Well what can I say other than sorry for a VERY late catch report .The July and August reports will be out very soon to get things back on track.There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day lately ... As per usual I have been working 2 jobs and also very busy opening the first stage of our fish park to the local community ....
June wasn't just busy for me but also for the visiting anglers making it yet again another great month for Fishing in Thailand at EFT. You can see from our many photos that there were some amazing catches coming out ..
The Exotic Fishing Thailand Mountain Fish Park is now open with everyone welcome ..The park is basically a fish ZOO . There are 4 ponds where guests can feed Amazon catfish [pond1 ] Arapaima [ pond 2] Barramundi [pond3] and Chao phraya catfish [pond4] . We also have over 20 outdoor aquariums with fish from all over the world . Combine the park with a meal by the lake and this makes a great afternoon out .We are only 1 hour north of Phuket airport if you are looking to get out of Phuket for a nice drive on a Saturday or Sunday..
As you all probably know by now I am addicted to buying new fish .. I know we have lots of stocked fish to keep our customers happy already but I can't help but buy more when I see special fish available. The Black Shark Carp is one of my favorites so when some nice sized ones like this came available I couldn't help put load up the truck .. .
I am always on the lookout for new species or simply more of each different species to increase customers chances of catching each of our over 60 species .
As a result in addition to Black Shark Carp some big Rita catfish also made the trip to Phang Nga this month .
Our angler of the month this month was none other than the man with the Captain's Hat... Jan Ibsen. Jan managed to catch 3 Arapaima on the fly in one day as well as many other exotic species both on the fly and on bait rods ..
On to the important numbers ...There were 316 fish caught for 28 angler days fished, giving an average of over 11 fish per angler day ...Great fishing and also great value yet again at one of Thailand's premium fishing resorts..
Our catch report for June including 29 different exotic species is as follows.;- 3 African Walking catfish to 18lbs .16 Alligator Gar to 60 lbs,.3 Albino Sawai Catfish to 15lbs..18 Albino Pacu to 15 lbs, ..42 Amazon Redtails to 50 lbs,..33 Arapaima to 340lbs,.. 6 Arawana to 8lbs,..19 Asian Redtails to 32lbs, , . 1 Black Shark Carp to 6lbs . 4 Chao Phraya Catfish to 80lbs,..4 Chinese Black Carp to 20 lbs, 9 Giant Featherbacks to 12lbs, 2 Giant Gourami to 8 lbs, 2 Goonch to 15lbs, 2 Hovens Carp to 7lbs. 2 Mekong Catfish to 135lbs., 14 Pacu to 28lbs ,..12 Piraiba Catfish to 18lbs,..34 Redtail/Tiger Cross Catfish to 17lbs,....11 Ripsaw/Niger Catfish to 15lbs, .2 Sawai Catfish to 10 lbs..34 Siamese Carp to 55lbs,.3 Soldier River Barb to 4lbs..2 Spotted Featherback to 8 lbs. 22 Tambaqui to 15lbs,..8 Tigershovelnose Catfish to 15lbs,.3 Vundu catfish to 12 lbs..2 Wallagoo Attu to 12 lbs,..5 Yellow Cheek Carp to 25 lbs
Ian farr made the short flight from Singapore to see how many of our Exotic species he could catch . Even though his trip was short Ian managed some nice fish while experimenting with boilies from his sponsor Urban Baits.
A beautiful Arowana for Ian taken on a fish bait..
I believe this Goonch was a new species for Ian , also on fish ...
This Ripsaw was busy munching on Ian's special boilies when hooked ..
This Giant featherback was caught on the float . They are feeding on the large amount of bait fish gathering around the lum ball right now..This is becoming a serious pattern to catch all predators as you will see in the July and August catch reports...
The Siamese Carp definitely liked Urban Bait's treats with a good number falling to Ian's presentation.
Ian managed a few Asian Redtails on pieces of chicken fished on the bottom .
Ian increased the number of species caught on his boilies with this typical EFT Tambaqui.
Mohamed and family took advantage of our father and son package and enjoyed a fun afternoon ...
Mohamed's son was quite the eager young angler and had no problem handling our Amazon Redtails
He also made short work of a few of our Siamese carp
Jan Ibsen visited us for the first time and became angler of the month . After a trip like this I am sure he will be back sometime soon :) ..
Jan has visited Thailand many times fishing another local resort so we were interested to see what he would think of EFT .. I must admit there is always a little added pressure when we know anglers are coming directly from our competition .
As usual our lake didn't disappoint with lots of Exotic species for Jan on his 3 day trip.
After a busy day of catching on the bait rods and taking n the stunning scenery Jan was eager to change to the fly . His first fish was a Tiger redtail cross..
Jan was over the moon to catch a Tiger shovelnose on the fly as this is not an easy task for any angler ..
It didnt take long for Jan to hook into his first of 4 Arapaima .
Here is Jan the happy angler with another beautiful Ari taken on the fly
Our good friend John Pearce was visiting with a customer and decided to have a fish himself .. With johns years of fishing experience is was only minutes before he landed his first EFT Arapaima. He has since been chasing the lake record of 5 in one day and has had the magic fifth fish on the line on more than one occasion .
Warren Ferrington visited us for his first time in June catching several new species but not connecting with one or our Arapaima .. He has been back since and rectified that ..
A nice Siamese for Warren
It seemed to be the day of Albinos for Warren with the first fish being this new addition to EFT an Albino Sawai Catfish..
The day of the Albinos continued with 2 lovely Albino Pacu which as far as I know are only available at EFT. I was told by some experts that they were only aquarium fish but they seem to be growing as fast and as big as the regular Pacu . These toothy Pacu and our Alligator Gar are responsible for a lot of the short bites and runs coming on the chicken baits. My advise is just be patient and they will eventually make a mistake :).
Roy Toh and his family were visiting Thailand for a short vacation and came to fish EFT on a Family package day ticket . It started out as a difficult day for them with no hook ups at all in the morning. I was preaching as always that patience pays off and right after our head guide Ross put out a bed of chicken low and behold next cast resulted in this chunky 42 kg Chao Phraya .. A nice fish which gave an awesome fight even with a full belly of chicken ...
No sooner had we landed that fish and the rod screamed off again with Roy's son catching this nice Redtail
The family trip ended on a good note with a nice Arapaima to fill up the catch report ...
We had our first visit from a group of friends from Singapore in June who were visiting with John Pearce .They caught lots of fish and many different species.
After Siamese Carp and both Amazon and Asian Redtail catfish it all came down to the Arapaima
The first Ari was a respectable fish that really got the rivalries started :)..
The end result was 3 Arapaima for the 4 anglers leaving one angler determined to catch one on their next visit :).
Catching Arapaima all day can be tiring work so we catered to a special request and and went to the market so these hard working anglers could have one of their favorite fruits in the form of a Durian break
Our 4 new friends were serious about their Arapaima fishing but when the fishing was done they took time to pose for a fun pic with "Harry the Ari "
Rob Blok and his father Frank visited us for the first time this month .. What a fun pair these 2 are ..Continually winding each other up about who had caught the most or biggest fish .
In the end Rob caught more Arapaima and some bigger fish while Frank cleaned up on total fish numbers and different species
With some rainy weather Frank caught lots of Asian and Amazon Redtails
The Tambaqui was one of many new species for Frank ..
Frank also caught his first Vundu Catfish .This African Catfish is similar to the African walking catfish with one of the main differences being the 2 dorsal fins versus only one fin for the Walking Catfish . I obviously dont approve of this fish or any other fish being handled like this but we have since further trained the guides on how to deal with these slippery cats.
Frank had a lots of Siamese catching them on lum and poly ball
Frank also landed a Soldier River Barb also coming on the lum and polyball
The Tiger Shovelnose has to be one of the most beautiful of all our 60+ species. This fish was a good sized fish coming on a fish bait .
Another very common Catfish at EFT is the Ripsaw or Niger Catfish .. We have stocked quite a few of these fish as they are just so cool looking and photogenic
Frank also manged another Carp species with this nice Hovens carp..I specifically rememeber this catch as it came on a fish bait of all things..???
We have 3 different types of Feather Backs at EFT . Frank landed the biggest of the 3 appropriately called a Giant Featherback
Rob wasn't the only one catching Arapaima as Frank managed a few nice fish himself
A new species for Rob was a Piraiba Catfish . He managed 3 of these during his trip..
Rob's main goal was Arapiama and he definitely achieved that landing more than 4 fish in his short visit.
Like many anglers Rob was surprised that this nice Pacu came on chicken . These fish like the Tambaqui have human looking teeth that make short work of chicken bones..
The Asian Redtails have really been on the feed with many fish coming out on chicken
Rob wasnt to be out done by Frank with some nice sized redtails and Siamese coming to the net
I must say that these 2 have to be one of the most competitive father and son teams to visit us so far .. I am looking forward to a rematch coming soon :)
Jez Wilson made his second visit to EFT this time bringing his friends children . His kind gesture was rewarded with some nice fish especially Arapaima
The kids just loved the Arapaima and couldnt wait to get in on the photos
This was one of the bigger fish for Jez and the boys on this trip.
This is what fishing is all about . Kids having fun with a catch of a lifetime
This is only a small Siamese but for this little guy it was surely a monster :).
We would like to thank PGTV for coming out this month to film a short piece on EFT . We appreciate the advertising as we have a great product and just need to get the word out to the fishing public so that everyone can enjoy all aspects of Exotic Fishing Thailand . I was happy with the video as it was the first time I had to do this kind of thing but it unfortunately didn`t take long for some critics of EFT to surface on Facebook with their tiresome sarcastic comments...
As EFT continues to flourish I am sadly seeing more and more each day that the Thai fishing industry is not the type of professional business that I have been used to with my prior businesses. Fisheries and especially some aggeressive advertising agents are happy to try to steal bookings or customers using whatever underhanded techniques they can .
Misleading advertising in Thai fishing seems to be more the norm than the exception these days. Customers shouldn`t worry too much however as they will be fine if they do their research and use some common sense when reading some of the tall tales and reviewing photos. The internet , as guilty as it is of enabling some sites to appear to be something they are not also has lots of tools to help customers find the truth .
That being said I strongly believe that Southern Thailand in particular is mostly free from this situation .With the exception of the non existent Arapaimas at Phuket Fishing Park of course ..:)
With 2 great owner run fisheries in close proximity the Krabi and Phang Nga area of Thailand has expanded in becoming one of the ``places to go in Asia `` for amazing fishing while enjoying an added bonus of stunning scenery and the beautiful beaches which Phuket , Krabi , Khao Lak and Phang Nga have to offer.
That sums up our catch report for June 2014 with my promise that July and August will be out soon .
Watch for our exciting ``FISH GUARANTEES`` coming in September .. Yes that`s plural ..guarantee[S]:)....
To learn more about Fishing in Thailand at Exotic Fishing Thailand check out our website at http://www.exoticfishingthailand.com/ or see our customer reviews as we are now on trip advisor at http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g303917-d6975608-Reviews-Exotic_Fishing_Thailand-Phang_Nga_Phang_Nga_Province.html
