INDIANANGLER

Dear All,

We read the trip report of Cavalier and I am really just adding more to it. On 13th/Monday, my son and I took a taxi to Bungsamran at around 8 am. Reached there and rented our tackle and hit the water by 9.30 am, with Poi – our guide.
Though Mekong catfish are bottom feeders, but due to the feeding profile of this park, they are quite ok with feeding at a suspended height of say 6 feet.
The bait itself is made of rice husk with essence added to it, a little bit of the park’s water and made into a ball the size double of a cricket ball. A naked hook the size of 3/0 Gammy is hung under the bait feeder.
On the 1st cast, the float bobbed and fish was on. A terrific fight and the sheer power of the fish gave me a totally different experience. Probably a 22 kg fish!!??!!
My son, who was fishing for the 1st time, on his first cast too got a bite and landed a 22 kg!!??!!
Poi our guide, would look at the fish and say 22kg. I think that’s because it’s the only English he knew as far as weights were concerned, with an occasional 25 kg. Since we did not have a weighing scale I leave it to you all to gauge/imagine what the weight could be.
By 2.30 we had exhausted 2 bags of bait (about 5 kg each bag), with every muscle aching, we called it a day and headed back home. Total count was about 8+ fish each landed and 4-5 lost.

Here are some photos taken:

View of the Water. Across you see, huts that can rented for 24 hours. And this place is open 24/7


1st hookup!!


My 1st Landed



1st Landed by Nishant - ever!!



Proud Angler


Another Fight


Double Fight


Double Display




Poi and I






There were actually 2 double hookups/fights and some terrific fights. Every kg added by Poi to 22 Poi's kg standard issue was double the effort.

The killer- when every muscle would be strained when the fish would decide to go under the platform, and then with the rod bent, with hardly 7 feet of line, you try to lift the fish back to the battle area.

In the end, if a reel sang, we would both try to pass on the rod to the other. It was that tiring. I am glad, I introduced my son to fishing in such a place and he is hooked to fishing as of now.


Cheers!!!

You rock big bro...

Hi Sam,

Sincere Apologies for not replying to your PM in time. Had not checked my private mail for a few days because of work pressure. Congrats, Great Fish. Nice to see that you had a fabulous time. I am sure you will agree that Bungsamran is worth a visit again.
Regards
Cavalier.

rockin' it in BKK, eh Sam!?
excellent fish, and congratulations on hooking a permanent fishing partner

Glad to see you land so many of them :) Even glad you had your son join you in this awesome sport. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully I will add this experience to my wishlist as well :)

Thanks for Sharing - DeZZ

congrats, nice catch.

You seem to have had a great day mate.
Well done, congrats.

Ravi

now that is MONSTER fish... Well done Sam.. Kudos to the son and hopes he joins the Pump House trips as well

Will give you a call soon...

Tight Lines & Good Fishing,
GRC

I wish I was there to watch and ofcourse catch one of these...am wondering if we should release some in pump house area but then we can't do that to this ecosystem

Congrats on both the counts, catching the amazing fish and doing it with your son...now, he can drive us to pump house
Was looking at the "double display" pic...father leading and son following

@Prashant - Thanks buddy

@cavalier - Thanks I was not to sure if I my trip was chalked out correct, luckly the professionalism in Bungsamran prevented any hitches. I agree its worth another trip. Its so so big, well organised and very addictive I think.......

@Bobby/Gavin - yeah, lets hope its permanent...

@teritex - Thanks for your wishes, with bangkok so accessable and cost reasonable at Bungsamran, it could be accessable to a lot of us here. Wish you a trip there soon!!

@king fisher/ravinp58 - thanks

@Ali Bhai - always ready to learn . Ok the hook length was 4" made of double braid (40 lbs). To reduce the weight of the hook, a couple of styrofoam balls (6mm) were inserted on the shaft of the hook thus make it easier for the hook to be inhaled.

Also, the bait ball would disintegrate in about 5 minutes, and thats when you got the bite. Infact, first 15 seconds to 2 minutes. Can you imagine the cloud. In UK I understand they are adding milk powder to increase the cloud.

Cheers!!

Cheers!!

Congrats for the nice catches. Thanks for sharing the pics.