THE LAKE IS FINALLY FULL

Great news !!!! Exotic Fishing Thailand's lake is finally full :).

I am very happy to see that our filters and drainage/overflow system are working as designed. The lake is not dropping , even though we have had hot sunny weather for the last 3 days . I figured we would lose around 1cm per day through evaporation alone , but with the water table being so high right now and the numerous springs the lake hasn't dropped 1mm..

We are now busy with the massive task of landscaping .

We had our first 5 big trucks of fruit trees , flowering trees,and exotic shrubs and plants arrive today . The place looked like a nursery/ garden center by the time we had unloaded everything.

We have ordered 100's of trees and bushes , over 20,000 plants and 10000 sqm of grass and that's just for round the lake .

I am so excited as each day my vision of what the finished product will look like is slowly becoming a reality .

July will be super busy with more landscaping and finishing, and of course we will be starting to add our many Exotic fish species :).. Loads of pics coming ...

EXOTIC FISHING THAILAND FISHING FACTS AND PRICE LIST

EXOTIC FISHING THAILAND FACTS SHEET

-1- EXOTIC SPECIES ; We have over 50 interesting species some of which are not readily available at other resorts . These include;- Jau catfish , Vundu Catfish , Piraiba , Goonch , Chinese Black Carp and many others.

We are working on our fish list and will post it soon. We also have a special stocking program to ensure that our fishing only gets better and more interesting.

-2- ARAPAIMA; We have one of the highest stocking rates for Arapaima over 50 Kg in Thailand.

-3- BIG FISH; We have Arapaima over 300lbs, Wallagoo Lieri over 100lbs, Alligator Gar over 90lbs , Siamese carp to 60lbs and Mekong Catfish over 210lbs.

-4- A QUIET AND PEACEFUL FISHING SETTING ; Due to the fact that we only allow 12 swims to be fished on the lake at one time . Our lake is over 25rai and one of the biggest fisheries in southern Thailand .This has allowed us to leave generous space between our swims and position them so you feel like you are almost alone on the lake .

-5- FARE PRICING; We have very reasonable rates compared to fishing venues of a similar level throughout Thailand. Check out our price list especially our “Family Special”.

-6- EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE; . Our friendly lakeside service team is available around the lake to take your food and drink orders and supply cold towels and ice etc as required. If you don’t wish to be disturbed simply flip the do not disturb sign on your swim entrance.

-7- DEDICATED GUIDES;- Our guides are assigned to 4 swims maximum so that each angler has the necessary assistance they require and to ensure our fish are not mistreated in any way. There will also be an extra person available for assisting in the landing Arapaima so that your guides are always available if you need them.

-8- RULES;- YES just like any other fishery we have rules. There will be a special upcoming post to cover rules and regulations.

EXOTIC FISHING THAILAND PRICE LIST

We are happy to provide our standard pricing for fishing at Exotic Fishing Thailand Resort as follows:-

One full days fishing with one Carp rod and one Predator rod is 5500 baht per day [ fishing from 8am to 7pm ].

One ½ days fishing [same tackle as full day] is available at 4000 baht from 8am to 12;30pm OR 4500 baht from 1pm to 7pm .

We also provide [for both packages] the following items;-

- BAITS ;- 2kg of fish baits and 1 bucket of pellet [other EFT carp baits can be used in place of or in addition to pellet depending on your preference.]

- OTHER ITEMS ;- Rod pods , bite alarms, terminal tackle ,coolers , ice , use of lakeside sala/shelter AND access to our EFT Mountain Fish Park [entry 500 baht ] are all included in the price .Our guides and service staff are happy to assist at no extra cost . Tipping is at your discretion.

In honor of my Father who passed away during the building of Exotic Fishing Thailand we will offer our “ Family special” with the emphasis being on taking your children fishing.

For one parent and child/children fishing from the same swim the cost for one full days fishing is only 7000 baht .This includes 2 carp rods , 2 fish bait rods and the same baits as a normal fishing package but with 4 kg of fish baits instead of 2kg.

We would of course offer one of our larger swims with oversized salas and lots of room for 2 rod pods.. I am sure without our dads taking us fishing for the first time , a lot of us wouldn’t be enjoying fishing today..

Please NOTE!!! This offer is for families where the child or children are actually fishing not for enthusiastic dads to fish with 4 rods at a discount price .

Additional Bait costs are as follows ;-

Fish baits ; 60 baht/1Kg. Pellets; 150 baht/1Kg .. Maize 30 baht per Kg .. Laam/ground bait 250 baht per bowl ..

3rd rod/Carp 1000 baht per day

3rd rod Predator/Fish bait 2000 baht per day.

There is a 3 rod maximum per person and no rod sharing allowed .

- Accommodation can be arranged at a maximum of 1200 baht per single room per night [depending on season and availability] at our partner hotels just 10 minutes from the lake . This price includes transport to and from your hotel .

We can offer discounts on our full day pricing for large groups and extended stays ,depending on availability..

Why not rent the whole lake for a special event ?? We can provide custom pricing depending on the event.

We can be reached by email at Exoticfishingthailand@gmail.com or by phone at +66883799377

ALMOST FULL :):)

Just a quick update .

All 18 concrete swims are finished and both big pumps are filling up the lake 24 hours a day .. It's also raining cats and dogs . We should be full by next Monday at the latest...

We also added 600 kg of Pla Nin today to help get the feeder fish for our many Monster fish established . More pics coming soon .

THE LAKE IS FULL SOON !! ADDING FISH IN JUNE :)

The lake is as full as we can go right now until the concrete swims are finished . 6 out of 18 swims are already poured . I think we will have the lake full in 2 more weeks if the weather cooperates ..

The water quality is coming along nicely and we have already added some feeder fish , shrimp etc .

We will add some small quantities of our larger fish once the lake is full and there in no chance of run off into the lake . Once we see that these fish are ok we will continue adding more of our awesome inventory.

Get ready loads of fish photos and videos are coming :)

MORE RAIN AND SOME PROGRESS ON SWIMS

We may have to stop filling the lake soon if we keep filling at this rate . The swims/fishing positions are our biggest priority right now.

If I was to guess what the 2 Thai workers are saying to each other it would probably be ;- "WOW i didnt use that much concrete in my house . Is this guy nuts???"

They would probably be right as I definitely over engineered the first swim we built .. We have since redesigned the swims .The swims are easily big enough for 2 people to fish next to each other if they like. Ideal for father and son .

It was a long day but we finally got to pour concrete just before dark..It was a little tense at times pouring as the form creaked and cracked but it held together to everyone's relief.

LET IT RAIN ;)

We are getting some rain every few days .Between the rain and the new pumps we are more than half full already . I cant believe the lake has filled up by 40 million liters so quickly.

We have made one more trip round the lake adjusting the first level to make sure all swims will be the right distance from the top bank/water level .This is important so that the customer can stand safely while having their photo taken with their monster catch ..

My lovely wife Boom was jumping for joy to see the lake filling up. Boom does so much work behind the scenes in helping me communicate with the workers , suppliers and Government officials. She is such a great help.

We are both so excited to finish the lake and open for business. This is an exciting step in our lives and we cant wait to share what we have greated here at Exotic Fishing with our future customers .

FIRST CONTEST.

CORRECTLY Name ALL 4 fish in the photos below and win FREE FISHING with one fish bait rod on your next visit to Exotic Fishing Thailand .

2 of the 4 fish have been named before in our prior blog posts so it should be fairly easy BUT i suggest a little careful research as you only get one entry ..

There will be 5 lucky winners.

CONTEST DETAILS;-

Contest Starts May 7th Thai Time ...

The FIRST 5 people to CORRECTLY name ALL 4 fish will win.

The answers and winners will also be revealed June 1st ONLY here on our blog .

The prize is not transferable [ only the winner can redeem the prize].

Only 1 entry per person.

The " PRIZE" is an ADDITIONAL FISHING WITH BAITFISH ROD to your paid day ticket price of one carp and one bait fish rod . YES That means your 3rd rod [ bait fish rod or if you prefer Carp rod ] is FREE..

The value of the free bait fish rod is 2000 baht per day and can be used for consecutive fishing days up to a maximum of 10 days, TOTAL Value 20,000 baht..

Please use both the English common name and Thai name for the fish .

FISH #1

FISH #2

FISH #3

FISH #4

Congratulations to Adam Cook who was the only person to identify all 4 fish correctly . Andy Cartwright also identified all 4 fish correctly BUT added that the Yellow Cheek carp is AKA the Chinese Seerfish which is unfortunately incorrect ..We will have another contest before we open so stay tuned for another chance at more prizes.

FOR MONSTER FISH ..........JUST ADD WATER

The big pumps i bought in Bangkok just showed up and we are wiring them up ready for the next rain .

The 10HP electric motors should do the trick.

The rain has really helped and we have over 1m of water in the lake already

This photo shows the length of the lake almost 250 meters..

We will be working on building the fishing positions for the next few weeks . Each of the 20 stepped concrete swims are designed in positions to provide the best fishing opportunities.

Even with lots of room for the 20 swims we will only book 12 swims at a time maximum as to not over pressure the lake . We want all our customers to catch and have lots of room to play their fish..

The unique shape of the lake gives it 6 "corner" swims as these always seem to produce well . All swims are positioned so that there should be no areas where a charging Mekong or freight train Arapaima can wrap you around a bank or corner..

BRING ON THE RAIN :)

We finally had some rain today . It was a long time coming!! But arrived just as we had finished the bottom preparation . I had dug some extra holding ponds last week and widened the river next to the main lake. I was very happy that it paid off with everything filling up overnight. It will be a big job to fill the main lake but we have started and are pumping 24 hours a day and also have the help of some natural springs. We have a large pump on its way from Bangkok so that will be a great help when it gets here ..

I know everyone will want to know where the deeper spots are etc when they come to fish .. KEEP THIS PHOTO AS IT SHOWS YOU !!!!! the far end in the photo and the left side in front of where the bungalows will be are both a good meter deeper than the rest of the lake..

NO APRIL SHOWERS TO FILL OUR LAKE YET BUT MORE MONSTER FISH

Late last week we were just turning the corner to finish the final stretch of bank.It seemed like we would never finish.

With hot sunny weather and 80 trucks a day taking away dirt through yet another weekend we are happy to say we will finish rolling the final stretch of bank by Friday latest . Then we pray for rain :) . After treating the banks we will need 90,000,000 liters to fill the lake ..We are currently sourcing some huge pumps so we can pump as much water as possible during the rainy season while the adjacent river is full.

My friend Ross was visiting from Canada and was eager to get a pic with a big Arapaima we have just had delivered . This fish is 2.1 meters and around 130kg. It is from a recent netting we did in Suphan Buri north of Bangkok . We netted another 14 fish which will be delivered once the lake is ready .The 4 days of netting was quite an experience . I will have a separate post for the netting with some great video of the boys netting the Arapaimas

I have been trying to locate some Salween Rita Catfish for some time . I finally got my hands on this 10kg beauty . These fish are quite rare.The name Salween Rita comes from the fact that they are almost exclusively caught in the Salween river near Myanmar. We are currently growing over 100 of these fish so our customers will have a good chance to catch this special fish in the near future .

Although not a rare fish in some areas of the world we were happy to locate some Channel Catfish here in Thailand which can reach up to 50lbs

I had mentioned we had a big Wallagoo Lieri coming and here it is . This fish weighs 51kg and is definitely a potential world record when one of our future customers catches him. Yes i know . He is not the only fat one in the photo :).

The same fat guy checking the levels of the banks to make sure they are exactly the same heights.

A BUSY MARCH WITH LOTS OF NEW FISH

When one of our fish delivery specialists arrived with 5 trucks we knew we were in for some good fish ...

What a beast !!!! This Wallagoo Lieri weighed 32kg . I would say a nice potential world record BUT we have a bigger fish coming soon .

A 1.7 meter Arapaima. a nice fish for growing

Our Quality control specialists were on site as usual to make sure all fish were healthy.. Boom was keeping an eye on the fish count BUT Baby Michelle really didnt have much to say:)

Another nice Wallagoo Lieri of 18Kg

A 2 meter Arapaima . Already a decent fish but we are feeding him heavily like all our fish .

We have our first shipment of Barramundi. These fish were all around the same size 8 to 9 Kg

A nice Spotted Feather back of 7Kg

Another decent sized Goonch.

A Golden Belly Barb of 3.5Kg . A potential world record for those interested. The current record is 1.4 Kg.

Our biggest Arapaima so far . This fish is 2.2 meters and weighs around 130 to 140Kg

More new Fish and a Tackle update :)

I am always on the lookout for new fish and have many contacts searching throughout Thailand.

I got a call last week and bought some good sized Dorados and some more starting sized Piraiba.

Although a common fish in Thailand we could not have a fishery without Thai Redtails. They really give a strong doggish fight for their size. We received a large shipment of fish last week up to 15 kg..Not monsters, but a good growing size.We also received our first Rohu shipment..

Baby Michelle was as excited as i was when I found some old style Shimano Longcast reels on a recent business trip to Europe. They are a great reel for handling some of our monster fish .

LAKE PROGRESS

We have reached final depth in some areas and are starting to finish the bottom contours .

The clay banks are being built up and compacted before we install our lake liner.

The rains we had last week have slowed us down a little as the trucks were not able to get in and out efficiently .With the sunny days ahead we should be back on plan by the first of February .

More Mekongs

We have had a busy January with another 15 Mekong Catfish arriving for our offsite stock ponds .

Even these smaller fish are tough customers and not easy to handle .

One smack from their tail and someone would be in for a major headache.

Most of the fish were around 50kg.