What Kind Of Fish Is There In The Gulf Of Thailand?

[mattias33]

Sat in a restaurant that import fish from europe to Samui yesterday and of course i had to comment on that! Anyway, interesting discoussions came up where i learned for instans that there are no salmon at all in Thailand?

There were some people that said not even tuna lives in the shallow waters on this side of Thailand. And any cod you buy in samui is imported?

In the seafoodrestaurants i seen small sharks a few times. Are they from here?

For me it sounds strange that you import fish to an island but it would be interesting to hear some facts.

I started a thread some weeks ago about buying a boat and after about tre posts it was only about the different kind of fishies there are in the water, hahaha! Seems like alot of the forumusers know alot about this subject.

[sbk]

Salmon is a cool water fish, as is, I believe, cod.

In the Gulf you can find mackerel, barracuda, trevally, pomfret, shark, and yes, tuna, usually long-tail tuna. There are a myriad of fish, not sure why the need to import cod. Salmon, on the other hand, having such a unique flavor, I can understand why it is imported. Originally coming from the Pacific Northwest of the US I do not eat frozen salmon. But, my husband loves salmon and will eat the frozen stuff from time to time.

I am guessing they import fish that their customers (tourists) know.

[womble]

Sat in a restaurant that import fish from europe to Samui yesterday and of course i had to comment on that! Anyway, interesting discoussions came up where i learned for instans that there are no salmon at all in Thailand?

There were some people that said not even tuna lives in the shallow waters on this side of Thailand. And any cod you buy in samui is imported?

In the seafoodrestaurants i seen small sharks a few times. Are they from here?

For me it sounds strange that you import fish to an island but it would be interesting to hear some facts.

I started a thread some weeks ago about buying a boat and after about tre posts it was only about the different kind of fishies there are in the water, hahaha! Seems like alot of the forumusers know alot about this subject.

No salmon in Gulf, although I hear it is farmed in N. Thailand. Tuna is a bluewater fish, you will not find it around samui, but there are tuna around koh tao, generally very small. Never heard of anything sizeable caught.

Cod is imported for tourists. Only Thai restaurant I have seen it in is seafood market restaurant.

Small sharks are caught locally, small because they are overfished, almost to extiction. People should avoid eating shark due to overfishing.

Barramundi can taste good, but the farmed ones often taste muddy. Wild ones are amazing...... Mmmmmm

[jaidam]

Well we do get the occasional threadfin salmon in January, though no relation to the coldwater fish.

To add to sbk's list,

Black marlin, sailfish, rainbow runner, cobia, rays, various snappers most notable are red snapper(lutjanus russelli) and the huge gold snapper(lutjanus johnii), many different groupers, dolphinfish, at least a dozen species of trevally.

King mackerel and squid are the most important commercial fish in this area.

Not sure what the tuna are that we catch here. There are 2 kinds one with a very dark back and light meat(see photo) and another kind with wavy stripes on its back and red meat. Both are small with a big one being 2 kilos or so. Cant find a photo of that one.

[womble]

Well we do get the occasional threadfin salmon in January, though no relation to the coldwater fish.

To add to sbk's list,

Black marlin, sailfish, rainbow runner, cobia, rays, various snappers most notable are red snapper(lutjanus russelli) and the huge gold snapper(lutjanus johnii), many different groupers, dolphinfish, at least a dozen species of trevally.

King mackerel and squid are the most important commercial fish in this area.

Not sure what the tuna are that we catch here. There are 2 kinds one with a very dark back and light meat(see photo) and another kind with wavy stripes on its back and red meat. Both are small with a big one being 2 kilos or so. Cant find a photo of that one.

The tuna with the stripes is skipjack, threadfin are good eating and good sport.

How is fishing at mo Mr Jaidam?

[jaidam]

Too windy to get out much. King mackerel fishing has been very good out at the pinnacles. Running back from SW pinnacle a couple days ago there were tuna schools breaking the surface all the way back to Koh Tao. At one point dozens of seabirds diving into them. Finally hooked up with one, by far the biggest tuna I have caught here. I will post a photo of it grilling on my BBQ later, just under 3k.

This month should be great fishing during the lull in between the SW and NE monsoon. I will update this thread with any decent catches.

[womble]

Too windy to get out much. King mackerel fishing has been very good out at the pinnacles. Running back from SW pinnacle a couple days ago there were tuna schools breaking the surface all the way back to Koh Tao. At one point dozens of seabirds diving into them. Finally hooked up with one, by far the biggest tuna I have caught here. I will post a photo of it grilling on my BBQ later, just under 3k.

This month should be great fishing during the lull in between the SW and NE monsoon. I will update this thread with any decent catches.

I might pop over during the lull with my jigging gear, what you think?

[quiksilva]

Great list Jaidam, nothing to add to that.

I have never caught anything jigging though womble. Live squid fished with a bottle float seems to work best, for just about everything on Jaidam's list!

Dolphin fish (aka Mahi Mahi) are great fun and can be had spinning or with squid strips near floating debris on hot days! Hint, hook one and keep it on the line, the others will stay nearby!

At night we usually fish squid, deep, near wrecks etc for snappers and big cobia!

[jaidam]

Must be worth a try. Nathan from Megafishingthailand kindly sent me a selection of his Mango lures. So far 1 king mackerel jigging at the Unicorn wreck, and a couple of dolphin trolling it. I tried it more out at the FADs and only caught a longtom, but it brings the dolphin right in to the boat so easy to livebait them after that.Bring some ribbonfish just in case. I hear that oct/nov are the best months to use them and there are lots of mackerel here. Sail rock and Samran pinnacle must be worth a go on the way over.

Great jigging out on the deep wrecks. About 40 miles out water gets to 70 meters deep and the bigeye trevallies are nuts for the lure. At night almost every drop gets one. Heres a pic of a big one, caught by Michael on the Trident.

[mattias33]

Well we do get the occasional threadfin salmon in January, though no relation to the coldwater fish.

To add to sbk's list,

Black marlin, sailfish, rainbow runner, cobia, rays, various snappers most notable are red snapper(lutjanus russelli) and the huge gold snapper(lutjanus johnii), many different groupers, dolphinfish, at least a dozen species of trevally.

King mackerel and squid are the most important commercial fish in this area.

Not sure what the tuna are that we catch here. There are 2 kinds one with a very dark back and light meat(see photo) and another kind with wavy stripes on its back and red meat. Both are small with a big one being 2 kilos or so. Cant find a photo of that one.

Jaidam, you seem to be the guy to ask. More (stupid?) questions for you.

Threadfin salmon? What is this? Does it actually taste like salmon? I do some barbeques at home and i refuse to cook any frozen/import fish on a tropical island.....but i do love salmon! Could i get away with threadfin salmon?? Is it similar, and is it rare? Can i buy it from local ficsermen??

King Mackerell?? Is that like it sounds a Mackerell that is bigger than ordinary? And how is the taste? I imagine a "king" to be fatter than the original and maybe therefor something to prefer when it comes to barbeque?? Is it also something i can buy from local fishermen?

And jaidam, you seem to have been in this buisness for sometime, another thing that could be helpful is if you know thainames of these fishes. Many small markets (and epesially the local fishermen) dont speek englich and i have problems explaining to my wife aswell since she dont know it in englich. Perhaps you can help?

Thanks for your information so far.

[naka]

Check out this Thailand related fishing website www.thaifishingguide.com/fishtechequip/fish/saltwaterfish/threadfin_salmon.html

Naka.

[mattias33]

Check out this Thailand related fishing website www.thaifishingguide.com/fishtechequip/fish/saltwaterfish/threadfin_salmon.html

Naka.

Thanks, ineressting.

Picture of it looks like something between 2 different salmons we have in Swedich lakes (sory, dont know names in englich) that are very tasty to wrap in folia with some butter and salt and lemonpepper and then charcoal-barbeque. Sure will try to find that one hear, hungry already by looking at the picture!

Where and when can i by it freach from the sea over here?

[jaidam]

I believe the Thai name for the threadfin is plaa oolao. Don't think its any tastier than snapper or grouper though so not worth hunting it down specifically. You can see lots of them at Chumpon fish market where they are netted in the estuary. Most of them are only 3 inches long which explains why its so rare to catch an adult.

King mackerel is nice enough. Tasty cut into steaks and put on the BBQ, or fried with a sauce of your choice on top.

I'd say the wild snappers are the tastiest fish around here. Easily identified by a large black spot near their tail, and big canine teeth similar to a dog. Local names are plaa langjum for the small red fellows, and plaa maa for the big golden ones. Meat is white, nice sweet flavour, and quite flakey though not quite as flakey as european cod. Plaa kapong daeng should also be the name for the red snapper, but I notice in koh tao all the BBQ restaurants along sairee beach sell some horrible fresh water fish that looks like a red tilapia as red snapper, and baramundi as white snapper( kapong khao).When I ask them for fun if these fish are caught locally I am assured that they are!! You can eat the snapper any style, raw, fried, in soup,BBQ, whatever it always tastes good. As with all fish check the eyes are nice and clear not yellow and the gills very red to guarantee freshness. Search back on the fishing threads and Womble has posted a picture of a gold snapper.

No idea where you can buy fish in Samui, sorry.

[naka]

Check out this Thailand related fishing website www.thaifishingguide.com/fishtechequip/fish/saltwaterfish/threadfin_salmon.html

Naka.

SBK ... What's a blind link ?

Naka.

[Tywais]

Check out this Thailand related fishing website www.thaifishingguide.com/fishtechequip/fish/saltwaterfish/threadfin_salmon.html

Naka.

SBK ... What's a blind link ?

Naka.

It's a link that doesn't really tell you where it is taking you to. The above non-clickable link is clear what it is about. Put an obvious identifier in the link title to let members know what site it is going to such as the name of the site.

[mattias33]

Check out this Thailand related fishing website www.thaifishingguide.com/fishtechequip/fish/saltwaterfish/threadfin_salmon.html

Naka.

SBK ... What's a blind link ?

Naka.

It's a link that doesn't really tell you where it is taking you to. The above non-clickable link is clear what it is about. Put an obvious identifier in the link title to let members know what site it is going to such as the name of the site.

???????

Im i the only one who got lost here??

Dont this link say exatcly where its going?????? (off topic, but still interesting)

[Tywais]

Dont this link say exatcly where its going?????? (off topic, but still interesting)

It does now that sbk has un-blinded it.

An example > Click me

Inside it points to "realbigspamsite" (not a valid url in this case, but a good example of what could happen) but what you see doesn't tell you that. You can hover your mouse over the link and see it in the status box of your browser, but some members may not be aware of that. Even now, I will hover over a link to verify where it is going before clicking on it.

[mattias33]

Dont this link say exatcly where its going?????? (off topic, but still interesting)

It does now that sbk has un-blinded it.

An example > Click me

Inside it points to "realbigspamsite" (not a valid url in this case, but a good example of what could happen) but what you see doesn't tell you that. You can hover your mouse over the link and see it in the status box of your browser, but some members may not be aware of that. Even now, I will hover over a link to verify where it is going before clicking on it.

Now i understand! Thanks for clearing that up!