Hello and welcome to the February 2014 newsletter, we are all still here in this beautiful country, living the dream!
Well, whats has been happening this month? First of all it would be remiss not to mention it was the gaffer, Stuart’s 60th birthday this month. Unfortunately Stuart was in the UK, but that didn’t stop Benz face timing Stuart and getting young Jack to blow out the candles on his cake for him. The celebrations didn’t stop there because friend of Stuart, Paul Duggan felt that had Stuart been here, and knowing how generous he is (stop laughing), he would have put his hands in his pockets and rung the bell and bought everyone in the bar a drink, so Paul rang it on Stuart’s behalf. Not being a drinker myself, I couldn’t miss a free drink off the boss so helped myself to a triple brandy and Coke. I don’t think Stuart would mind, do you?
Stuart and Sean have been busy doing the shows… I should really say Stuart because Sean, obviously with the old man’s permission has decided to sod off to Tenerife with the lads for a week’s holiday. The holiday started well of course with Sean losing his iPhone on the first night, and it all went downhill from there. No doubt some embarrassing photos will emerge at a later date with Sean’s spotty bum being the main attraction!
We had a new addition to the guiding team, if only for four weeks, with the arrival of James (Dingle) Wilson who has joined on work experience from Sparsholt College in Hampshire. James is just 18 years old, and he has landed himself in Thailand… On his first night in the bars, his eyes were wide open like saucers, and all he could utter was, “I don’t believe this!” There’s young James, pictured below with Lucy, one of the local Lady boys. He said “don’t put that in my mum will kill me” but I couldn’t resist. More about James in the March newsletter.
Readers, I have to report a strange thing happened this month, more like a scientific phenomenon of earth shattering proportions, which ripped its way around the newsrooms all over the globe. Customers were mystified and concerned about a young lady, not normally seen out in daylight hours actually walking around the lake giggling and smiling like a schoolgirl. This lady has apparently been seen before around the resort when she walks from the office to the restaurant, looking sullen with her tied up in a bun with the slightest hint of make up. This time her blonde tousled hair was down around her shoulders, slightly damp to give that ‘just got out of the shower look”
Investigations were immediately instigated and I can now confirm that the unknown lady was actually our Becky walking Helmet the dog. Normally the poor dog is only let out for two minutes to do his business, but he was actually panting and suffering sunstroke due to the extraordinary amount of time out of the office. Apparently love was in the air with our Becca and one of our customers… I mean why else would she be on the lake? There are no electric fans in the swim. Bystanders reported that the couple looked just like Kylie and Jason, humming that classic song “Especially for you”. Furthermore he treated her to a meal at the expensive ‘Carnivore’ restaurant where our Joel pulled out the stops with extra candles and flowers on the table. Unfortunately the Thai paparazzi were slow to get the news, and although we commissioned our own covert photographer, the timing was just not right, which means no photographic evidence is available. This means it won’t be able to hit the front cover of OK magazine just yet… although the lad’s mag “Nuts” said they were still interested in running the story with or without pictures and are at this moment searching their archives to find out the identity of the lucky man. As always, ace reporter ‘Scoop’ Akroyd will keep you updated!
Last month I spoke about some of the team here who keep the GIllham’s wheel rolling so it would be remiss of me not to mention some of the other valuable Thai staff who work here.
Many customers are forever complimenting the beauty of the garden around the fishery.
None of this would be possible without the gardening team headed up by Sumlee and his staff Chan, Yen, Mi(looks like a Ninja), Ao and San (sounds like a Chinese phonebook doesn’t it?). One person of particular mention is Yen. This lovely lady is like perpetual motion; she starts in the morning with her broom, never stops for one minute and always has a smile for the customers, so if you see her just say, “sawadee krap” (Thai for good morning) and her smile will set you off for the day.
And we cannot forget the ladies in housekeeping: Pen, Jan,Pam and Xu. These are the girls that fluff your pillows up each and every morning, do the laundry and keep the restaurant looking spick and span, or is it spam? Anyway I used to love fried Spam… where am I going with this?
Last but not least are the maintenance team headed by Bang and his assistants Martin and Lee. There’s nothing on the resort that Bang can’t fix; he really is a Jack-of-all-trades… but maybe a master of none! Like all the Thai people his smile never leaves his face.
Now I know some of you miss Stuart’s gripe section, so while I have the chance can I have mine? How is that anglers will be in their swim and the lead and the bait will touch the water the second the clock strikes 7am, yet a number of customers – mentioning no names (Neil Cobley – more of him later) – forget that fishing ends at 8pm and will continue fishing until someone tells them to stop. Excuses like “I’m deaf in one ear,” “I never heard anyone shout 8 o’clock,” “I was just reeling in and the fish took my bait…” We have heard them all, so do us a favour and remember fishing finishes at 8pm. We guides need our sleep, and as Stuart has stopped me sleeping on the bank, I like to get to bed sharpish!
Right gripe over, so what about the fishing this month? Well, all you masochistic Mekong lovers (definition from Oxford English Dictionary: “You like being in pain for your own pleasure”) you will be pleased to know they are now feeding like hell and making many anglers’ backs ache. Words like “It’s a good fish” turn into “It’s going again… you bastard!” It’s been a good month for anglers joining the 100lb club with four of our customers reaching this magical figure. A few of more of the anglers’ favourite, the Julian’s golden carp, have been showing their faces with once again chicken heart being their favourite bait.
First up is Bill Phillips, and his long suffering wife Angie who came for the first time this month. Bill had his 65th birthday whilst at the resort but to look how the man dresses you would think he thought he was 25. Out he would go in the town wearing some bright multi coloured shirt wearing a trilby type hat of some obscure colour and a gold necklace round his neck which shone brightly in the sun amongst the grey hairs on his chest, looking like a poor mans Peter Stringfellow. Meanwhile poor Angie looking every inch the lady that she is had to walk beside him, bless her.
He even wore a white trilby when he was fishing,the type worn by butchers. I swear if he had a navy apr on with pinstripes you would have asked him for a pound of mince and some lamb chops.
Great fun to be around these two and Bill was no mug when it came to fishing, he has caught the British Canal carp record twice, once in 1978 with a 32lb and more recently broke it again with a 46lb 4oz from the Royal Military canal.
He didn’t do too badly here catching 8 different species, 1 Mekong to 140, 4 Juliens Prized carp to 28lb, 1 arapaima to 280lb, 6 Siamese to 85lb, 10 Amazon Redtails to 45lb, 2 Asian Redtails to 17lb, 1 Black Pacu to 20lb and perhaps his best fish the elusive Chao Phraya catfish at 125lb. This couple have already booked for next year in December so perhaps Bill the butcher can bring the turkey over with him!
Next up is Matt Brittan. When you see a person wearing an anorak made by that well-known clothing manufacturer ‘North Face’ you would expect it to be somewhere cold and windy like the Lake District or walking in the Swiss Alps. You wouldn’t expect to see that clothing in Thailand when the thermometer is hitting 95 degrees, would you? Think again! Matt, from Bournemouth, thought he would spend his first days fishing in Thailand with just his shorts and no sun cream, resulting in him being in pure agony in the evening and looking like someone from a burns unit. The poor man, who won’t be the first or the last person to underestimate the sun over here, was burnt to a crisp.
The only way to cover up was to wear the North Face jacket and some Rupert the Bear pyjama bottoms in order that he could still go fishing. Any future customers – please, please, bring sun cream with you, and most of all use it! Even covered up with a hood over his head he still managed to catch three Mekong to 160lb and 11 Siamese Carp to 90lb, two Amazon redtails to 30lb and a small arapaima at 60lbs. As I write this I think Matt is on his second shedding of skin and used up his fifth bottle of aftersun!
Matteus Prellwitz and his partner Michelle, two Germans now living in Shanghai came for their second time this month. Matteus is a production manager and Michelle is a professional photographer, and believe me this girl can take photos. The ones below are proof of that.
Matteus’ fishing didn’t start too well with him losing a huge black pacu at the net due to being tangled in someone else line, but as the days progressed his fishing got better and better. Every day his fish wife Michelle would be by his side, and I joked he had better marry this one because they don’t come round like this too often. So maybe the next time I see you Matteus, perhaps it will be Mr and Mrs Prellwitz (go on, I dare you!). Matteus’ total for his stay was two Siamese carp to 50lb, one arapaima of 150lb, 11 Amazon redtails to 60lb, an alligator gar of 40lb and an Asian redtail at 26lb.
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- Siamese carp 125lb
Andy Pittam, who works at Erics Angling Centre came to sample the delights of Gillhams. At the beginning Andy a big tall bloke was either shy or didn’t want to say too much but he soon relaxed and after getting snapped off by a couple finally got his Mekong along with Siamese Carp, Arapaima and Black Pacu. It would be fair to say Andy was sad to leave, and we were sorry to see him go.
One thing you can say about northerners is they have a sense of humour and none more so than some good old-fashioned Scousers such as John Bates and his wife Carmel. He’d not done much big fish angling before, but his smile never left his face from day one. Poor John suffered from that horrible disease, diabetes, but how do I know this? Because when you cleared his swim there were always one or two mars bars wrappers left in his swim, which he used to munch through the day to keep his blood sugar up. If he had a big fish you would see him head for the restaurant to get some food inside him… for his blood levels… but what he really meant was he was a greedy sod!
John and Carmel had the time of their lives with John managing to catch everything he wanted, ending up with six Siamese carp to 90lb, 13 Amazon redtails to 45lb, and what he really wanted, an arapaima of 180lb. They left us this morning, and I asked them if they would mind bringing my hubcaps and radio back with them from when I last parked my car in Liverpool!
Jim Haughton and his partner Emma from Scunthorpe thought they would spend Jim’s 40th birthday fishing at Gillhams. Jim is an industrial electrician from up north, and what do you expect from God’s country but a cracking lad? His targets were Siamese and redtail catfish. He started on the bungalow side, but due to every other bugger wanting to fish there, and also that the Mekong were on the feed and he was fed up with ‘rods in, rods out, ooh do the hokey cokey’, he went over to the other side and tried his luck there.
He’s the type of angler that guides love; you could leave him alone to do his own thing. He found his own spots, tied his own rigs and caught his own fish. Jim had previously been here two and half years ago and was in his own words “overwhelmed by the transformation of the lake and the weight gain of all the fish.” On his very last night he still hadn’t caught an arapaima, but as if we do them by order he hooked into one at 7.55pm (or so he tells me… more like 8.05pm methinks) and finished with a 100lb ‘arry in the cage… the perfect end to his holiday. Jim and Emma were great fun to have around, and no doubt we will see them in the future… That’s if Jim gets his way of course.
Joop and Carla Kleton from Holland visited us for the first time. You could tell when he arrived how excited he was to be here, and never in his wildest dreams would he have thought he would catch everything he wanted and more. Starting in the carp swims, he had a number of carp, but his dreams were made when he landed a massive Siamese carp at 116lb. Joop was one of these anglers who liked to fish hard, and I lost count of how many times he was advised to stop adjusting the drag on his reel and cupping the spool… It became a bit of a joke with John the guide, and the look on Carla’s face said he was wasting his time! We as guides can only advise, but if anyone should know the power of these fish it should be us, so ignore us at your peril! It didn’t stop Joop catching some other very big fish, which included two Mekong to 180lb, three Siamese to 116lb, three Amazon redtails to 30lb and one arapaima at 160lb, but he lost six others… Remember what I was saying about drag settings?
Now then… you’ve just completed a 15-hour overnight bus journey from Bangkok to Krabi in a clapped-out bus that would have never seen an MOT in its lifetime, what would you do? Well you know me – I would be straight in my comfy bed and snoring away. Not young 29-year-old John Andrews and his girlfriend Regan, who as soon as they arrived wanted to go fishing. You can guess what happened next… within 20 minutes he had hooked into one of the angriest arapaima we have seen in a while, which took him all over the lake. With John, a young man, puffing and panting (too much Playstation if you ask me) and struggling to hold the fish, the rod was passed twice while he took a rest. (What do you expect? He’s from ‘dahn sarf’). In the end a beautiful 360lb arapaima graced the net. How lucky is that? Well consider that when I went to take the hook out the hook broke at the shank and fell in my hand… That’s lucky! What did young John do? He went to bed and didn’t surface until 4pm!
Stuart’s lifelong friend Johnny Swann arrived this month for his third visit this year. This time he came with company in the shape of old friends Jimmy Edmunds and Graham Crook.
Johnny is always a welcome visitor for us, as he comes laden with goodies – dressed crab for Stuart, perfume for Benz, Jelly Babies for Jack and an assortment of sweets for the guides.
As usual, Johnny, a seasoned sun worshiper, settled in swim 2 and demanded the umbrella was dispensed with because it blocks out the sun.
On went the sun cream… or chip fat for all that it matters – he just likes to fry! Next thing, it was shirt off, his signature Panama hat was placed on his head, and out came one of his passions in life – a big, fat cigar brought over from Spain and rolled in a Cuban leaf, he tells me. He ordered his favourite tipple during the day, a cup of weak tea with no sugar and plenty of milk that looks like dishwater, and then the dry sense of humour started. You have to meet this guy; he is so laid back he should have a castor on the back of his head.
Johnny and Jimmy were looked after for the whole duration of their trip by Joel, and now Joel has found the joys of float fishing he soon had them with a waggler rod as well as the usual setup, trying for different species. Johnny caught many species, but the highlight of his trip is the magnificent capture of a black shark carp on the float using bread flake. Joel immediately recognised it as a possible IGFA world record for the species and called for the scales. When the fish went on the scales they registered 19lb 15oz smashing the old record of 13lb 3oz by some distance. If ratified this will be the third new world record (pending) claimed at Gillhams since October 2013 to back up the claims for Siamese carp and rohu.
Johnny’s total for his holiday was 11 Siamese to 75lb, four Amazon redtails to 60lb, one Asian redtail to 6lb and 11 arapaima to 170lb. To add to the celebrations of his pending world record claim, his son Daniel passed his accountancy exams while he was over here, so all in all it was a good holiday for Johnny.
Jimmy the old sea dog is a fisherman who goes out on his boat from Hastings, and like all sea dogs likes a drink or two. I will always remember the night when we took all the customers out to what is Crispy Pork restaurant, not realising that it was Buddha day – a tradition in Thailand – and there was a total ban on the sale of alcohol. To see this weather-beaten old sea dog with a melon cocktail complete with an umbrella in hands and dripping like a leaking tap, saying, “Can we go home now to the resort, I want a beer?” gave me a giggle or two.
He may work on the sea but his freshwater fishing was nothing to be sniffed at. Jimmy caught some great specimens including five Siamese to 72lb, two Amazon redtails to 75lb, one arapaima at 240lb, one Julian’s golden carp at 36lb and a lovely wallago leeri at 35lb.
Graham settled himself across the lake apposite his mates and enjoyed the solitude reading his book. He is the type of angler you can leave alone and you don’t want to talk to him when you ride past on the bike in case you interrupt him when he gets to an important bit in his book. He caught some fine fish too including three Julian’s carp to 22lb. (sorry no photos from Graham) All the lads left us for a couple of days in Bangkok before flying home, although Johnny has been here countless times all he’s ever seen is the inside of Bangkok airport, so we hope you enjoyed your trip to the big city lads.
Paul Quenet has been to Gillhams many times and is usually here with his son Jake, but this time his mum had taken Jake away on holiday to Mexico. It’s a hard life for kids these days isn’t it? I had to make do with a week in Blackpool and count myself lucky at that, but like Stuart says, I’m from up north and all we had was real butter and Hovis bread for tea!
Anyway back to Paul, who has not been too well recently suffering a minor stroke. I count him as a good friend, and when your friends come you always want them to do well, don’t you? And of course they put pressure on you to catch them a monster, don’t they? So what happens on his first day?
I set him up on the method feeder with a small 6mm pineapple pop-up on a size 10 hook, and what does he get? Only an arapaima estimated at 440lb! It just goes to show if these fish are hooked right they stay on whatever the size of the hook. Fair play to Paul – with a very weak left arm from his illness he played the fish really well, but you can imagine me can’t you with a big smug smile on my face? Job done! The majority of Paul’s fish fell to this method, and he landed thre Amazon redtails to 85lb, four Siamese carp to 65lb, one big headed carp at 15lb and also a smaller (?) arapaima at 270lb!
Neil Cobley, a regular visitor to Gillhams, came this month, but for a change brought his dad, Peter, along. Peter is an ex-miner from Derby, and, like they are from that part of the world, there is one phrase to describe him – straight talking! Peter was recovering from a minor bleed to the brain, so what better recuperation than taking on a Mekong? Fortunately for Peter the Mekong stayed away from him, but he still managed to bag himself two Siamese carp to 55lb, an Amazon redtail of 35lb and the fish of the trip, a lovely tambaqui of 45lb.
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- Tambaqui
Back to Neil… After a slow start he got into his usual Mekongs, banking two at 120lb each, two Siamese, with the biggest a massive 95lb, and an Amazon Redtail at 38lb.
Whilst banking one of the carp, Neil passed me his camera and asked for some action shots, so I passed the camera to Chris and struck a few poses as only someone with a physique like me can! How was I to know he wanted action shots of himself playing the fish? Please be more specific next time, Neil! It was good to see you both, and all at Gillhams wish Peter a speedy recovery from his illness.
Marlin Askjar is a young ten-year-old boy from Denmark who was fishing with his father Brian as soon as he could walk, mainly in Danish waters, where he has caught fish to 15lb. This young lad was named Marlin after the blue marlin because his dad is a fanatical angler and has caught over 100 of this species. (Funny really because that’s why I called my daughter Stella lager!). Brian had a bet with his son who would catch the biggest fish, and Brian was off to a good start with a titanic battle with a 180lb Mekong, but young Marlin desperately wanted an Amazon redtail. Enter John our guide who worked his socks off to get Marlin the fish of his dreams, which ended up in Marlin bagging a 35lb redtail. He fought the fish all on his own, with John gently guiding him, and when the fish was finally his, the joy on his face was there for all to see. In John’s own words: “Moments like this are the reason I came to work at Gillhams.” I couldn’t agree more, John… Well done, Marlin!
Many customers come to the fishery and get despondent when they don’t immediately catch a fish and are placed on our suicide watch list. I say to them all “believe me they will come” that’s just the case with Ian Welland and wife Nicky who own a guest house on the seafront at Weymouth. Only fishing for two days Ian had a blank on the first day and like I said on the second day ” they came!” with Ian catching a lovely Amazon Redtail at 50lb and Siamese carp of 45lb, 55lb and 65lb before they had to leave us to have a few days sailing around the islands of Thailand.
Steve Gillbank, Richard Spracklin and Keith Downton (abbey) who will always be known as the Paul Whittle group came to visit us again. Steve and Keith have been before when Steve was lucky enough to bag a 100lb Siamese, but Richard was a Gillhams virgin! I suppose the story of their trip belonged to Keith, a fish farmer in Dorset where he farms trout and amazingly Arctic char for the Danish fish market (you would think they would do their own… it’s bloody cold enough). Day one was a blank for Keith, and fish for Steve and Richard. Day two was a blank for Keith, and fish for Steve and Richard… you get the picture? I wouldn’t mind, but they were fishing next to each other, using the same baits.
Day three and finally a nice carp for Keith while Steve and Richard had a few more, so time for a move for Keith methinks! Down the lake he went and caught two arapaima to 120lb, one Siamese to 75lb and seven Amazon redtails with the best one all of 90lb. If we’d not been so busy on the lake at that time, we would have definitely weighed it; such was the depth and width of the fish.
Richard (the virgin) didn’t do too bad either, catching Siamese carp every day, each one beating his personal best with the biggest going 77lb. His skin colour actually turned from sparkling white to a sort of magnolia colour before he left as well!
Winner of the trip must go to Steve, a carpenter from Dorset. He has seen it all before, set his stall out from day one for the carp and bagged himself a magnificent total of eight Siamese to 80lb, Amazon redtail at 65lb and a black pacu of 30lb.
Father and son Jim and James Hedger came this month and bought the whole tribe – Jim’s two boys, William and Anthony, and James’ two little babies, Lily Ann and Maxton, along with the mums, Sylvia and Elaine. Age is creeping up on Jim as he injured his hip just before coming, so we had to get the wheelchair out for him. It was like an episode of Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights. It didn’t stop him catching fish though, with a nice Siamese carp of 50lb and an even nicer Hoven’s carp at 9lb. James, not to be outdone, bagged himself one of the larger Julian’s golden carp at 28lb on a chicken heart.
Paul Scarrott, a garage owner, came on a day ticket. After a morning with no fish he was looking across at the new extension, seeing fish crash everywhere on the bar and telling me in 20 minutes he wanted to move. I told him to sit tight and the fish would come, and if by magic, hey presto he landed his biggest carp at 92lbs. Thoughts of moving across the lake were never mentioned again, and a good job too, as 30 minutes later he hooked into another monster that called for the scales – a Siamese carp of 116lbs! Paul was gobsmacked, and guess what? He sat tight in the same swim for the rest of the day… Well, wouldn’t you?
We had two lovely customers in Candy Shultz from Germany (his mum and dad need a good talking to for calling him after a sweet) and his girlfriend Jenni Rissi from Switzerland. Candy worked in road construction and Jenni worked in the public prosecution office although she could easily be a model… I guess that’s why Joel asked me to guide them because I was old enough to be her dad! These two came to enjoy themselves, and although he wanted to catch an arapaima he had to make do with a nice Mekong of 150lb, and now he has had a taste, he will definitely be back.
Paul Duggan, his wife Kim and two girls Ashley and Holly came this month for a well-earned break. Paul, originally from the Isle of Man but now an expat living in Hong Kong, has to have every child’s dream job; he designs and builds theme parks. How good is that? His next venture is to build a theme park in Shanghai, and he was telling me how hard it was to get his dog to go with him. Don’t get me wrong; the dog wants to go, but the red tape is enormous. A fluff chucker at heart, he would spend many a day stalking the fish in the lure lake, but did try his hand bait fishing and ended up landing Siamese carp to 85lb and Julian’s carp to 25lb.
Right ladies, imagine you have been taken away by your boyfriend (Fredrick) for a romantic holiday in Thailand and arrange to meet up with his friend Alexander. Then imagine that the two friends decide they want to go fishing and show you their angling skills, and they want to stop you topping up your tan and drag you off the beach and join them for a day’s fishing at Gillhams… Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? That’s what happened to Ida Oberg from Sweden; she arrived one morning as bored as can be, had never fished in her life, but was there to keep the lads company. You know what happened, don’t you? That’s right – the blokes caught nothing and Ida managed to land the two Siamese carp to 60lb. The point to be made is we have all sorts of anglers at Gillhams – some very big names who have fished all over the world, and the other side of the coin is some novices like Ida who have never fished in their life. It doesn’t matter; fishing is a great leveller, and Ida went away with the biggest grin on her face and will probably have the bragging rights on the two lads for many months to come!
Time for an impassioned plea, please, please, please, when you leave the resort leave some copies of your photographs behind. When you have someone who has a special fish like a 100+ carp we want to share that with all our readers. Case in question is Russell Beddard from Hertfordshire came along with his pal Patrick who came to try and beat his personal best carp. Away travelling in Asia for two months his previous personal best was 37lb in the UK and 57lb for a French carp. His first day didn’t go badly when he landed a huge specimen of 90lb, but nothing prepared him for two days later. Russell fished the same swim all holiday, and was rewarded on day three with a massive fish that tipped the scales at 106lb. Both fish were caught on the Gillhams resort pellets, which stands to reason, as all the fish are turned onto these pellets, so while something different like boilies will work, a good tip is don’t overlook the pellets supplied to you by the guides; they will always catch you any fish that are in the lake. Russell also tried his hand at the Mekong, and after losing a few to crack offs he finally landed one at 160lb.
After catching the Mekong and Siamese, before he left he desperately wanted an arapaima, and after losing a couple he finally got a huge specimen at 280lb. When landing the arapaima it always goes quiet when I put my arm around the fish to lead it to the cage, and I tend to talk to the fish, mainly because I’m cacking myself! Russell was over the moon with his fish and gave me the nickname of the ‘the arapaima whisperer’, which makes a change because I’m usually shouting at someone! Like I say shame there are no pictures!
And finally, Ray Allsop and Steve Wilcock came again to Gillhams in between staying at Ray’s daughter’s house in Koh Lanta. The original odd couple these two, Steve a builder and Ray reaching the grand old age of 81 this year, they met at the Catfish Conservation Group. Steve easily wound up if the fish wasn’t showing and Ray as cool and as calm as you like believeing they will come when they come.
Now when you are 81 years of age you don’t expect to have to battle with an angry arapaima, but that’s exactly what Ray did banking the fish of the trip with a 360lb beauty.
We love having these two here and it would be easy to write about what fish they caught of which they were many but I wanted to share a little conversation I had with Ray just before he left. I asked him if he enjoyed himself and he said to me “Geoff, when you are my age, you never know if I will ever see this place again so I enjoy every minute that life has to offer and god willing and I can keep my health I will be here next year” what a great attitude to life this grand gentleman has and I don’t think we have seen the last of Ray Allsop just yet!
Now I don’t know about you but I get a bit fed up of looking at all these fish pictures so I thought I would share a couple of the funnier pictures that customers leave us, so thanks to Paul Duggan for these two funnies below.
Space stops me waffling on, so that sums up my fishing in Krabi report for February. Stuart and Sean return mid-March so I am sure I will be given the March newsletter to concoct too, as they will be busy abusing poor Benz and Noi! By the time you read this the Gillhams roadshow will have been completed. I am sure Stuart will be doing a report on the shows next month, and I understand Sean has some good pictures to show us!
Don’t forget that Gillhams gets booked well in advance, so if you are planning a trip for the next 18 months we recommend you book ASAP. Contact us or phone +66 (0) 861644554. Should your email not get an answer within 48 hours, please check the email address you used and resend as we do get emails that go missing in cyberspace.
We look forward to meeting all existing and new customers over the next year. Thanks to everyone for supporting our newsletters and of course Gillhams Fishing Resorts. Best wishes from us all here at Gillhams.
