Thailand Fishing Second Season – June 2007

Fishing Bung Sam Ran and
Fisherman's Paradise

This month we arrived in Bangkok for our second season of fishing and it’s been great so far, Thailand Fishing at its best. We started our season off at Bung Sam Ran, arrived early in the morning keen to get started and were extremely impressed by the massive upgrade to the entire complex. The facilities here are excellent and come under the category of  “highly recommended”.

This day we only fished two of the dozen rods brought over from New Zealand for our secong season of Fishing Thailand; we used TLD25 and Calcutter7000S reels. 

The fish at Bung Sam Ran are in excellent condition, almost fat enough to look as though they are breeding, but as this doesn’t happen at these lakes I can only put their condition down to the time of year. The fish we landed were Swai and Mekong Delta Catfish and they ranged between 18 and 35 kilos, they would certainly be classed as excellent fighting fish.

Of the 30 or so fish we landed on only one Rod, 25 were caught by me and rest by Liz, who seemed to spend more time lying in a hammock under the fan writing letters and sipping cold drinks, her idea of Thailand Fishing. It’s that kind of a place, when you’re ready to get serious with the fishing it’s right there at your fingertips, or you can just chill out and let the world go by.

Although we spent all day fishing at Bung San Ran we took time out on several occasions, visiting the coffee shop and to stroll along the recently upgraded boardwalks around the lake. So we weren’t fishing hard out all day, these fish put up a good fight and this is where our Black Magic stand up gear is so valuable, landing and releasing 30 fish in one day was more than enough to cope with.

Marc did spend an hour fishing with us first thing in the morning, but had to leave to do some work on the Solar Powered boat out at Fisherman’s Paradise, another Thailand Fishing venue, but more about that later. By the time he joined us in the afternoon we were quite happy to sit back and watch Marc and his friend land some very nice sized fish, the bigger fish seemed to come on later in the day.

Fisherman’s Paradise

Two days later, (had to have a one day break as our backs and arms were aching somewhat!), we took 4 rods and reels out to Fisherman’s Paradise to fish from the solar powered boat “SMV Nichada”. This would have to be the most harmonious way to experience Thailand Fishing, cruising on a 50-acre lake that is stocked with a selection of big exotic fish.

Just tying up to the jetty outside the Country Club so that the waiter could bring our lunch aboard provided a most interesting fishing interlude. We put two rods in the water and caught Swai, Tilapia and Java Barbs. As SMV Nichada runs on sunshine it is a very quiet way to troll for fish, in certain parts of the lake the smaller fish were meat balling, the sound of which brought on the larger fish.

Unfortunately on the 24kg stand up gear we were broken off twice with the big Mekong Delta Catfish hitting like express trains. On this particular lake the big fish do not bite but hit in a reel empting run. The strikes are as if one is trolling, even when fishing from the boat jetty.

This is by far the best Thailand Fishing we have experienced to date, and with the release of 300 more Arowana into the lake, along with the added 34 Arapaima and 4,000 Barramundi the fishing is unbelievable. I had four firsts within two hours fishing, but still waiting to get that first Arapaima. Never mind tomorrow is another day!

Angling Rules

Bruce Doncaster

www.kiwifishingbangkok.com