the week. Lo and behold, I hooked up but it was neither a kaloi or the Hampala.
None of us had any idea what the hard grabbing fish was. I gave back a vicious strip set and kept stripping because my cast and angle were precarious in that because the boat was moving downstream so fast my entire rig was headed under a massive snag of trees. By miracle I must have pulled this fish right under the snag which in turn meant now I could fight the fish from the middle of the river.
As often the case, because this was fish number one on day one, the net wasn’t pieced together. Its wasn’t like the fish was ready for the net in 30 seconds but with strong leader I wasn’t messing around. Fajar on the other hand was getting his butt kicked trying to get the net lengthened and then he completely separated it and began trying to fix that. About then me and Austin got first glimpse of this fish. “Get the net! Get the net! Screw the handle just scoop for the fish!”, we yelled.
The fish ran me deep and under the boat after first glimpse. Austin and I saw a breathtaking scale pattern along the top and sides of this fish and a huge forked tail. We had to get him. Especially after a week of not exactly the best travel luck. About then Fajar saw the fish and he went berserk!
“Jelawat! Jelawat! Sultan Barb!”, Fajar screamed.
Going back about two weeks, late one night at home I went down the Google rabbit hole looking at images of freshwater fish from Borneo. I saw mostly the red kaloi and a few Hampala barbs. But there were two photos of a beautiful large scaled mahseer looking fish – the Sultan Barb (Leptobarbus hoevenii). I wanted one bad upon reading, but it seemed like catching one was a pipedream. I didn’t even know if they were in our area.
Our boat was now in full chaos and the precious Jelawat (local name) made one more dive. Fajar had the net in order and next time up I led the fish in the hoop. After a long hard journey, I had landed my first fish from Borneo!
You can’t imagine the joy we felt. This wasn’t the kaloi we’re after but for me it will certainly hold me over and of course a new species for my list. I lifted the fish for photos and none of us could believe how pretty the shiny silver fish was. Not to mention it was huge!
It turns out, very few of this species have been caught on fly from their native waters. I was lucky. Even Fajar has yet to catch one. Fajar also thinks this may be the biggest on fly. He’s seen a 20lber taken on a Rapala that was 20lbs. This one is about 10lbs.
We were towards the end of our day. Austin insisted I keep trying for my first kaloi. I put in another 15 minutes then we moved. We decided to venture through and opening in the river bank trees and found a big pool from a small creek. I just handed Austin his rod. He needed to fish. He had the black popper like me. Just as I mentioned to Fajar that this looked like snakehead water, the popper got smashed. The fish dove straight back for bottom and I shouted, “There he is!”.
Fajar laughed and went for the net. The net was ready, but this fish was stubborn. Austin gained headway at least five times only to have it taken all back by this strong contestant. This fish was fighting much harder than I remembered the snakeheads I’ve caught in India. Finally the fish subdued and the boys got him in the net.
This is the emperor snakehead. This one is especially dark in color but also realize it was getting dark out. The fishes markings don’t show up as well as we’d like. But you can see a mottled sort of boa constrictor snake pattern and over the top are little tiny neon blue dots. The fish is incredible and we took some time to be sure to get a good look.
It’s hard to believe that when we woke this morning at the village this river was so high I thought we were screwed for the week. I’m amazed to see it drop at least six feet throughout the day and the clarity has improved greatly. If we get through the night without more rain, tomorrows fishing should be no less than incredible and I’m happy to say the sky is gorgeous and clear now.
We settled into our camp for the week after fishing. I cherished one of the cold Bintang beers I bought yesterday. The ice will last only so long as there are no Yeti’s here. We have a staff of about five locals and they cooked us some chopped chicken and noodles for dinner. Time for bed.
In the meantime, please visit my webstore for “Christmas Gifts for the Angler that has Everything” and stuff those stockings with my fish decals from “Pescador on the Fly”.
Living up to the”Cool Adventure” status!! …Crazy start!! Come on tell us more..lol