simple man and sons 13day Thai fishing adventure day 8

[SIMPLE MAN]

Well after yesterdays fiasco of spending four and a half hours typing my post only for the PC to freeze today i will try to write it in my notepad and then
paste onto the forum and then add photos hhhhhmmmm and only being a simple man anything could happen
Anyway here goes nothing,we are up a bit earlier this morning as we have to pack our bags (well throw our bits and bobs in) as tonight when we finish at palmtree
we will be heading about an hour East for one night so we can fish I T Monster lake,so after our usual stone cold breakfast is delivered we head to reception
to check out and are now on our merry way for one last days fishing at this quirky but amazing venue
On arrival i remind Brian that today he is on the carp rods and that i fancy my chances of trying for a chao phraya catfish (well i can dream) and apart from
the first hour where i will be targeting the bottom corner today at least i wont have to put up with the rickety raft and will have my feet on grass all
day
Today the sun is already above the tree line and it looks like its going to be another hot one (just for a change) so first cast and i have dead mackerel
on one and quarter chicken on the other i cast out tight into the corner and sit on the step to see what the day brings,Brian is already sitting under
the shelter with his carp rods out and enjoying a can of pop and its not too long before he has a screaming run and about 15mins later he has a nice catla
in the net which tips the scales at 26lb


and not long after he manages to land a rohu of 5lb and then another of 4lb and a short while later i expertly manage to hook and lose what we think was a medium size arapaima which shed the hook after less than a minute and as the corner has now been well and truelly disturbed Bear my guide for today says we should move over to the left hand side of the lake so we up sticks and skillfully negotiate the stick bridge (obviously made just for the fuller figured chap) and head half way down the left hand side and as i return to collect a couple of cans of pop Jules says John can i have a word,sure mate fire away er i don't know quite how to put this but i forgot to book your bungalow 29 at BSR Bangkok you see when i tried to book it 3 months ago they said they didn't take bookings that far in advance and when i rang up this morning they said we can have it for two days but then we will have to move so if its OK with you i have booked no 30 for the other two days and for the first time poor Jules then received in no uncertain terms a tirade of abuse WTF Jules i booked and paid for this holiday a bloody year ago and there is always a reason why i do and book things the way i do and no its not all bloody right 2 days on one and then 2 days on another i am not putting £60-£80 worth of bait in just for some other f****** so and so to reap the bloody benefits and the reason i booked no 29 is because its the last bungalow up the right hand side so i have open water to my right and in front of me and only have to worry about the bungalows to my left plus its in the shade all day so a lot more comfortable to fish,at this point Jules guesses that i am a bit peeved and clutching his phone says OK i will ring them back and see what i can do,any way Brian in the mean time has now had another rohu around 4lb when Jules returns saying its OK John i have got it sorted and although bungalow 30 is the biggest and most expensive bungalow on BSR as it was my mistake i have booked that one for the four days for you and Brian and again poor Jules got it in the ear don't you bloody listen mate no 30 is in the ******* sun all day i don't ******* want it i want a bloody bungalow in the corner or the end down the right hand side out of the bloody sun and if you cant sort it i will either change our itinerary or just cancel bloody Bangkok fishing altogether and again Jules disappeared phone in hand and at this point Brian was looking a bit worried so i went over and told him not to worry we would fish BSR anyway but Jules has had my money for a year now and am just making a point and a couple of minutes later he returns again and says i have BSR on the phone and no 8 is available in the corner for all 4 days and we have had some nice carp from there in the past so i say OK mate no 8 it is then and then ask Benni for a round of drinks to settle poor Jules nerves and also to bring an end to the matter as we all know life is too short
Any way with Jules i think quite happy that he is with Brian today and not me its time to get back to the fishing and i quickly manage to hook and lose not a big fish but we didn't have a clue what it might of been before i then hooked and landed a sawai of 6lb,Brian on the other hand was getting into quite a few rohu and although i am not sure if these are the right photos he then managed one of 8lb followed by the biggest one of the trip and a cracker at 16lb

And now my bites have dried up and so had Brian's for 45 mins or so before i look over and Brian is back in this time its not a rohu and twenty mins later he has another corker a catla weighing in at 32lb and then almost immediately before he has his second rod back out is in again and although not a big fish its the first one i have ever seen and even Benni says hes a lucky chap to catch one and its a black carp of around 2lb

And not long after Brian is in again and as i look over my chicken rod springs into life and oh yes this is a nice fish but has us all quite puzzled and while its staying deep in the middle and certainly not arapaima like or redtail like for that matter and if it was a chao phraya it would of been over the other side of the lake in a flash,mean while Brian has now landed a rohu of 7lb and every one is making there way round to try to fathom out what is on the end of my line and yes you guessed it as they all arrive pop and its gone lol and to this day i don't have a clue what it was but it must of been quite a size to just stay out in the middle and me not being able to gain much line if any hey ho and its still only 12.00,and about 20 min later poor Brian had a carp on for a good 20 mins before it shed the hook leaving him very disappointed as he had managed a glimpse and said it was a massive carp and now i am in again and this things huge but less than a minute and its gone and now Bear wants me to up sticks again and move across to the other side of the lake but the sun is still high in the sky and we are still in the shade over this side so we decide to stay left but head to the top end by the hyacinths so i now put my dead bait out to the corner of the hyacinths and my chicken out in the middle and Bear walks around and tosses 5-6 dead baits near to where my dead bait is and the clouds are now forming and its just a tad cooler and again Bear is pointing to the other side and just as i am thinking of upping sticks my left rod by the hyacinths starts peeling line very arapaima like and i strike and WTF this things huge and after 5 or 6 mins shows itself to be a arapaima and because its so far out you cant tell how big it is but i know this is a big big fish and i cannot do a thing with it its just swimming around head down giving those nasty head shakes that they do and i cant even turn this thing and i have 80lb braid on and its just going where it wants and for the first 15 min everything is OK its in open water and behaving its self but then it decides to come down the left hand margin and towards me before rolling a couple of yards out right in front of us and Bear lets out a big roar in Thai and it must be 250-280lb and now every ones coming round the trouble is its still going left and as much as i try i still cant turn this bloody thing and now its heading straight for the aerator about 8 yards long with paddles on it sticking out into the middle of the lake and oh b****** its through and now i am in big trouble but quick as a flash Bear is shouting something to another guide and in a flash they are both in the lake one one side of the aerator and the other on the other side and now i pass the rod down and they thread it through and out the other side before handing it back and still its going left and there is trees now and just as i think i am in deep do do it turns the only trouble now is its heading back straight towards the bloody aerator and quick as a flash Bear is back in trying to stand in its path and it works and goes round but bloody hell the aerator has a 8ft long scaffold pole sticking up on the end and i cant get the line over it and again i have to pass my rod to Bear and as he gets to the corner of the aerator the bloody fish takes off and Bear reappears 5 yards further out and spluttering some what the other guide has swam out and now passes me the rod back again and now the fish is heading straight back over the other side and pop no no no no its gone and when i bring my line in the bloody hook has snapped yep a owner 5xxxxx strong hook has snapped at the barb GUTTED WTF that's the second monster that i have hooked and lost on my Thai fishing adventures for those of you that read last years posts i lost a huge mekong after 45 min when my line went at the method feeder i don't believe it and as every one slinks back to where they were before i just sit down and roll a fag so very disappointed but as they so folks that's bloody fishing eh
And now Bear ever the optimist signals that we should up sticks across the lake and try for somthing over the other side and so again i negotiate the stick walkways and now we are around the other side and keeping my distance from that bloody bees nest and it wasn't long after that i had a stonking run and after a 20 min battle and although not a monster a new pb and a redtail of 49lb

I was trying to look happy (honest) and ten minutes or so later Brian is in to what looks like a nice fish and i have a fish on too and as i land a new species Brian's fish sheds the hook but now i have what they called a sharptoothed catfish around 8lb and as i had no gloves and this thing as slippery as a eel on steroids and after several attempts to hold it up for a photo not wanting to harm the fish we decided to take one on the floor sorry its not a good photo but this fish was just impossible to handle

And a strange looking blighter to Brian then had a sawai of 3lb before i had another pb and lightly hooked as well in the shape of this alligator gar which came in at 38lb and i only managed one photo as the bloody thing wriggled free and one very stupid simple man put his hand out to try to stop it getting back in the lake and slash the bloody thing bit me hhhhhmmmm ever get the feeling its not your day
And as the day came to a close Brian had a rohu of 9lb and a sawai of 12lb before getting two more Gahore of 18 and 20lb at the close

So rods packed up bills settled and some nice tips for the guides who had worked there socks of for me and especially Brian with his wrist and all and its time to say our goodbyes but one things for sure if i never fish any where else in Thailand i will be back to this quirky but amazing place and if half of what Benni has told us about the size of fish in this venue is true and from what we have witnessed with our own eyes this is one place that i shall definitely be coming back to absolutely amazing
And as we arrive a hour later at our next hotel after a quick shower the hotel is on a river and they have a outside bar and a stage and about 200 Japanese karaoke singers but to be fair were quite good and the waitress told us that because of them the bar was staying open till 04.00 OH HAPPY DAYS
well that's it for now good people i hope you are enjoying our highs and lows of our trip so far and sorry you never got this yesterday but my PC froze right at the end of my report and i lost the lot so day nine to follow and back at the Monster lake
tight lines

[MRG2000]

More tales of fabulous fishing , well done both ,and a bigger well done for the report writing John , can`t fault you Sir. .....