News - January, February and March 2006

News.
By Fishing Khao Lak.

January, February and March 2006:

First of all a very big apology from me for this very late news report!

The reason is because I have been fishing most of the time, and also Michael
and Jonas have been away on a trip of a lifetime to the Andaman Islands.
But more about that later.

Bungsam Lan has started to fish more like its usual self,
after being quite slow by its normal standards for January and February.
The action has been particularly slow in the mornings,
with the afternoons bringing most of the action.

When I say "slow", all our customers have caught
well over 100 kg each per day!

Some typical customer comments have been
whilst fighting the mighty Giant Mekong Catfish:

"Is it a mini–bus?"
"Is it a steam train?"
"Is it a submarine?"
"How do I stop this thing?"

Martin Led and his girlfriend Kia, both from Denmark
had a 2 day session at Bungsam Lan.

The first day was okay, with steady action, but the second day
was very slow until the evening when things really started to happen.
The best fish of the trip was this impressive Giant Mekong Catfish
which fell to Martin, who battled with the huge fish for over 30 minutes.

In one day at Bungsam Lan, we took over 86 fish
between 5 anglers, the average size being around 17 kg.
Andy and Mark from the UK took 40 Giant Mekong
and 2 Striped Catfish from their bungalow; not bad
when you consider that they only fished between 10:45am and 5:30pm!
They only had to quit because Andy´s hands were starting to bleed!

Fillip and Franz from Sweden on the next bungalow caught around 20
and 18 fish respectively, and Boo, also from Sweden
had to finish fishing early after a lengthy battle with a nice 26 Kg
Giant Mekong Catfish that seemed determined to try and free itself
in the pillars of the bungalow, which left Boo exhausted.

Michael from the USA landed a Giant Siamese Carp, during a busy day
when he and his family had constant action with the catfish right from the first cast.
Towards the end of the day he had to leave the fishing to his wife
and son Danny because his back was really starting to feel the strain,
after so many hard fought battles with the Mekong´s.

Anders Olsson, also from Sweden, had a great workout at Bungsam Lan
when he took 27 fish in a day. Great preparation for the next part of his holiday
which is a months training in a Thai Boxing camp!

Before going to Bungsam Lan, Anders and I had a couple of days at the jungle.
Anders landed a nice 2 Kg Giant Snakehead, which by the look
on his face in the photograph he was really pleased with!
We also caught a lot of small fish, but the best fish of the trip
was a splendid Giant Snakehead of 5 Kg.

A new hotspot at the jungle has produced some decent fish...

Tom from Blackburn in the UK had a nice fish of just over 2 kg,
Clause from Denmark also had one of 3 kg, American angler Bill
had a great fish of 4 kg and I managed to get a nice 2.5 kg specimen.

All these fish, plus many smaller ones have come from the same area.
The day Bill and I fished there, we had a 'mad hour' when it was strike after strike,
and I was gutted to lose a really good fish of around 5 kg that buried itself in the weed.

Bill also caught a lovely Giant Gourami of around 6 kg at Par Lai Lake in Phuket.

Speaking of which, Par Lai Lake has started to produce
some decent Striped Catfish after a bit of a lean spell.

Micke from Sweden had a great day when he decided to fish
especially for 'Cats' and took 2 fish, one of which weighed
around 13 kg, and the other around 11 kg.

During his 2 days at the lake, Micke also landed a good number of Pacus
to around 6 kg, a Striped Snakehead and a few smaller Striped Catfish.

The biggest Striped Catfish for a while fell to Italian angler Giordano Massari
with a specimen of around 20 kg. He also landed big Pacu,
Giant Gourami, Tilapia and Tarpon in the same day.

A huge Striped Catfish fell to Bob from Koh Samui
when he landed this incredible fish of around 18 kg.

Swedish angler Johan also took a very nice Striped Catfish of around 14 Kg
on quite a frustrating day when we lost a number of good fish.
The same day also produced another reasonable Catfish of around 6–7 kg.

Mike and Gareth from Hong Kong both had Pacus of over 6 kg,
plus quite a few others, a little smaller and Kevin from Malta
had 4 good fish, 3 Pacus over 5 kg, and also a nice Giant Gourami.

Andy and Mark from the UK also took some big Pacus, a Rohu,
2 big Striped Catfish, Tarpon and many Tilapia at the lake.

We would be very grateful to receive any photographs from any of our customers
that you would like us to consider for inclusion in our news articles
and in our Photo Gallery on this website.

The BIG NEWS here at Fishing Khao Lak
is that we now have another Big Game boat, "Reel Thing".

She is a 22ft Karnic powered by a 150hp Mercury Optimax outboard engine.
She also has a 5hp back–up engine.
The boat is 3 years old and has only done 300 hours;
the main engine has also just had a brand new gearbox!

As you might expect, she is fitted with top brand equipment and electronics.

The beauty about "Reel Thing" is that she can offer fishing trips
to the Islands, Surin Islands and Koh Rok as daytrips!

She is a great alternative when "Gecko" is fully booked,
for anglers operating on a smaller budget, or if you want
to fish the Islands or Surin and only have one day available.
She can cater for 3 passengers, fishing or non–fishing.

The size and maneuverability of "Reel Thing" makes her an ideal vessel
for popper casting and fly–fishing when you need to get close to rocks or F.A.D.´s.

Have a closer look at "Reel Thing" here ––>

Anders Tuvgren from Sweden managed to land a couple of Wahoo
and a load of small Tuna, just a few days before the first Sailfish was caught
and released onboard "Reel Thing" by Belgian angler Eddy Scheinpflug.

Eddy also landed a small Dorado and Skipjack Tuna on fly,
and was so pleased with his catch and the fishing trip overall
that he sent us this very nice email after returning to Belgium.

Bill from the USA had a few Yellowfin Tuna, along with a good number
of Skipjack Tuna and yet another Swedish angler, Martin Sahlberg,
also released a nice Sailfish from "Reel Thing" plus a very nice Dorado,
and a load of smaller Skipjack and Kawa Kawa Tuna.

As we all know, even new things can break down!

That unfortunately happened for "Reel Thing" in the middle of March,
when the gearbox on the main engine managed to shear teeth on the cogs.

For a few visiting anglers this came with such short notice
that the only options for us was to offer them the choice between a full refund
of their deposit or another boat with departure from Phuket,
but with Michael as fishing guide.

Our bigger boat, "Gecko", was busy in Thai waters during January.

Carmine and his father, both from America, were fishing the Islands
for 2 days, and caught a load of Yellowfin Tuna, a few Wahoo
and a beautiful 39lb Giant Trevally on a baited hook during the night.

Two Swiss gentlemen also fished the Islands for 2 days,
and had really good action with Yellowfin Tuna, Dorado, Wahoo
and a load of smaller Skipjack Tuna along the drop–off
between Phuket and the Islands.

After a nice dinner of BBQ Yellowfin Tuna and a few good bottles of wine,
the Shark fishing proved to be very good
with a catch and release of a 300lb Bull Shark.

The only downside was that the wine seemed to have left the anglers
a bit too tired to fight the shark, and our skipper Jonas,
therefore had the pleasure (and hard job) of bringing it
to the transom for release, on a 50lb stand–up outfit.

During February and March "Gecko" fished the magnificent Andaman Islands,
but the result of those months would be too much to include in this news update!

You will find a detailed report of the Hong Kong Mandarinás trip on this link ––>
and reports for Pia and Henrik Hansen´s trip, Apple and Simon Coe´s trip,
as well as Stefan Moestrom´s trip are to follow shortly.

Needless to say that most anglers who have fished the Andaman Islands
are desperate to go back again, and we have therefore decided
to extend our Andaman Island season, and fish these grounds
during November 2006, February, March and April 2007.

Another slight change for next season is that all trips are set up being 6–day trips,
which in our opinion clearly offers the most value–for–money.

Requests are already being made, and you should seriously consider
if you would like to be amongst the few anglers in the world
to visit these pristine fishing grounds next season.

We strongly recommend that you book now to avoid disappointment!

Our Andaman Island schedule for the 2006 – 2007 season will be as follows:

2006:
	Nov. 12:	Departure from Phuket.
	Nov. 14:	Arrival in Port Blair.
	Nov. 15:	Check–in & Refuel.
	Nov. 16 – 21:	Charter Group 1.
	Nov. 23 – 28:	Charter Group 2.
	Nov. 30 – Dec. 5:	Charter Group 3.
	Dec. 6:	Refuel & Check–out.
	Dec. 7:	Departure from Port Blair.
	Dec. 9:	Arrival in Phuket.

2007:
	Feb. 9:	Departure from Phuket.
	Feb. 11:	Arrival in Port Blair.
	Feb. 12:	Check–in & Refuel.
	Feb. 13 – 18:	Charter Group 1.
	Feb. 20 – 25:	Charter Group 2.
	Feb. 27 – Mar. 4:	Charter Group 3.
	Mar. 5:	Refuel & Check–out.
	Mar. 6:	Departure from Port Blair.
	Mar. 8:	Arrival in Phuket.

	Mar. 15:	Departure from Phuket.
	Mar. 17:	Arrival in Port Blair.
	Mar. 18:	Check–in & Refuel.
	Mar. 19 – 24:	Charter Group 4.
	Mar. 26 – 31:	Charter Group 5.
	Apr. 2 – 7:	Charter Group 6.
	Apr. 9 – 14:	Charter Group 7.
	Apr. 15:	Refuel & Check–out.
	Apr. 16:	Departure from Port Blair.
	Apr. 18:	Arrival in Phuket.

Book now or you won't get a place!!!

Tight Lines!

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