What Is Lam/Lum?

[RickThai]

Hello all,

I plan on moving to Thailand next year and I just recently bought a couple of saltwater spinning reels and rods for fishing in Thailand. I've been reading the threads and I'm curious to what lam/lum consists of. Is it a type of dough bait?

Thanks for putting up with my ignorance.

RickThai

[kenny999]

Lam is produced after the 2nd or maybe the 3rd stage of rice milling, it is used as chicken feed and also very good for fishing, most if not all fishing shops in Thailand sell this in small bags between 25 and 30bht but the best place to get it is at Supercheap or markets where you can buy it in bulk for a lot cheaper.

[robblok]

Problem with buying it yourself your often not allowed to bring it in. Its part of the fishing parks way to make a profit. Sneaking it in would be an option if you like that kinda thing and love to live on the cheap side. I would not sneak it in myself, if it was allowed i would do it. I look at it this way by making money on the lam they don't have to increase the price of tickets. People who sneak it in undermine this.

[quiksilva]

By the way, it should be "ram" but many locals have issues with the letters R & L. hence why most of us know it as "Lam"

[RobertWilliamJohnDellaway]

is this just used as ground bait or does it get baited on the hook also?

Rob

[kenny999]

is this just used as ground bait or does it get baited on the hook also?

Rob

It can be used on a coil feeder and also as hook bait.

[robblok]

is this just used as ground bait or does it get baited on the hook also?

Rob

It can be used on a coil feeder and also as hook bait.

Not fighting here .. but because its on the coil feeder it will create a feeding area and normally you dont have anything on the hook (maybe some syrofoam balls) to make it easier for the fish to suck it in.

I myself am still not sure about how the fish feed especially when fishing it on a coil feeder and a float. On the bottom ledgering i can understand how it works.. But it hanging free... does the fish go for the ball of lam (bit it).. or just breathe in and out around it to get lam in this way.

Me and my mates are not sure what actually goes on.

[kenny999]

is this just used as ground bait or does it get baited on the hook also?

Rob

It can be used on a coil feeder and also as hook bait.

Not fighting here .. but because its on the coil feeder it will create a feeding area and normally you dont have anything on the hook (maybe some syrofoam balls) to make it easier for the fish to suck it in.

I myself am still not sure about how the fish feed especially when fishing it on a coil feeder and a float. On the bottom ledgering i can understand how it works.. But it hanging free... does the fish go for the ball of lam (bit it).. or just breathe in and out around it to get lam in this way.

Me and my mates are not sure what actually goes on.

His question was simple(can it be used as a hook bait, answer yes) I have used Lum on the hook and caught many many Carp. I am sure no one realy knows what goes on around the bait and coil feeder so the question should be "does Lum as a hook bait catch fish" answer Yes..

Have you heard from Chin it seems very strange that he has not been on these forums for so long???

Edited June 21, 2011 by kenny999

[quiksilva]

Agree with the above.

Also from what I have heard, the fish just sucks in the big cloud of ground bait. The styrofoam balls give the hook a bit of bouyancy that help ensure that they get sucked in to the mouth when the fish gulps everything up.

[robblok]

Agree with the above.

Also from what I have heard, the fish just sucks in the big cloud of ground bait. The styrofoam balls give the hook a bit of bouyancy that help ensure that they get sucked in to the mouth when the fish gulps everything up.

That is what i thought but it does not explain it for float fishing or the short hooklinks used in BSR.

[robblok]

is this just used as ground bait or does it get baited on the hook also?

Rob

It can be used on a coil feeder and also as hook bait.

Not fighting here .. but because its on the coil feeder it will create a feeding area and normally you dont have anything on the hook (maybe some syrofoam balls) to make it easier for the fish to suck it in.

I myself am still not sure about how the fish feed especially when fishing it on a coil feeder and a float. On the bottom ledgering i can understand how it works.. But it hanging free... does the fish go for the ball of lam (bit it).. or just breathe in and out around it to get lam in this way.

Me and my mates are not sure what actually goes on.

His question was simple(can it be used as a hook bait, answer yes) I have used Lum on the hook and caught many many Carp. I am sure no one realy knows what goes on around the bait and coil feeder so the question should be "does Lum as a hook bait catch fish" answer Yes..

Have you heard from Chin it seems very strange that he has not been on these forums for so long???

I have heard from him and i believe he will be back in Thailand this weekend. I email with him sometimes. He is on business now.

[kenny999]

Agree with the above.

Also from what I have heard, the fish just sucks in the big cloud of ground bait. The styrofoam balls give the hook a bit of bouyancy that help ensure that they get sucked in to the mouth when the fish gulps everything up.

That is what i thought but it does not explain it for float fishing or the short hooklinks used in BSR.

This is an educated guess, when the coil laden with Lum hits the water it creates a cloud, the Mekong or Carp come into the cloud sucking away and obviously at some point the hook enters the mouth, I assume the Mekong/Carp swim fast in all directions through the cloud sucking away and this is why you get quite a few foul hooked fish. MAYBE!!!!

[robblok]

Agree with the above.

Also from what I have heard, the fish just sucks in the big cloud of ground bait. The styrofoam balls give the hook a bit of bouyancy that help ensure that they get sucked in to the mouth when the fish gulps everything up.

That is what i thought but it does not explain it for float fishing or the short hooklinks used in BSR.

This is an educated guess, when the coil laden with Lum hits the water it creates a cloud, the Mekong or Carp come into the cloud sucking away and obviously at some point the hook enters the mouth, I assume the Mekong/Carp swim fast in all directions through the cloud sucking away and this is why you get quite a few foul hooked fish. MAYBE!!!!

That is my guess too.. though then it would make sense to have a longer hook link. While the experts (guides) use real short ones some are only 5cm long. That means the fish must be real close and sucking hard.

But if this is the case then also soft lam is better then hard packed lam. That is what i always thought problem is casting out far with soft lam.

[kenny999]

Agree with the above.

Also from what I have heard, the fish just sucks in the big cloud of ground bait. The styrofoam balls give the hook a bit of bouyancy that help ensure that they get sucked in to the mouth when the fish gulps everything up.

That is what i thought but it does not explain it for float fishing or the short hooklinks used in BSR.

This is an educated guess, when the coil laden with Lum hits the water it creates a cloud, the Mekong or Carp come into the cloud sucking away and obviously at some point the hook enters the mouth, I assume the Mekong/Carp swim fast in all directions through the cloud sucking away and this is why you get quite a few foul hooked fish. MAYBE!!!!

That is my guess too.. though then it would make sense to have a longer hook link. While the experts (guides) use real short ones some are only 5cm long. That means the fish must be real close and sucking hard.

But if this is the case then also soft lam is better then hard packed lam. That is what i always thought problem is casting out far with soft lam.

I think the reason for the very short hook link is, when the Lum hits the water the fish are attracted by the splash and are on the bait very quickly( if the hook link is long the Mekong might miss the hook as it will drop out of the Lum cloud) again I think this is why you get fouled hooked fish, I also think that covering the hook with Lum will prevent many of the fouled hooked fish you get with a baitless hook, when I used Lum at Phuket fishing park I used the coil with Lum and also Lum on the hook(very short hook link approx 2") never had a foul hooked fish.

Edited June 22, 2011 by kenny999

[robblok]

]

That is what i thought but it does not explain it for float fishing or the short hooklinks used in BSR.

This is an educated guess, when the coil laden with Lum hits the water it creates a cloud, the Mekong or Carp come into the cloud sucking away and obviously at some point the hook enters the mouth, I assume the Mekong/Carp swim fast in all directions through the cloud sucking away and this is why you get quite a few foul hooked fish. MAYBE!!!!

That is my guess too.. though then it would make sense to have a longer hook link. While the experts (guides) use real short ones some are only 5cm long. That means the fish must be real close and sucking hard.

But if this is the case then also soft lam is better then hard packed lam. That is what i always thought problem is casting out far with soft lam.

I think the reason for the very short hook link is, when the Lum hits the water the fish are attracted by the splash and are on the bait very quickly( if the hook link is long the Mekong might miss the hook as it will drop out of the Lum cloud) again I think this is why you get fouled hooked fish, I also think that covering the hook with Lum will prevent many of the fouled hooked fish you get with a baitless hook, when I used Lum at Phuket fishing park I used the coil with Lum and also Lum on the hook(very short hook link approx 2") never had a foul hooked fish.

I use short hook links most of the time. Anyway what you are saying is what i thought but im still not 100% sure about it. I do believe the fish also take certain baits in their mouth. I notice this when i fish at shadow lake. THen they take the bait (not lam) in their mouth. So why not with lam.

Anyway as long as we cant see underwater its pointless to discuss but still fun.

[quiksilva]

lol what else are we to do when not fishing?

[rufanuf]

Anyway as long as we cant see underwater its pointless to discuss but still fun.

I think its simply a matter of how well the fish are feeding. By nature the Siamese Carp and Mekong Catfish are filter feeders, given the choice thats how they feed. In a stocked pond they may or may not be forced to adapt there feeding habits based on the availability of food for them (to the point they will take solids). In a competitive feeding environment and good feeding conditions the fish will become more and more aggressive at getting the bait first, so on a really good (hot and sunny usually in fishing parks) day float fishing, the Mekongs will get very competitive to the point they will even take the whole bait ball into their mouths crushing the cage. On days when the conditions are not so good they may feed much less positively, bigger wiser fish always feed more carefully. The softness of the bait ball is key to catching more wary specimens and the more wary specimens are quite often the bigger, older, wiser fish. I think this is partcularly true of carp fishing, even when fishing on the bottom. Sadly I think really big carp even go one step further and move away from anything that resembles an anglers bait if they possibly can, meaning they are virtually impossible to catch, hence why the really big fish are rarely captured. They are feeding foodstuffs most of the time that is A to small to present on a fishing rig and B is not on the anglers radar as bait. I have heard of people catching big carp on tiny live freshwater prawns, but to present them you would have to fish a tiny hook that would never land such a fish.

[robblok]

Anyway as long as we cant see underwater its pointless to discuss but still fun.

I think its simply a matter of how well the fish are feeding. By nature the Siamese Carp and Mekong Catfish are filter feeders, given the choice thats how they feed. In a stocked pond they may or may not be forced to adapt there feeding habits based on the availability of food for them (to the point they will take solids). In a competitive feeding environment and good feeding conditions the fish will become more and more aggressive at getting the bait first, so on a really good (hot and sunny usually in fishing parks) day float fishing, the Mekongs will get very competitive to the point they will even take the whole bait ball into their mouths crushing the cage. On days when the conditions are not so good they may feed much less positively, bigger wiser fish always feed more carefully. The softness of the bait ball is key to catching more wary specimens and the more wary specimens are quite often the bigger, older, wiser fish. I think this is partcularly true of carp fishing, even when fishing on the bottom. Sadly I think really big carp even go one step further and move away from anything that resembles an anglers bait if they possibly can, meaning they are virtually impossible to catch, hence why the really big fish are rarely captured. They are feeding foodstuffs most of the time that is A to small to present on a fishing rig and B is not on the anglers radar as bait. I have heard of people catching big carp on tiny live freshwater prawns, but to present them you would have to fish a tiny hook that would never land such a fish.

Good insight, and i tend to agree. I always thought softer balls of lam would help. Too bad they are hard to cast. I also agree about that food competition drives fish to take baits they normally would not take. I seen many videos of carp alone they are wary of the bait but when an other one arives they take the bait becaue they worry the other will steal it away.

[quiksilva]

Interesting, perhaps those baitholders could be tweaked a little. In fact have you heard of Furry THaNGS? They make them in the US for the stink baits used for their catfish, but are a little too small for our purposes. A much bigger one might help keep a softer bait ball on..

Hmm I might experiment with a loafer or something similar, a large surface area (vs a coiled tube) should enable it to hold on to a softer bait.

[robblok]

Interesting, perhaps those baitholders could be tweaked a little. In fact have you heard of Furry THaNGS? They make them in the US for the stink baits used for their catfish, but are a little too small for our purposes. A much bigger one might help keep a softer bait ball on..

Hmm I might experiment with a loafer or something similar, a large surface area (vs a coiled tube) should enable it to hold on to a softer bait.

There is other stuff too. Just look for ARMA mesh from fox. It should be able to hold soft bait, so far i have only used it a little bit for other purposes. Its not PVA is a fine mesh you can use for fishing with things that were previously hard to fish with.

[quiksilva]

Oh interesting, just checked out some videos on youtube, looks like it could work great for the cats at BSR

[robblok]

Oh interesting, just checked out some videos on youtube, looks like it could work great for the cats at BSR

I only got the small version.. and i think that is not big enough.. an other option is put a pva bag around the ball of lam that your casting so its more secured.. But on the other hand if its too loose it will all come off too fast. You want some bait remaining.

But it gives us more things to aspire too