My 13 day Thai fishing adventure (day eight)

[SIMPLE MAN]

Well after packing my case last night and going down to the bar to say my goodbyes to the people that i had met during the last week,With all good intentions of just a couple or three changs i eventually get to my room at 3.00am and get up at 05.30 to meet Jules at 06.30,To be honest it was only that name LAKE MONSTERS going through my head that i managed to get up at all,
This morning Thailand seems a very blurred and wobbly place and at 46 i really should know better,Jules arrives promptly as usual and we are off to what turns out to be a very pleasant drive air conditioning blasting in my face and its not long before i feel a whole lot better (phew that's a relief),Its going to be another hot day,2 1/2 hours or so later we arrive at the monster lake i get out of the car and just burst out laughing, you see i had seen this place on TV and it looked green and tranquil but the owner had decided to make his predator lake bigger and he has also dug out another lake stocked with carp behind it which opens late 2011 which by the amount of bread that his workers were throwing in must have a very good head in there already,So this is lake monsters apart from the cafe a great big muddy puddle with no grass on one side no trees or shelter from the sun but what i am now getting used to a typical Thai fishing park just dig a hole fill it with fish and hey ho off we go,Oh while i remember here's another minor thing that you should take into account,Even though Jules had rung up and booked me at this lake for two days fishing and the people there assuring him that bait would be available when we arrived there was none to be found yep a fishing park that has no bait,Can you imagine phoning up and booking a trip at the lake getting a taxi from Bangkok say 2hours drive and when you get there they rent you some tackle take your money and then tell you there is no bait,The Thai fishing scene never continues to amaze me but luckily for me Jules is used to this by now and had been to market the day before and purchased 2-3 kgs of mackerel more on that at the end of my reports on the Thai fishing scene.
Anyway lets get on to the fishing as we walk through the covered cafe coffee is ordered and Jules suggests that we fish tight to the side of the cafe as this will give relief from the sun in the afternoon Jules has the first rod set up in a jiffy coffee is delivered i bait up and cast 30ft or so out let the bait sink engage the bait runner and drink my coffee,the second rod is now ready Jules walks 5yrds further along towards the corner and casts it out again 30ft or so and comes over,I say to him that i have a feeling that we wont have long to wait he smiled and said i just want to check your clutch he disengages the bait runner checks the clutch puts the rod back down on the pod and splash its gone (what the ******) you forgot to engage the bait runner mate,I cant believe it 5 min and we have lost a rod Jules goes in to the cafe and a min later a guy comes out with a rod and a grappling hook attached i go and sit with the rod on the corner wondering what the hell had taken my bait,Jules goes back to the pick up to set me up another rod and the guide starts casting the grappling hook out to try and retrieve the rod,Jules comes back with the third rod now set up i bait up and cast out and due to what has happened decide that both rods would be better off next to me,After 40-45 min the guide has now got the line of the rod that went in (much to Jules relief) they pull the line until they can grab the rod and Jules shouts across John you had better take this the fish is still on,I take the rod and 20 seconds later its gone it bit straight through the trace and Jules said it was a small pacu of 3-5lb still most importantly he had got £250 worth of tackle back and the guide was happy as Jules rewarded him with a generous tip
About 15 minutes later one of my rods started screaming, no need to tighten down on the line here just disengage the bait runner here we go, the fish steams of in to the middle of the lake and then starts going left at a rate of knots, after running 80 yards or so it comes right in to he near bank on the other side of the cafe, Jules says its a medium red tail he says if it was a big one it would have gone to the far bank and run either left or right but this cunning little blighter was now steaming along the near bank looking for any snags it could find, Jules said don't worry there are no snags in this lake and that they had all been removed due to the massive stock of red tails in the lake, and after 15 minutes i had a 25lb red tail in the net.
At this point i would normally post a picture but after yesterday i tried to do just that at this point and i lost everything which is why i didn't post a report yesterday (2 1/2 hours of wasted time lol) so i will post all pictures on a new thread under this report
10 or so minutes later i had a pacu of 5lb and it then went quiet for half an hour or so before my left hand rod started pealing line of very slowly but surely, i hit it and this was certainly no red tail and for the next 10 minutes had Jules and myself quite puzzled, and then right in front of us was a arapaima of 35lb, after all that hassle in the first 4 out of 5 days i caught another one, i then had a pacu of 6lb and 20 minutes later the line on one of the rods screamed of, red tail Jules asked i don't know mate this is a very strange fight it had only gone out about 20 yards and was swimming round and round in circles, another 12 minutes past and then i had a 30lb sorubim, this fish looks pretty similar to a red tail but is more spotty flatter and it's tail is not so bright red but still a cracking fish. Shortly after the left rod again started pealing line of slowly and this was certainly no red tail either, after 5 minutes it showed itself to be another arapaima in the 30lb mark, 10 minutes later it was safely in the net what a strange feeling, for days of searching and loosing said fish and now it seems i can't stop catching them, a short time after i the lost what we think was a big red tail which fought valiantly for 15 minutes and was still 120 yards out in the lake when it shed the hook, it then seemed to go quiet for an hour or so when a large truck pulled up at the side of the lake, it was full of tilapia which the guides then went over and got me a bucket full and then proceeded to throw the truck full of live bait in to the lake, within minutes the lake was like a boiling pot with fish rising everywhere, one of my rods then went of i struck and this was even a stranger fight it again had me and Jules baffled and after 5 minutes or so i had a 9lb arowana in the net, Jules said it was only the forth one that he had ever seen in 4 1/2 years guiding and the biggest one he had seen before today was a couple of pounds, the lake was going mad now i then had a small red tail of 8lb, another of 25lb, a pacu of 6lb before my line again screamed of, i hit it and this was certainly a bigger fish, it went straight over to the far bank, showed itself to be a red tail and then stormed of to my left all the way along the far bank with me holding on for dear life, after 15 minutes or so i managed to get it away from the far bank so it then headed to the near bank down the far end, this really was a tough fight, a further 10 minutes later and i had my prize in the net a cracking red tail of 45lb, before i could put my bait back out in to the water my second rod had started peeling line of slow but sure to be honest my arms and shoulders were beginning to ache and the thought of doing battle with another large fish was great but some what daunting, after a couple of minutes another arapaima showed itself to be on the end of my line which again after 10 minutes a 30lb fish was safely in the net (3 out of 3 can't be bad) the evening was drawing in now but i still managed another 2 red tails of 30lb a piece, what a day things were certainly livening up now and to be honest my shoulders were glad to see the end of the days proceedings,So back to the hotel which was only 5min away a well deserved shower and i then met Jules and his partner in the foyer where we took a 50yrd walk to a small but nice little restaurant where we all ate and had a few beers and all for under £20 it was then back to the hotel for a well deserved sleep and also give my shoulders a rest before returning tomorrow for round two at this fish filled muddy puddle
Pictures to follow hopefully underneath

[SIMPLE MAN]

The fish

[Maddison_Twatter]

Some cracking fish there mate , well done

[SIMPLE MAN]

Thankyou for your feed back tight lines

[barbelblanker]

I've seen most of them on one or other of Jeremy Wades River monsters show, nice fish and a lot of effort gone in to that report.

[Portland Pirate]

Wow nice.

Looking forward to your next report.

[Devon Born & Dorset Bred]

Cracking Arowana!

[SIMPLE MAN]

Hey guys you have just made a simple man very very happy, I was begining to wonder if i was wasting my time and a lot of effort in writing these reports and a very special thankyou must go to MRG2000 WHO HAS SOME HOW MANAGED TO BRING MY FEEBLE EFFORTS OF REPORTING ALIVE thanks mate
day nine to follow

[chesty]

your reports are fantastic mate i am really enjoying them looking forward to day 9 so get out that freezer get back in your office and get that one finger going john by the way its steve from work

[SIMPLE MAN]

Thanks Steve
day nine is now there m8,enjoy the rest of your weekend,I suppose you are out with Roy for a few jars eh
Good luck and see you wed