Welcome to another month of captures here in paradise at Gillhams Fishing Resorts. We would like to thank all our readers and everybody that follows us on social media for all your support.
So we’ve been extremely busy here over the past few weeks with so much going on with restaurant and bar refurb as well as general day-to-day running of the resort. The emails then went into meltdown once Korda’s Monster Carp season 3 was shown with none other than Gillhams Fishing Resorts opening the new series. We had to bring in extra help to deal with the inquires, and even with five people answering emails, it took us almost two weeks to clear the mails and get caught up.
We would like to thank everybody that showed their support with some really nice messages and emails on how they liked the show and everybody who has sent enquires and booked up holidays. We look forward to seeing you all over here in paradise and hope that you all catch the fish of your dreams. We would also like to give a special thanks to Ali Hamidi, Neil Spooner and Tom Dove and the whole Korda production team; you really did us proud and showed the resort beautifully for all to see our piece of paradise.
The most asked question since the Monster Carp show has been – what are my chances of catching a 100lb-plus Siamese carp? To describe a 100lb Siamese carp would be to say they are equivalent to a 60lb-plus UK carp, or a 90lb-plus European carp; they are a rare beast!
Only in recent years have some fisheries started to get Siamese carp to grow over 100lbs; ten years ago there were very few around. We have obtained phenomenal growth rates by giving our fish a perfect diet in the highest water quality possible. Although we have probably the biggest head of 100lb Siamese carp anywhere in the world, they are still a hard fish to target; some people get lucky and catch one on the first day, but others can go two weeks and not get one! Obviously there is no way we could guarantee or even predict your chances of a 100lb-plus carp, but the longer you stay and the harder you fish, the more the odds swing in your favor.
I’ve once again joined two months together for the newsletter here at the lake with June and July, just keeping everything short with a small rundown of what’s been happening here and then the two catch reports followed by all the pictures of the past couple months that people have sent in. Next month’s newsletter will be another short write-up, and the restaurant work will all be finished, so I’ll be showing off the new luxury lakeside restaurant and bar/lounge. We’re also heading off on another fishing adventure, meeting up once again with our friends from Fish Finders in Suriname where we’ll be fishing for 22 days at the famous Piraiba Lodge, about which hopefully we’ll have some exciting stories and huge fish to talk about in the October newsletter.
So that’s enough of all the nonsense; let’s get down to business and find out what’s been caught and which species have been landed. The anglers who visited us for the exotic fishing Thailand has to offer had some good fishing in Krabi during June with a total of 726 fish caught of 21 species, made up as follows: 26 arapaima to over 300lb, two arawana to 8lb, five alligator gar to 48lb, 159 Amazon redtail catfish to 85lb, two Amazon stingray to 25lb, four Asian stingray to 150lb, 101 Asian redtail catfish to 50lb, one bighead carp of 40lb, four barramundi to 5lb, 28 black pacu to 45lb, three Chao Phraya catfish to 100lb, one giant gourami of 4lb, 44 Julian’s golden carp to 55lb, 22 Mekong catfish to 260lb, six red bellied pacu to 18lb, two ripsaw catfish to 35lb, one striped catfish to 60lb, one sorubim catfish of 40lb, 326 Siamese carp to 175lb, five tilapia to 5lb and two wallago leeri to 18lb.
First off this month, we had a father and son from America come and join us for a trip, and the following write-up has been written by Tommy Oliviere on his trip here at Gillhams. Thank you for sending this in Tommy, and we’re so pleased you and your dad enjoyed your stay here with us, and we look forward to seeing you both again.
Tommy Oliviere.
I just came back from a trip to Gillhams with my dad, and we had an amazing time. When I was 13, I found out about Gillhams by watching River Monsters, and it was my dream to take a trip to catch some of the incredible fish Gillhams has to offer. I graduated from high school in May 2018, and instead of a graduation party, I wanted to celebrate by traveling to Gillhams to live my dream. I caught some amazing fish including Siamese carp, the largest at a whopping 178lbs! I also caught Asian redtails to 45lbs, Julian’s Golden Carp to 25lbs, and Arapaima to 120lbs. To top it all off, I got to enjoy this wonderful trip with my dad, and I know this is a trip we will both remember for the rest of our lives. Special thanks to Stuart, Sean and the whole Gillhams team, and most of all, our incredible guide, Bud, for making this the trip of a lifetime. We will definitely return one day. Tight lines!
UK angler Darren Hunt made another appearance here at Gillhams Fishing Resorts. Darren was accompanied by his wife and daughter and also first time visitors Lee and Kyle who where also accompanied by their better halves. The boys were straight out renting the biggest bikes they could find. Luckily in Krabi, they don’t rent superbikes, and they only managed a 450cc. The whole group enjoyed their time here with a few day trips when the lads could be dragged away from the lake. and of course some great fish were caught.
Twin brothers Ryan and Carl Waller were on a grand tour and had already visited a few countries before arriving here. Some of their tour had included Mexico for the spring break parties that the Americans celebrate every year as well as nine weeks RV rental in America traveling around seeing the states. Once here, the boys were quick to get started and with a relaxed approach went on to land some great fish.
Ben Curtis was another first time visitor here at Gillhams in June, and it’s fair to say that he’ll be making another visit out here some time after having a great session. Ben caught some great fish including arapaima, Asian redtail cats, Julian golden carp, bighead carp and some great Siamese carp with four over 100lb, the biggest at 115lb.
Alix Hepworth and John McGuigan came to Gillhams, as most, extremely excited and ready to get amongst some monsters. The first couple days were slow with no real monsters getting caught, but after a couple days, the fish started getting in their swims and they both started to catch some nice fish. Unfortunately disaster was around the corner for poor old John whose health has been holding him back for the last couple years waiting for an operation on his heart. One afternoon while John was on his way back from the pool, he slipped, took a tumble and broke his femur (the large bone in your thigh), which must have been extremely painful. This unfortunately kept John in Thailand for three weeks longer than he’d planned, and not in a way that he wanted, being tucked up in a hospital bed before making the long flight home. Alix however carried on for his last few days and ended up with some real crackers with two arapaima, the biggest just shy of 150lb, Mekong cats to 190lb and just came up short on the 100lb carp with his biggest at 90lb for a total of 23 fish.
Next up is the catch report for July with a total of 674 fish caught of 24 species, made up as follows: 18 arapaima to over 400lb, seven arawana to 10lb, four alligator gar to 65lb, 139 Amazon redtail catfish to 80lb, six Amazon stingray to 40lb, five Asian stingray to 150lb, 104 Asian redtail catfish to 55lb, two black shark carp to 20lb, six bighead carp of 50lb, seven barramundi to 8lb, 25 black pacu to 40lb, two firewood catfish to 25lb, two giant gourami to 9lb, 24 Julian’s golden carp to 51lb, one marble goby of 2lb, 12 Mekong catfish to 180lb, ten red bellied pacu to 22lb, one rohu of 28lb, four ripsaw catfish to 50lb, two sorubim catfish to 35lb, 287 Siamese carp to 178lb, one tilapia of 7lb, two tambaqui to 45lb, one tiger shovel nose of 35lb and two wallago leeri to 34lb.
First time visitor to Gillhams Fishing Resorts, Martijn Pieksma from Holland, made a trip out with his son Sam after visiting our stand at the carp show in Zwolle. Martijn and Sam split the fishing between the main lake and the small lake. Sam was keen on catching as many species as possible, so the small lake can be a good way to knock the species up, not to mention you can have some great sport up there. Martijn was happy just spending time with his son and seeing him enjoy himself. Obviously a big fish was also on the cards, and he was hoping for a good Siamese carp. They both caught pretty much what they wanted between the two lakes and had two species over a ton with arapaima just over 100lb and a Siamese carp of 115lb as well as pacu and both Amazon and Asian redtail catfish.
Other father and son regulars, Andy and Jevan King, made another trip out, this time leaving the other half of the family at home. Andy and Jevan both had a really good trip, and straight off they were catching the species they wanted with some good sized fish. Everything was going well until the day of Jevan’s birthday when he was jinxed and experienced his first blank. The days after made up for the bad birthday, as Jevan and his dad managed a few more fish before having to head home. The trip wasn’t just about the fishing; they both had some time off halfway through so they could leave the resort and do some day trips and also some shopping. The trip ended with a total 32 fish of seven species, which included Amazon and Asian redtail catfish, giant gourami, black pacu, Julian’s golden carp, Siamese carp and arapaima.
Rob Fenn from England joined us for ten days’ fishing. Rob had a couple of species on the hit list but was happy with different species and wanted a big Siamese carp. One of Rob’s species that he wanted to target was the Chao Phraya catfish, so guide Nick was on a mission to try and catch Rob his target species. Unfortunately, Rob only had one chance during his stay at a Chao Phraya and the fish won, as he hooked into what was definitely the target fish. The line was just peeling off the reel as the fish took off at crazy speed, followed the lake round into the bay, and poor old Rob was cut off. There wasn’t time to be unhappy though, as Rob had got his swim going and was having some very busy days. Rob went on to catch 47 fish of seven species including black shark carp, tambaqui, Julian’s carp, Amazon and Asian redtails and Siamese carp with four over a ton, the biggest at 135lb.
Last but not least, we had returning UK angler Paul Austin who was accompanied by his wife, and also their son flew over from New Zealand where he’s been living for a few years now. Paul’s son wasn’t into fishing, so after renting a motorbike, he spent his time exploring Krabi and doing what he enjoys, which is photography. Paul also took some time off fishing so he and his wife could also do some day trips with their son, Jack. Paul’s fishing went well, and the main target species was a Julian’s golden carp of which three were caught with the biggest at 50lb. Other fish caught were Asian redtail, bighead carp, Amazon redtail and 18 Siamese carp including the biggest of the trip at 110lb.
Unfortunately that’s all we’ve got time for this month. We’ll see you again next month with more captures and stories of what’s going on over here in paradise. As always, we would like to apologise to anybody who we missed out of the newsletter, as we can only write about so many. For those of you planning a return or first trip, please send us your enquiry via our enquiries page or email us at gillhamsfishingresorts@gmail.com
Tight lines from all of us at Gillhams Fishing Resorts. We hope your next fish is the one of your dreams, which it probably will be if you come to Gillhams!
