Where Do You Go Fishing?

[Mousehound]

Where have you been fishing?

Last year I went fishing at the following:

BKK - berng sam ran - good fun with my son - toooo many fish! My best a Mekong of 45K

Chiang Mai - OK for carp to 20K

Kho Sok river - tried for a silvery grey fish which looked like a chub (no, not the safe!) about 18ins - didn't get them

Krabbi - Gillham's resort - fantastic! Red tails, Mekong, Siamese, Chao Peya and hooked but had no chance on a couple of Arraphia.

Pattaya - Jomtien & 3rd Rd (can just classify as fishing if you have had a few too many beers) to20k.

Phuket - beach fishing. Trevally to 2lb.

[Norrad]

Generally I just fish right outside my apartment on the Chao Phaya in Bangkok. Not much in the way of big catches but it is fun none the less. I was looking out from my balcony this morning and noticed quite a bit of activity so grabbed the rod and headed out, managed to get a 5lb silver catfish. Not sure of the name.

Sorry about the pic quality, I snapped it with my phone before releasing it.

[BigSnake]

Going to the country side and following the farmers will work, just be aware of some mean old BUFFALOs lurking about the rice Patties, Once upon a great while the Mekhong river was neat.

[MSingh]

I generally fo Fishing in the Football Forum on Thai Visa & Boy do they bite well...

[Mousehound]

Generally I just fish right outside my apartment on the Chao Phaya in Bangkok. Not much in the way of big catches but it is fun none the less. I was looking out from my balcony this morning and noticed quite a bit of activity so grabbed the rod and headed out, managed to get a 5lb silver catfish. Not sure of the name.

Sorry about the pic quality, I snapped it with my phone before releasing it.

Looks like a Chao Phraya catfish - I think they like to hunt in shaols. Caught a few on bread and corn.

[patklang]

I generally fo Fishing in the Football Forum on Thai Visa & Boy do they bite well...

Well you certainly hooked PolPotter hehehehehehehhe.

he is a decent guy albeit a piss taker lol

[Livinginexile]

Generally I just fish right outside my apartment on the Chao Phaya in Bangkok. Not much in the way of big catches but it is fun none the less. I was looking out from my balcony this morning and noticed quite a bit of activity so grabbed the rod and headed out, managed to get a 5lb silver catfish. Not sure of the name.

Sorry about the pic quality, I snapped it with my phone before releasing it.

Nice fish!

Were you spinning?

What type of lure did you use?

[IanForbes]

Most Thai cities have pay for play ponds nearby. Some are okay, some are quite marginal and a few are poor. None are great by western standards, but the fishing is something to do for a few hours. The ponds are stocked with a variety of warm water species from Asia, Australia and South America. All it takes is asking the local tackle shops where they are. The most common species is Pla buk which is a Mekong catfish that can reach sizes over 100 kilos, but probably average between 3 and 20 kilos. Other common fish are barb, carp, breem, common snakehead and a sub species of pirhana called pacu. I know one pay for play pond in Chiang Mai that has peacock bass and a few arapaima. Around Bangkok there are few lagoons that have stocked baramundi from Australia. I was once taken to a pond that had Malaysian bony tongue or Arawana. I was lucky enough to catch one. All the fancy stocked species are for catch and release only. Only a few of the scaled species, such as carp and silver breem are allowed to be kept.

Most of the fishing in pay for play ponds is with live bait for the predator species or dough bait for the bottom feeders. We've had success using white fur body flies that imitate dough bait.

There are fish in all the big reservoirs of Thailand, but you have to compete with the local fishermen who net the lakes 24 hours a day for 365 days a year. There is NO wilderness reservoir that does no have somebody living on it. If you have access to a boat and a guide the fishing can vary between okay and pretty good. The most common species are Giant snakeheads and Jungle perch. Both can be caught on flies, but surface lures with a level wind casting reel work better.

Mekong catfish (Pla Buk)

Common snakehead

Giant snakehead

Jungle perch. Also known as the transverse barb.

Giant snakeheads are vicious predators that eat anything: fish, frogs, snakes and even birds. They are faster than salmon, attack like pike or musky but are smarter than Brown trout. And, they have the jaw power of a shark.

This is what happened to a jungle perch after one bite by a Giant snakehead.

[IanForbes]

I have fished a rather dismal looking pond called Bosan fishing park, just outside east Chiang Mai. Fishing is okay and we always caught something, but the place is rather dirty.

A much cleaner location is Dream Park that is also in Chiang Mai. It also has other species including peacock bass and a few arapaima. The bass and arapaima are well fed and difficult to catch on anything but live bait.

Arapaima are huge but difficult to catch because most have been caught before...

Peacock bass...

The only arawana I've caught was a long time ago in a pay for play pond south west of Ratchaburi. I was taken there by a friend and no longer know the way despite repeated attempts to find it. It attacked a surface popper and jumped like a tarpon (which I thought it was when I hooked it).

Pacu can be found in a variety of pay for play ponds. They are a close relative of the pirhanna and besides eating small bait fish they often eat fruit and berries that fall out of local trees.

Some get up to 6 or 7 pounds

[IanForbes]

Besides the species shown above we've taken huge carp up to 20 kilos, small archer fish, Tilapia and a few small species I can't identify.

Carp

Silver breem

I never thought Archer fish would take a lure, but they do.

Tilapia

?

?

[IanForbes]

There are also a few clear mountain rivers in northern Kanchanaburi that have Thai mahseer, bigmouth, jungle perch and species of river catfish. The smaller mahseer can be taken on dry flies and nymps, just like trout. But the bigger fish prefer white minnow patterns.

Bigmouth (Burmese trout)

Mahseer

Jungle perch

River catfish

[GarryP]

Great update. I always thought that the most common pay for play pond fish was the striped catfish (known locally as Pla Sawai). Anyway, I've never tried fly fishing in Thailand, thinking that there were very few fish that could be caught that way here. You've clearly shown that is not the case and sparked my interest. The only problem is, I do not recall seeing any fly tackle in the shops I frequent. Is it available here?

Edited June 10, 2009 by GarryP

[IanForbes]

I bring my own fly tackle, Garry and I make Chiang Mai my center. My friend, Jon Agustsson, has an outfitting and fly tying business there.

Bangkok is too big for my taste and I don't know any of the tackle stores there.

[kjhbigv]

Been to Borsang fishing lake a few times just outside Chiang Mai (head out of town towards Borsang Umbrella village, when at the big junction, turn left drive through the village iteself and lake is about 1km on left hand side, from memory has a pepsi sign at entrance).

Not being an expert by any means, it seems that absolutely any fool (including me) can catch a big catfish here! Almost guaranteed a catch in this stocked lake that apparently has 10,000 Giant Mekong Catfish!

Good fun for those who WANT to catch a big'un!

One I caught last time there.....

And another by a local....

[ChiangMai2]

Bigmouth (Burmese trout)

Out of interest have you ever tried eating these? Where did you go to catch trout? Any good spots you can recommend close to Chiang mai would be interesting..

[fishor]

Any information on this fishing park,

Praklouw Fishing Park

Prices would be good.

[jim1563]

Hi all first post Pacu 6kg 2 weeks ago in Chiang Rai

[spiderleghead]

couple of fishing ponds at the back of nichida thani on soi samakee in nontaburi. nice staff, some good fish

[quiksilva]

Interesting... that's near my place.. I might have to check it out. Is it mostly Pla Sawai?

[robblok]

Interesting... that's near my place.. I might have to check it out. Is it mostly Pla Sawai?

I was at shadow lake yestereday. Got a nice 60+ kg pla bug and a smaller pla bug. Also caught a lot of big saway (real big) on a carp rod (much more fun as on those small stiff rods)