I once joined a friend on a nighttime fishing escapade for eels at Kali Pelus in Kedung Paruk and Kali Wetan (Eastern River), bordering villages of Mersi and Kedung Paruk. We'd venture along Kali Bakal, west of the village, armed with torches and a 'bendho' to stun fish. Bendho is a Javanese style of a large-bladed knife for cutting wood.
Occasionally, we'd spot a snake slithering along the riverbank. These trips brought back memories of the distinctive smell of Ikan Uceng, a small striped fish. During dry seasons, these fish would abound in the river near our home, making them easy to catch. Fried crisp, it was absolutely delicious. Catfish were also plentiful behind the small waterfall back then. While fishing has never been my passion, I've always found it fascinating to watch people fishing or casting nets in rivers and lakes. Similarly, I've never witnessed a fishing competition in a pond, to my knowledge
It was not so easy to find the location of the Cibubur Telaga Fishing Pool because of the absence of adequate road directions, so I got lost several times inside the Buperta complex, before finally finding an entrance that ended in a large parking area. The photo above was taken from the parking lot. It started because I almost always encountered difficulties when visiting a place like this which made me always try to mark GPS location of every place I visited.
The large fishing pond is on the right side of the parking area. Every month, new fish are always added to the Cibubur Telaga Fishing Pond, which weigh up to 50 tons, all of which are goldfish. The fishing competition starts at exactly 3pm and ends 3 hours later. The stalls are drawn ten minutes before the race starts. At that time the participants were charged Rp. 250,000 for the red ticket, and Rp. 200,000 for a regular ticket. This ticket is valid from Sunday to Friday, while on Saturdays the ticket price can soar like crazy.
Entered the canteen, that's the first thing I did after arriving at the Cibubur Telaga Fishing Pond area. Filling my stomach up of course, with home cooking that could be selected according to taste, accompanied by a glass of hot bitter tea. The service was fast, the canteen was clean, and the taste of the food matches my taste. The prices were also reasonable. Although it couldn't be said that it's busy because fishing time has not yet arrived, there were enough people who were busy preparing the bait to be used later.
The Cibubur Telaga Fishing Pool area was still empty. There were two fishing lanes facing each other rather far, with 49 stalls each. In the center was a bit large pipeline with pumps placed every few meters to regulate the circulation of water and oxygen. In the right lane, you could see a number of caddies were working with joy. They helped the anglers to prepare the bait that would be used during the race. The victory in the competition starts from serious preparations made in mixing the bait.
At that time a caddy was cutting squid for bait, assisted by a friend. There's a certain mixture added to the bait to make it more juicy and quicker to catch the fish. The intelligence of concocting bait is believed to be able to determine the success of the player. While watching them working, a kedi said that the Cibubur Telaga Fishing Pool was very deep.
I nodded, but when he added that even cars could enter the pond, even the whole company could enter into it, I just realized what he meant by "very deep". The difference between competition and gambling is often very thin. Competitions can be contested, and gambling can be contested. The choice and control rests in the persons.
On the wall of the pond's office there's a white board with writing that read "Prize Percentage", with details of the percentage of prize that will be received by participants based on certain criteria with two categories of participants: 41-55 and 56-98. Number 98 is the number of fishing rods (fishing stalls) available. The prize calculation is a bit complicated for me who's seeing this type of fishing game with prizes for the first time.
There were terms Parent 1 to 4, Red, Total, 5 Kg, Towil, Red Bonus, and Kumpay Bonus. Even though it's complicated, it seems fun too. I don't know how many life dramas had taken place in this place, because the Cibubur Pond Fishing Center has been operating since 2002.
The most busy and exciting day seems to be Saturday, because the prizes up for grabs can be very large, tens of millions. To rent 2 rods, participants may spend Rp. 1.9 million. Sometimes paying Rp. 1.2 million for 1 fishing rod, and sometimes up to Rp. 5 million. The money is big enough that within 3 hours can disappear, or it could be doubled in size.
The address of Cibubur Telaga Fishing Pond is at Buperta complex, Cibubur, East Jakarta. GPS Location : -6.368902, 106.900277, Waze. Open : 15.00 - 18.00.
Label: East Jakarta, Fishing, Jakarta, Travel
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