Fishing in Bangkok at Bungsamran Lake
Mal came fishing in Thailand for his first time for a Thailand fishing holiday, covering five venues and fishing a variety of styles & techniques. Beginning the fishing holiday at Bungsamran Mal was straight away into plenty of Mekong catfish to 45lb, throughout the day Mal enjoyed this action. At 5p.m the float registered a lift bite and began to glide across the surface - a sign of a bigger catfish. Mal reeled down and hit the run immediately connecting with a much bigger Mekong catfish. As the minutes ticked away Mal new he was into something very special as he concentrated on not letting the fish take the advantage. Forty minutes had passed by now and the mighty Mekong was wallowing around the margins, being allowed to be pumped up higher in the water column until shortly afterwards it was netted. At 140lb this is indeed a fabulous start to Mal's Thailand fishing holiday, there was one more day at Bungsamran later on in the fishing holiday; we would use that day to target the Siamese carp.
Lure & Fly Fishing in Thailand for Barramundi
Day two of Mal's Thailand fishing holiday took place barramundi fishing at Boon Mar Ponds. A selection of tackle was brought along for Mal to choose, a fixed spool lure setup, a baitcaster lure setup and a fly setup. With the jungle fishing safari coming up soon it was a great chance for Mal to use the baitcaster to become familiar with the casting in preparation. The barramundi responded well throughout the day and averaged 8lb-10lb, many caught on top-waters lures such as poppers. The fly setup also got a lot of use with Mal enjoying the sport from fly caught barramundi. Next stop the jungle and Mal is more than ready with accurate casting and good popping skills.
Snakehead Fishing Thailand at Khao Laem Dam
The three day lure fishing adventure to the Thai jungle began quite slow on the first afternoon but things changed by the following morning. Mal straight away took a good sized striped snakehead on the popper followed by three giant snakehead. Mal was next after a jungle perch (hampala barb) which came later that day, again to popper. With his casting getting really good, Mal found he was accurately landing his lure on big rising snakehead and a couple of times was getting vicious strikes from big fish, although completely missing the lure by mere centimeters - very frustrating! The third and final morning and red hot conditions produced another two jungle perch, one of which was 3lb and one giant snakehead. Over the days Mal had enticed over 40 strikes from snakehead and jungle perch, landing 10 - typical statistics with surface lure fishing.
Shadow Lake Produces 39lb Striped Catfish
Famous for its' record striped catfish, today was spent fishing in Bangkok at Shadow Lake. Using a setup similar to a heavy UK carp setup these striped catfish give excellent sport & super fast runs. Legering two rods with different baits and supported by a rod pod \ bite alarm setup, we were confident of few fish today. It didn't take long and Mal was into his first few striped catfish, infact they were feeding very well with Mal landing 15 striped catfish to 39lb including 7 others over 30lb, also 3 small Mekong catfish. One of the last fish of the day was a bonus Siamese carp of about 16lb, a new species for Mal and one he very much was after.
Back to Bungsamran - This Time for BIG Siamese Carp
The second and final day's fishing to Bungsamran before going to IT Lake Monsters was in search of big Siamese carp. The previous day Mal landed a lovely 16lb Siamese carp from Shadow Lake and Bungsamran is the venue to try and better this weight; although one day fishing for them at not the best time of year was to be a true challenge with the odds against. Several average Mekong catfish around the 40lb mark were caught along with a few small striped catfish but up until lunch time no carp. Fish Thailand guides are guiding at Bungsamran most days of the year and know where carp are crashing and/or feeding, the swim Mal fished today was full of carp crashing close into the margins and there was a chance at them. A few more hours passed before the next run produced a good fish, fighting very much like a big Siamese carp. As Mal played the fish in nearer it was clear it definitely was one; now with his heart in his mouth Mal played the fish in to the waiting net and cheer of joy was cried! At 101lb this is truly an enormous Siamese carp and a great result for a single day's fishing.
Predator Fishing in Thailand at IT Lake Monsters
The lake of monsters is home to all kinds of Amazon and Thai predatory fish species and a great place to experience Amazonian fishing in Thailand. Setup with two medium outfits freelining dead and live baits quickly produced a string Amazon redtail catfish to 38lb, followed by a gorgeous Thai redtail catfish. Another extremely hot day but with no other fishermen on the lake it was possible to fish from the most shaded spots. Mal was really after an alligator gar which really should not have been a problem at all considering that there has never before been a day where one is not caught. Mal was working his way through a list of spices landing Amazon redtail's, Thai redtails, a black catfish, some pacu, redtail\tiger hybids, a lovely Chao Phraya catfish and even an Indian carp (rohu)! This was the first time a rohu had been caught on deadbait from IT Lake, maybe from anywhere in fact; being a herbivorous feeder this was an extremely unlikely catch. Even with these species and a total of 30 fish caught the alligator gar would just not feed and defeated us eventually just before Mal pulled out one last Amazon redtail catfish in the pouring rain - weighing in a 50lb.
Summary
Mal landed 14 different species of fish totally 137 fish in total for approximately 3330lb in weight. Two fish over 100lb were landed, one was a carp at 101lb and the other was a 140lb Mekong catfish.
