Shadow Lake / Gnau Nam

[robblok]

I think shadow lake is one of the hardest lakes to fish in but also one of the most rewarding if you catch big fish there. From others experience and from my own fish seem stronger pound for pound then the fish in Bungsamran and fight harder too.

I must say i do see fish that are deformed in any way some because of fishing others because of disease i find it a shame. But i cant do a thing about it.

Shadow lake is near Puttamon soi 3 and you pay 150 baht a rod, a nice fair price no dual pricing. All kinds of bait are available and you can even hire a guide and some reels if need be.

For now i see a lot fish being caught on lam with a float. The other method is with "massage bread" direct on the hook on the bottom. At this point this method is less effective but there have been times it has been the other way around. This is a lake that has days that you hardly have a bite (especially Mondays after a busy weekend).

The food is good but slow to prepare. I do have one problem with this lake and that is that they dont keep it cleam. There are garbage bins but even if your a good boy and put your stuff in they will empty the bin later and burn it on the spot thus leaving loads of plastic around. It just does not look good.

Also now their stretchers seem to have dissapeared (the ones used to carry the fish). I am thinking of asking my dad when he is here (this month) to help me construct some stretchers for them as i dont think they will make them themselves again. They are vital for the fish IMHO. They just seem to accept that they are gone.. I don't.

[theo123]

hi there ,, i'm thinkin off going to shadow lake ,, when i get to bkk about 10th dec , could u tell me how much it would cost if i just land up ,,

i dont know much about fishing but still would like to catch some big fish , so think i would need a guide to help , how much would it be ,, 4 one

would 4000 bah cover it all ????

[robblok]

You can even get a guide in schadow lake, im not sure about the price but im sure that it is below 1000. You fish there for 150 baht a rod and you can rent rods there. Probem is mainly that they speak Thai and not English. The lake is much harder to fish as Bungsamran and for 4000 baht you can have a great day over there and rent a bungalow (modest one and hire a guide). Shadow lake should not set you back that much i think it would cost you half. If you go there yourself and rent a guide there. Yesterday i had one of the worst days over there ever. Still we caught some sawai but it was bad.

I will still go there and i like it a lot but that is not because of the amount of fish that i catch. If you need help locating it i can post a telephone number of it.

[robblok]

For those who want to go there 024443246 its close to putamon soi 3

[geronimo]

Spent a whole year, 4 years ago (almost every weekend) fishing it with a friend of mine. You're right it is a hard place to fish, I think I managed to land four mekong catfish over 50 kg. I once saw an 85 kg pulled out. Went there again last month and my friend got a 45 kg cat. There are very big carp in there too. Got broken up by one!

[robblok]

Spent a whole year, 4 years ago (almost every weekend) fishing it with a friend of mine. You're right it is a hard place to fish, I think I managed to land four mekong catfish over 50 kg. I once saw an 85 kg pulled out. Went there again last month and my friend got a 45 kg cat. There are very big carp in there too. Got broken up by one!

Part of the fun for me is that it is a hard place to fish. I like to figure the place out, but that is hard. I try to fish there as much as possible unfortunately that means some months i can go up to 8 or more times and other months i cant go at all.

[spud1]

I wouldn't say it's a hard place to fish but if your expecting a fish a chuck has BSR then your going to be disappointed.You are right about the fish fighting harder,only last week it took me over 20mins to land one particular fish

that was probably around the 60kg mark.The average size of fish also seem to be larger than BSR.In this instance it's a matter of quality over quantity.The couple of times I,ve blanked are when I,ve had to fish up the right hand side of the lake due to it being busy.

Edited December 6, 2010 by spud1

[robblok]

I wouldn't say it's a hard place to fish but if your expecting a fish a chuck has BSR then your going to be disappointed.You are right about the fish fighting harder,only last week it took me over 20mins to land one particular fish

that was probably around the 60kg mark.The average size of fish also seem to be larger than BSR.In this instance it's a matter of quality over quantity.The couple of times I,ve blanked are when I,ve had to fish up the right hand side of the lake due to it being busy.

Just came back from it. It was a slow day for everyone because of the weather.

I lost 2 fish (had the barb cut away from my hook because i was fishing at an other lake before where fish were plentifull). Landed one medium size pla bug with my carp rod (lots of fun more fun then with a short rod).

Also my dad caught a carp and a big sawai. We had plenty of time to test the bait boat he brought and i am sure that in the future it will help me even more to catch fish.

For now not the massage bread but lam on a float is catching better (but i still stick to the massage bread as i like fishing that way)

[robblok]

An other day at Shadow lake but maybe my last for a while because of circumstances (i hope not). Today the Thais were complaining that there were no pla bug caught and that the fish were not biting.

There were some sawai caught but i did not see a single big bug being caught. I could have had 2 if i was not still experimenting and if i did not make a beginner error. I had two good bites that both resulted in a broken line (more action as the Thais but i blew it). The hooklinks were not strong enough because i made them out of lighter material to see if it would increase bites (lighter material more natural bait presentation). But i had my ratchet to tight and that broke my lines. *stupid me*

I did catch 3 smaller pla bugs and 3 big sawai on my other rod with bread.

[robblok]

Today my catches totalled 10 fish. Finnaly double digits in Ngua nam, it does not happen much. These fish were no where near Bungsamran size. Except the last one that one was a lot bigger as the standard BSR size. It was around 40kg.

I was fishing with 2 rods, one long carp rod that used for the pla sawai and small bug and a smaller rod with the massage bread.

I met up with Mickylonster (appointment) and by accident with spud. All in all a good day.

Nice meating you guys.

[spud1]

Today my catches totalled 10 fish. Finnaly double digits in Ngua nam, it does not happen much. These fish were no where near Bungsamran size. Except the last one that one was a lot bigger as the standard BSR size. It was around 40kg.

I was fishing with 2 rods, one long carp rod that used for the pla sawai and small bug and a smaller rod with the massage bread.

I met up with Mickylonster (appointment) and by accident with spud. All in all a good day.

Nice meating you guys.

It was a pleasure to meet you to.Just to let you know,I had a fish within 10mins of moving pegs but unfortunately never had a touch after that.Glad to report I,ve still got two alarms! The drop in temperature is obviously having a more serious effect than I imagined.I will be

fishing my next session on Shadow between xmas and new year so maybe will catch up with you soon.

[robblok]

Today my catches totalled 10 fish. Finnaly double digits in Ngua nam, it does not happen much. These fish were no where near Bungsamran size. Except the last one that one was a lot bigger as the standard BSR size. It was around 40kg.

I was fishing with 2 rods, one long carp rod that used for the pla sawai and small bug and a smaller rod with the massage bread.

I met up with Mickylonster (appointment) and by accident with spud. All in all a good day.

Nice meating you guys.

It was a pleasure to meet you to.Just to let you know,I had a fish within 10mins of moving pegs but unfortunately never had a touch after that.Glad to report I,ve still got two alarms! The drop in temperature is obviously having a more serious effect than I imagined.I will be

fishing my next session on Shadow between xmas and new year so maybe will catch up with you soon.

I got that big fish just after you left, it was one of those real big ones and i was happy to catch it it made a good day a really good day. It might have been your PVA bag. Can you tell me the sizes that you used ?

[robblok]

Spud,

I will be looking into using the optronics too. Mainly when fishing with someone else because then i talk else i am just close to my rods and stay there and ill hear it. But when im a bit distracted i tend to react to every line going off everywhere

I do have a nice fox rodpot but i dont like blocking everything with my stuff Plus that i dont want both rods to close to each other that can have disastrous effects.

[mickylonster]

Today my catches totalled 10 fish. Finnaly double digits in Ngua nam, it does not happen much. These fish were no where near Bungsamran size. Except the last one that one was a lot bigger as the standard BSR size. It was around 40kg.

I was fishing with 2 rods, one long carp rod that used for the pla sawai and small bug and a smaller rod with the massage bread.

I met up with Mickylonster (appointment) and by accident with spud. All in all a good day.

Nice meating you guys.

Nice to meet you too Rob, a most enjoyable day, and good to meet you too Spud !

[spud1]

Likewise Micky.Rob with regards to you running of everytime you heard a reel spinning,I just thought you were of a nervous disposition. Has to the large fish you caught,yes that must of been due to the one pva bag you had of me!.The size

are 200mm X 70mm.

[robblok]

Went out for carp today at ngua nam.. and guess what i caught a fair size carp 20+ kg. And some sawai. Was a nice day but it was packed with Thais.

[zoso]

Good for you. Will fish with you next year at Shadow lake

[robblok]

Good for you. Will fish with you next year at Shadow lake

I wont be fishing januari.. only working.. maybe if if im real lucky i can squeeze in one day.

[zoso]

Yesterday fished with Rob-and another forummer drop in for chit chat-at Shadow Lake. Reached the pond before 9am initially we were the only ones and slowly more Thai anglers came throughout the day peaking in the evening. And observing the photos of fishes caught displayed Rob made an obsevation most large fishes were caught at night. Perhaps as you said Rob make time to fish till later.

The pond is big and long divided into two halves by a wooden pier. As it's my first time fishing at Shadow Lake used one rod with coil feeder with float,one with coil feeder without float and my light tackle for without coil feeder nor float. Used lum with buttermilk throughout the day. Both methods work. And Rob your buttermilk recipe worked as the mekong was caught with it.

It was a cold cold day. There was rain and strong wind throughout the day. We were numbed with cold. Saw a Thai angler with jacket and scarf seeking shelter from the wind behind a tree. At one point there was mist in the afternoon. Wanted a hot coffee the whole day but they didn't have any till mid afternoon.

The bite rate was low as expected due to the cold. We caught a number of 10kg to 15kg sawai and one mekong-Rob was it 20kg? although weighed correct me if I am wrong-on float set at 2 metres. Around 430pm we used 2 rods for caho but was unevenful. We packed up at 6pm. A very enjoyable day. Thanks Rob.

It 's a good pond to fish. Worth a visit as due to being 20 years plus old there should be big fishes. According to the owner there are big mekongs and cahos. Good pond except the lum was expensive as it's 25baht for half a kilo. Yesterday we used 6kg of LUm. Although it's 34km from my place the traffic is terrible. Next time start off earlier and fish till after 8pm. Took 1 hour to reach Shadow Lake and 70 minutes to reach home.

And as I don't have your contact-the forummer who joined us can I name you?-I am meeting my friends at Bungsamran tomorrow. Just had an email he is flying in tonight. You told me to let you know. I will be there in the afternoon. PM me thanks

Edited March 18, 2011 by zoso

[powderpuff]

It was great meeting you 2 guys. These are 2 anglers who really know what they are doing. Just about the time I arrived Zoso tied into the biggest fish of the day; a Pla Buk that weighed 20 kg. dam_n these fish can fight. Rob let me battle 2 Sawai on his catfish rig. You 2 giys got my big respect. You have to see Rob's bait runner. He could run the bait 7/8 of the way across the lake & drop it.

This was one of the nicest fishing parks I have ever seen. Value for money is insane. The guys paid 150 baht per rod per day. It was cold windy & rainy & thus the fishing was not "on fire" but we had a good time anyway.

I would definatley go back & fish this lake even though it is far from my house.

Thank you guys for a most enjoyable day with 2 great sportsmen.

Zoso I will see you at BSR someday soon.

[robblok]

You guys are always welcome to come over there. I liked the day a lot. I did not like the cold and the wind one bit. There are still things that i want to try Kim really made me think about chumming. I thought i overchummed before but now im sure i never overchummed.

I wil be fishing next week again, because next month is a month i cant fish because of work. So i have to sneak in a few fishing days before that time else i go crazy.

I like fishing with Kim he looks at things differently then me and i like it. This is a water people can still try out new things you still pioneer a bit here. I do like bungsamran too but there its already established what works best. For some reason i like to pioneer. But when i want loads of big cats BSR is the better place.

I wonder if am allowed to use the boat there Would be fun to use my sonar there and see how deep it really is.

[zoso]

You guys are always welcome to come over there. I liked the day a lot. I did not like the cold and the wind one bit. There are still things that i want to try Kim really made me think about chumming. I thought i overchummed before but now im sure i never overchummed.

I wil be fishing next week again, because next month is a month i cant fish because of work. So i have to sneak in a few fishing days before that time else i go crazy.

I like fishing with Kim he looks at things differently then me and i like it. This is a water people can still try out new things you still pioneer a bit here. I do like bungsamran too but there its already established what works best. For some reason i like to pioneer. But when i want loads of big cats BSR is the better place.

I wonder if am allowed to use the boat there Would be fun to use my sonar there and see how deep it really is.

I am sure there will be no problem using your boat at BSR as it's clean energy. Also curious of the deepest depth of the pond as they said it's 8 metres which I doubt.

The norm to fish for mekongs at BSR is to use floats I have had set stopper at 4 metres and caught fishes and also caught when on bottom which was casted as far out as possible. It will good to use your boat to reach spots where its impossible to cast to from central pier or from any of the bungalows.

Also I am going to buy one of the boats too.

[Mousehound]

Can anyone give a map ref for Shadow Lake? i am having difficulty finding it.

Thanks

[ufishin]

You were mentioning about finding out how deep a lake is. You should check out the smartcast fish finder. You cast a transducer with a rod and it shows if there are fish near and how deep it is. In the US they are only around a hundred dollars.

[robblok]

You were mentioning about finding out how deep a lake is. You should check out the smartcast fish finder. You cast a transducer with a rod and it shows if there are fish near and how deep it is. In the US they are only around a hundred dollars.

Got it already and i found out its no more then 2 meter 240 at some points (8 feet max) most of it shallower around 6 ft

[ufishin]

My link

Was a slow day yesterday at Gnau Nam. Caught a Caho, Sawai, and a few Plah Buk. 90% of the fish were caught on the far bank. Normally you catch Sawai's on the far bank, but the Cahos and Plah Buk were caught from there. Not very many people there because the workers said it was loaded full of people at night. Fished for only 8 hours and managed only six fish.

[robblok]

My link

Was a slow day yesterday at Gnau Nam. Caught a Caho, Sawai, and a few Plah Buk. 90% of the fish were caught on the far bank. Normally you catch Sawai's on the far bank, but the Cahos and Plah Buk were caught from there. Not very many people there because the workers said it was loaded full of people at night. Fished for only 8 hours and managed only six fish.

Your sitting near where i always fish. And i got a major bug on the line last week on the other side of the bank. I used my boat to sail it out. First it took my line all the way to the left. Then to the right and i got worried so i applied more brake.. and... my owner hook bend. Did not happen to me before. So i lost the fish

Are you up for some fishing in the near future in shadow ? (when all this rain is done)

[ufishin]

Meeting up would be great. I have the weekends off, so shoot me an email when you go. I think weekdays are better with less people and the fish are not so full from too many people fishing. It is a very nice place there, minus the trash. It gets boring when you cast and once the bait hits the water and you get a fish. Gnau nam makes you experiment to catch fish.

Happy fishing

[robblok]

Meeting up would be great. I have the weekends off, so shoot me an email when you go. I think weekdays are better with less people and the fish are not so full from too many people fishing. It is a very nice place there, minus the trash. It gets boring when you cast and once the bait hits the water and you get a fish. Gnau nam makes you experiment to catch fish.

Happy fishing

Yes that is part of the charm, the lake is close enough to me to go there with relative ease. Also the prices are not that high though i tend to spend as much on a day of shadow lake as on a day of Bungsamran. (i use more rods in shadow). Bait is more expensive at shadow and cheaper at BSR plus there i fish one rod. So price wise its the same for me. But i like both lakes. Shadow is for experimenting and quiet fishing.

[robblok]

I have found sailing my bait boat out with my line to the other side is almost a garanteed run on the rod. It might be small sawai or carp or even a big one you never know.

Its part cheating but with the bait boat i can dump groundbait and normal bait from a short rod with a reel. But i can get to the other side with just bread on my long rod and catch sawai or even carp. Big bugs will be hard on my long rod and 40lb braid.