Fishing for Mekong Catfish in Thailand at Bungsamran Lake.

Fishing for Mekong Catfish in Thailand at Bungsamran Lake. - 30 12 2009

The final day of Mark from the UK’s fishing holiday saw the angler once again fishing from the shed at Bungsamran Lake.

For the first part of the day the UK angler fished for the Chaophraya catfish with fishballs fished at varying depths beneath a large floating bung.
With large Chaophraya Catfish regularily surfacing in the cntre of the lake the angler was confident of a take.

After several aborted takes the float finally buried into the water as a large Chaophraya Catfish powered off across the lake.

With line rapidly being removed from the spool of the reel the angler clamped down on the reel trying to stop the Chaophraya Catfish on its powerful run.
The Fish responded by changing direction and swimming directly at the angler causing him to frantically reel to regain contact with the catfish.

After fifteen minutes the Chaophraya Catfish began to tire and was brought to the nearby margins.
The large Chaophray Catfish was ecxpertly scooped up in the net by Nok and hoisted onto the unhooking mat.

The large Chaophraya Catfish was estimated to weigh 19-20kg’s and was proudly displayed for the cameras.

After releasing the Chaophraya Catfish the angler resumed fishing for Mekong Catfish and once again started to catch Striped and Mekong Catfish at regular intervals.

One hour later saw the UK fisherman once again bent into another monster fish which powered off up the lake in an unstoppable run.

A twenty minute battle ensued which saw the angler following the giant Mekong Catfish up and down the fishing platform in an effort to stop the fish entering the snags.

After expertly guiding the catfiush away from the danger area on several occasions the Mekong Catfish was finally netted and hoisted onto the unhooking mat.

The monster Mekong Catfish was estimated to weigh 50kg’s and was released after a few trophy shots.

At the end of his final day of fishing at Bungsamran Lake the angler had amassed another double figure haul of fish with the largest fish being a 50kg Mekong Catfish backed up by a specimen sized Chaophraya Catfish of over 20kg’s.

More of the monster fish that Mark caught on his fishing holiday to Thailand can be seen on his international angling blog at www.theanglingtimes.co.uk .