simple man and sons 13 day Thai fishing adventure day 9

[SIMPLE MAN]

Well here we are again and bags packed (not that they were really unpacked) and down for breakfast by the river before setting off for I T Monster lake and at last i feel absolutely terrible and the world is a very blurred and wobbly place this morning,God knows what time we went to bed but today even Brian looks like hes run into a brick wall,so after checking out and making sure i have my passport we are now taking the short 5 minute drive to the monster lake and it looks a lot better than it did last time i was here and although they have planted some saplings it will be a few years before they will give any sort of shade to the angler,Also we have come well prepared as last time i was here they had no bloody bait but surprise surprise as we enter this time they say your bait will be with you in 10 minutes (bloody hell things have changed) and to be honest if i hadn't had Brian with me this year i wouldn't of even bothered coming here because there may be many different species here but there are no more big arapaima left and at about £150 each a day to fish it with two predator rods and live bait,they do do a cheaper ticket which means you lure fish until i think its 2.00 and then you use live bait with just the one rod but to be honest and you have already had the experience in my opinion its not worth the money hence just the one day here so Brian could see what its like,also with no big arapaima left you are going to be really lucky to catch a 50lb fish and the fish that you do catch will be 80% redtails
Now also arriving at the lake is team shimano they might of been some of the singers at our hotel last night but one things for sure they all have some great tackle to test and loads of it to and they also have a film crew so i say to Brian quick mate lets decide where we are going to fish and then they will have to work around us or words to that effect but luckily for us they all disappear down the far end and so on to the fishing and Brian is fishing quite close to me and i say that we could be in trouble if he hooks into a redtail as last time i was here they all headed left and then down to the far end and sure enough 5 min later Brian is in and the fish is now ploughing straight through my swim and trying to get down the far end of the lake so i bring in my lines and let him through and as i cast my first rod back out bang and its also going down the far left so after 20 min of knitting and mayhem we both have redtails on the bank Brian's weighing 30lb and mine coming in at 45lb

So after that 25 minutes of mayhem Jules suggests that Brian moves 15 yards further down to the right and hopefully his fish will now try to swim the other way across the lake as he is now fishing around the corner and ten minutes later he is in again and Jules was right it headed straight out to the far bank and then came in around the margins so at least we wouldn't be getting in each other's way all day and Brian's fish comes in at 42lb,the live bait has now been delivered and if you can imagine one of those plastic
washing baskets you know the ones with the holes in the side well they tie a rope around one and attach it to a stake on the bank so the basket is in the lake the fish are in the basket and with all the holes the fish cannot get through but they live quite happily and there is no need to keep changing the water to keep them alive and i think to myself what a great and simple idea,they also give you a net so its quick and easy to catch and hook your bait but you do have to watch out for the spines on the tilapia,Brian's in again and this time he has another toothy critter in a alligator gar and at 5lb was no where near as big as the one he had at palmtree but one things for sure i ain't getting my hands any where near those ruddy teeth again
and within minutes Brian is in again and another 15 min battle produces another redtail of32lb it then seems to quieten down for a while before i then have redtails of 26lb and what was probably the smallest one of the trip and came in if i exaggerate a bit at 5lb and still team shimano have not had a fish and come to think of it nor did we for the next hour the fish just went off the feed before Brian had now managed to hook something that had leapt right out of the water on a couple of occasions but as i hadn't seen it had me quite puzzled and it certainly was giving a good account of itself and after another 6-7 minutes he had another new species and pb in the form of this cracking barramundi and just under the 20lb mark

And in the next two hours Brian had redtails of 14-28-20-37lb and i had them at 16-21 and 27lb and we then heard a cheer team shimano had caught a fish and then another before again the lake went quiet for 90 mins or so and now the clouds were forming over head and i know it sounds daft but it looks like rain and as the afternoon got even darker Brian was in and oh so was i and ten min later we both have Thai redtails Brian's coming in at 18lb and mine at 24lb

And now the redtails were back on the feed with both of us catching a few in the 25-35lb mark and as i am playing one of these i hear a familiar voice and bloody hell its Benni,Bear and the rest of the family who say that the were just passing and thought we would like something to eat so they have brought a ruddy great picnic box crammed with big prawns and spicy dips and as it would be rude not to we all stopped fishing and had what i can only describe as a picnic for 45 min or so before we again said our good byes and after they had gone Jules said you must of made a good bloody impression there mate and i said possibly but maybe it was a sweetener as well for when i return next time but was still a nice surprise and gesture by Benni and the gang and my e mail list gets even longer
We again cast out and soon are back into the redtails as is Brian and we have a brace each with this one weighing in at 46lb

And now its 5.30 and it starts to rain when i see something out the corner of my eye and its a sorubim of about 25lb they look very much like a redtail but are spottier and flatter and don't fight so hard and as Brian hasn't caught one i call him over and tell him to drop his bait tight beside the bank by our feet and i do the same and it again appears but a bit to my left so we lift our baits and drop them down again and i tell Brian to keep his eyes out and if he sees it drop a bait on its nose and right by the live bait basket it shows again so i let the bail arm off and drop a bait right beside the basket and whack Ive got it i tell him and Jules says no you haven't there's the soribum in front of you what the hell is this then and 5 min later i have a cracking tiger of 10-1/4lb and a new pb

And what a cracking looker too,Brian did manage one more redtail but that was it and now we must set off to Bangkok about 90 min drive if we don't get caught in any traffic and its bloody raining too but we make good time so after a quick shower we are off to the Aussie bar where the beers good and the foods even better and its 24 hour aaahhh bliss,well that's it for now people and day 10 will follow tomorrow tight lines and thanks again for your kind words

[chesty]

fantastic read m8 as always, cant wait for day 10 :)

[Spinner64]

Cracking report and pics John, that tiger in the bottom pic is stunning. Great way to work off the hangover

[MRG2000]

More stonkin fish ,well done both ..........