News - April 2007 - Fishing Khao Lak

News.
By Fishing Khao Lak.

April 2007:

First of all another big apology again for the news being so late!!!

A trip to the jungle with Dutch anglers Joyce and Arthur got the fishing underway this
month. It was a beautiful day, and quite a lot of fish were showing. (Giant Snakeheads
are partial air breathers and have to rise to the surface occasionally to take in oxygen,
giving away their presence).
The fishing looked really promising when after only a few minutes, Arthur hooked into
this excellent Cobra Snakehead. Twenty minutes later, we lost a really good fish that
snagged itself on a submerged tree and broke the line. A short time after this, the heavens
opened and we made a dash back to the floating bungalows until the downpour had
finished. Usually after a heavy rain, the fishing can be excellent, but on this day it had the
opposite effect, and pretty much killed the fishing for the rest of the day.
Again on this trip, there were masses of Giant Snakeheads around, but throwing all
combinations of different lure types produced not too many strikes, but we did lose
another good fish right next to the boat. We had it in the net once, a nice fish of around 4
kilos, but amazingly the hook came out in the net, and the fish jumped straight out and
escaped back into the lake!
The trip produced a few small fish, and also this reasonable one for Joyce that came from
one of the rivers.

Chris Stout from Scotland tried his luck for the first time at Par Lai Lake in Phuket.
His luck was in when the first cast produced a nice Pacu of around 3.5 kilo before we had
even finished setting up! Traditional float fishing tactics started to produce loads of
decent sized Tilapia, and also this nice conditioned Rohu. The Pacu seemed to have
moved out of the area we were fishing, so I went on a scouting mission to see if I could
locate them. Around the back of the lake I spotted them no mistake, a large shoal of
around 40 fish all around the 5-6 kilo mark. I raced back to Chris and reeled in the lines
and we then both hurried to the area I had seen the fish. We carefully sneaked up and
both cast a line each into the middle of the shoal. Double hook-up immediately, but it was
short lived, as Chris’s hooked came out, and my fish broke the line against a snag. Bad
luck, but the speed and power of these fish on light tackle is brutal, and if the fish goes
the wrong way in the first few seconds of the fight, the odds are really against you.
The commotion of the fight spooked the shoal, and they disappeared immediately.

In the afternoon we decided to try for the massive Striped Catfish that are abundant in the
lake. We had our baits in place for over an hour, with only nuisance fish messing with
them. We were just about to go in hunt of the Pacu once more when one of the lines tore
off, and Chris hooked into a promising fish.
It was a good sized Striped Catfish that put up one hell of a good fight. We came close to
losing it once or twice as it tried to go down a narrow channel to our right, but thankfully
we managed to keep turning the fish before the point of no return. I was very relieved to
finally slip the net over this nice Striped Catfish.

Our good friend Roxy from America recommended one of her work colleagues Darryl
Cole to fish with us at Bungsam Lan Lake Bangkok this month. Darryl brought along his
young son for his first ever fishing trip, who was absolutely delighted to catch his first
fish, just have a look at the smile on the little boy’s face in this photograph. Lets hope he
has the fishing bug, and goes on to enjoy the great sport of angling in the years to come.
We only had a fairly short session, but the power of the few Giant Mekong Catfish Darryl
did land was enough to ensure he will be making a return visit to Bungsam Lan. Take a
look at this picture of Darryl with a nice conditioned averaged size Giant Mekong Catfish
anglers can expect to catch at this fantastic lake.

My next trip to Bungsam Lan was nothing short of incredible…!
Francis a Carp angler from the UK joined me for his first session at the Bangkok big fish
venue along with his Fiancée George. Francis has a very long list of big Carp under his
belt, including several UK and French 40lbs + specimens. It was a really hot day, which
usually means good action with the Catfish, and this was certainly the case on this day.
Within minutes we were into our first Striped Catfish of the day, a nice fish of around 10
kilos. A few more followed, and then the first of many Giant Mekong Catfish was landed.
Francis had asked me earlier about the chances of catching a Giant Siamese Carp, but I
wasn’t too confident because it was so hot and the Catfish were feeding so well. However
around midday, our bottom bait was taken. We didn’t notice at first as the fish swam
towards the left and wasn’t taking line from the reel. Francis picked up the rod and struck
into a good sized fish. Francis was playing the fish very well, so until the fish neared the
bungalow I wasn’t paying too much attention. I got the landing net ready and stood at the
edge of the bungalow preparing to slip the net under what I thought was going to be
another decent sized Giant Mekong Catfish…Neither I nor Francis had seen the fish at
this point, when I thought I caught a glimpse of a black colored tail. I mentioned to
Francis this, and the fact it may be a Giant Siamese Carp, but at this point I still wasn’t
sure. I was starting to get a little nervous, but after many false alarms whilst Carp fishing
at Bungsam Lan, I didn’t want to get Francis’s hopes up too much. The fish neared the
surface and I spotted the distinctive scales of a Giant Siamese. I told Francis it was
definitely a Carp, and a big one at that. The fish still had lots of power and was making
repeated strong staggered dives very close to the bungalow. The fish came up to the
surface and I was very alarmed to see the barb-less hook barely hanging in the fishes lip.
Now I was really nervous as I have seen so many of these awesome fish lost at this point
of the fight. I prepared to net the fish, but when the fish saw the landing net it seemed to
get a second wind and shot off once again. It really was heart in mouth time, and the
following seconds seemed like hours, I was praying the hook would hold! Thankfully I
eased the net over the defeated fish, which to its’ enormous credit had given everything
it had and more, during the fight.
We gave the fish time to recover (and our nerves!) and took several photographs before
releasing the fish. Francis had to go and get cleaned up in the showers, and whilst he was
there, George told me how much this would mean to him, landing a Carp of 38 kilos!
When Francis returned he said he was so happy and emotional he had actually shed a few
tears in the showers! Francis and George are backpacking at the moment, but he promises
to send me the photographs on his return to the UK...
The rest of the day was non-stop action with the Giant Mekong Catfish, with a few of the
Striped variety thrown in as well. Francis recorded the weight of all the fish caught
during the day, plus species and number of fish caught. The total result was a mind
blowing 1003 lbs of fish or 456 kilos! 7 Striped Catfish, 1 Giant Siamese Carp of 38
kilos, and 20 Giant Mekong Catfish, caught by one angler using one rod! Francis was
over the moon to say the least, and proclaimed it to have been bar far the best days
fishing he has ever had, and that from now on, no more Carp fishing holidays in France!

The next day Swedish angler Patrick joined me on the same Bungalow Francis and I had
fished from the day before. What a contrast. The fishing was much slower than the day
before, and we had to really work to get fish. It wasn’t until later in the afternoon when
the fish started to come regularly, although we had lost quiet a few fish earlier, due to
other fish pulling broken lines around with them, and cutting through our line.

A few changes have been made to the website:
We have added a Young Angler’s Page, and also a Lady Angler’s Page.
You can take a look by clicking the above links.

Any of our previous customers are very welcome to email their photographs to us if they
would like to have them entered into our Galleries.

The latest uploads page has also been updated; You can take a look at some of the
fantastic fish our customers have been catching over the last few months by clicking here.

Saltwater report to follow shortly...

Tight Lines!

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