April was a busy month at Exotic Fishing Thailand, welcoming more new customers , putting the final touches to our "Mountain View Restaurant " and finishing our landscaping. The weather has continued to be hot and sunny although we are starting to get a little rain in the afternoons. The weather definitely didn't affect the fishing though with 32 angler days fished and anglers catching 374 fish for an average of over 11 fish per angler day . With the summer season coming I can only imagine how many fish will be caught per angler day with anglers occasionally having the whole lake to themselves..
The restaurant is now open with our delicious "Mountain View menu " . We have both Thai food and an international menu including some great burgers ,steaks, Pastas and even Pizza. So far we are having rave reviews on all our dishes .
We will do a full feature soon on our restaurant and menu rather than fill our catch report with not catch items .
We obviously needed a lot of help to finish all the landscaping with the hundreds of trees and flowers to plant. Even Michelle got the rake out and helped :).
Our catch report for April including 29 different exotic species is as follows.;- .8 Alligator Gar to 30 lbs,..22 Albino Pacu to 14 lbs, ..43 Amazon Redtails to 50 lbs,..42 Arapaima to 270lbs,.1 Barramundi to 22lbs .6 Arawana to 8lbs,..12 Asian Redtails to 28lbs,,.2 Black Eared Catfish to 12lbs ,. 1 Black Shark Carp to 4lbs ,2 Blue Mahseer to 2 lbs . 2 Chao Phraya Catfish to 35lbs,..10 Chinese Black Carp to 23 lbs, 2 Giant Gourami to 12 lbs, 1 Goonch to 15lbs,.1 Jau Catfish to 21 lbs .3 Juliens Golden Price Carp to 18lbs, 2 Mekong Catfish to 140lbs. 11 Pacu to 18lbs ,..35 Piraiba Catfish to 16lbs,..32 Redtail/Tiger Cross Catfish to 15lbs,....14 Ripsaw/Niger Catfish to 16lbs,..2 Rohu to 12lbs, ..42 Siamese Carp to 54lbs,..2 Spotted Featherbacks to 6 lbs,.. 34 Tambaqui to 15lbs,..16 Tigershovelnose Catfish to 16lbs,..2 Vundu Catfish to 12lbs,....2 Wallagoo Attu to 14 lbs,..22 Yellow Cheek Carp to 24 lbs
Our junior angler of the month had to be Ben Bragoli who was here fishing with his dad Steve on their first visit to Exotic Fishing Thailand. They took advantage of our "Family Fishing Special" and had a blast catching over 20 fish and loads of new species . If you haven't heard about our super value "Family special" you can learn more at http://www.exoticfishingthailand.com/rates.htm . Parent and child can fish with 4 rods in one swim for the amazing price of only 7000 baht per day including bait .
The African Vundu catfish was one of the new species for the Bragoli team :).. These fish have grown rapidly as we bought all our Vundu stock at only 4 inches just 2 years ago.
I was probably more excited than the customers when our first Jau Catfish came out . These fish are difficult to find , very expensive to buy , and if you choose to grow them almost impossible to grow due to their aggressive nature . This Jau is a big fish for Thailand but not our biggest here at EFT . We also have a growing stock of smaller fish which we are gradually introducing to the main lake as they reach a safe size to release them. We have to be careful not to add fish too soon as the many Chao Phraya Catfish are always looking for an easy meal:).
The Jau was caught as part of a double header for Ben and his dad with Ben catching this illusive fish and Steve the Redtail.:).
The Arapaima numbers per angler have gone up again this month as there were 42 fish caught for 32 angler days fished . That's an average of 1.3 Arapaima per angler day . These awesome catch rates give all anglers who visit EFT one of the best chances of catching an Arapaima of over 50 kg in all of Thailand. We would love to offer an Arapaima guarantee BUT unfortunately some anglers are more lucky than others . Every month we have anglers who catch 2, 3 or more Arapaima while we still have anglers who dont catch any.
A personal best Arapaima for Soren of Denmark . This was one of 3 Arapaima for the day .
Jordan Reid also joined Soren at EFT and caught his first Arapaima. Jordan was suffering from foot injury and couldn't go in the water so the guides obliged and still got him in the photo:)
The first Arapaima caught by a Thai angler was a very nice fish but I am still not sure that it warranted so many people in the photo.:).
You could catch your fish of a lifetime on the first or last cast so it pays to stay focused the whole fishing day .
We have caught Arapaima on all baits in April not just the predator rod .. With over 60 different species you just never know what you will catch next
My best advice for catching Arapaima or any fish on the predator rod for that matter is to check your bait regularly as the smaller fish can devour your fish bait in less than 15 minutes ..I have heard of some anglers commenting about short bites and the large number of feeder fish at EFT . We have a very healthy lake environment at EFT and our fish are also healthy and growing fast . I am sure it wont be long before our feeder fish numbers thin out especially with even more big predators being added soon ...
This angler guided by Neil Robinson landed Arapaima and lots of other species all on a single day ticket ...
A stunning Chinese Black carp to add to his fish list on a busy day of fishing ..
This chunky Black eared Catfish was yet another new species for this lucky angler
This lady angler on a day ticket had unfortunately not hooked a fish before 2 pm . The fishermen 2 swims down were already over 12 fish so I decided to offer her an extra predator rod. By the time I had got back with the rod things had changed and she was already into her first fish , this nice Amazon Redtail .
It didnt take long before the next fish hit the net with this very nice Asian Redtail .. Some days it is like someone flicks a switch and the fish just start feeding . We generally catch fish all day but as a rule they really seem to turn on around 330pm as the whole lake comes under shade from the mountains .
This gentlemen was all smiles after catching this lovely albino pacu.
This one is just a baby but nice to see the Blue Mahseer coming out .. Surely a new species for most anglers.
Another nice fish for our first Thai customer. He was very happy with this cool looking Ripsaw Catfish.
The tiger shovelnose have been on the feed now since mid April. This stunning fish caught by Brian was one of the largest caught .
This Arawana was a first for Brian making it another special fish for the trip.
Tobias from Denmark joined us for what can only be described as a red letter day. I knew right away he would do well as he was just such a nice person happy to catch whatever came his way. This kind of angler usually does well as they listen to the advice we give them and fish hard but relaxed . He started off with a nice Siamese and ended up with over 20 fish for the day.
Tobias soon followed up the first Siamese with another nice fish.
Time for a change of species and one of our most photogenic the Ripsaw Catfish.
A common catch at EFT is the Tiger Redtail Cross .At the end of the day you can soetimes feed these fish by hand as there may be as many as four scavenging around your swim eating up the scraps from the day ..
No red letter day would be complete without at least one Arapaima
Tambaqui are also a relatively easy fish to catch here at Exotic Fishing Thailand as they can be caught on just about every method. Ross has a few tricks up his sleeve to catch an early Tambaqui to get the customers first fish ,so ask him about them next time you visit.
I am happy to see the Piraiba numbers are still great with lots of multiple catches occurring most days. The fish are also piling on the weight and fight like there is no tomorrow even at their current size. Pound for pound probably one of our hardest fighting fish.
Late in the day and a nice Amazon Redtail to top up the fish list
One Arapaima in a day is a Good day but a second to finish the evening made it a Great day for Tobias :)
Steve Whent was very happy when his wife Saleha brought him to EFT as a birthday gift .. After a screw up on my part where I picked them up late from their Hotel I made it my mission to make sure they would have a day them would not soon forget . With me as their personal guide we decided to fish a Mekong Catfish method BUT with the intent on catching predators. The predators had been charging the lum balls on the feeder to eat the feeder fish feeding on the lum .This beautiful Yellow Cheeked Carp was the first to fall victim to this method.
Then it was Arapaima time with the first fish coming on the same set up..
The second Ari also fell for the lum ball. Maybe we are onto something here ...
Steve completed the hat trick of Arapaima with his 3rd fish coming on a fish bait on the predator rod
We tried some chicken late on and landed a few nice redtails to finish off a great day
So I redeemed myself for the late taxi pick up and Steve left happy giving EFT the thumbs up after an awesome days fishing.
Another great month for Yellow Cheeked Carp .. They can be seen continually smashing baitfish every time you throw in lum balls. ..
Johan Englund caught another new species with his first Yellow Cheek on his second visit to EFT
Another nice fish taken on a fish bait below a bubble float . We are always looking for more bubble floats so any anglers coming from the UK with space in their luggage please let us know and we can work soemthing out :)..
Another nice Yellow Cheek for this Russian angler who also landed 2 Arapaima before 5pm and then was so happy he left early :)
Vince and his best fishing buddy Joe joined us with Neil Robinson for just a day ticket . They landed over 20 fish using 4 rods from one swim including;- a huge Barramundi , a big Ripsaw , 3 Arapaimas and some very respectable Siamese carp. Here is Vince with his first fish an Alligator Gar
A chunky Albino Pacu for Vince .
The first Arapaima for the pair was caught by Vince .. This really got the banter going between the 2 .
The guys were fishing alternate runs so one angler would take one run and then the other angler the next .. I lost count how many runs they missed due to confusion over whose turn it was and then things got even more crazy when 2 rods would go at the same time :)... Even so they caught lots of fish including several Piraiba..
What an awesome photo of Joe with this prize Ripsaw ..
They were also busy with some very nice Siamese carp as you can see with this beauty for Joe..
Tambaqui also made their way onto the fish list a few times during the hectic day of fishing.
Our apologies for all those we missed in the catch report .. We have just changed our catch report sheets so we should have better contact info available to help with getting photos from people and also more details about how some fish were caught .
Also my apologies for another late catch report .. It is still early days here at EFT and I still have a full time job in Korea as well as managing the resort with the help of Ross and Boom and our staff . The catch report always ends up coming last with customer care and fish care at the top of the list ..We do endeavour though to show as many pics as possible and to highlight the different species caught . We see a lot of reports where venues state they have caught this and that yet show very few photos . Each to their own I guess , but as a good friend said recently "it's fish photos that put bums on seats and not sunsets and Sunday dinners".
We are not overly booked in the summer season and have some great special offers available for July, August and September so it is a great time to take advantage and enjoy the exotic catching Thailand has to offer here at EFT. You can also keep up to date on weekly catches by following our facebook page at ;-https://www.facebook.com/pages/Exotic-Fishing-Thailand/
