Fishing in Kuala Lumpur

You think it is impossible to fish in Kuala Lumpur, right? Wrong! There are plenty of places you can cast your lines and get a bite.

Fishing in the city is possible and there are places here where you can still fish, albeit for a fee, and in some areas, fishing is still allowed for free.

Lakes and Ponds
There are a number of disused mining pools and ponds on the outskirts of the city such as in Ampang, Batu Caves, Kepong, Gombak and Puchong which you can cast your lines, for free, but chances of a good catch are very slim, unless you have good local knowledge.

Ponds and lakes in public parks such as Lake Titiwangsa, Lake Perdana, and Tasik Permaisuri (in Cheras) in the city are out of bounds. Fish and you will be given a fine.

However, during specific periods, such as City Day, the KL City Hall organises fishing contests here. Otherwise, you can't fish here - no matter how tempting it might be to you.

Rivers
You may have seen some foolhardy folk casting their lines into the Kelang River in the city centre. These waterways are out of bounds for the obvious danger they pose. Besides, the fish in the river are contaminated anyway, so forget about it.

Sea
You can fish for free by the sea but the sea (at Port Klang) is more than 50km away! But if you still itch to cast your lines into the blue yonder, you can get there by the KTM Komuter which services the route from Sentul to Pulau Ketam jetty at the South Port. Once at South Port, get down at the last station which is the Pulau Ketam jetty.

The train fare is about RM20.00 for a return ticket. Get down at the Pulau Ketam jetty and ask the locals where you might be allowed to fish.

Or you can take a boat ride to Pulau Ketam and ask locals there where you might get to fish, which is at fish farms and aquaculture centres there.

Pay Ponds
If you know where to look, there are several in Kuala Lumpur itself.The rest are spalttered all over the outskirts of the city.

These are commercial ponds offering saltwater, freshwater and prawn fishing. You pay a fee to get in, fish for a specified period, and get to take the fish home. Fish baits are sold here.

So are food and fishing equipment, such as reels, rods, hooks, lines and sinkers. If you don't want to buy a full gear, rod and reels are also available for rent.

Fee are usually at RM10 per hour for a minimum of three hours' fishing. Additional hours are chargeable at RM10 per hour and discounts are given after five hours' bookings.

Fish hooked are sometimes entered for a weekly contest where the heaviest fish wins. Lucky draws - ie. tagged fish landed - are also held and prizes range from kitchen utensils and fishing equipment to bikes and even cars.

Saltwater ponds: Fish species available here include snappers, barramundis, jewfish, rock cods, and in some places, even one odd sting ray or two.


Freshwater ponds: These are built for freshwater fish only such as the red tilapia, marble goby, river catfish, pacu (a fruit-eating variant of the piranha) and carps.


Prawn ponds: Udang galah or Malaysian king prawns are not only delicious when cooked in chili but provides a good fight when hooked on prawning gear. Prawn ponds are smaller than the commercial fish ponds and some small operators even operate from within coffeeshops.
To find out where you might find a fishing pond, write.

Fishing Equipment
Even if you are not fishing here, you might want to check out some of the tackle shops in the city. Considering the favourable exchange rates, you might even get away with a good bargain for hooks, lines and sinkers.

Reels, too, such as Shimano, Penn, Okuma, and the likes can also be quite cheap in Kuala Lumpur.

The range should also be quite interesting in some angling supply shops because of the large number of anglers in Kuala Lumpur.

Fishing Charters
If you are in Kuala Lumpur for more than just a few days, and you are an angler, perhaps you might want to try out the local fishing charters. The best place to check for the availability of such tours is the local travel agent or the tourism promotion body. Usually they may have something to suggest. Travel companies, realising the importance fishing has become to the travel industry, are also offering this package although it may not be listed under the usual packages offered.

Generally fishing charters are chargeable per boat size. The cost us usually spread out among the number of anglers taking part in the charter. Baits are usually provided on the charter and fishing guides, who also double up as the captain or deckhands of the fishing boat, are on hand to show the best spots.

Journeys may begin late at night or very early in the morning and lasts between eight hours for a 'one-day fishing trip' to a 'five-day three-night' packages. For one-day trips, usually smaller boats are used and even smaller groups are accepted by the boat operator. For longer trips, larger and more powerful boats are used and these are 'mini' luxury cruisers with cooking and bathing facilities, and some even, airconditioned.