ANGLING WORLD 魔魚釣界: July 2010

After spending so much time on fishing trip....... this weekend I went up to Fraser's Hill for a break with my family and friend............

Of course I will not skip the chance of catching some beetles........... Here my friend from Taiwan and I trying a light trap by the road side............

This lamp was a gift from my Taiwan friend who himself is also a bug maniac too........

we started the light trap from sunset till 10:00pm and nothing interesting turn up....... Am I trying at a wrong place or wrong season here?!........

Finally, this stag beetle showed up when we were just about to pack up............

We also try a Light trap at the balcony of the rented apartment..............

Many moths turned up that night........

Here comes some beetles............

This was the only one stag beetle that I collected that night, a male stag beetle Cyclommatus Lunifer.........

My Taiwanese friend brought over some of his self bred beetles for me...... he is much crazy about beetles compared to me............Wow! UNBELIEVABLE - Live beetle all the way from Taiwan!!! A beautiful Malayan Dorcus antaeus from the Lucanidae family, all this while this is the only species that have eluded me and which I have not collected even one yet..........

Wow! Look at this, it's a great horn beetle from South America Dynastes hercules ecuatorianus of the Dynastidae family..........

During summer time in Kamchatka, sunset here begins at 11pm. Sitting here and keeping warm by the fire side is truly wonderful....... as the temperature can drop to as low as 8 degree C at night.........

As most of us are from the rat race, having the opportunity to slow down life and savour the outdoors is truly a chance to relish & cherish. Life here in the outdoors is slow and relaxing. It feels so good to be here - no worries what so ever, even if it is just for temporarily only. If possible, I want my life to be like this forever, sigh......

Thanks to our operator : Vision of Kamchatka www.fishingsalmon.org/company.htm for making my dream come true.

The sun rises at 4:00am in the morning..........going fishing around the camp site after sipping tea........

It's a foggy morning ... and it's drizzling too........(wet weather seems to be the calling here during summer time)........

Look at this picturesque scene near our camp site........

Lush greenery everywhere......

Preparing more fire wood for the day.............

While here, we used spoons to catch Salmons...... 'cos the Salmons usually wade at the bottom of the river and will only strike our lures within a meter from the river base............. And because of that, we lost many lures which had either got stucked or entangled.......

This year, the local government had imposed a law that the Aborigines can only place net with big holes across the river mouths to protect the Salmon species. Even then, we were able to land quite significant sized catches. Look at how happy we were with our catches below........

Dolly Varden Char (Salvelinus malma miyabei)...............

Kamchatka Grayling (Thymallus thymallus) & Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)........

Seema Cherry Salmon (Oncorhynchus masou)............

Wow! A beautiful East Siberian Artic Char............. Bravo! Siu Keong..........

Catch & Release.............

These were some of the catches during our trip here. Mostly, we practice catch and release but we did keep some for our pallet............

Some of the fauna and flora of Kamchatka......

The one thing most menacing we encountered - MOSQUITO ARMIES! We had to cover ourselves heavily with repellents especially during warm hours (like in the afternoon) when they are most active............. However, when it is cold, you can even pinch them with your fingers AND luckily, they are not the hazardous type like those in Malaysia where they carry the Malaria viruses...........

When the sun rose high in the sky,...... you actually can see fishes in the river.........

The local fisherman doing their rounds.......

Our Siu Keong from Macau trying to be Superman......Showing how tough he is swimming in icy cold waters melted upstream from the snowy mountains during summer now.......

The most wonderful thing that has happenned here that was not present in my previous Mongolia trip is that they had this portable Russian sauna tent called баня....... We were able to sweat it out as and when we like....... 'cos even during summer now, it is very cold during the day.

This is how the internal part of the portable Russian sauna tent looked like......

Getting yourself hot and saucy in here is really something out of this world.........

..... and jumping into the river is even more exhilarating...........

Please! No nudity here!!!!.......

Gosh! Common, editing won't help much!.....

Nightfall, peaceful and quite. Time really slows down here.........

Every day is another day to look forward to....... Will I be presented with a dream catch today. Am looking forward to a good catch.......

When the sky is clear, you can actually see the snow cap peaks far away.......

What a rare sight (at least for me it is), a grizzly bear encounter..........

Dolly varden char salt grilled the Japanese way........

Taste good indeed......... Emmm! Yummy!!

Up and down the river by boat scouting for good fishing grounds.............

Some fishing sites that we tried our luck on......

We were not disappointed at all. the river rewarded us with some Chery Salmons...........

Back to somewhere near our camp site......

...... we had even more fruitful catches by the river side near our camp site........

Plenty of King Salmons and Chery Salmons for the taking.......

A good size King Salmon...... it is one of the largest salmonid in the Peninsula of Kamchatka......

Every one was able to strike one or two of their dream fish........

Chinook or King Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) is also called blackmouth........

Distinguishable from other species by its black mouth and gums.......

My fishing guide Valentine........eventually felt ill due to our numerous trips up and down the rivers.........

A warm and friendly husband and wife team (I'm sorry I've forgotten his name) whose husband could speak splendid English had offered us hot tea and foods......

This couple were actually here trapping salmons with the gears below before our arrival. We had actually time and again accidentally caught our hooks in their traps........ Eventually, they offered to remove all their trappings and allowed us free movement in that area - what a wonderful kind hearted soul. The best people I've encountered..........