REPORT
Jurassic Fishing Park
This month 49 eager anglers who heard the news of Jurassic Fishing Park’s stunning views coupled with prolific carp fishing and huge arapaima booked a fishing trip. One angler in particular who will have only great things to say about his Jurassic fishing experience is John Chapman. It is always advised to fish a couple of days if possible as of course this increases the chances of a catching one of Jurassic's many sought after giant arapaima; certainly they tend to be the target quarry of most anglers. For John his first day, first cast hooked up a cracking arapaima but having fallen to the carp rod the fight was a good forty minutes. A sweltering hot morning had John really work hard to tame his arapaima on such light tackle – even though at around 150lb not the biggest in the lake it was only due to John’s skill and patience with playing the fish that he landed it at all. For the rest of the first day John landed nine Siamese carp which in Thailand to catch nine Siamese carp in day is considered ‘bagging.’ John’s second day unbelievably put his first day to shame this time landing an incredible fifteen Siamese carp. The best part however was still to come in the form of one of Jurassic's bigger fish and put up a great fight. John was over the moon now and the remaining hours of the day were spent trying to work out if the last two days really happened. To everyone’s amazement John then went on to catch another arapaima at last knockings – in comparison to his last one it would be considered small at about 130lb and this time he took a picture of the gillies in the water holding it!
A heart-felt story ending in happiness rather than dread about a lost arapaima features John Smeg who had a life dream of catching a huge arapaima. First cast and bingo! John had hooked a big arapaima, his face lit up as the beast tore off across to the other side of the lake – quite unusual for an arapaima to take such a massive run. John then witnessed his own National Geographic documentary unfold before his very eyes as he was hosting his own show – the arapaima still on the far side leaped clean out of the water shaking its’ head in fury as it threw Johns’ hook back at him in disgust! Oh the emotional pain was unbearable for me let alone John – this was his big chance for a once in a lifetime dream catch and it just got away. There are no words to console an angler in that situation and trying to do so can dangerously come across as patronising - there is clearly a lot of psychology in angling! The only cure for this is to hook another one and land it. During the rest of the day John enjoyed action from ten Siamese carp and three Amazon redtail catfish; I think you know where this story is leading too and yes – John then hooked and landed an even bigger arapaima at last knockings! Well done John.
Bungsamran Lake
This month The Fish Thailand Team guided 44 anglers to Bungsamran Lake in Bangkok. The following testimonial and catch report was kindly written and sent to Fish Thailand by Steve Amer from Canada:
"Fantastic day at Bungsamran! My wife and I are avid anglers back home in Canada and have been dreaming of fishing for real river monsters in Thailand for a couple of years now....During our recent trip, we decided to stay in Bangkok for a couple of days just for the chance to try our hand with the help of the guys at Fish Thailand! Within an hour of arrival, we had each landed 40+ lb Mekong catfish, with the expert help of our excellent guide Alley...As we had only just arrived a day earlier, we were battling jet lag and the high temps and humidity were more than a minor shock to our systems, considering the -20 we had left to come here. We each caught 5 fish, before we had to call it a day and give into exhilarated exhaustion." |
