February was another beautiful and hot month here in Phang Nga with not one drop of rain. We are very fortunate to have our own on site water source to keep the lake topped up in this extremely dry season.
The fishing has also been hot here at EFT with 491 fish caught this month and 46 angler days fished .That's another amazing month with catch rates of over 10 fish per angler day. The lake is fishing very well with great catches coming from all swims on the lake , allowing all anglers to do well. There were also some lake records broken this month .The first was for the total number of fish per day by one angler which now stands at 35 and the second was for the most Arapaima on a fly rod in one day which is now 4.
Our catch report for February which includes 27 different exotic species is as follows.....;- 2 African Walking catfish to 12lb,...18 Alligator Gar to 50 lbs,..26 Albino Pacu to 13 lbs, ..92 Amazon Redtails to 58 lbs,..42 Arapaima to 360lbs,..13 Arawana to 8lbs,..16 Asian Redtails to 27lbs,,.4 Black Eared Catfish to 12lbs , .2 Chao Phraya Catfish to 30lbs,..18 Chinese Black Carp to 23 lbs,.8 Giant Gourami to 10lbs,.. 6 Goonch to 28lbs,..2 Hovens Carp to 5lbs,..6 Juliens Golden Price Carp to 18lbs,8 Mekong Catfish to 220lbs. .18 Pacu to 18lbs ,..39 Piraiba Catfish to 18lbs,..44 Redtail/Tiger Cross Catfish to 15lbs,..20 Ripsaw/Niger Catfish to 17lbs,..6 Rohu to 14lbs, ..45 Siamese Carp to 55lbs,..4 Spotted Featherbacks to 8 lbs,.. 18 Tambaqui to 15lbs,..3 Tigershovelnose Catfish to 16lbs,..2 Vundu Catfish to 15lbs,....7 Wallagoo Attu to 18 lbs,..22 Yellow Cheek Carp to 23 lbs
Our good friend Andreas visited us again in February with his girlfriend and caught quite the variety of species .
He seems to have a knack for catching some good looking Alligator Gar .
He was very happy with this stunning Chinese Black Carp which is one of the biggest I have heard of being caught in Thailand .
Andreas has caught many Arapaima at EFT and got yet another nice fish on this visit .
His girlfriend wasn't to be outdone and caught some very nice fish including this Spotted Featherback
She also had no problem handling some decent Redtails
Ross couldn't resist getting a pic with this very fat Redtail caught by a customer . Not all customers want to get into the water so quite often they ask our guides to hold the fish for a photo.
Gregg Smith also had a fat Redtail amongst the 21 fish he caught in just 2 days of fishing .
Gregg really enjoyed catching our Siamese Carp which are really starting to pack on the weight ..
Not all our Carp are big but like all Siamese Carp they definitely fight like they are :)
Gauthier De Broux returned for a second visit as part of his "Thai fishing safari" :). He brought a specific list of new species he wanted to catch. Gauthier is a savy individual and soon learned that he could save money by booking his own trips . Gauthier booked with us direct through our website http://www.exoticfishingthailand.com so he could get the best price and also deal with us directly rather than have the inconvenience of going through an agent. Gauthier's first target at EFT was the beautiful Arowana which he caught very soon after arriving.
Gauthier was also after a Yellow Cheeked Carp and knew his best chances were at EFT as we are now catching over 20 per month .I really cant imagine how crazy the fishing will be for these fish next year when we will add another 50 fish over 1 meter .I am also interested to see how big they get as I have seen photos of huge fish netted in China that were claimed to be over 50kg..
The big ticket item on his wish list was a 100kg Mekong Catfish . He had caught quite a few smaller fish in Bangkok and after almost living at BSR trying to catch a big one he finally decided his best chance would be here at EFT. I have always loved fishing for Mekong since my early days of catching them here in Thailand so was excited to share my personal experience and give advise to Gauthier
I explained my strategy to get a Mekong on the float and told Gauthier we would start to bait the area at 4pm but would keep fishing the other rods until 5pm to up his chances of even more exotic species . Then at 5pm we would switch to the float rod..
Gauthier made his first cast at a few minutes after 5 followed by another bombardment of lum balls and soon after at only 5;20 the float shot under, the line tore off and he was in for a real treat .. We have been catching lots of fish recently in the 60kg+ bracket but Gauthier hit the jackpot with a fish which we had recently weighed at 98 kg. He fought the fish like a pro and landed it in under 1 hour using 100lb braid .
We have chosen to specifically use 80 to 100lb braid so we can land the fish as quickly as possible without putting them through the stress of an overly long battle . EFT is a great venue for fighting big Mekongs as there are no sharp turns in the bank or large trees close to the water so anglers can follow their fish very easily if they need to without having to jump in the water losing their leverage on the fish ...
Gauthier wasn't the only one catching Mekong as you can see by the smile on this Danish angler's face
Another nice fish was landed by Ivor Fox who was visiting with his parents and brother ..Ivor is quite the young entrepreneur having already established a good following for his game shooting venue. If interested in pheasant shooting Ivor mentioned a very good website where he has listed his venue ;- http://www.gunsonpegs.com/shooting/buy/index.php
It wasn't just Mekong Cats coming out this month . There were also some nice Asian Redtails which were suckers for a piece of chicken ..
I like the Asian Redtails as they give a very different fight to the Amazon fish ...
This was one of our better Ripsaw Catfish for February caught on poly ball .These fish are total vacuum cleaners and suck up everything on the bottom hence getting caught on the lum and poly ball method regularly
A nice Yellow Cheeked carp for Sportfishing writer Emma Backer Hakonssen who was visiting from Norway with her husband Atle .
Emma also landed a PB Arapaima and Ripsaw Catfish which I failed to get a decent photo of :(.
Atle caught his share also with a very nice Arapaima.
An awesome fish for for Swiss fly angler Rico guided by Neil Robinson.
The Arapaima were really on the feed this month , especially when it came to fly fishing.
Tommy from Sweden deserves a special mention for landing an amazing 4 Arapaima on the fly in one day which is a new record here at EFT.
He almost tied our lake record for the most Arapaima in one day which stands at 5 but unfortunately lost one other fish. Tommy had such a good time that he came back 2 days later and caught yet another fish on the fly ..Great work with the 12 weight Tommy....!!!!
This gentleman was all smiles with his trophy catch ..
Another happy customer with a very nice fish
When you catch an Arapaima at EFT you will notice that we often have this little electronic gadget which we scan over an area of the fish near the tail. This may look strange to an onlooker but all our Arapaima have electronic chips in them so we can accurately identify them .
We are performing an ongoing study to see which fish get caught more often and more importantly to see what the cause may be in the rare case where we lose a fish. We are trying to determine if there are any changes we can make in our tackle and set up or in how our customers play the fish. We dont lose many fish but our goal is to reduce our fish loss to as close to zero as possible.
Sinane Belaidouni came to visit EFT for the first time this month and sure left his mark . He caught an amazing 90+ fish in 6 days of fishing and 35 fish in one day to set a new lake record . Amazing fishing from a very determined young angler..
Sinane also had a list of target fish . He Caught 3 of his target Arowana and had no problems catching a fiesty Yellow Cheeked Carp
We are always happy to help young anglers and can also offer personal guiding for capable young fishermen and women if their parents want some time to themselves. Personal guiding needs to be booked in advance and depends on the anglers ability and also guide availability . We will always do our best to cater to all young anglers..
We do offer a special package for families who want to fish together . You can read more about this great package on our webpage at http://www.exoticfishingthailand.com/rates.htm
A big smile for this Black Eared Catfish which was another new species for Sinane.
Another exotic species which is quite common at EFT is the Tambaqui.
Sinane is now the second angler to catch a Tiger Shovelnose Catfish on the fly here at EFT.,. Good work Sinane..
One of several Arapaima which Sinane landed during his trip.
Sinane is basically obsessed with Mekong Catfish :) No surprise to see them at the top of his target list . He handled this fish with no problems and says he wants a bigger one next trip .. I told him to bring water skis next time as I think he might need them if he hooks one of our bigger cats over 100kg..
So if you are a serious species hunter or looking for fishing fun for the whole family like this father and son , make sure to contact us directly for a very reasonably priced quote for your next Exotic Fishing in Thailand adventure.
EFT is your best option to catch large numbers of exotic species in a truly stunning environment. We are conveniently located here in the beautiful province of Phang Nga just a short distance from Phuket international airport.
We can be contacted conveniently through our website at http://www.exoticfishingthailand.com .
We promise NOT to take a bite out of your budget
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