The fishing may be better elsewhere, but you can’t beat the ambience and hospitality at Tasik Chenderoh. If you drive from Kuala Kangsar towards Gerik, Perak, you will come across signboards that announce the quaint names of local villages and towns — Sauk, Kati, Kampung Seterus and Changkat Duku, to name a few. Then you will see a row of stalls on the left, the makings of a future town. The sign tells you that you have reached Kampung Kelantan. Turn right into the village, drive along the narrow road to its end, and you’ll be rewarded with the panoramic vista of an emerald-green lake.
You have reached one of the oldest impoundments in the Peninsula — Tasik Chenderoh. The lake was built in the 1920s, during the colonial era when intense development was happening in our country. The Chenderoh Dam generated much-needed hydro-electric power to feed the hungry town of Ipoh and its attendant tin mines.
The lake is so old, the inundated stands of timber have all but disappeared save for stubborn stumps that lie just below the water surface, waiting for errant boatmen. The water is now a rich haven for aquatic life, especially the fishes.
It is a locally known fact that this lake produce fish that are far tastier than those from, say, Kenering and Temengor, further up north. Chenderoh is famous for its ikan pekasam, small fish like lomah and lampam preserved in rice paste.
It is ironic that for many years anglers have by-passed Chenderoh for the more “glamorous’’ lakes like Temenggor (errantly referred to as Banding, which is actually an island in the middle of the lake). Granted, the sportfish of Chenderoh — the toman, belida and sebarau — are generally smaller than in other bigger lakes, but they are compensated by the idyllic setting.
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