simple man and sons 13day Thai fishing adventure days 11-12&13

[SIMPLE MAN]

Well here we go again and this morning its really humid and very very
sticky indeed and although i did have a few amber nectar's last night i
am quite relieved that i feel OK as i am not too sure how we will cope
if we are lucky enough to hook into a monster today.
Damian arrives at 0815 and we are off again to BSR which thanks to the
elevated motorways that run through Bangkok means we should be there
in about 30 mins or so
Also its Saturday today so the traffic will not be as heavy but
Bungsamran will itself be a lot more busy so its nice to beat the
crowds and get ready for whatever comes our way and its not too
long before we have all four rods out and now its just a waiting game
and as BSR doesn't usually get going until after 10.00 its just nice to
sit back and relax
After about 90 mins or so and as i had let Brian have most of the fish
yesterday due to me being a tad poorly (alright then i had a stonking
hangover) and Brian insisting that i took the first fish i am now in
to what we think is a medium sized mekong and with it being so humid
if i am honest it has me sweating buckets and as usual they have a
mind all of there own and it takes me a good 20 min before its in the
net and at this point i see the fish and its almost yellow and didn't
seem in the best of health at all so we guessed its weight of around
65-70lb and just put it back as i certainly didn't want a photo and to
be honest we did have a few more fish during our visit to BSR that
were not in much better shape and i am afraid that it has put me right
off the place and if i return to Thailand in a couple of years from
now will have to think long and hard about if i want to fish there
again there was no problem with the Gahore because nobody has the
patience or except for me is mad enough to fish for them but even
bottom fishing you will always get more mekongs than anything else and
some of the fish were in appalling shape and even Damian says sorry
mate but there's nothing i can do they just don't seem to care
Anyway back on to the fishing and no 1 rod has sprang into action and
Brian is now into what turns out to be a feisty little sawai which
might only weigh 27lb but is a dogged little blighter that just
wouldn't behave and Brian did very well to stop it making a home run
under the bungalow on more than one occasion
The place is packed now and the fishing is very slow indeed and it
seems that everybody is struggling the lake just seemed to turn off even the Gahore were not showing themselves in the usual numbers and it wasn't until 3.00 that i get my next take and after a dogged fight i have a mekong of 41lb Brian then has a sawai of 15lb before just after 5.00 i now have another mekong on and this one feels a bit bigger and after a good 20mins i have my prize a mekong of 85lb

And that i am afraid is as good as it got today so just after 6.00 we again call it a day before we get eaten alive and head back for a quick shower before heading down to the Aussie bar for beer and grub

DAY 12

Firstly sorry about the way the top part of this report is long and thin but i sneaked 75 min in at work last night and as i am only a simple man when i pasted it over today it came out like that hhhhmmmm oh well anyway we are now back at BSR and for the last two days my guide is Boosong the same guy i had for my four days last year,a cracking Thai guy who is the longest serving guide at BSR and can also speak reasonable English but he does have one fault and that is if we hook into a large fish he grabs the landing net and blows fog horn style which irritates the hell out of me but all the same hes a nice guy
And as its cloudy and breezy today at least it will be a lot more comfortable to fish today and about 10.00 Brian is in to his first fish of the day and after what is now the usual epic battle after another 20 mins he has a nice mekong of 53lb in the net

and again it goes quiet and i don't really know how Boosong does it but around mid day i get a stonking take and fish on and within 2 bloody seconds Boosong is jumping up and down like a kid in a sweet shop shouting big carp John big carp and how the hell he knows by just looking at the line amazes me but now with the fish in open water all i have to do is keep my wits about me and bloody hell hes at it again Boosong with the landing net now foghorn style letting everyone know we have a nice fish on,alright Boosong alright mate i think people have got the picture now and with the fish still behaving itself out in open water and 10 mins later Boosong cant resist one more blast before i tell him to how can you put it eh give it a rest and although it takes me another 10mins the fish itself was very well behaved and didn't once try to go under the bungalow and all of a sudden its up on the surface and yes i have my prize a cracking Gahore of 61lb 6oz

Oh boy i really cant explain how much pleasure these fish give me,after all this is what i am really here for and i quickly order me a pepsi and beers all round for the rest and i seem to remember saying somthing like i don't care if i don't catch another fish for the rest of my holiday now as i am buzzing all over again
Oh and there's one other thing that i must mention as all of us forum members know we are well i like to think a friendly bunch of guys and girls and some times we meet up sometimes by organising a meet and sometimes by pure accident,well while we was fishing today a couple of guys walked past the bungalow and Damian said hi John how are you and Damian said it was another guy from a guiding company hhhhmmm this got me thinking as some of you will know i put a lot of time and effort into researching my trips before i book and the only other guiding company i am aware of in Thailand which is run by a guy called John regularly posts his reports on here so i ask Damian if this is the same guy that goes wild toman fishing and he says yes mate how do you know,i explain that i have spoken to him on this forum and Damian says when hes got his client set up he will go and have a word,now i know most people meet up in Birmingham,Bristol,Bognor or Bletchley but yes being a simple man i always have to be bloody different so i meet my first forum member in Bangkok and about a hour later John appears and you guys might know him as bkk guy who posts his toman trips on here and although he was looking after his own client still found 15 mins to come and say high and a really nice guy too so if your reading this thanks John for taking the time out to say high and i am sure it wont be long before we see your toman reports back on the forum (WHAT A NICE GUY)
Anyway back to the fishing and its not long before Brian has a sawai of 21lb and a bit later all hell broke loose as first my rod bent over and before you could say boo to a goose Brian was in as well hhmmm this could be fun but apart from a couple of awkward moments it wasn't as bad as it might of been and we both managed to land our fish which came to the scales at 38lb and 46lb

and as the evening drew in Brian then had another mekong around the 30lb mark before we made a hasty retreat before being eaten alive

DAY 13 THE LAST DAY

Well neither of us had breakfast this morning due to the fact we were so bloody p**** last night that somehow i didn't set the alarm and now the phone in our room is ringing with Damian on the other end asking if everything is OK er well er wtf is it that time already BRIAN BRIAN get the f*** up sorry Damian we must of over slept mate and ten mins later we gingerly appear down in the foyer feeling a tad rough and its some what of a achievement to stand up and walk with some kind of dignity oh God my head hurts well it is a bloody holiday,so today we head back to BSR for our final fling and its a very quiet drive but the air-con is on and this helps a bit
We are soon set up again and if i am honest by the state we are both in it may have to be Damian that takes the first fish if we get a early run but slowly in-fact very slowly we eventually come round to some sort of sober state and also the weather is a big help today as its very cloudy and cool and today as we didn't catch any monster fish and i can only store 100 photos on here i will only post photos nos 98- 99 and 100 and although we do have two early takes neither fish was on for more than ten seconds so when we get the third take its now just gone 1.00 and we are more ourselves again and Brian manages to get a mekong of around 40lb to the net followed by another about the same size

In the mean time i manage a couple of sawai of 11lb&23lb and as the day closes in Brian has a mekong of around 60lb and the last fish of the holiday goes to me another mekong of around 50lb and before i sign off for the last time on this adventure Boosong says John i have something to show you and as he rummages around in the bottom of his tackle box he starts to tell me about a guy who he was guiding for last year and had hooked into a monster Gahore and after playing the fish for 45 min and not seeing it once pop and it was gone and when the dejected guy reeled his line back in this was on the hook

A bloody carp scale of 130mm 13cm or 4 and a bit inches across and must of come off a carp in excess of 200lb that poor guy must of been GUTTED i know i would of been the last time i think anyone had a 2200lb plus carp out of BSR was about 10 years ago,you really have to see this thing to appreciate how big the fish must of been
Any folks its that time of day so tonight and no lessons learnt at all we end up in the Aussie bar until well past 03.00 before hitting the sack and heading back to the airport to end whats been another fantastic fishing holiday.I hope you people have enjoyed my feeble efforts at trying to post a accurate account of our holiday,many thanks to all you people who took the time to reply to my posts as we all know by now it does take me hours and on one occasion in posting this set after 4 1/2 hours my PC froze and i lost the whole bloody lot,any questions please don't hesitate to ask and finally many thanks again to Jules and Damian of siamfishingtours for all there hard work in making our trip a successful one and although my next fishing adventure is not until June when i am off to Bulgaria for 2 weeks fishing i am now back fishing in the UK and have been twice since my return from Thailand and will post shortly
Tight lines good people and very good luck with your own fishing adventures John (simple man)

[MRG2000]

Fantastic fishing again Chaps,really enjoyed reading about the whole adventure ,thank you for taking the time and effort to put together a fantastic series of reports,the forum is a better place for you being an active member......