Hi, all. Time just seems to fly – no sooner have I finished one newsletter than it’s time to start the next one. Once again the fishing in Thailand has been good with many new and existing clients coming fishing in Krabi. The weather has been strange – we get several nice sunny days and then it pours down for a few days. It seems that every time we start to work on the new lake and extension of the existing lake the heavens open up and stop work again. Despite this we have finished digging the new lure and fly fishing lake; it is now full of water and 50% landscaped.
While we were landscaping nice guy Richard Larkin actually made somebody cry. It was Jack’s nanny as she walked on Richards freshly laid grass in his beloved garden. As Richard shouted in the most polite possible way get off the bloody grass, the poor girl burst into tears and ran away! We intend to stock the lake within the next six weeks. We will be stocking golden dorado, peacock bass, giant snakehead, Nile perch, arawana, Chinese seerfish, Amazon red tail catfish, pacu and barramundi, in keeping with the Gillhams tradition of ‘you never know what the hell you are going to catch next’. Ok, it wont have 48 species like the main fishing lake, but if we can locate any other weird and wonderful fish from around the globe then they will be added; we would like to try for at least 15 different lure grabbing species.
At the end of May Joel Fennell organized a delivery of Nash bait and flavours for his trip here in June. Also in the consignment was bait for Gary Bayes of Nashbait and flavours and pop-ups for us. We also had curry and custard powders, tea bags, Richworth flavours and more pop-ups. Joel had trusted a mate in the UK to ship the goods for him; the bloke just took his money and ran leaving the whole consignment to gather dust in Bangkok customs. After numerous phone calls and much work by us we finally got the goods cleared and they arrived 12 weeks late. Better late than never I suppose, but at least now Gillhams’ boilie production is back in full swing and Gary and Joel have enough bait to raise the lake by a metre!
No fishing for me this month – my spare time was taken up with a trip to Bangkok for my annual check up which went ok, except for picking up an infection in the hospital and being laid up for three days of my eagerly awaited week’s break! As most of our friends and clients know, Sean and I organize two fishing trips a year. This year’s trips to Australia and India took two weeks to sell out, so it was a surprise when 24 hours after announcing a trip to Paradise Lodge in Panama for July 2012 the trip sold out. We also only have three places left for July 2013. We take the whole lodge over for nine days of fishing through our UK agent Angling Direct under the supervision of Dave Plummer. The other trip for October 2012 is to Rob Hunt’s fantastic Jarbu Lodge on Croker Island near Darwin, Australia. This is another fantastic venue only a five-hour flight from Krabi. This is estuary and reef fishing at its best and we still have three places left for taking over the whole lodge on an exclusive booking.
Talking of Angling Direct and Dave Plummer, we have just hosted the guided Dave Plummer Thailand trip for two weeks here. Dave was so impressed with the setup here at Gillhams that he described Gillhams as the best commercial fishery in the world. This, coming from a man who has fished the globe, is the ultimate compliment for us. Angling Direct and Dave were so impressed with the fishing and facilities here that they promptly booked the resort for the whole of September 2012. So if any of you wish to fish here in September 2012 you will need to book through www.anglingdirectholidays.com – see their link on our website. We would advise you to book fast as they are only selling limited places each week and they are selling fast – most of the group who came this year are already rebooked.
While on the subject of Angling Direct, I will include the Dave Plummer August 2011 escorted trip here. This was the first time he had organized a trip to Gillhams and we were to host seven anglers a week for two weeks. The arrival day started with a bit of a disaster when the flight carrying five of the group was delayed by six hours. Dave and the other two trip members had arrived earlier for some sightseeing in Bangkok. They arrived at 10am and had a full day to chill out and take in the surroundings. The other five eventually arrived at 7pm tired and hungry, due to start fishing the next day in a lake they could only glimpse in the dark. The first day dawned and the lads were finding their feet and settling in. One guy who had fished here before was Martin Hodgkinson who came on the trip for the full two weeks having the upper hand on the others, as this was his second trip here.
On arrival the group decided they would rotate swims so that everybody had an equal and fair chance of catching. One swim in particular was fishing well and is a swim that produces some big arapaima, so it was agreed that each angler would have two days in that swim before moving out and letting the next person try. Martin put his name up first saying that after two days he would move out and target some big carp, but this idea soon changed. On the third day it was clear that Martin wasn’t moving, and in normal circumstances you shouldn’t have to, but when you come as a group and everybody agrees to fish as a group than this is what you do. After some words from Dave, Martin decided that the next day Barrie Lacey could move in and Martin would take his swim, but the following morning came, Martin had changed his mind, and he got up early so that nobody else could claim his swim. While Martin was here he did catch well, and not just because he was in one of the top swims at the time, but because he did work hard and put a lot of effort into his fishing. Eventually Martin did move out, but only because we opened up a swim in the reserve that we don’t normally fish and because of this it cut Martin off and his catch rate fell. Martin now wanted to be a team player so that he could get a chance in the reserve swim. When Martin did move out he carried on catching some good fish, and while the other guys had a night in Phuket, Martin paid extra and fished the Sunday, landing a Mekong catfish of 100lb and a few carp with the biggest hitting 90lb. When the trip was over Martin had caught a total of 55 fish of 11 different species. Some of the biggest fish Martin caught were Mekong catfish to 190lb, arapaima 230lb, Amazon red tail catfish to 55lb and alligator gar to 30lb.
Graham Bradford only booked one week although by the end of the week he wished he had booked both. It took him a couple of days to get the feel of the place, and not being used to this kind of fishing he struggled slightly at the start. Graham, even though one of the more laid back and quiet ones of the group, did make up for it one night when he kept me up until the early hours talking about how we set up the place digging and putting together a fishing resort in Thailand. All this was ok as what we have done here is interesting and we are very proud of what we have achieved. As the night went into early hours of the morning the conversation went onto Graham talking about how bad England is from trouble with today’s kids, immigrants and the government. As I still had a lot of work to do and the fact that this is why we left the country that used to be known as Great Britain, the conversation was ended by a swift, “Right, I have lots of work to do, everybody has gone to bed, so why don’t you go and join them!” Graham woke the next day with a hangover and feeling a bit worried in case he had offended me, as he did not want to appear in the gripe section. He didn’t have to worry; he is a nice fella, and until we got on the politics we had an interesting chat. By the end of his stay Graham had landed 17 fish of five species including Amazon red tail catfish to 50lb, tambaqui to 48lb and two arapaima, with the biggest at 180lb.
Ken Scott, aka Destruction Ken, fished for two weeks and during his time here broke everything he touched. The second day Ken was fishing he hooked into a big Mekong catfish that towed him around the lake for 45 minutes taking 250 yards of line in a single run. As the fight was coming to an end, Destruction Ken broke the 6lb test curve rod above the reel fitting, making it impossible for him to land it alone. Sean and Mr. Ree had to assist, making a total of three people holding different parts of the rod. After the fish was landed the excitement still wasn’t over. As Sean and Ken lifted the 140lb Mekong it thrashed its tail, smashing Ken in the face, throwing itself forward, knocking Sean out the way and was gone, leaving Ken with a sore face and a broken rod.
Day three came, and as Ken was making his morning coffee in his room he broke the kettle. Day four came round, and as Ken was sat in his chair at the swim he leaned over to grab a drink out the cool box and broke the chair by snapping one of the legs off. After this Ken did manage another few days without any problems, landing some nice fish including Amazon red tail catfish and Siamese carp to 55lb. After the trip to Phuket everybody was back on the lake and Destruction Ken was back on form. Two hours into his fishing he got a screaming run, but with one problem – he hadn’t put the baitrunner on. With no time to grab the rod, it was gone, just leaving a line of bubbles up the lake as the reel bounced across the bottom. Ken was very worried about the fish being still hooked up, and at losing a rod, plus everybody in the restaurant could see what happened and they all gave a big cheer as Ken made his attempt of catching the rod.
The week before Ken had been told about 40 times to remember to put the baitrunner on, but argued that this time he had and it was a fault in the reel. Later on we even discovered that this isn’t the first time things had been destroyed by the devastating hands of Ken. Dave Plummer told us of a trip to Florida that he had taken Ken on before. As they arrived at the fishing lodge, Dave told Ken, “Be careful with my rods when you go inside because of the ceiling fans.” “Yes, no problem,” Destruction replied, when BANG the tips went straight into the fan and smashed all the rods before the trip had even started. Ken did catch another Mekong catfish; this time it wasn’t so big, but at least he got a photo, and at 90lb it was nothing to grumble about. Ken landed 27 fish of seven species including his biggest ever fish, a 250lb arapaima. While on the subject of breaking things, Dave Plummer broke the lift in the Phuket hotel. The sign said ‘Max 12 people’ so with four of us in the lift all was fine until fatty Plummer got in and set off the overload alarm!
Derek Smedley, a good friend of Dave’s, also fished the two full weeks and was the easygoing type of angler we like here, as he wants to get on with his own fishing and do everything by himself. Derek fished hard, and even though he wasn’t in a flying swim, he kept at it and landed some good fish including Siamese carp to 45lb, bighead carp to 34lb and even a rare black shark carp of 8lb. The highlight of Derek’s trip was landing two arapaima over 200lb with the biggest at 230lb. Derek ended the trip with 22 fish of eight different species.
Barrie Lacey was the oldest of the group, even beating Dave Plummer! Being half mutton didn’t help, as on many occasions when his buzzer went of he couldn’t hear it, and people from the other side of the lake had to shout to him… Not that it made any difference – if he couldn’t hear his buzzer 2ft from him, he wasn’t going to hear the guy 200ft away. The first couple of days were not good for Barrie, so on day three it was time for a swim change, but as Martin had changed his mind and held onto the rotating swim, we got him into another swim that can be good for Siamese carp. This day Barrie caught eight fish and even finished early so he had time to relax before dinner. Barrie caught 29 fish of eight species with the biggest being a Mekong catfish of 130lb.
Ray Stott also fished the full two weeks. He hadn’t fished much with baitrunner reels and bite alarms, being a match angler and fly fisherman. Being an angler though, Ray soon got into the style of fishing. He wanted to try his own things and do everything himself, so with a few pointers we left him alone, just making sure he had what he needed. Although the first two days were quiet, he worked at it, landing a couple of fish. Then on the second day with about ten minutes to go Ray was into a good fish that turned out to be an arapaima of 180lb, which shows that even when not much is going on it only takes one pick-up to turn a slow day’s fishing into one of the best. Moving around the lake a few times throughout the trip, Ray landed some good fish including Amazon redtail catfish, Chinese seerfish, and Siamese carp to 70lb. He also managed to beat his 180lb arapaima with one of 230lb. The highlights of Ray’s trip were an arapaima and red tail on the fly. In all Ray landed 25 fish of seven different species during his ten days of fishing.
Gordon Tiffin arrived for the second week of the trip, and after finding the spot and getting some bait out, he started landing some good fish. On his second day he landed nine fish in one day. Gordon also had a slight problem with a rod going in, but after a few chucks we managed to pick the line up and got the rod back, it still had the fish on, which was a big Mekong, which he fought for 45 minutes before disaster struck (nothing to do with Ken). Just as the fish was by the net the hook snapped and Gordon lost the fish, estimated at around 250lb! All was not bad though, as at least we got the rod back, and more importantly the fish that was towing it around got released. Later on that week Gordon caught two more Mekong catfish with one beast of 220lb. Gordon never caught his arapaima, but then what would be the fun in getting everything you want in five days? This just means he will have to return for another try. He caught 23 fish of seven different species, which is not bad for five days’ fishing.
OK enough space taken up; let’s get onto the bit you love or hate – Gillham’s Gripe. We still keep getting the people who have been fishing an hour and get despondent because they haven’t caught yet! They compare our fishery with overstocked puddles crammed with tatty small fish. Normally it’s the same guy that won’t listen to advice from our guides and knows better than everyone, and who proceeds to fish our lake the way they fish their local water and blank. Why not either listen to our guides who are here 24/7 or just stay away? If not, fish it your way and how you think, but don’t complain when it doesn’t work!
Then we get the bullshitters who claim to have been there, done that and caught fish of gigantic proportions. We have to sit in the bar and listen to their lies, and then when we have had enough of the blatant bullshit, they get upset when we walk away and talk to real people. Most of these guys are namedroppers who claim to have well known anglers as their mates and to be sponsored by tackle companies that we know. Come on lads – you make yourselves look stupid!
My biggest gripe this month must be the bastards in the hospital who gave me the camera in each orifice and obviously put the wrong camera down my gullet and gave me an infection! My second biggest gripe is Thai ladies who leave the toilet seat up after a pee!
What has become of the country they once called Great Britain? The riots in the UK make me glad I left, but here are a couple of my favorites to emerge as always after any event. Apple are designing three new products for the London youth market: iSmash, iGrab and iRun.
THE RIOTERS’ PRAYER
Our father, who art in prison,
My mum knows not his name,
Thy riots come, read it in the Sun,
In Birmingham, as it is in London.
Give us this day our welfare bread and forgive us our looting,
As we’re happy to loot those who defend stuff against us,
Lead us not into employment but deliver us free housing,
For thine are the tellies, the Blackberry and the Barcardi,
Forever and ever…
Innit!
Anyway enough of all that, let’s get into reality and onto the fishing in Krabi… The total catch for the month is as follows: 709 fish of 26 species, made up as follows: 33 arapaima to 300lb, three arawana to 9lb, nine alligator gar to 40lb, 173 Amazon red tail catfish to 70lb, 23 Asian red tail catfish to 35lb, 18 black pacu to 30lb, 24 big head carp to 34lb, two black shark carp to 10lb, nine Chinese seerfish to 14lb, two giant featherback to 11lb, one giant snakehead of 6lb, one Hoven’s carp of 6lb, 23 Julian’s golden prize carp to 30lb, 22 Mekong catfish to 220lb, eight mrigal to 11lb, three rohu carp to 16lb, 27 spotted featherback to 10lb, 277 Siamese carp to 90lb, three striped snakehead to 3lb, 12 shovel nosed spotted sorubim to 28lb, four shovel nosed tiger catfish to 11lb, two spotted stingray to 15lb, three striped catfish to 18lb, 20 tambaqui to 48lb, four wallago attu to 18lb and three wallago leeri to 25lb.
My old mate Keith the Tooth O’Connor returned once more and carried on where he left off last time in the same swim, hoping to claim his world record Siamese carp and free trip to Gillhams. Keith was fishing the swim named Cobleys. He started armed with a plumbing rod (yes people, one of those things you use to find features and depths) a spod rod, plus a load of bait and a Mr. Gollock. The first two days were slow and the fish weren’t playing ball. It took a few days to start getting through the smaller fish to the big girls, but unfortunately the 100lb-plus fish never put in an appearance but Keith did manage 30 Siamese carp with fish of 60lb, 75lb and his biggest carp of the trip at 80lb, which is certainly still a special fish and nothing to be frowned upon. Also Keith landed some new species such as bighead carp and an Amazon spotted stingray. Keith finished his trip with 45 fish of nine species.
Stretton Honour and his son Alex managed to squeeze another trip in while pretending they were in Thailand visiting friends and family. Gillhams now having WiFi kept Alex occupied as he could watch all his favourite porn channels 24/7 only emerging from his room to eat. One day when Alex was walking to the restaurant, his dad had a run. Alex grabbed the rod and landed a bighead carp, so at least he did catch a fish during his week’s visit. Stretton, aka Mr. Bighead, not because he knows everything but because that’s what he was catching, landed 14 bighead carp, which is more in a week than were caught all of last year! Stretton’s main target fish were Mekong catfish, but unfortunately this time of year isn’t the best due to lots of rain and the water temperatures being low. Despite this he did manage three with the biggest being 150lb. Stretton landed 40 fish of nine species, and even stayed on an extra couple of days to knock the numbers up more.
Franky Degraeve from Belgium came to Gillhams with his long-term girlfriend Berit for a week, and ended his trip by proposing to her on the night of his 40th birthday. Franky is a Belgian carp angler sponsored by Nutrabaits, and even though being very keen to wet a line he only managed three days’ fishing as he was here with his girlfriend on a supposedly no-fishing holiday. During his fishing sessions Franky managed 12 fish of seven species, but he will return next year for the honeymoon, and has his eyes on an arapaima and a PB Siamese carp amongst others. From all at Gillhams we wish you all the best on the big day and a happy, long and healthy marriage.
Mick Ward came for his annual six-day, seven-night trip, this time accompanied by his other half Tessa who is a very friendly and funny lady. Being an actress she is larger than life and certainly brings out a side of Mick we had never seen before. On arrival Mick told us that as he’s caught the main species in the lake on previous trips i.e. arapaima, Siamese carp, Amazon redtail catfish, he wanted to try for some of the rarer species, and top of the list was the Julian’s golden prize carp. Mick was booked to fish the following day, but like so many others decided to pay for an extra couple of hours and start straight away. The guides chose a swim for Mick that had produced a couple of Julian’s the previous day. Within two hours Mick landed his first Julian’s golden prize carp. Over the next few days, Mick and Tessa started collecting fish photos for their home made Christmas cards. In all the pictures they wore Christmas hats as other guests looked on wondering what the hell these two crazy people were up to wearing Christmas hats in August.
As the holiday went on, things got worse and some of the photos taken make innocent things look less innocent, plus Mick, who is normally a very quiet, reserved guy showed his true colours by stating his fantasy was to see Tessa in waders and nothing else. Then he admitted taking her to Ann Summers where he purchased a lady’s toy that unfortunately knocked her fillings loose! As the drinks flowed many home truths came out about Mick, as according to Tessa when he is naked he looks like two people; one white and one red, but he has got a cute white bum apparently! There are many other stories I could tell, but as Mick is a teacher and many of his students read our newsletters I’d better ease off and get back to the fishing. When the trip was over Mick had caught 26 fish of ten species including one more Julian’s golden prize carp plus other new species such as alligator gar, tambaqui and spotted featherback. The two biggest fish of the trip were a Mekong catfish of 130lb and an arapaima of 250lb.
Next this month we had the return of Boon tours, but luckily for other guest Alan, he was only out here with friend and boss Steve Smith and his three boys. Alan and Steve fished every day while two of the three lads fished by the hour. Alan and Steve arrived with all our goodies from our good friends Richard Foster of Fosters of Birmingham fame and Poppa Eustace of Gold Label Tackle, plus a huge replenishment of kitchen stock was brought over, taking advantage of five people’s baggage allowance. Alan as ever was trying new rigs and trying to reinvent the wheel, but to his disappointment they didn’t work, so he went back to the tried and tested rigs that we catch fish on every day here. We weren’t sure if Steve had come on the holiday to be with his kids or his favourite employee, as he sent his kids off fishing at one end of the lake while he fished the other with Alan. Steve’s two boys who fished, Brandon and Conrad, put the odd hour in and both caught good carp with Conrad’s being the biggest at 55lb, beating his brother’s by 9lb. Steve landed eight fish of four species the best being a 160lb arapaima, which ended up as a family picture for the wall at home. Alan caught the most fish, landing nine after changing to our rigs. With four different species, Boon’s biggest was a Mekong catfish of 95lb that nearly had the old man collapsing on the floor, saying that he’s never worked so hard in his life – something that Steve will definitely verify.
Neil Cobley came back this month with wife Mandy, his kids and his father Peter with his partner. The target species for Neil as always was a big Siamese carp, but Mekong catfish or arapaima would also be welcome, while dad Peter had his heart set on a big arapaima. Neil arrived two days before his dad and wasted no time getting fishing within two hours of arriving. He fished his regular swim named after him – Cobley’s. After finding his spot, Neil started feeding up the swim and landed a couple of fish on his first afternoon. Once again Neil lost a big fish, but this time it wasn’t his knot that came undone, but the fact that he crushed the barb by twisting it and weakened the hook. When you are fishing for zoo creatures like we have in Gillhams any flaw in your tackle will cost you dearly, and Neil once again paid the price for cutting corners! Neil was a bit disappointed with his haul even though he landed a new species in the form of a Chinese seerfish, plus arapaima to 110lb. He also landed three Julian’s golden prize carp to 28lb and pacu to 30lb along with 18 Siamese carp up to 80lb. Considering Neil only fished hourly between day trips with the kids, his 23 fish of eight species that would have been considered special by most was only mediocre by the high targets Neil sets himself.
When Neil’s dad Peter arrived, he also started fishing immediately, setting up to Neil’s right directly outside his bungalow, which made life even easier for refreshments and photographs to be organized by his wife. Peter landed some good fish such as Siamese carp to 70lb, Amazon redtail catfish, Julian’s golden prize carp, plus a couple of new species for him: bighead carp and Amazon spotted stingray. Peter’s prize fish came on his second to last day when he landed an arapaima of 200lb. Peter also fished odd hours between family commitments, but still landed a healthy 30 fish of seven species. Electricity in Thailand for commercial use is higher than the UK, so last year due to people continually leaving air con on 24/7 we made a new rule at Gillhams. Rather than penalize the people who do turn off the air con by raising our prices, we fitted meters and give everyone 12 hours per day free electric (that’s with every electrical appliance on.) Unfortunately for Peter the extra charge spoilt his trip, as he left his air con on 24/7 even while out all day. He received a bill for £50 additional electric, which goes to show why we added this charge. Never mind Peter, the hefty discounts we give you more than covers your loss, and at least we didn’t lose out this trip on the wasted electricity!
Mark O’Regan came for a few days with his wife and son Oscar who has recently taken up fishing. While in Thailand they couldn’t resist the chance of fishing somewhere with such big fish, especially after finding out you can fly fish for arapaima and other huge fish. As they are both keen fly anglers, the arapaima was their main target. After losing a few fish on the fly due to hook pulls they persevered, and for Mark it paid off as on his last day he landed an arapaima of 150lb on the fly. They also caught Siamese carp and tambaqui while bait fishing, with Oscar catching three Siamese carp to 55lb.
Mitch from the land of Brum made a couple of appearances this month, mainly as a kind of rehab retreat from alcohol and partying. First appearance was for two nights, but after turning up in the morning he went to his room and slept all day and night, but did manage some fishing the following day and caught Siamese carp, redtail catfish and a Mekong catfish of 160lb before heading off for more mayhem and madness. Mitch’s second visit to Gillhams Rehab and Fishing Resort saw Mitch in bed for two days and nights having food and water sent to his room. All the drinking before rehab did pay off, as when Mitch fished for four hours on the third day he caught another redtail catfish of 55lb, a tiger shovel nose catfish and an arapaima of 140lb, so maybe excessive partying and drinking is the way forward.
Matt Hart came to Gillhams with his family after hearing about us from friend Johnny Swann. Sean, bless him, read the diary as ‘Matt is afraid of Johnny Swann’, and upon asking why this bloke is afraid of Johnny, he was told to read it again, as it actually said ‘a friend’ of Johnny Swann (bless!). During Matt’s ten-day stay he fished for three days then took a break to go on some day trips with the family, and three days later he was fishing again for the final four days. Matt was an experienced angler and spent time checking depths and features, then with accurate baiting prepared his spot properly. His hard work paid off, as he landed all the fish on his wish list plus others. Due to his family not being too keen on early mornings, on one day Matt even managed to get a couple of hours in before the others woke up, and caught a Siamese carp of 75lb. With good angling and effort Matt landed 54 fish of 11 species including arapaima to 180lb, Mekong catfish to 110lb and Amazon redtail catfish to 50lb.
Space is running out, but I must mention our last visitors this month the Pain family from Rye in Sussex. I used to live in Rye as a kid, so when Sonia told me she was born in Rye I asked if she knew a friend of mine from all those years ago nicknamed Spud. She first of all thought I was on a wind up as it turned out Spud is her uncle, and I knew her mum as I used to be a regular at her grandparents’ house for a free feed. What a small world we live in! Chris, Sonia and kids Phoebe and Isabel were on a two-week holiday splitting the holiday in two with a trip here then off to the beach before returning to us. The family were pleasantly surprised with the family atmosphere here, and I think their testimonial on our website sums up their view on Gillhams as a family resort. Sonia and the kids relaxed around the pool while Chris fished the days away. They did manage to pull him away from the rods on two occasions when they went elephant trekking and an afternoon down the town. With the first four days completed it was time to head off for the beach part of the holiday, even though the whole family commented that they wished they had stayed here and just headed out for day trips, but the other hotel was booked and paid for so they said their goodbyes knowing that they still had the last four days of the holiday back here by the lake.
As they got into the car, Chris said he was already on the case to get back two days early, but would have to see what happens. Two days after leaving we got a phone call from Sonia booking Chris in for the next two days fishing on day tickets before they all returned. She said that he was miserable down at the beach and all he’s talking about is arapaima, redtail catfish etc. So Chris came in for two day sessions making him a very happy man, and wife Sonia, even though looking after the kids alone, got some peace and quiet. When the whole family returned Chris didn’t waste any time unpacking – he was in the swim with his baits out, and within the first five minutes he was into an arapaima. As the arapaima rolled into the net Chris was so happy he jumped straight in for the photo without remembering one important thing – he couldn’t actually swim, but after some coughing and spluttering with some very impressive doggy paddling he was back into a comfortable level of water. The arapaima was his biggest fresh water fish weighing in at 150lb.
Chris caught lots of good fish, and by the end of his stay his total was 49 fish of ten species, including Siamese carp to 85lb, Amazon redtail catfish to 65lb and alligator gar to 40lb. Chris even managed some of the rare fish like the black shark carp of which there are only two in the lake, a spotted featherback, wallago attu and a Chinese seerfish. The last day here was Sonia’s birthday (age unknown) and as Chris was up and out early for fishing, so were the girls as they had forgotten their mum’s birthday, and with no presents to give and not long before Sonia woke up they had to do the only thing possible and raid the resort shop. As they entered the shop they made a grab for anything they could, and Sonia ended up with three packs of Mentos sweets at 5 baht a pack (8p), a large pack of crisps and a Twix, but at least they chose well – she could have ended up having a bubble float, inline leads and a pack of halibut pellets!
That just about sums up another month at the number one fishing resort in the world. If you want to come fishing in Thailand then get booking early as places fill up fast. You can contact us directly at gillhamsfishingresorts@gmail.com or phone on 0066861644554.
Tight lines to you wherever you are fishing, and we hope to see you here with us soon fishing in Krabi.
