How To Improve Your Chances Of Hooking And Landing The Cahore Carp

[kawapower]

Lost some big Cahore today, it's so difficult to hook these fish and keep them hooked, I was free lining using a size 11 hook, changed to a size 13 later in the day, tomorrow I will try using a ledger weight to act as a bolt rig see if that helps, the one I did catch 33 lb was caught free lining using a size 13 hook. Bread and lumb was the bait, has anyone got some usefull tips to improve the chances of hooking and landing these great fish.

[rufanuf]

Are you fishing at Cha Am?

[kawapower]

Are you fishing at Cha Am?

Yes I am here tomorrow and Friday then the 9 hour drive back to Phuket on Sat morning early, no Cahore today just a couple of decent Mekong, 53lb and 40lb, a few Yesops always good catching those, freelined today but no luck, I will be trying the swim outside the restaurant tomorow.

Edited August 8, 2012 by kawapower

[shootthebreeze]

is it good fishing in cha am? Thanks

[rufanuf]

Are you fishing at Cha Am?

Yes I am here tomorrow and Friday then the 9 hour drive back to Phuket on Sat morning early, no Cahore today just a couple of decent Mekong, 53lb and 40lb, a few Yesops always good catching those, freelined today but no luck, I will be trying the swim outside the restaurant tomorow.

You drove up specifically to catch the Caho? (Cahore is a local Hua Hin farang dialect! LOL) Thats the kind of commitment required to catch them. The fish at Cha Am are funny, they can be off for weeks on end and then all of a sudden one day they feed and take positively....they have been getting caught quite regualrly lately you probably saw Dave W at Cha Am this week he had a large Caho maybe 50kgs. Your hook size is correct, you really need a float though and if you can stomach it sit behind your rod and hit most twitches. Also if your getting mekongs and other stuff, sometimes good to come right in close with the hookbait, this reduces number of pest fish you will catch, but needs to be really quiet for this!

[kawapower]

Are you fishing at Cha Am?

Yes I am here tomorrow and Friday then the 9 hour drive back to Phuket on Sat morning early, no Cahore today just a couple of decent Mekong, 53lb and 40lb, a few Yesops always good catching those, freelined today but no luck, I will be trying the swim outside the restaurant tomorow.

You drove up specifically to catch the Caho? (Cahore is a local Hua Hin farang dialect! LOL) Thats the kind of commitment required to catch them. The fish at Cha Am are funny, they can be off for weeks on end and then all of a sudden one day they feed and take positively....they have been getting caught quite regualrly lately you probably saw Dave W at Cha Am this week he had a large Caho maybe 50kgs. Your hook size is correct, you really need a float though and if you can stomach it sit behind your rod and hit most twitches. Also if your getting mekongs and other stuff, sometimes good to come right in close with the hookbait, this reduces number of pest fish you will catch, but needs to be really quiet for this!

Good day today with many Esop and 1 Cahore of 22 lbs, method was inline coil feeder, short hook link with size 10 hook, I am not a float person so that method is out for me, I will be concentrating on the coil feeder, big ball of Lum with small bread bait, it got many many runs, think I was unlucky today not to get a big one, tomorrow is looking good.

Is Dave the old guy with a Honda CRV? If so myself and a friend were disgusted by the treatment of the big Cahore, they dropped it and threw it back into the lake, We both thought it would be dead in the morning, thankfully it was not!!

Edited August 9, 2012 by kawapower

[kawapower]

is it good fishing in cha am? Thanks

The fishing is great, the place is fantastic, the price for fishing is awesome, need I say more!!

[jackinbkk]

Do you fish in Phuket near the marina/heroin monument? That little pond was so small that I could catch caho from the bottom left area of the lake 60% of the time. The other 40% being sawai or pacu. The thing was they only got to about 15kg at the time. I believe it's now very expensive to fish.

I think you'll have it cracked by now but certainly some places in lakes are hot spots for carp. The method I used with success in many parks was a cage feeder on the bottom (one with a small lead), a very short braid hook length(length equivalent to 3 fingers width) to a size 13 hook. The hook having the little styrofoam balls placed on it so it's popped up. No bait on the hook so it wafts into the carps mouth. I've used both lam and brad on the feeder.

The other method that is particularly good at places like gnao nam is the massage bread on a hook. Again styrofoam placed on the hook. However there the problem was 95% of catches are catfish. Closer in seemed to bring more carp. I personally would fish the bottom for carp but maybe a metre of bottom could also work. Certainly low down in the water column.

[kawapower]

Do you fish in Phuket near the marina/heroin monument? That little pond was so small that I could catch caho from the bottom left area of the lake 60% of the time. The other 40% being sawai or pacu. The thing was they only got to about 15kg at the time. I believe it's now very expensive to fish.

I think you'll have it cracked by now but certainly some places in lakes are hot spots for carp. The method I used with success in many parks was a cage feeder on the bottom (one with a small lead), a very short braid hook length(length equivalent to 3 fingers width) to a size 13 hook. The hook having the little styrofoam balls placed on it so it's popped up. No bait on the hook so it wafts into the carps mouth. I've used both lam and brad on the feeder.

The other method that is particularly good at places like gnao nam is the massage bread on a hook. Again styrofoam placed on the hook. However there the problem was 95% of catches are catfish. Closer in seemed to bring more carp. I personally would fish the bottom for carp but maybe a metre of bottom could also work. Certainly low down in the water column.

I used to fish at Phuket fishing park(Sawai lake) a couple of years ago now it is way to expensive!! I have used ledger, freelined, and cage feeder with bread and Lum all work sometimes, the best method seems to be waggler float on the bottom using bread, I will try that next time I go to Cha Am, have to find out how to do first then try to find the bits, close in is the place but you can get them out in the middle but more luck than skill, just back from Cha Am 9 hour drive it's a treck but worth it. <deleted> tired, yawn!!

How do you manage to tie the hook link of 3 fingers width, seems impossible to me!! I have read it should be approx 5 inches long, anyway I will be trying the float method next time as this seems to be the method that is best.

Edited August 11, 2012 by kawapower

[jackinbkk]

Do you fish in Phuket near the marina/heroin monument? That little pond was so small that I could catch caho from the bottom left area of the lake 60% of the time. The other 40% being sawai or pacu. The thing was they only got to about 15kg at the time. I believe it's now very expensive to fish.

I think you'll have it cracked by now but certainly some places in lakes are hot spots for carp. The method I used with success in many parks was a cage feeder on the bottom (one with a small lead), a very short braid hook length(length equivalent to 3 fingers width) to a size 13 hook. The hook having the little styrofoam balls placed on it so it's popped up. No bait on the hook so it wafts into the carps mouth. I've used both lam and brad on the feeder.

The other method that is particularly good at places like gnao nam is the massage bread on a hook. Again styrofoam placed on the hook. However there the problem was 95% of catches are catfish. Closer in seemed to bring more carp. I personally would fish the bottom for carp but maybe a metre of bottom could also work. Certainly low down in the water column.

I used to fish at Phuket fishing park(Sawai lake) a couple of years ago now it is way to expensive!! I have used ledger, freelined, and cage feeder with bread and Lum all work sometimes, the best method seems to be waggler float on the bottom using bread, I will try that next time I go to Cha Am, have to find out how to do first then try to find the bits, close in is the place but you can get them out in the middle but more luck than skill, just back from Cha Am 9 hour drive it's a treck but worth it. <deleted> tired, yawn!!

How do you manage to tie the hook link of 3 fingers width, seems impossible to me!! I have read it should be approx 5 inches long, anyway I will be trying the float method next time as this seems to be the method that is best.

Usually i put a loop in one end with a surgeons loop, which will be looped through the swivel. Then aim to tie on the hook with a trilene knot. If you aim for the hook length to be 2 inches long then it usually ends up as 3 inches once you pull the knot tight. Doesn't need to be perfect. It can be just as easy in the reverse, doing the perfection loop last. The surgeons loop is probably stronger. On a 100lb braid link i've had to hooks bend straigth before the knots have failed.

[geronimo]

Do you fish in Phuket near the marina/heroin monument? That little pond was so small that I could catch caho from the bottom left area of the lake 60% of the time. The other 40% being sawai or pacu. The thing was they only got to about 15kg at the time. I believe it's now very expensive to fish.

I think you'll have it cracked by now but certainly some places in lakes are hot spots for carp. The method I used with success in many parks was a cage feeder on the bottom (one with a small lead), a very short braid hook length(length equivalent to 3 fingers width) to a size 13 hook. The hook having the little styrofoam balls placed on it so it's popped up. No bait on the hook so it wafts into the carps mouth. I've used both lam and brad on the feeder.

The other method that is particularly good at places like gnao nam is the massage bread on a hook. Again styrofoam placed on the hook. However there the problem was 95% of catches are catfish. Closer in seemed to bring more carp. I personally would fish the bottom for carp but maybe a metre of bottom could also work. Certainly low down in the water column.

Fished Gnao Nam last week, on the left side and yes we got 12 catfish between the two of us. Ranging from 35 - 60 kgs. We used the same method you described and after a slow start it was full on for three hours. A local said that the floods killed all the big carp (oil) and the sawai escaped as did most of the cat fish. I personally go there for the big catfish and a 90kg was caught the day before. I like that the sawaii are no longer there as there were so many of them. The people who work there say they have restocked and judging by the numbers of beuk I saw caught, I'd say they have!

Would be interested to hear any other experiences of this particular pond.

[jackinbkk]

I'd be very skeptical about those weights but Gnao nam is a great place. It's my favorite fishing spot in Thailand.

The owner was growing more kaho the last time I was there in 2011.