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Undeterred, like a robot, he continued firing out the baits. Unfortunately, not having me to pass the rod
to and torture, he insisted that my wife Dawn take over instead. I can tell you that by the time I got back
she was less than pleased. She'd had to bring in three big cats and he was just lining her up for a fourth.
My options then were either call an early finish and make the short run back to the hotel, or alter the set
up and try for the big carp, which, if you catch one every couple of days there is a result, and therefore
would virtually guarantee my arms getting a rest.
That unfortunately wasn't to be, as siamese carp swims need to be pre-baited just as carp swims do here
at home, so in the end it was an early bath.
They do regularly get hundred pound mekong catfish at Bungsamran. But with so many smaller fish
between forty and sixty pounds in the place, that's where the bulk of the action will obviously come
from.
Shadow Lake on the other hand is a totally different proposition, and therein lies the beauty of fishing
Thailand. The range of waters and species close to Bangkok is so vast, with many lakes specifically
leaning to one particular species or other, giving each water its own unique angle.
Arapaima to three hundred pounds are now available at a growing number of commercial waters there.
I specifically targeted them at Jurassic Fishing Park, mainly because that particular water also had a
very good head of siamese carp which I particularly wanted to catch, and in fact did catch to fifty five
pounds, having already caught pretty much everything else on offer over there apart from arapaima, a
fact which still needs to be remedied.
Ironically, I finally succeeded in ticking off my freshwater hundred pounder with a wild fish caught in
a wilderness location half a world away from the far east. Canada to be precise, fishing the mighty
Fraser River in British Columbia based at Chilliwack, where white sturgeon up to a thousand pounds
have been caught on rod and line, and where frighteningly, specimens up around two thousand pounds
are known to exist.
A location where all fish are tagged
and released by law, and where
statistically, one in every six sturgeon
caught will be a treble figure fish. The
big question then has to be, what are
the chances of catching half a dozen
fish in a session.
Obviously, this is all boat fishing, and
in terms of catching six fish in a day,
you would be extremely unlucky not
to succeed. That's not to say however
that you are guaranteed to crack the
ton. One day we had eleven fish
maxing out at around fifty pounds,
Siamese Carp
then on a subsequent day caught two
at one hundred pound plus as part of a
five fish haul. It's all about percentages. The more trips you put in, the greater the probability, obviously.
On the final day, Dave Devine who I was over there with and had already caught a one hundred and
twenty five pounder, decided to take his wife out for the day, so my missus was persuaded to jump
onboard in his place. She quite fancied catching a small sturgeon just to be able to say she'd had one.
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