Fishing In Thailand

[GarryP]

What I do find a real joke is the registering of these "pet" fish as world records. That is total BS.

Couldn't agree more. I'll put a giant mekong catfish in my bathtub. I'm sure to catch it. Don't even need to reel it in. A new world record.

World records should exclude all captive fish (read fishing park) and only be granted for fish caught in their natural habitat.

[rufanuf]

What I do find a real joke is the registering of these "pet" fish as world records. That is total BS.

Couldn't agree more. I'll put a giant mekong catfish in my bathtub. I'm sure to catch it. Don't even need to reel it in. A new world record.

World records should exclude all captive fish (read fishing park) and only be granted for fish caught in their natural habitat.

Although in many ways I couldn't agree more, unfortunately it is the IGFA that make the rules and not the people submitting the record claims. If you read the rules, it states quite clearly that fish captured in a "sanctuary" or protected area would not qualify, this doesnt describe fishing parks, becuase they are set up for the angler, the fish are not protected.

IMHO The IGFA do themselves a far bigger discredit by permitting people to submit sub size fish, such as the earliest records for the Giant Mekong Catfish at sizes below 20kgs! (and then successive records of equally small size every 6 months or so for years) Paradoxically in Thailand if you was fishing for the big species in the wild, you would be targeting an endangered species, so that would make it virtually impossible then for a record to stand for say the Giant Mekong Catfish or Siamese Carp unless you had even less scruples than the guy who wants his record out of a fishing park!

It would be a shame for the Thai fishing scene if the sizes that some of these magnificent creatures obtain could not be recorded somewhere for prosperity, even if not with the IGFA. How about a Thai record fish list?