INDIANANGLER

Here are some of my best catches on my month out in last December. Spent one week in Bungsamran/Bangkok and tried my hand at some river fishing on the Marikina River/Quezon City. The entire tilapia species had been wiped out by plecostomus but at least they do there bit cleaning up that dirty river. Truly one of the ugliest fish I've seen..

The Ludong fishing will have to wait another year due to strong hurricanes spoiling the fishing in many rivers in the Philippines.

Tackle:

6'6 G.Loomis 40-60lb Casting Rod
Shimano Trinidad TN40
100lb Dacron line
Weighted method feeder
6" Hook link
Size 1 Hook

Bait: Powdered rice husk, coconut cream and poly balls


Siamese Carp - 91lb



Mekong Catfish - 112lb



Plecostomus aka "Janitor Fish"



The Gear

There's a certain irony in having one unwelcome invasive species displaced by another unwelcome invader.
Not that it does the locals any good. At least they could get a decent feed out of a tilapia.
How much did it cost you to fish BSL ?
Been thinking of giving it a go myself so I'd welcome any information.

A 12hr rod licence for non-Thais is 1000Bht, bungalow hire is 500Bht upwards. Bait and lake guides are relatively cheaper, handy if you hook a fish bigger than yourself . You must buy the bait they provide which is quite a selection. For float fishing you're given the choice of using the bread pack (bread skin and coconut cream) or a small bucket of lum (rice husk) which you can mix with their caramel extract or coconut cream. 25kg sacks are also available for about 500Bht.

So all in all you're looking at £25-30 a day on a budget.

Great Fish mate.

Now I have a real reason to get to Thailand. :)

Thats some catch! Good show,thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Yaj.

Well done, thanks for sharing!
Regards
Owen

Wow, Very well done friend. Now this is some catch. I can only envy the fight the carp must have given you. Last time when I landed a Catla some one gave me the title of awesome ali but now happily I relinquish the title and with great pleasure give it to you. We crown you King of freshwater. Hi Awesome Carpenicus .

Good luck for further fishing. Tight Lines.

Ali…

Great catches from BungSamran!

I have been there twice, but have only managed Mekong catfish to 30-kg., on 30-lb mono. These brutes are tough. The initial runs are relatively 'lame', but once you get them near the chalet platform, you're into 'stand up' fight for up to an hour. Back breaking! Bruised family jewels too, if youre not careful!

What we do is go in a group and take turns, cos the bites can be frantic. If you are a group of 4, then you need only two rods out. In both my trips, the giant mekongs start biting after 3 pm, for some reason. That's when we bring out the 40-lb tackle. Even then, we lost the real biggies.

That Plecostomus fish is a real pest. Usually, it's imported via the aquarium trade, to serve as tank glass cleaners (they are suckers). Then, when they get too big and start sucking the bodies of the other fishes, the owners throw them in the drain/canal/river. Here, they thrive to the detriment of other species. Predators dont eat them: they're built like armadillos!

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Thanks very much for the kind comments fishers, and your praise is too much Ali. I was just fortunate enough to land a carp of such size through playing the waiting game and putting up with nuisance fish. I found fishing the bottom with constant groundbaiting attracted carp and larger catfish so despite the lack of runs/action of the usual floatfishing, the rewards were far greater.

Day 5. Having listened to the sound of the clicker all day with numerous missed strikes and runs I wasn't a happy bunny, with just a handful of nuisance striped catfish to show for. It was 6pm, the mosquitos started to zone it and bite and I couldn't feel any tension on the feeder. Time to rebait. Proceeded to mold another melon-sized ball of bait for the umpteenth time of the day and dropped it a few meters out. Barely thirty seconds passed before the clicker sprang into an almighty relentless pitch, spooling like i just foul hooked a peddycab riding a 40mph. Picked up the rod, flipped the strike on and set the hook firmly. At this moment I knew I was into something of considerable size. Strong sharp lunges that nearly pulled me off the hut and short rapid runs in all directions made it no doubt in my mind that it was a huge carp. The drag was on pretty high so I felt everything on the dacron line, that includes my rear end puckering up everytime the line went a bit slack and was then followed by another giant dive down. The fish surfaced several times showing its ghostly palour only to return below with a big tail splash once it realised this. After about 10mins I managed to instill some sort of control onto the fish and somehow guided it into the net splashing away. It was mine, and my guide was still nowhere to be seen.. My pointless waving in the night and pleas for help were met by silence as I proceeded to be bathed in lake water. And it was a good 20mins before I received any assistance! Still it was awe-inspiring to see such a stunning fish wallowing in a net as I lay on the deck smoking a ciggie. It was also kind enough to leave me one of its scales which I still have to this date.

Regards
Rich

Congrats Carpernicus, this is simply awsome. I am trying to imagine how it would have been (never caught a fish this big) Great fishing buddy and thanks for sharing.
Regards
Sualeh

I'd never thought I'd ever see 'Darth Vader-the origin' on IA! Damn, thats one ugly fish and armoured to boot? better a known devil than an unknown angel!
Carpernicus-great form mate and thanks for the post