The Kenyir Lake is also a famous fishing ground. The lake is where hundreds of aquatic organisms including the fresh water fish, gather. Some of the fishes available here are in high demand. Kelah, the popular Malaysian Mahseer, Catfish Baung and Sebarau fetch a good market price. The Malysian Mahseer for instance can be easily sold for a price of between RM18 and RM25 perkilogram while the Tengas Daun, which is relatively rare can fetch for about RM18 perkilogram. BaunG can be sold at RM7 to RM8 perkilogram. Fish culture in net cages on a large scale have also shown tremendous success. Meanwhile, other species of fish which have a good market value are the Lampam Sungai, Toman , Tengas Daun and Kelisa. However there are other fish found in abundance but are of less commercial importance such as the Tapah, Terbul, Chemperas, Belida, Kepar, Rong Batu, Seluang, Lalang, Sia and many others.
Although several species of fish have been successfully cultered in cages in several places of the lake, nevertheless, a large number of species remain free in its natural habitat. Several fishing methods are practiced here but the popular ones are the hook and line and gill netting. Fishing is done by using a rod and line with a hook at the end. The bait is hooked on and placed in the water or thrown afar to attract the attention of the fish before it is rolled back. Young fish are often used as bait to catch fishes such as Baung, Sebarau, Toman and Belida.
Live young fish are usually hooked at the back with a hook and released in the water. It is left there for some time. This is the method usually used to catch the bigger species such as the Toman, Tapah or the Baung. Cast nets are used only for catching fish to be used as baits to catch bigger fish. Nevertheless there are several varieties of fish that do not fall for baits. Amongst thess are the Lampam Sungai, Terbul or the Kelisa. Other methods are therefore used to catch these fish such as gill nets or pukat. These nets vary in size depending on the type of fish. Most nets used are not less than 5cm to prevent smaller fish being trapped and destroyed needlessly. The carp, Shwanenfeldu's barb, the green arowana, the snakehead and the giant gouramy also fetch a good price. Hasselt's bony lipped barb, the indian river barb, and other carp for instance are found in abundance here. Although several species have been successfully cultered in cages, most of the fish here still live freely in their natural habitat.
The water temperature ranges from 23.0' to 33.8'Celcius. The dissolved oxygen vital for normal fish ranges between 6 to 7 mg/litre and decreases as the depth increases. The conductivity ranges between 21-56 uohm/cm, and is considered suitable for normal fish growth. From the research conducted by the Department of Fisheries, it was estimated that only about 2-3kg/ha or about 60-100 tons of fish can be exploited annually provided the productivity remain constant. In 1992, fish landings from the lake amounted to about 55 tons only. Most of the fish dwell in the rivers and in the vicinity of the river mouth areas where food can be found in abundance.
