Common Snakeheads - Part 1 - Location

Introduction

Known to locals as Haruan or Sang Yu, the Common Snakehead is the most commonly found in Malaysia. Their scientific name is Channa Striata. In other fish libraries, they are also known as Chevron or Striped snakeheads. The fish is highly prized as food & also eaten as a form of medicine. It is believed that consuming Common Snakeheads meat  boost healing rate for people after surgeries.

Notice the stripes on a Haruan?

They are mostly found in shallow fresh waters in both ponds, lakes & rivers but their preferred habitat is non-moving dead waters, especially swamps & stagnant streams. Being ambush predators, they like to hideout among bushes & shallow bank areas to prey on passing minnows, frogs, prawns & insects. The Haruan as we'll refer to them from here onward, is by nature an ambush hunter. They are capable of high speed precision attacks on lures & baits from stationary position. I've personally witnessed many times, them attacking my lure some 1 meter away. My favorite comment for Haruan is, "Torpedo attack" as they are known to launch their straight lined cylindrical bodies into high speed ramming action creating a V-shape wave on the surface straight at lures followed by a loud splash on the surface. Small Haruans have been known to be extremely aggressive (read: still naive & dumb) to attack lures as large as themselves & even larger causing the lures to hop on the surface. I have also observed Haruans taking lures in a very subtle manner where they would gently rise up to the surface on a 45° angle & gulp down a surface lure, especially, plastic frogs, much like a shark attack. It is common for Haruans to jump out of water chasing lures. There is now a trend for urban anglers to do Snakehead fishing at payponds but my focus here is on wild Haruans.

WORD OF CAUTION: Wild fishing is always fraught with dangers & risk as we are trudging in wild natural environment. Always wear protective gear such as Wellington boots, army style cargo pants, long sleeve shirt & caps or hats. In such wild environments, you are bound to encounter wild animals such as snakes, ants, lizards & even wild boars. Never go wild fishing alone unless you are well versed of the area.

How to Tell the Presence of Haruans.

The first thing to learn about Haruan fishing is NOT to throw a lure or live bait blindly into every inch of water, thereby wasting time & energy. You must learn to 'spot' them, hence the term, sight casting. Once you've located signs of Haruan presence, then only should you bombard the area with lures/baits. Here are some signs on how to spot a Haruan.

(A) Bubbles - Haruans being air breather, need to rise to the surface to gulp air once every few minutes. Looks for these signs around bushes, weeds near banks.

(B) Bow waves - in shallow waters, especially those less than 2ft deep, when a sizable fish moves around, you would notice a V-shape wave forming on the surface. These could be Haruans moving about.

(C) Sudden splashes - Haruans usually feed between the 3 hours after dawn & 3 hours before dusk, in Peninsula Malaysia, this is usually from 7am to 10am & 4pm to 7pm. This is the time when they go about attacking prey. If you notice sudden violent splashes on the surface, this is good indication of a Snakehead presence.

Where to find them.

Knowing how to tell their presence is only one of the key requirements. Knowing where they would be is another. Being ambush predators, they loves to hang out in underwater vegetation, both for shelter & to prey on small animals for food. I'll list down here some of the places I normally start looking.

Lily pond

(A) Banks - Haruan fishing is unique among other predatory fishes. They do not swim about in open waters but usually hang out near the banks or just 2 meter out from the banks. Focus your search around banks & patches of islands.

Bushy waters

(B) Bushes - I've hooked Haruans as big as a man's arm right smack on a patch of tall grassy bush with only about 1 feet of water. If you see such structures, don't be afraid to cast your bait there (provided it's rigged weedless). This could be Haruans who has a liking for surface animals, eg. frogs, insects or even baby snakes.

Semi dried ponds

(C) Connecting streams - Being ambush predators, Haruans do hang out at connecting water openings such as streams or even drains waiting to ambush tiny fishes flowing from the streams. This would be easy meal for them as the tiny fishes would be disoriented by the currents.

I will continue on the next part on baits for Haruan fishing.

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