Fishing Holidays In Thialand

[davejbee]

Hi

I want to come fishing in thialand in november i want to fish the lakes/ponds + need somewhere to stay...was thinking about Palm tree lagoon ...does anyone have some good places that they would recomend or fishing guides that i could go with....

thanks

[robblok]

Id advise against palm tree lagon. Its expensive and just a small pond. For the same money you better go to ao nang and fish at gillhams. Much nicer surroundings bigger fish and a much bigger lake for the same or even less.

[robblok]

I also advise you to go to Bungsamran, no need to hire a guide somewhere else there are plenty available there.

Depending how you are on money you could do shadow lake or cha am. However these ponds are hard and cant compare to the expensive ponds. Guides are available at Shadow Lake. prices are just a fraction of places like gillham and bungsamran. But if you only want action and big fish dont go there.

There are some other places like lake IT monster and such. They are even more expensive but some people like to fish them. For a holiday its an ok thing to do. I would really include gillhams to your list only problem is that its in the South of Thailand. So its far away. But its by far the best bang for your buck if you are taking about expensive lakes. Probably the best setting and for sure the best fish care.

[davejbee]

Thanks robblok for the info palm tree lagoon have just got back to me with a price Of 37200 thb per person for 8 nights 7 days fishing with hotel and all bait that sounds cheaper than most of the others ... Is the fishing good there

[IanForbes]

Just remember that anywhere outside of the pay for play fishing parks the Thais kill everything with any method they can... nets, set lines and electronic devices that kill or stun every fish in the vicinity. Thais eat anything and everything that is edible in any size shape or form. If it slithers, slides, hops, walks, runs, jumps, swims, flies or even lies there inert it will get eaten. Conservation is only something practised inside of parks. And even then there is poaching.

[rufanuf]

DaveJBee,

Im sure robblok will be the first to say "Im bound to say this" LOL, but in the end theres a reason tourist use the services of fishing tours, and its not a singular list. If your planning to get results, one venue is not the best way to go, a well planned tour is the best way to go.

[davejbee]

Hi Rufanuf

Could you give me some ideas then

Thanks

[robblok]

DaveJBee,

Im sure robblok will be the first to say "Im bound to say this" LOL, but in the end theres a reason tourist use the services of fishing tours, and its not a singular list. If your planning to get results, one venue is not the best way to go, a well planned tour is the best way to go.

Yes you are bound to say this. But IMHO you dont need a guide if can hire them at the lakes. Why fork out for an other then. I mean great guides at BSR. Not to mention that guides are included in Gillhams. Im sure even palm tree would help a long stay visitor.

I still say go to Gillhams.. pay a bit more and have the time of your life.

[jackinbkk]

My opinion would be stay at a hotel in bangkok, get taxis to Bung samran and hire the rod and guide at the venue. I think you'll save a lot. Plus it is the best fishing for tourists in Bangkok. The biggest fish with the best services for English speakers.

Honestly what would 8 days cost?

8x1000 for fishing

8x1000 for guide

8x 500 for bait

8x 500 for rod hire

----------------------------

= 24,000 thb

You can get a hotel from about 1000 baht a night and taxis there and back about 300 baht a day?

8x1000 + 8 x 300 = 10,400

Total = 34,400 THB

Maybe if you tell a guide at the park that you'll hire him for a week he'll do you a discount?

Gnao nam would be a bit difficult as not many people understand English there.

[rufanuf]

My opinion would be stay at a hotel in bangkok, get taxis to Bung samran and hire the rod and guide at the venue. I think you'll save a lot. Plus it is the best fishing for tourists in Bangkok. The biggest fish with the best services for English speakers.

Honestly what would 8 days cost?

8x1000 for fishing

8x1000 for guide

8x 500 for bait

8x 500 for rod hire

----------------------------

= 24,000 thb

You can get a hotel from about 1000 baht a night and taxis there and back about 300 baht a day?

8x1000 + 8 x 300 = 10,400

Total = 34,400 THB

Maybe if you tell a guide at the park that you'll hire him for a week he'll do you a discount?

Gnao nam would be a bit difficult as not many people understand English there.

Again....just one venue...two species of fish. A long way to come not to get a broader experience.

[rufanuf]

Hi Rufanuf

Could you give me some ideas then

Thanks

Just dont sticck to one venue Dave. That way you'll get a chance to experience the Thai fishng scene as all the xpats on here experience it, and as you can see they all have their different opinions, and thats really my point. Each venue offers something different, thats what you pay tour companies for. You have had prices of 37,200BHT. You had suggestions for how to fish Bungsamran for 24000BHT....what knowones told you to do is the right thing, which is dont assume your ideas of a good trip will be the same as someone elses, and dont dont assume that doing everything yourself as a tourist will get you the best results, or even necessarily save you money, if its that important to you. (which for many anglers its not).

[rufanuf]

if your looking to save about 10,000BHT Perhaps one of the expats on here would take you on a weeks fishing tour? For free? Or maybe they wll say "just pay my hotels and food and drink"? Cost? About 10,000BHT !

I once asked Robblok if he would consider taking our clients to Gnao Nam....as he is very knowledgeable about the venue. But by his own admission when he considered what it actually entails to help someone organise their fishing trip, he realised the money in it was not worthwhile, and even admitted to me that he could see the value in the service offered to visitors.

I really don't know why expats have such contempt for or try to belittle a service they simply dont require becuase they live here and have been to all the venues before....but they do, and it ends up with plenty of tourist anglers coming on to Thai Visa and being swayed to see things thru the eyes of an expat, which...they are not. The result? Not as good as it could of been simply for spending 15% to 25% more on a trip (if that), and having it professionally put together for them.

Edited February 11, 2012 by rufanuf

[robblok]

if your looking to save about 10,000BHT Perhaps one of the expats on here would take you on a weeks fishing tour? For free? Or maybe they wll say "just pay my hotels and food and drink"? Cost? About 10,000BHT !

I once asked Robblok if he would consider taking our clients to Gnao Nam....as he is very knowledgeable about the venue. But by his own admission when he considered what it actually entails to help someone organise their fishing trip, he realised the money in it was not worthwhile, and even admitted to me that he could see the value in the service offered to visitors.

I really don't know why expats have such contempt for or try to belittle a service they simply dont require becuase they live here and have been to all the venues before....but they do, and it ends up with plenty of tourist anglers coming on to Thai Visa and being swayed to see things thru the eyes of an expat, which...they are not. The result? Not as good as it could of been simply for spending 15% to 25% more on a trip (if that), and having it professionally put together for them.

I still think its not worth my time to be a fishing guide. I have friends who think otherwise. I am just in a different position. I don't mind take a friend or someone i know fishing. All fun with me but no way would i want to be forced to do so and not being able to fish myself.

I just think that many venues offer fishing guides, a place like Bungsamran has guides, Gillhams has guides, even palm tree has people who will help. The problem is then a communications one because most guides don't speak that much English. I always use the guide We when my (lazy) father is here. The old man is already planning his next trip to Gillhams telling me its the best he ever seen. I dont mind paying the price there because i think its good quality. Still its too expensive for my twice weekly fishing trips. (not to mention a bit far from BKK).

A guide comes in handy as he will arrange transport and presumably good rods. It takes care of the hassle and will give you a more care free experience. Its more expensive and that is for anyone to decide if that is worth it. I personally would not fish one of those expensive venues for the first time without having someone who is knowledgeable. So if there are no guides on site id really use a tour company.

I think part of the belittling comes from the crazy prices that are sometimes asked by fishing tour operators to go to BSR.

[robblok]

@ruffenuf

It it was just a 1000 extra for the guide it would not be so bad. But i doubt its just a 1000 that is added per day to the trip. Id say its more 2000-3000 and then it might be worth wile for the company but that is more then a 25%.

If you take BSR and the offer a price of 6000 its a bit high (1000 thai guide 800 bungalow 400 lam 1000 entrance 200 getting there by taxi) 3400 That is not a 25% percent increase its more like a 76% percent increase) 4250 would make it a 25% increase.

[IanForbes]

if your looking to save about 10,000BHT Perhaps one of the expats on here would take you on a weeks fishing tour? For free? Or maybe they wll say "just pay my hotels and food and drink"? Cost? About 10,000BHT !

I once asked Robblok if he would consider taking our clients to Gnao Nam....as he is very knowledgeable about the venue. But by his own admission when he considered what it actually entails to help someone organise their fishing trip, he realised the money in it was not worthwhile, and even admitted to me that he could see the value in the service offered to visitors.

I really don't know why expats have such contempt for or try to belittle a service they simply dont require becuase they live here and have been to all the venues before....but they do, and it ends up with plenty of tourist anglers coming on to Thai Visa and being swayed to see things thru the eyes of an expat, which...they are not. The result? Not as good as it could of been simply for spending 15% to 25% more on a trip (if that), and having it professionally put together for them.

I still think its not worth my time to be a fishing guide. I have friends who think otherwise. I am just in a different position. I don't mind take a friend or someone i know fishing. All fun with me but no way would i want to be forced to do so and not being able to fish myself.

I just think that many venues offer fishing guides, a place like Bungsamran has guides, Gillhams has guides, even palm tree has people who will help. The problem is then a communications one because most guides don't speak that much English. I always use the guide We when my (lazy) father is here. The old man is already planning his next trip to Gillhams telling me its the best he ever seen. I dont mind paying the price there because i think its good quality. Still its too expensive for my twice weekly fishing trips. (not to mention a bit far from BKK).

A guide comes in handy as he will arrange transport and presumably good rods. It takes care of the hassle and will give you a more care free experience. Its more expensive and that is for anyone to decide if that is worth it. I personally would not fish one of those expensive venues for the first time without having someone who is knowledgeable. So if there are no guides on site id really use a tour company.

I think part of the belittling comes from the crazy prices that are sometimes asked by fishing tour operators to go to BSR.

Good post, Robblok. I did some guiding years ago in Canada and it turned me off the profession. You have to cater to <deleted> as well as the good folks and you don't have much choice in who you get. You also have to use questionable ethics just to make a profit.

The problem in Thailand is the language if you are a foreigner. You don't know where to go or how to access the best water. You are at the mercy of the guides... of which some are of questionable character. There is a well known Frenchman that falls into that category. Very often you need a boat to access the better places on large reservoirs. And, even the fishing parks need a little prior knowledge. Fortunately, if you know fishing at all then you can quickly figure it out. You can put me on any body of water and I'll catch fish anywhere in the world but you don't learn that over night.

I think there is lots of good advice on this forum and it shouldn't be too difficult to figure things out if you've been fishing at all.

[impulse]

All fun with me but no way would i want to be forced to do so and not being able to fish myself.

In my opinion and experience, an angler that hires a guide and doesn't insist that he fish is missing out on a lot of valuable knowledge. Just watching how the guides fish (and how they hold their mouth during the retrieve) and emulating their actions is worth hiring a guide.

Edited February 11, 2012 by impulse

[davejbee]

Hi guys

Is greenfield valley fishing resort any good

[jackinbkk]

My opinion would be stay at a hotel in bangkok, get taxis to Bung samran and hire the rod and guide at the venue. I think you'll save a lot. Plus it is the best fishing for tourists in Bangkok. The biggest fish with the best services for English speakers.

Honestly what would 8 days cost?

8x1000 for fishing

8x1000 for guide

8x 500 for bait

8x 500 for rod hire

----------------------------

= 24,000 thb

You can get a hotel from about 1000 baht a night and taxis there and back about 300 baht a day?

8x1000 + 8 x 300 = 10,400

Total = 34,400 THB

Maybe if you tell a guide at the park that you'll hire him for a week he'll do you a discount?

Gnao nam would be a bit difficult as not many people understand English there.

Again....just one venue...two species of fish. A long way to come not to get a broader experience.

Fine the below includes Amazon species too - red tails, arapaima, pacu, mekong cats, siamese carp and sawaii:

-2 days at Bungsamran = -3000 THB

+2 days at Amazon BKK

2x 500 baht for fishing, 2x 500 baht for guide, 2x 300 baht rod hire, 500 baht bait = 3,100 THB

Total cost = 34,500 THB

BTW, You can't seriously say that because Rob wont take people fishing for free that he's in the wrong?

Nobody will work for free. The truth is that after about a day of guided fishing I think most people could do everything themselves.

So Davejbee you might save yourself 1000 baht a day by doing things yourself when going back to the same venues you have fished before.

Walk out of your hotel. You'll find a taxi within 60 seconds. Hand them the adress of where you want to go in Thai. No need for the excessive costs of guides transport either.

[bsacbob]

My opinion would be stay at a hotel in bangkok, get taxis to Bung samran and hire the rod and guide at the venue. I think you'll save a lot. Plus it is the best fishing for tourists in Bangkok. The biggest fish with the best services for English speakers.

Honestly what would 8 days cost?

8x1000 for fishing

8x1000 for guide

8x 500 for bait

8x 500 for rod hire

----------------------------

= 24,000 thb

You can get a hotel from about 1000 baht a night and taxis there and back about 300 baht a day?

8x1000 + 8 x 300 = 10,400

Total = 34,400 THB

Maybe if you tell a guide at the park that you'll hire him for a week he'll do you a discount?

Gnao nam would be a bit difficult as not many people understand English there.

Again....just one venue...two species of fish. A long way to come not to get a broader experience.

Fine the below includes Amazon species too - red tails, arapaima, pacu, mekong cats, siamese carp and sawaii:

-2 days at Bungsamran = -3000 THB

+2 days at Amazon BKK

2x 500 baht for fishing, 2x 500 baht for guide, 2x 300 baht rod hire, 500 baht bait = 3,100 THB

Total cost = 34,500 THB

BTW, You can't seriously say that because Rob wont take people fishing for free that he's in the wrong?

Nobody will work for free. The truth is that after about a day of guided fishing I think most people could do everything themselves.

So Davejbee you might save yourself 1000 baht a day by doing things yourself when going back to the same venues you have fished before.

Walk out of your hotel. You'll find a taxi within 60 seconds. Hand them the address of where you want to go in Thai. No need for the excessive costs of guides transport either.

Some very interesting and strong opinions voiced here for myself i live in Chiang Rai and the opportunity to catch different species is hard to find, have to agree with Ian Thais will literally empty a location of everything in a few days and move onto the next pond and do the same and leave a trail of trash in the process.

Having recently made a brief trip to CM, i witnessed tourists being blatantly ripped off by local operators (renaming a venue to fool customers for one) in order to make profit. Have to agree that a guide is very useful as is just watching the locals and the various methods they use. I was fortunate to chat with a guide at Bor Sang ( or whatever some people wish to call it) who was kind enough to show me of his tips for the lake for free.

I plan to trip down to BKK in a few weeks and try some of the places you all have mentioned and agree that if you plan to fish a venue for a few days, then a guide for the day is good sense then after that fend for yourself in order to keep the cost down.

I think it's easy for those of us who are fortunate live in LOS to get complacent about the fact how lucky we really are to be able to fish all year round for relatively low cost compared to back home (the UK for me) and paying through the nose for day tickets, rod licenses etc..

Happy fishing

[rufanuf]

This threads moved on a bit without reply from me, been busy organising trips for visiting anglers! Expats advising tourist anglers who are not being paid to try and help them get a result????? = A bad idea. Expats all take thier own experience much for granted. the ease with which you do things becuase you have done them before (even the apparently simple task of getting around Bangkok) is really the point that is lost in the two way banter that goes on about this subject. Theres a hell of a lot of opinions about what is the best venue, what is the best tackle, is a guide required or not?...so on and so forth, but thats the trouble its all just opinion. Actually providing a service is what matters. Our company for one do not and never have even suggested we are guides (its you lot that do that!) We are tour operators! That means we facilitate peoples fishing trips, guidance as in "fishing guide" is a very small component of a tour operators service all though it is part of it, whats more important is making sure somes trip is put together in a logical cost effective manner. Even on day trips, on avergae I get 1 or 2 phone calls a month from tourists lost somewhere in bangkok in taxi asking us "where is Bungsamran?" If Im in the right mood I try to help, if Im in the wrong mood I say, "sorry we are a tour operator" you have to pay for our services! (And that includes making sure our customers actually get to go fishing when they plan too!)

[robblok]

Of course you would find it a bad idea because it cost you customers. I would say its up to the person who wants to fish if he decides to read and educate himself here and on other sites or go to a fishing tour company.

Id say that if you have a Thai partner 80% of the fishing can be arranged at lakes and so can transportation. If you have no one who speaks Thai and you want an easy time then a tour is a great help. I would personally use a tour if i was in a country where they would not speak good English and there was no information available on websites. However many places have information available and then id rather find it out from there. It saves you at least 50% of your money. Wild fishing.. different story.

[jackinbkk]

Of course you would find it a bad idea because it cost you customers. I would say its up to the person who wants to fish if he decides to read and educate himself here and on other sites or go to a fishing tour company.

Id say that if you have a Thai partner 80% of the fishing can be arranged at lakes and so can transportation. If you have no one who speaks Thai and you want an easy time then a tour is a great help. I would personally use a tour if i was in a country where they would not speak good English and there was no information available on websites. However many places have information available and then id rather find it out from there. It saves you at least 50% of your money. Wild fishing.. different story.

It's pretty annoying that you find nothing about Thai fishing except for advertising by guides when trying to read about it online. It would be nice to see some videos of different venues and techniques.

I think the transportation gimmick is a big one for the tour companies. They always advertise air conditioned transport to and from venues included in the price. Most holiday makers don't realise all taxis are air conditioned and that they are so cheap and readily available. The amount you pay for a taxi in Bangkok is about the same as a bus in farang land.

[robblok]

Try bangkokhookers its a good site and the guy who runs it really anoys the crap out of fishing tour operators because he tells all the details where to go and what to pay. He is Thai and speaks perfect English.

[jackinbkk]

Try bangkokhookers its a good site and the guy who runs it really anoys the crap out of fishing tour operators because he tells all the details where to go and what to pay. He is Thai and speaks perfect English.

Yes i'm a big fan of his site. Funny name. I'm sure it's not the kind of site many people expect from the title.

I hope he gets more and more videos and reviews uploaded.

Thanks

[quiksilva]

Oz is working full time on the site now so you should see lots more content incoming.

[jackinbkk]

Oz is working full time on the site now so you should see lots more content incoming.

That's great news! I look forward to seeing more.

[rufanuf]

Try bangkokhookers its a good site and the guy who runs it really anoys the crap out of fishing tour operators because he tells all the details where to go and what to pay. He is Thai and speaks perfect English.

Is this honestly what you think Robblok? Once again....completely missing the point! Its about offering a service. If anyone cares to look there are dozens and dozens of websites offering information about Thailands fishing scene, I should know our own website "spawned" most of them when we went online 6 or 7 years ago! The reaction to our website was pretty signifciant across all aspects of the Thai fishing scene becuase we actually named venues, whislt at the time the only other serious tour operator deliberately left the venues pages of thier website "under construction", to keep his knowledge to himself....at the time I thought that was selfish, now I reliase he was right.

You actually need to rephrase your comment to something like " Some websites have been set up by expat anglers or their Thai friends becuase they think it annoys the crap out of tour operators!" It would be a much more accurate description of how and why some (if not all) of these websites came about, as sad as that is, you've obviously been talking to some certain people I know who would have you believe tour operators give a crap about such things, they don't. You might have noticed our websites venue pages doesnt get updated so much so more. Well thats becuase I learned long ago I get know thanks for exposing venues,(all they do is keep hiking the prices on all of us in return for the free exposure!) not from the expat community(all they do is think they can "annoy the crap out of us "by following us everywhere we go, so now I largely take customers elsewhere and simply dont publish the details! Like the venue Im using thats two biggest carp are 84kg and 96kg, or my other venue that only has 2 species of fish available Stingray and thousands of Siamese Carp, or the other one that has 100 plus 50kg Arapaima in and is only 2000BHT a rod! All within an hour or two of Bangkok! So Robblok thats what you get for "annoying the crap" out of those that choose to fish for a living, an information drought!

Edited February 28, 2012 by rufanuf

[rufanuf]

Also none of the 3 venues just mentioned are present on any other websites Western or Thai and now never will be. You could trawl 100s of Thai fishing magazines and you might find a 1 off advert for 1 of them, or you could join a few Thai fishing forums, and you might see a mention, but if we dont publish in english, its unlikely the names and locations will ever be published, this is th lesson Ive learned from expats. All they want to do is criticise what we do, so then why do it? I now keep my knowledge and experience of venues to myself, and share only with people who are willing to place a value on that knowledge, not criticise the very thing that likely led them to some of the venues theyve fished in the first place. How do you think you know about Palm Tree to complain about it Robblok? The only reason you know it exists to complain about is becuase we exposed it. before that the original owner was charging 200BHT to catch a 350lb plus Arapaima! And all you could find was a single line listing on a Thai fishing forum directory that didnt even have an address or a telephone number that worked! My business partner spent 5 days in Ratchaburi and drove past it a dozen times before we finally found it, and even then we was not sure it was the place of legend that only one westerner had ever fished for a number of years, that westerner being Dave Wilson, who, being a gentleman actually congratulated us for finding it! The original owner subsequently sold his leased "pond" for 2 million baht and now you pay upwards of 4000BHT a day to fish it! Clearly we have not done the fishing scene any good at all have we?

[jackinbkk]

Here we go again...

btw Rufanuf you do realise that some expats talk to Thais. Some even live with them. They talk about things, even fishing venues. lol.

[bsacbob]

Also none of the 3 venues just mentioned are present on any other websites Western or Thai and now never will be. You could trawl 100s of Thai fishing magazines and you might find a 1 off advert for 1 of them, or you could join a few Thai fishing forums, and you might see a mention, but if we dont publish in english, its unlikely the names and locations will ever be published, this is th lesson Ive learned from expats. All they want to do is criticise what we do, so then why do it? I now keep my knowledge and experience of venues to myself, and share only with people who are willing to place a value on that knowledge, not criticise the very thing that likely led them to some of the venues theyve fished in the first place. How do you think you know about Palm Tree to complain about it Robblok? The only reason you know it exists to complain about is becuase we exposed it. before that the original owner was charging 200BHT to catch a 350lb plus Arapaima! And all you could find was a single line listing on a Thai fishing forum directory that didnt even have an address or a telephone number that worked! My business partner spent 5 days in Ratchaburi and drove past it a dozen times before we finally found it, and even then we was not sure it was the place of legend that only one westerner had ever fished for a number of years, that westerner being Dave Wilson, who, being a gentleman actually congratulated us for finding it! The original owner subsequently sold his leased "pond" for 2 million baht and now you pay upwards of 4000BHT a day to fish it! Clearly we have not done the fishing scene any good at all have we?

Whilst I agree with some to some extent, isn't the reason this and other forums exist so that like minded people can share information with each other freely without financial gain or am I missing the point.

If you don't want to contribute then don't it's that simple.