Former British barbel record holder Andy Harman has appeared several times in Fish Thailand's catch reports recently to the point where his latest achievement has earned himself his own dedicated report.
Firstly a brief look back at Andy's notable Thailand arapaima catches which includes a total of five big arapaima over three visits fishing in Thailand during 2012 including Thailand's biggest arapaima which this report is focused on:
January 2012: 300lb arapaima fishing in Bangkok at Bungsamran.
July 2012: 176lb arapaima from Jurassic Fishing Park.
November 2012: 450lb arapaima from Bungsamran Lake along with a 230lb & 110lb arapaima brace from Jurassic Fishing Park.
On November 4th 2012 Andy's latest visit to Bungsamran Lake slotted him in perfectly after keeping an eye on how heavily the arapaima had been targeted. If angling pressure builds up too much Andy will not fish for a specific fish such as this arapaima. The reports came back however that several anglers had fished but not caught and that in a few days time one of the anglers that failed the previous week was to return for another crack at the same fish Andy had his eyes on. This fish is no secret to the Thai fishing scene - it was caught by Sam Wakerley in January 2011 and was accepted amongst the angling world that at around 400lb+ it was the Thailand record. There were no known bigger arapaima stocked in any venue in the country and speculation had been made that it was possibly in the top few biggest in the world to be caught on rod and line.
With this head's up of when anglers had been fishing and to what success also with the knowledge of future visiting anglers Andy slotted his fishing trip in the 'void' of angling pressure perfectly which resulted in a run at 5:57p.m on 4th November 2012. Andy knew it was a good fish as it showed it's glory three times in the form of tail-walking displays before becoming heavily snagged for ten minutes. Luckily the fish was freed and the fight after one hour came to a finish after the fish was netted on the third attempt; an incredibly difficult operation to execute a netting of a 10ft long arapaima with a reverse gear.
Andy who clearly does his homework on selecting and targeting individual record fish saw the four red dots beside the arapaima's gill plate confirming that this was indeed the record fish that he was after. An estimate of 450lb was attached to this fish again making it the biggest arapaima ever caught in Thailand.
Andy's record fish quest is on-going in other countries for various species for which his success will surely be reported via global angling media at Andy's discretion. The Thailand chapter however is not closed as there are still record Siamese carp and Chao Phraya Catfish that Andy has his eyes on.
