Thai Trifecta
By: Scott Swanson
After 23 grueling hours flying from Atlanta to Bangkok,
a traditional Thai massage sounds pretty good,
and at less than five dollars an hour, I'm tempted
to get a week's worth. But I've come to Asia for an
exotic angling adventure, so my jet-lagged body will have to
make do with only a couple hours worth. The petite masseuse kneads me with a strength that belies her tiny frame. Two hours and 300 baht later, I'm off the mat and staggering out the door like a drunken sailor. Khop khun kha, she says, pressing her palms together and bowing in the customary Thai show of respect, though in reality, I should be the one saying thank you.
The next morning at Bung Sam Lan Lake,
I'm vigorously undoing all the massage's therapeutic
benefits, straining my back, legs and
arms to winch in a 35-pound Mekong catfish.
In the wild, this megafish grows to over
600 pounds, so by Mekong standards, the tow
truck on the end of my line is just a baby.
Converted from a swampland 19 years ago,
Bung Sam Lan is today one of the world's most
extraordinary fisheries. Its meager 20 acres are
stocked with striped catfish reaching 35 pounds
and giant Siamese carp topping 200. We won't
be fishing from a boat here, but from comfortable
chalets surrounding the lake, each with its
own fan, sink, lounge chairs and fishing dock.
Our group is an eclectic mix representing
three other continents. Andy Rockwell, Jason
Bundy and I represent Team USA. Fishing writer Fabrice Chassaing joins us from
France, while his Kiwi counterpart Sam
Mossman hales from Down Under.
Our lead guide is Jean Francois Helias,
a French ex-pat who's made Thailand
his home for the past 22 years. He has
achieved 56 personal world records
and was named the IGFA Angler of
the Year last April after notching 17
records in 2007 alone.
Each guide prepares his own secret
recipe of bread bait, formed to softball
size around a wire holder. After tucking
a small hook into the bait, the doughy
sphere is hurled into the lake's midsection.
It doesn't take long before the
reel's clicking tells everyone the party's
about to begin. Jason steps up to the
plate and delivers a lip-ripping hookset.
The fish is a gamer, and even with
shouts of encouragement from his buddies,
it takes Jason nearly half an hour
to tame the 40-pound beast.
By mid-afternoon, Andy hooks into
the biggest Mekong of the day. Oblivious to
Andy's coercion, the fish freely roams the lake,
taking the angler's line and energy along with
it. An hour later, the gargantuan briefly surfaces
and Francois pegs it at a whopping 150
pounds! Just when Andy starts to make some headway, the fish tears under the catwalk of
docks. There's no finessing it out of the underwater
pilings, and it's only a matter of time before
it breaks the line. Exhausted, Andy is close
to tears. His guide, Kik, shakes his head and
says, Mai pen rai the big one got away.
Sojourn for Snakeheads
With both catfish success and rod-butt bruises
under our belts, we're warmed up for the real
fishing, a four-day quest for giant snakeheads at
Srinakarin Reservoir near the Burmese border.
Stocked up with rice, fresh fruit, vegetables,
herbs, meat and Singha beer from our earlier
trip to the market; we continue our journey,
arriving at last at Srinakarin. There, in a huge
valley covered by a tropical forest, this 50-mile
long artificial lake boasts a thousand coves and
channels. It's a perfect habitat for hundreds of
species, including the coveted snakehead.
There are no tourists, hotels, or lodges,
just tiny fishing villages and a shrine boasting
Thailand's only stainless steel Buddha statue.
Our accommodations consist of a two-tiered
barge with kitchen, dining and sleeping areas.
As with every Thai home, we're expected to
take our shoes off before entering the floating
house. Each of us has his own private suite - a
tent erected on the barge's teakwood floor.
Six years ago, international media frenzy erupted
after biologists identified a local pond angler's
catch as a northern snakehead. The saw-toothed
Asians ravenous appetite for native fish, and its
reported ability to mosey about on dry land, fueled
the Frankenfish story, with coverage ranging
from serious to sensational. Our quarry here
is its larger cousin, the giant snakehead, which
can grow to nearly a meter long and weigh up to
30 pounds. This amazing predator is considered
Asia's best fighting freshwater sport fish.
The Srinakarin Reservoir is also home to
the elusive cobra snakehead. To date, only two
dozen Westerners have ever caught this fish.
The current all-tackle record of 11.4 pounds
was caught by Jean Francois himself during a
FishQuest trip here in March 2007.
After rigging our rods, we're introduced to
our guides, who pull up to our floating house
in teakwood fishing boats powered by Yamaha
engines. Today, I'm teamed with Sam Mossman,
a magazine editor from New Zealand,
and our boatman, Oo. We start out fishing
what looks like typical bass habitat: weedy
points, log-choked cuts and other structureladen
spots. Working top-water Spooks and
Bog-Frogs in the early morning light, it's clear
from the get-go that accuracy is key. Shorting
the shoreline finds nobody home, while the
slightest over-cast is punished by tangled
jungle vegetation. Bamboo monsters refuse
to give back baits without a fight. Making
matters worse, Oo finds each errant cast
frightfully amusing, and our guide's infectious
chuckle keeps us humble.
The snakehead is an intelligent wild fish
not easily fooled into striking, but when it
does, it's with a vengeance. Even the smallest
snakehead makes a statement in its attack.
We manage to land a couple of two-pound juveniles.
We also raise a feisty jungle perch, which
strikes and fights much like a peacock bass.
Along with the lake's wilder environs, our
guide's cover the watery backyards of Srinakarin's
local residents. Floating bamboo houses
portray a simple subsistence lifestyle betrayed
only by the occasional satellite dish. Our guide
instructs us to cast amid the neighborhood,
explaining that discarded rice and other table
scraps attract baitfish, which in turn attracts
predators. His proof is literally in the pudding
as we pull a pair of snakeheads right out from
under a kitchen window.
Later in the afternoon, we come up on a
quiet cove where a dozen water buffalo are cooling
their hooves. Sam theorizes another pattern.
Could it be that kwai dung also attracts baitfish
and thus the snakeheads? A few casts to the cattle
supports his hypothesis, as a hungry four-pound
pla shado pounces upon his Rapala X-Rap.
Moving into another bay, Oo points out a
shimmering mass of baby snakeheads surfacing
on the water. These purple fry balls are what
trophy snakehead hunters live for. Underneath
them lies the large, protective parent. The right
cast will trigger a heart-stopping explosion. Fryball
fishing is a bit like trap shooting. The fry
surface at regular intervals to breathe air before
returning to the depths. Timing is like clockwork,
but location is sheer guesswork. Half the
time, the ball appears behind us, and before we
can lock and load, the fry are already in dive
mode. We chase the nursery around the bay for
over an hour, getting 50 good shots into the target.
I snag a couple of three-inch tadpoles, but
neither of us manages to raise big mama-san.
Where To Toss The Bags
Bangkok's international airport is the major
travel hub for Southeast Asia. Thai Airlines offers
non-stop flights from the West Coast while
other airlines have connecting flights in Seoul,
Tokyo and at various Asian gateways. You'll
cross the international dateline en route, so
be sure to allow for the lost day in planning
your itinerary. It's also not a bad idea to give
yourself a leisure day or two in Bangkok to recover
from the jet lag and travel fatigue.
Bangkok is a crowded bustling city, offering
modern conveniences along with world-famous
shopping and nightlife. Traffic and resulting
pollution are notorious, but the city is generally
considered safe. Thailand's health care is
ranked among the world's best. Credit cards
are widely accepted in the cities, but you'll
want to convert to Thai baht for shopping,
taxis, local dining and tipping your guides.
FishQuest fishing packages include touristclass
hotel accommodations in Bangkok and
Ratchaburi, a unique floating house lodging
on the Srinakarin Reservoir. Hotel breakfasts
and all meals at Srinakarin are included, and
you'll find those on-your-own meals to be
an inexpensive culinary adventure.
Heavy tackle is provided for battling the
Mekong catfish at Bung Sam Lan Lake, while
anglers typically bring their own gear for fishing
snakeheads at Predator Lake. Locally
made lures are also available.
Pursuing
the Predators
A few days later, we're rolling toward
our third and final fishfest, Predator
Lake. The private 20-acre pond sits just
outside the city of Ratchaburi, not far
from the famous River Kwai. Stocked
with native Asian and exotic Amazon
species, the lake teems with arapaima
(pirarucu) up to 300 pounds, as well as
Amazon and Asian red-tail catfish, aruana,
pacu, giant gorami and even barramundi
introduced from Australia.
Jean Francois has already learned from
yesterday's anglers that the bite has been
off its normal pace. Nonetheless, we start
off the day optimistically enough, casting
Storm Wildeye Mullets and other artificials
into the designated sweet spots. A
Thai lad shovels live tilapia into the lake
in hopes of triggering a feeding frenzy.
Walking along the bank, I spot a large
aruana cruising the surface. I pitch a Rapala
SubWalk just enough in front of it so
as not to spook it. Without even batting an eye,
the aruana nonchalantly turns from my offering
and continues his lazy morning swim.
While the lake's owner typically employs a
lure-or-fly-only policy, he sympathizes with
our predicament and accepts Francois recommendation
to let us tempt the reluctant
fish with bait. Jason wastes no time hooking
a nice pacu, and suddenly everyone's spirits
are up. Sam, who has set up shop across the
lake, hollers Fish On! One of our Thai
minders grabs a net, fires up his motorbike,
and races around the lake to help land the
fish - a nice alligator gar.
As the afternoon wanes into dusk, Fabrice's
bait finds itself looking down the throat
of a big arapaima. The Frenchman sets the
hook, and knows instantly it's
a good fish. With little structure
in the pond, he can afford
to open his drag and take his
time landing the behemoth.
The fish heads toward the far
side, leaving Fabrice no choice
but to follow and fight it along
the shore. The battle lasts over an hour before the monster is landed.
Jean Francois estimates its weight at 105
pounds. In the photo session that follows,
the camera captures Fabrice's beaming smile. It's a fitting end to the Thai trifecta, and a climactic finish to our Asian angling adventure. Tomorrow we'll make the long journey back to our respective homes, with no fivedollar massage waiting on the other end. Ironically, Bangkok Airport's security checkpoint will be one of the only places where we're not expected to remove our shoes.
This article provided courtesy of Destination Fish
Come fish with Fly Fish Thailand
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