“Our fishing should be no less than incredible tomorrow if it doesn’t rain tonight” was yesterday’s blog quote before bed last night here in the boonies of Borneo. I was feeling confident. The sky was clear and full of stars. But at midnight I was woken to flashing lightening. At 1 am the roar of thunder and the deluge of rain began. That sick feeling of getting screwed by Mother Nature set in to keep me awake.
I tossed and turned the rest of the night. Begging the fish gods for the rain to stop. But it didn’t. The only good news is that Fajar’s tents are solid and other than before I closed my rainfly, me and my stuff are dry.
The rain continued to fall at an alarming rate past our 6 am daybreak. At 7:30 my back and shoulder couldn’t take laying around anymore. It was still raining but easing. When I exited my tent the crew started moving and soon my Yeti was filled with strong black coffee.
The river was ten feet higher than when we got in from fishing last night. TEN FEET! Fajar didn’t have to tell us. Austin and I knew we weren’t hitting the water anytime soon. There was a glimmer of hope though, the rain stopped during my coffee session soon after the skies cleared and the sun came out. There was hope the river would drop like yesterday.
After last evenings session where both Austin and I each caught a memorable fish, sitting back not fishing this morning was torturous. We marked the high water spot with sticks and kept checking them. The river slowly receded. To keep my mind off things I wrote for my blog and edited photos. Eventually my computer battery died and it was a boring afternoon (we have electricity for charging by generator but only at night). Hurry up and wait. Luckily I have a Drake with me.
As for todays weather it was a gorgeous day but we were hot and sweaty sitting around camp. At least it wasn’t raining. There were numerous micro annoying bees that like to land on you. They are harmless but drive you nuts. I accidently leaned back in my chair with my shirt off and got stung twice. These stings hurt like hell for about three minutes then let up. Not cool!
At 3 pm Fajar said the water was dropping fast and it was worth a try to fish. By 4 pm we were headed back up where we had our success yesterday. When we arrived I looked at Austin and he told me to have at it. None of my casts were with a lot of confidence. I considered yesterdays water level high – today was at least 6 feet higher and so colored with mud and choked with floating debris it was ridiculous.
I worked hard regardless of conditions. As I often say, “Miracles do happen in fly fishing”. I’ve been fortunate to see many. But there would be none today. Somehow however, I did snag an odd catfish like fish. The species won’t count for my list because its snagged. It’s not my first sighing of this odd fish. Granny and saw a lot of these when mahseer fishing in central India on the Cauvery River back in 2002. If anyone can identify it let me know.
It was a nice night on the water despite bad fishing. The sounds of the jungle were strong with birds, cicadas and monkeys. While I was fishing we had a big group of Gibbons cross the river using the overhanging trees.
We just finished fish soup that our cook and helpers netted. They don’t waste much and nearly the whole fish is in there. Its bedtime now and the stars are out again. Things seem promising but after last night I’m not getting myself overly excited. We’ll find out in the morning.
Good luck “Monsoon”! if anyone can do it, you can.