Fishing In Thailand Newsletter April 2016

Hi, and welcome to the April 2016 newsletter, our monthly roundup of news, catch reports and anything remotely connected to our little slice of paradise out here in Krabi, here at Gillhams fishing resorts.

April saw a new sponsor come onboard, and after some extensive fieldtesting we are extremely pleased to announce that Reuben Heaton are now our hook sponsors, with the superbly sharp and strong Eagle Claw hooks. We feel very fortunate to have the best sponsors backing us so that we can offer our customers the best possible chance of landing a fish of a lifetime. The Free Spirit rods are amazing, and I don’t think there is another rod out there that can be used 364 days of the year, in torrential rainstorms, then a five to six-month drought where the temperatures lakeside can rise to 45 degrees. Also the ongoing sponsorships or help from Catmaster Tackle, Fosters of Birmingham, G-Force, Spomb, Shimano, Solar Tackle, Reuben Heaton, Friendly Fisherman at Tunbridge Wells and Korda, are much appreciated, here at Gillhams fishing resorts.

 

Sticks continues to amaze us with his ability to hurt himself. This month’s injury was a rather unfortunate trip on a pallet in the boilie store, which led to a rather painful looking little toe, which managed to then stick out of his foot at 90 (ish) degrees. Being the clever chaps that we are, and with Sean leading the way, we YouTubed “how to fix a broken toe”. Shortly after and with only the odd blood curdling scream, we were then taping his straightened little toe next to the adjacent one. When the big dog heard of our medical procedure, he had a few words to say about it, and they are unrepeatable here. Suffice to say we won’t be doing anymore A&E procedures anymore, and we ended up taking Sticks to the hospital after, with a flea in our ear. We were expecting the worst when he jumped up on the pick-up for the Songkran festivities, but even after five or so hours of throwing water at people he managed to come unscathed, and we breathed a sigh of relief. The good news a couple of weeks later was that the specialist X-rayed his little toe again and confirmed that it had been reset perfectly, and the fractures lined up a treat! Even though our medical procedure was a success, as stated before, we won’t be carrying out any more.

We were still missing Chris and Lawrence from the guiding team, so Dale stepped in to give a hand. Quickly he seemed to get to grips with the whole thing, except sala 9. Marc Pickering was fishing in there and blew a whistle, as he had a fish on. Dale flew up there and prepared to net what turned out to be a pacu. With the fish coming in closer, Dale got ready to get in, only to somersault into the lake, disappearing under for a good 20 seconds. Marc said it was brilliant and the best thing he had seen in years.

April also saw a 20-year ambition of mine come true when I finally got to see my favourite band Iron Maiden play in Tokyo, Japan. I pretty much knew they were coming nearly two years before, but the lead singer Bruce Dickinson had a cancer scare, which delayed the tour by a year while he recovered, so I waited and prayed for his full recovery, not only for me but for his family and friends too! A long time before I had spoken to the big dog and asked him if he wanted to come along too, and he said, “Yes, and we’ll make a trip of it too!” So when the dates were finally announced, I sorted out my travel plans and Stuart sorted his and Benz’s.

To say I was nervous before the trip would be an understatement of the highest order. Everything happens to me, and this had the potential to go very wrong with me booking flights, hotels etc. Don’t forget I am the man who choked on pear drops (hard boiled sweets) whilst driving and ended up crashing my car and getting cut out by the fire brigade prior to an ambulance ride to A&E.

The first day came, and I left alone, as Stuart and Benz were going the following day. I left Krabi airport, flew to Kuala Lumpur, waited a few hours then flew KL to Tokyo. Remarkably I managed to get to the hotel without incident at 11.30pm and crashed out straight away. The next day I hooked up with a Canadian friend of mine, Kenny, and we spent the day together, ending up in the Robot restaurant, which is basically a crazy two-hour show with lots of neon lights and robots. I loved it! Following on from that, we did some sightseeing then met up with some more mates later in a rock pub.

The next day I met with Stuart and Benz, and we did a bit of sightseeing at the Skytree tower, which included a nice meal on the 32^nd floor and a visit to the aquarium. After that all three of us went to the first show in Tokyo, in what is normally a sumo wrestling venue. The show was great, and I don’t think I would be wrong if I said Stuart and Benz enjoyed it too. The next day we did our own things. I popped down to the hotel where the band were staying and spent an hour with Adrian Smith, one of the band’s guitarists, and a friend of mine I go fishing with when we get the chance. I left Adrian and went to the second show, meeting up with some friends before another superb show, and after that we went off to a sushi restaurant. The following day Stuart, Benz and I met up again and went to a well-known Buddhist temple called the Sensoji temple in the Asakusa area of Tokyo.

The following day Stuart and Benz made their way to Mount Fuji, and I probably flew over them on my way to China, as Iron Maiden were set to play their first ever gig in China, and that was to be in Beijing. It went OK other than the fact that it appeared I had also booked a flight back from Beijing to Tokyo a month later, which I didn’t realise I had done! On a personal level it was great to spend some real quality time with Stuart and Benz away from the ongoing pressures of work, and we all had a great time in Tokyo.

I landed safely, and even managed to get my 72-hour visa on leaving the airport. I was picked up by a car I had previously arranged with the hotel, but I didn’t realise I had booked a crazy taxi driver who blasted down the hard shoulder whilst sounding his horn as he went along. I thought I might be heading for another trip to A&E, but somehow we avoided a collision, and I arrived in one piece at the hotel. Then it was straight down with the bags and off out to meet up with my friend Kenny again. We headed straight for Tiananmen Square in order to get all the tourist photos of that very eerie and historic place.

The next day was an early get up and meet up, as we headed straight for the Great Wall of China, another place I have wanted to go to for many years. We arrived, and it quickly became apparent that we would have to take a cable car to get to the wall, not something I found particularly exciting, as I have a fear of heights! We made it, and the Great Wall was an amazing thing to see, although a bit tiring on the legs. After that we whizzed back to Beijing, found the concert venue, and in a couple of hours we were honoured to see the first ever Maiden show in China. There was a lot of talk beforehand about whether the show would actually go ahead or if it would be stopped after an hour by the communist officials. There was talk of the crowd being very subdued and only standing up to applaud at the end of each song. However, none of this happened, and the show was amazing, as were the crowd. I think the gig surprised everyone including the band members, and it was hailed as a success.

With just one day left and my friend heading for Shanghai, I made my way around Beijing looking at further tourist attractions before I had to check out of the hotel and make my way to the airport for a 2am flight back to Kuala Lumpur and then on to Krabi.

The whole trip was great; Japan was amazing, and China was interesting. Clearly the people of China had not seen many Westerners, as they stared at us all the time and asked us if they could take photos of us. The other thing they did was try to overcharge us for absolutely everything, and by percentages of up to 500%. We quickly realised this and told quite a few where to go with their prices, which did in fact lead to quite a lot of shouting at us, which was surprising. We were at the Great Wall and asked how much for two Snickers bars, the lady replied, “40 renminbi.” We burst out laughing, and I told her to get lost (not that she understood that). Instantly she started shouting at us as we walked away, which left loads of people staring at us. We stopped at a 7-11 on the way back to Beijing and bought two Snickers bars, which cost four renminbis each!

When the plane landed back in Krabi, I breathed a sigh of relief. I had done it – for me an epic set of events, which I had wanted to do for many years. I was so pleased with myself for actually managing to pull it all off that I treated myself to a Singha beer as I waited for my girlfriend to come in a taxi to pick me up.

Right that’s enough of my ramblings, so let’s get down to the serious business of the fishing and the profound effect the weather has had on it this month. The big dog wants a word about it, so here’s what he has to say about the last month:

The heatwave in Thailand continues; this month has seen the hottest ever recorded. We have been experiencing temperatures of 47c, and the water in the lake, which is normally constant at 24c has been reaching 34c. The fish here can cope with extreme temperatures, but they become lethargic, and like us when it’s hot they don’t feel like eating as much. A lot of anglers seem to think that if the fishing is slow you must put more bait in when in fact you need to be feeding a lot less. Let’s put it in terms we can relate to… You have just eaten a large meal and the waiter brings you the same again. Your response is, “No thanks, I am stuffed.” Now if the waiter had offered you an After Eight mint, you would take it.

We have been trying to encourage anglers to use small baits fished in conjunction with a very small PVA bag of stick pellet. When we have managed to convince anglers to do this, the catch rates have improved – not dramatically, but enough. Then someone sees a few more fish coming to the bank and baits heavily again, thinking the fish are feeding properly again, resulting in the fishing going tough again. A perfect example was that there were no Siamese carp out for seven days, then everyone started feeding lightly, and ten were out in two days. A couple of anglers fed heavily hoping to attract the lion’s share, and away we go again – no Siamese carp out! We want everyone to catch fish here; we hate to see the fishing tough. We can’t control the weather, but we can control the amount of feed if people listen. As we tell everyone visiting here to listen to our guides, as they are here 24/7 and they want you to catch fish.

On a brighter note the meteorological office are predicting the heatwave to finish by the end of May. We have just gone through a 28-year El Nino, and this has disrupted weather patterns worldwide for the last two years. This weather cycle ends mid-May, so hopefully things will return to normal very soon and we can expect some bumper carp catches once this happens.

Right back to me (Spug) again: So there you have it; we don’t lie about what has been caught here. It has been the worst month in ten years, due to that 28-year weather cycle, which as I sit here typing this, should end within the next two or three weeks. But to put that into perspective, out of the 314 fish landed this month, 42 were between 100lb and 200lb, seven were between 200lb and 300lb and one of just over 500lb. Now that is still a lot of big fish in my eyes. You might think I am biased, and maybe I am a bit, but I don’t think there is another lake anywhere on planet Earth that when it fishes the worst it ever has, still averages more than 1.5 fish over a 100lb every day! So when it comes to fishing in Thailand, Gillhams fishing resorts is still your number one choice!

When we first started travelling to France to catch carp 20 years ago, we booked what we thought was the best place in France to catch some monster carp as easily as possible. The lake in question was Les Quis. We went there and caught nothing, but we saw a few monsters get caught, so we went back again and caught nothing again! It wasn’t until the third trip that I caught, and luckily for me, my second fish was a monster of 45lb, which at the time (1996) was still considered a big carp in France. The point I am making is, although we struggled to start off with, we liked the staff and the place so much that we went back for more, and that has been the thing that has really shone through here in the last month. Put simply, even though the fishing has been hard, quite a few “first-time” customers have rebooked to have another go because they fell in love with everything about the place – the scenery, the swimming pool etc. They saw the odd monster come out too, and they were really happy with the effort the guides made to catch them fish. Stuart (being Stuart) has helped many customers as well by letting them have a third rod for free, or even in a couple of cases letting people stay another night free of charge. You could see that customers really respected and appreciated this, and it shows how passionate we are here about the people who come here to visit us and seeing them catch the fish of a lifetime. It really has been hard work for the guides in searing desert-like temperatures, and I think hats off to them, for keeping people’s spirits up and catching a few as well.

So having said all of that, here are this month’s figures and a few catch reports to go with it!

The anglers who visited us for the exotic fishing in Thailand,  had some “steady” fishing in Krabi this month with a total of 314 fish caught of 19 species, made up as follows: 11 arapaima to 520lb, one alligator gar of 50lb, 94 Amazon redtail catfish to 85lb, 21 Asian redtail catfish to 40lb, 33 black pacu to 50lb, one Chao Phraya catfish of 120lb, 35 Julian’s golden carp to 40lb, 40 Mekong catfish to 250lb, two red bellied pacu to 18lb, 54 Siamese carp to 150lb, seven arawana to 10lb, one ripsaw catfish of 20lb, six giant freshwater stingray to 140lb, one Amazon stingray 40lb, three spotted featherbacks to 8lb, two wallago leeri to 32lb, one tambaqui of 30lbs, three Nile perch to 10lb and one giant featherback of 10lbs.

Late March saw the return of Dean and Jenni Handley. If you went to the Brentwood Carp Show or the Big One at Farnborough you may have seen them on the Gillham’s stand. Regulars to the resort, they always seem to catch a few and enjoy their time here. It’s always nice to see these childhood sweethearts turn up because they are always laughing and joking and in good spirits no matter what is happening. Even if it’s flipping hot and the fish are a little slower than normal, they’re just the same; they never say a bad word about anyone, and they just love their fishing. They started their trip off on the Sala bank in swims 3 and 5. The weather was very hot at the time, and the Julian golden carp were loving it a lot more than the Siamese carp were, hence the first fish they landed was a Julian golden carp of 15lb, which fell to Jenni’s rods. Dean was the next to see a fish when he landed a big head carp of 28lb, but Jenni was the happiest because she landed a snakehead, albeit a small one, but it was a new species for her hence the big cheesy grin that night! Then they had a quiet day so decided to move, and as one of their favourite swims, Sala 2, became available, that was where they moved to.

Jenni kicked things off in style, as on the first day she landed a 65lb Amazon red tail catfish, and then the following day landed a 120lb Siamese carp, which happened to be her fourth over 100lb. That day Dean landed a 30lb Asian red tail catfish, whilst Jenni had been having fun watching one of our giant freshwater stingrays feeding in the shallow water by the lake outlet. Dean filmed the whole thing, and we popped it up on YouTube and our Facebook page, and with four days it had over 4500 views – impressive stuff!

April Fool’s Day saw a change of swim for our laughing piscators, and Dean landed a 45lb Amazon red tail catfish, but Jenni was the happier of the two, as she landed another new species for her when a small Nile perch slipped up and ended up in her net.

The next big beaming smile belonged to Dean, as he netted a superb 40lb Julians golden carp early the following morning, but Jenni was on his tail, as she then landed a Siamese carp of 75lb, and the friendly rivalry between the two of them continued. As the temperature rose that day, it was Dean’s rods that rattled off next, and he was seen shortly after, grinning behind a Siamese carp at a very nice weight of 105lb. Not to be outdone, his better half Jenni then hung on as a 65lb Siamese carp picked her bait up and made a desperate attempt for freedom, but it failed. The move had certainly paid off for them, and the fish were coming thick and fast compared to the start of their holiday.

After a night on the town, the two of them were back in the swim, slightly late it has to be said, the following morning, and Dean was the first to score when he landed another Julians golden carp, although smaller this time at 20lb. They thought the day would be a busy one again, but alas it turned out to be quiet for them, and it wasn’t until the next day that things got busy again. Jenni was the first to get amongst the action when she landed a Siamese carp 0f 50lb, which Dean followed with another one at 70lb and then an Amazon red tail catfish of 50lb. After that they were off out again to a great local steak house called Wannas, and for about the first time ever, you could see a hint of tiredness on Jenni’s face, something that you don’t see that often! The fishing had certainly picked up for them, and their penultimate day saw Jenni land an 80lb Siamese carp and Dean land a 90lb Siamese carp. They finished off in style when Jenni landed an Asian red tail catfish of 40lb, and Dean then landed an 85lb Siamese before Jenni finished off proceedings with a 40lb Siamese carp.

 

Pete Gregory and his wife Helen fancied a bit of fishing in Thailand for a couple of weeks, and a bit of rest and relaxation… well, that was the plan anyway! Pete is a greatly respected and very capable angler who loves catching all species of fish, and he seems to do a very good job of it too. Pete started off in Sala 1, and quite quickly he landed a 45lb Amazon red tail catfish, which he seemed to enjoy greatly, and he was impressed with the power of the fish. However, his luck didn’t end there, and later that day he caught an Asian red tail catfish of 35lbs and a respectable Siamese carp at 75lbs. He had made a cracking start, but he kept his foot on the pedal and carried on fishing hard whilst a few of the anglers around him ran for the pool in the heat! The effort paid off, and the next day was a busy one where the Amazon red tail catfish were keeping him busy, and he landed three weighing 60lb, 40lb and 50lb respectively. Pete was absolutely loving the red tails, and he set his stall out to go for them.

Back in the swim nice and early the following, morning Pete’s willingness to catch then was obvious for all to see, as at literally 7.05am (five minutes into the day’s fishing) he had two on at once, and as Gollock was landing one for him, the customer in the swim next door was hanging onto his other rod as they attempted to land both of them at the same, but alas the other one managed to get away. The fish that was landed weighed a healthy 60lbs, and with the fish safely photographed and returned, Pete got his rods back in, only for utter chaos to rain down on him. In the next four hours he lost two and landed a further four weighing 50lb, 40lb, 35lb and 50lb, making it a total of seven runs before lunch! After lunch he landed another one of 55lb, and then he had a couple of days off from the fishing and did a spot of sightseeing with the wife, still with a big grin on his face!

Once he was back in the saddle again, Pete popped up in swim E3, and the next thing we knew he battling a giant freshwater stingray, which he then landed at a mouth-watering 140lb, which I think led to a straight trip to the pool to cool down a bit. The fishing then slowed down a bit, and Pete managed a couple of 60lb Amazon red tail catfish in the following two days before he had another break doing the touristy bit before he settled down for his final push. The last but one day saw him land a 70lb lump of an Amazon red tail catfish, which kept the fire burning nicely for his last day’s fishing, where he went on to land four more Amazon red tail catfish of 30lb, 40lb, 40lb and another clonker at 70lb! What a superb haul of Amazon redtail catfish, and Pete loved every minute of it!

 

Gareth and Ria Luckett like to leave Australia at least once a year and have a little bit of a fishing adventure here at Gillhams fishing resorts. This April however things were a little different, as Gareth’s dad Tony fancied a spot of fishing in Thailand too! Gareth and Ria started off their fishing in swim A1 and Tony went into A3. The first couple of days were a bit on the slow side for Gareth and Ria however, but Tony helped himself to a spotted sorubim of 15lb, and then the three of them decided to spend a few hours up the top lake where Ria landed two Amazon redtail catfish and a Julians golden carp. Tony landed a beautiful Siamese carp of around 15lb and a Julians golden carp whilst Gareth landed an arawana, then they all came back grinning like Cheshire cats. The following was another quiet day in the searing heat, so they popped up the top lake again, where Gareth then landed two Amazon red tail catfish and an arawana, and then Ria landed a Julians golden carp for good measure.

Things changed the next day for Gareth as the Amazon red tail catfish went a little crazy in his swim and he popped four in the net at 40lb, 40lb, 45lb and 50lb, then Ria landed an Asian red tail catfish around 10lb. Tony then helped himself to an Asian red tail catfish the morning after, which Gareth followed with an arawana of 5lb. Not to be outdone by the boys, Ria then caught a Nile perch, but the fish of the day went to Gareth as he landed a new PB Amazon redtail catfish of 65lb. Tony was the next to land an Amazon redtail catfish the morning after at 50lb and then they decided to move swims.

Having had their fill of red tails, they all decided to move up towards swims D/E, as they wanted to get amongst the Siamese carp and maybe a Mekong catfish, as a couple of swims became free with anglers leaving. This turned out to be a good idea, as Gareth then landed three Siamese carp of 55lb, 95lb and 45lb. Ria’s rod then ripped off with a Siamese carp of 40lb, before Gareth then popped up to the top lake again for an hour or so where he landed two pacus and a Julians golden carp, before returning and helping himself to another Amazon red tail catfish of 50lb – all in all quite a busy day for him.

The penultimate day’s fishing was a superb one, as Gareth broke his PB for a Mekong catfish with a superb fish of 140lb and then landed another one of the same size after that. Ria then landed a 75lb Siamese carp, and Gareth responded with a Siamese carp of 60lb. Then Ria showed him who’s really boss, as she landed a PB Siamese carp of 80lb!

Whilst all this was going on, Tony had a little trip up the top lake and helped himself to a superb Siamese carp of around 15lb and then a pacu. Their last day started with another Mekong catfish for Gareth, this time weighing slightly less at 100lb, and then three Siamese carp at 25lb, 45lb and then a clonking one at 120lb, which was a new PB for him. The final fish of the trip was an Asian red tail catfish of 20lb, which also fell to Gareth’s rods, before they left us the following morning.

 

Neil Cobley paid a return visit in April, and he came along with his dad, wife, son and daughter. They had arrived in Thailand about ten days before and had enjoyed a bit of pool time and a spot of fishing before arriving here. Notably Neil landed an enormous stingray from the river, which he was really pleased about.

So the Cobleys arrived full of beans and looking forward to some good days’ fishing. Neil and dad Peter started off around the B/C bungalow area, and it didn’t take long before Neil was away with a Siamese carp around the 60lb mark, and a couple of hours later Peter landed one too, this time at 50lb. The next day Neil hooked a hard-fighting fish in the middle of a short, but very welcome, rainstorm. It was clear the fish was a Mekong catfish, and after a battle royale, a beast of a fish weighing around 215lb eventually went into the net, Neil was pleased, as this was a PB for him. However, Peter wasn’t going to be left out, as he landed a couple of Siamese carp around the 50lb mark before Neil banked one of around 45lbs. With the fishing going so well, I think it was a bit of a surprise to them that the next day was a quiet one with no fish were landed, which may have been because they went out for the day. However, things went a little crazy the next day when in a four-hour period Neil (with some help from his son Ethan) landed seven Siamese carp to 80lbs in a crazy spell. All but one of the fish landed were 50lb or more, making it quite a haul in their swim. Peter’s swim was a little quieter, but he was pleased with a 40lb’er that afternoon.

The whole holiday had been quite a success, and you could tell that all of them had enjoyed themselves, almost as much as Ethan enjoyed cartons of apple juice! But I think the fish that really topped the trip off for Neil was another PB, this time a Siamese carp weighing in at 130lbs. Neil got a great photo with his dad holding the fish together. He also banked another Siamese carp at 50lb that day, and then their fruitful but short stay with us was over, and they departed the next day and made their way home back to England.

 

Tony Winston came with some friends for a bit of a fishing holiday in early April. He really wanted a good-sized Amazon red tail catfish, and he made sure we knew about it too! Things didn’t go quite according to plan though, and his first fish was a fantastic giant freshwater stingray over the 100lb mark, which was a surprise for him, but he was absolutely made up and was blown away by the fight that ensued whilst trying to land it. The next thing we knew he had landed an arapaima weighing in at 150lbs, and he simply couldn’t believe it. The quest for an Amazon red tail catfish continued, but the next fish to come along was a Julians golden carp at a healthy weight of 26lbs, and although he was pleased with what he had caught he craved that Amazon red tail catfish. On his final night those dreams came true when he slipped the net under a cracking Amazon red tail catfish of 60lbs, and the grin on his face said it all. He has emailed us since returning home saying he’s planning his next trip already and can’t wait to get back!

 

Bob Gullick, his wife Angie and their daughter Esha came for a couple of weeks on a family holiday. Fishing wasn’t to be the main focus of their trip to Thailand; a family holiday was, so Bob only fished a few days. Over the course of those few days Bob landed a Julians golden carp weighing 25lb, three Siamese carp to 80lb and a nice Asian red tail, but the fish of the trip and the fish Bob was hoping for was a big Mekong catfish which he landed at 180lbs. In between fishing, Bob and his family enjoyed the elephant trekking and a chance to wash an elephant in the river after feeding some of the elephants. They all made it up to the top of the Tiger Temple unscathed, and without being robbed by the monkeys! They also enjoyed the beaches and the longtail boats a lot, and the kayaking went down very well too. Rumour has it that Esha caught a nice Julians golden carp up the top lake. She definitely made friends with Jack, and they were often seen playing and having fun in the pool. When they left us they said they had enjoyed themselves and enjoyed their family holiday together.

 

Rob Harrington and his mate Eugene came along with their families for few days’ fishing as part of a wider holiday throughout Thailand. The Essex boys were a couple of characters and of course came with flash haircuts. Rob and Eugene fished in Sala 1 and Sala 2, and Rob had the majority of the fish, which were Amazon red tail catfish, although Eugene did pop a nice Siamese carp out and then a superb Asian red tail catfish in the few days they were here. They laughed a lot, had a few beers, and we all ended up having the odd arm wrestle, so all in all just like being in deepest Essex then.

 

Lynn and Lloyd have been to see us a few times in the past, and they are lovely couple who love their fishing. They made a real effort to catch the fish, and their efforts were rewarded when they both had a Mekong catfish over the 100lb. Lyn did a sterling job playing hers, even though she previously suffered a back injury and was pleased with a nice Julians golden carp. Lloyd was also pleased with a good-sized Amazon red tail catfish.

 

Stretton Honor made a return visit to see us, this time bringing his wife and his mate Ash Cheshire. I thought the highlight of his trip would have been his first stingray over 100lb in the shape of a giant freshwater stingray weighing 110lb, which he angled for and caught quite quickly on his second or third day, but it wasn’t. Because although he always says he doesn’t want to catch any more Mekong catfish, quite simply he can’t help himself – they’re like a drug to him! The problem is that as he gets a little older, he’s starting to find them a bit of a struggle to get in, as strong as his big polar bear arms are. So now there comes the odd time where he has to pass the rod over for a quick breather during the fight. There’s no shame in this of course; we have seen much smaller and younger men do the same, but I know this annoys him, and I think he will soon target Siamese carp instead. So bearing in mind his love of Mekong, I think the highlight of his trip was split between a 240lb monster, which he caught on the bottom of the lake, and an even bigger one at 250lb, which he caught whilst using the float setup! Two amazing monsters to add to his already vast collection of Mekong photos, he did of course catch a few other including a stunning Julians golden carp. Ash had a slow start, but quickly sorted it out, and he pulled in three Mekong catfish over 100lb including a new PB around the 140lb mark.

Well that’s it for this month’s newsletter. Let’s hope the temperature drops soon… Oh, and by the way, did I tell you I went to Tokyo with the big dog to see Iron Maiden play? I probably did!! It was very exciting but a very tiring experience for me:

We’ll see you all again next month, with more news of rod-bending MONSTER fish action!

For those of you planning a return or first trip, please email Stuart gillhamsfishingresorts@gmail.com or phone +66 (0) 861644554, and please remember we are +6 hours GMT.

Best wishes and tight lines from us all at Gillhams, and we hope your next fish is the one of your dreams (which it probably will be if you come to Gillhams)!