simple man and sons 13day Thai fishing adventure day 6 and a new WORLD RECORD

SIMPLE MAN · #1 01-24-2012, 08:38 AM

Sorry guys but i didn't get time to post yesterday as i went fishing and blanked but hey ho i had a great time
Anyway back to Thailand and palmtree lagoon,after having our stone cold breakfast delivered to our room we set of again for the quick drive back to palmtree and still no hangover this morning (i must try harder) and as we arrive Jules gets a phone call from his wife the hotel that i stayed at in Hau Hin have contacted her and asked when am i going to return to pick up my passport WTF,Some how when checking out i had left it behind (bloody idiot) so Jules wife rings a taxi and arranges for him to pick it up and drive up to Ratchaburi (a hours drive) and including tip it cost me a 1000 baht about £20 and me cursing myself that i could be so bloody stupid
In the mean time i have now got a rohu of 6lb and whilst playing it Brian has also hooked into something in the corner so this could be fun both of us on the rickety raft playing fish at the same time

And as you can see by the photo its already sinking where Brian is standing and also starting to lean forward into the lake,but as i said luckily mine is only a 6lb rohu so we quickly get it in and release it and get of the raft so Brian can concentrate on his fish without worrying if he is going to sink and swim and about 12-15 mins later he has a nice arapaima in the net at around 60lb

And as the sun gets higher the lake quietens down so as Brian is still on the predator rods its time to start moving around the lake to see if he can net his prize arapaima and leave me to have some peace and stability on my raft
About 45 mins later i have a stonking run and before i know whats happened rod in hand i fall flat on my backside ouch and with the excitement of fish on as i go to get up crash i am down again still clutching the rod and although i didn't hurt myself i now had 3 people rushing to give me a hand and the raft is tipping alarmingly so i tell them to get the **** off before we all end up in the drink

and now although the fish is still on the raft is 3/4 wet and just trying to stay upright is a challenge let alone trying to play a fish so i step of the plywood on to the sticks and this helps me keep my footing and 20 mins later i have my prize another cracking Gahore which is a ounce short of 44lbs

and if you look at the raft in the right hand bottom of the photo you can see how wet it is where everyone rushed on to give me a hand and nearly sunk the lot of us
Somewhere around 11.00 Brian had a very strange take and had us all guessing on what it might be before this stonker of a alligator gar reared its not so friendly head and 5 mins later and no bite off Brian had got his prize and by Thai standards this is a very big gar in fact the biggest one that Jules has ever seen in 7 years guiding in Thai,I know these things reach huge weights in the States but for some reason they just don't seem to grow very big in Thailand so anyway after carefully removing the hook Brian got his trophy shots and it hit the scales at just over the 42lb mark well done mate

And i can promise you folks that's one set of mean teeth that sits in that fishes mouth
As the lake goes quiet again and its now around 1.00 Benni appears with superb chicken dinners and she says these are on the house,what a lady and what a host,i don't know whether it was because of all my falling around or that because we were there first clients since early November as the flooding in Thailand had put pay to the first two months of the tourist season or was it just Benny being Benni a lovely girl who tries her utmost to keep everyone happy even though we find her a bit crazy at times
Anyway after a very enjoyable lunch Brian and Bear head back around to the left hand side of the lake and Bear has a bag with 3 chicken carcasses in it he gets out his machete and quarters the chicken hooks one to Brian's rod and tells him to cast as far as he can into the middle of the lake and with Brian looking quite amused at the bait size tries to cast the chicken out but with his arm in a brace just cannot get it that far and as Bear comes over to take the rod of him to cast it out into the middle crash and in 1-2-3 the line has been taken off at such a rate the fish is already on the far side of the lake now there is only one fish in Thailand that can produce such fast and savage takes and that's a Chao Phraya cat fish and believe me you really have to see it to believe it the speed of these things is incredible and it becomes very obvious after a minute or two that this is a big fish and just tearing up and down the far bank creating massive bow waves so i bring in my carp rods and negotiate the stick bridges to join him with everyone else and just try to give him some gentle encouragement and advice but as the fight goes on i find myself getting more and more concerned about his arm and at one point find myself going for a ten min walk up the lake as i am not confident at all about his arm holding out and this thing is still motoring at the 30 min stage and still about 3/4 out and showing no signs at all of tiring,its now at the 50 minute mark and i now find myself not too worried about his arm but more concerned about the fish as they have a rough pad inside there mouths and quite often after a long battle they gradually wear through the leader and also we are now reaching the critical part of the fight as we all know when the fish get close to the bank-net one quick thrash of there tail and its all over,we have hit the hour mark now and its bloody hot and i am sweating more than Brian and am not even playing the fish and its now just ploughing up and down the near bank 2-5 yards out and two guides are in the water with there nets and it looks like all Brian has to do is turn it and get its head up but he says he still cant do anything with it he cant turn it as its still to strong and to be honest i am feeling every tug and swish of its tail myself and can see that Brian is starting to feel the strain as the fish turns again but is now only a yard out and splash Bear has it in the net and as we all let out a big cheer Brian just sinks into a chair simply drained of all his energy and has a nice cold drink and still smiling from ear to ear
at this point for those that have been following my posts may remember on day 3 or for i posted a picture of Brian with a 1lb Chao Phraya catfish and said something about worl records and watch this space well we are lead to believe that the current world record is 118lbs but we know that there has been a claim posted of 121lbs down at Krabi and Gillhams fishing resort well after putting this one on certified scales twice it came in at wait for it yes 136lb A NEW WORLD RECORD now we are only simple men and although its nice to know it would of been a new world record we are simply here to have a good time and not spend hours filling in bloody forms so after Brian's trophy shots the fish was released safely back to where it came from to give some one else a adrenalin and back busting thrill of a life time oh i nearly forgot here's a couple of snaps and well done Brian that was a awesome fight mate and you more than deserved your prize and i think the smile on Brian's face says it all

It was now mid afternoon and i hooked to more big carp which i had each on for 10 mins or so before losing them

but some how after what we had all witnessed earlier although i was not happy about losing them wtf it didn't really matter (that much)Brian had moved now to the other side of the lake and ruddy hell he has another storming run and then it stopped ha bloody ha hes into a stingray talk about a arm wrenching backbreaking day and me shouting across you will never have the energy to pull that in mate he replies you just watch me old man (cheeky git) and to be honest i have to take my hat of to him he played this thing for 45mins and had actually made good ground on the fish before it shed the hook and left him cursing something or other and to be honest if it had been me i would of probably called it a day but no not Brian and now he had a small sawai of 8lb and with all his live bait and chicken now gone he is using dead baits when yet again hes got another stonking run and by the way its fighting has us all really confused as to what the hell he has on the other end of his line and after 15 mins is still in mid water and ten mins later if i hadn't seen it with my own eyes i wouldn't of believed it the jammy git has a Gahore yes a bloody Gahore on dead mackerel and a nice one at that which hits the scales at 48 1/4 lb and i ask him if he has done the bloody Thai lottery tonight as he must of stood in something smelly a carp on dead bait now i know hes taking the p***

Even the guides telling him hes taking the pee now and my carp rods are not budging and as the day draws to a close Brian still has time to land another arapaima of 52lb and then just to rub salt in the wound a redtail of 23lb to round off what has been a fantastic day

So that's it for another day and i ask Jules if we can just have a quick shower tonight and head straight out as the bar shuts at 10.00 and my body needs some amber nectar
Well that's it for today folks tight lines and day seven to follow shortly

Fishing Forum Admin · #2 01-24-2012, 09:48 AM

wow........ amazing

MRG2000 · #3 01-24-2012, 01:04 PM

Well done both , you know you had the World record buster ,and returned it to fight another day , a much better feeling than killing it to make the record oficial ,well done to you both, the fish are getting bigger and bigger ,looking forward to the rest alread y ....