Chiang Mai Fishing Lakes. Where Do You Go?

[Paulme]

The Dream Lake thread got me thinking. Where is there to fish around this fine city of ours? Ideally i am thinking about fairly cheap places where I could take young kids and spend a relaxing afternoon, but any ideas are welcome.

Yes, I have searched the forum. But I see no good answer. Borsang gets mentioned a lot, but surely there must be loads of places?

We live in a valley surrounded by mountains. Surely there are lakes nestled in the valleys? What about pond fishing where people dig out massive holes so that they can use the soil to raise the land for houses?

I would like this thread to become a list of all of the places that we collectively know about rather than an in-depth discussion of one place.

So, other than Borsang and Dream Lake (neither of which really fits with relaxing and cheap) where do you know?

PS If you don't have anything useful and positive to add feel free to not post and go do something else

[JimShortz]

Paulme, if you had spent the time to read many of the threads in this forum you would find that there are quite a few lakes mentioned. I guess it's not "positive and useful" to say that though , so I will share with you a useful map link instead: http://fishingchiangmai.com/chiang-mai-fishing-lakes/

I'm sure that map doesn't have all of the lakes in Chiang Mai marked on it. I'm positive it is a good place for you to start though!

Jim

[Fishenough]

There are many options for fun and relaxing fishing around Chiang Mai, and it is varied depending on your fishing interests. Plenty of opportunities to fish wild waters, on reservoirs and streams, though you will find relaxing fishing - you won't find plentiful fish.

Bosang is cheap and relaxing, though on a hot day you can get a little hot bring in repeated catfish.

My son enjoyed Bosang for a few hours fishing many times;

Multiple hook ups at Bosang are common, and fun.

Hire a boat, rent or buy a kayak (plenty to rent or buy in CM), or find some larger vessel if you enjoy still waters. Me below being rejected by giant snakehead that day;

Or simply cast from shore like many do, though when flyfishing you won't see many others doing the same. I find that by targeting jungle perch, you have more fish on fun.

It would be wonderful if the gentlemen pictured below would share his ideas also. There are many pictures of his posted on ThaiVisa, so I don't think he'll mind me posting him with a fantastic Maseer.

I'd like to include a picture of my first Marseer

Warm weather and different gear requirements also mean you can heading out fishing via motorcycle. Buckets and rods for Bosang strapped on carefully, or exploring streams in the surrounding country side, what a great way to get around.

My favorite reservoirs close to Chiang Mai are MaeNgat, Kia Lom, and Kiew Ka Ma.

Cheers

[Paulme]

Thank you both. Super map link Jim, and wonderful photos and tips Fishenough.

That's a great start to the thread. Right, who's next?

There must be more.

[Kiniyeow]

The wife and I go to Chiang Mai fishing park a lot. It's on 50Baht for the day for fishing, they make a mean fried rice plate for only 30 Baht and its not a half day drive to get to. There is a nice snack and tackle shop there and plenty of cold drinks. They have Swai, Pacu, Tilapia and jungle perch. At least that is what we have caught there so far, so there might be more.

Here are the coordinates for Google maps. 18.741006, 99.010285more infoAddress:

[Paulme]

Thanks Kiniyeo. That's one that's listed on the map that Jim posted a link to, but good to get the extra info. Thank you very much.

Actually it seems that the map that Jim posted the link to shows lots of lakes. Had I known about that I wouldn't have needed this thread, but since I started it, lets go with it.

From that map I have now identified these listed below.

Close to Chiang Mai:

Bo Sang Fishing Park; Dreamlake Fishing Resort; Chiang Mai Fishing Park; Green Lake Resort Lake; Lung Maa Fishing Park; Teak Tree Lake Fishery; Wieng Dong Fishing Lake; Chao Praya River

Further Afield (a lot of these are a good few hours travel from CM):

Mae Kuang Reservoir; Mae Ngat Reservoir; Queen Sirikit Reservoir; Bueng Pai Farm; Pai Piranha Fishing Lake

Looking good.

Does anyone know of any more? Any more little cheapies near to Chiang Mai?

[kennyfisher]

Hello Paulme and other friendly fisher folk,

I have been directed to this thread by friends and told I should join in; so here I am. I should declare first of all that the map that's been linked to in this thread is part of the Chiang Mai community fishing website ( fishingchiangmai.com ), developed by myself and a group of like-minded local fisher friends. It's a non-commercial website that gives unbiased (hence non-commercial) information to fellow anglers visiting or living in Chiang mai.

I hope any of you fellow fisher folk out there will join the improving of that map and/or other parts of the site. At the moment the only other venues we have plans to add are in the Chiang Rai area:

Kieng Doi Fishing Park; Kwan Phayao lake; Mae Suai Dam; and Mae Peum lake.

Any details about these, or other places to add (via this forum?) are welcomed.

I hope that I am not breaking forum rules by declaring my involvement with this non-commercial website. I believe it offers the kind of information that many people who visit this forum will be seeking. There is no site forum in competition with this one and I have posted a link to ThaiVisa fishing forum at the bottom of the homepage - as the correct place for fishy discussions.

Tight lines dear friends

[Paulme]

So to follow-up on the advice from you good people...

I have been to Bo Sang quite a few times now, and had a great time catching Sawai, but it started to feel a bit too easy and repetitive after a while, so I just splashed out on 3 days at Teak Tree Lake.

My apologies for this in no way fitting with my request for somewhere not expensive, but, hey, a guy can change his mind...

Teak Tree is fairly expensive, but we catered for ourselves and I had the wife and kids with me (just me fishing), so in many ways it worked out as quite a cheap short break for us. No travel costs! They enjoyed playing around the lake, and me in it.

Anyway, I caught a bunch of fish over the three days including an Arapaima, a pair of big Red Tails, 3 Indian carp, and a lovely Pacu. I had a great time - good enough to want to give them a plug anyway!

Not many people seem to know about the place, but they have a good website, so I don't know why...

They are: http://teaktreefishingchiangmai.com/