Giant freshwater Stingray fishing at the Ban Pakong River near Bangkok.

Giant freshwater Stingray fishing at the Ban Pakong River near Bangkok. - 12 09 2009

After several months of un-fishable river conditions caused by heavy rains in the North West of the country the Fishsiam team once again returned to the Ban Pakong River.
On their arrival at the riverside the anglers surveyed the river and found it to be in perfect condition for stingray fishing.

After securely anchoring the boat on a wide bend the angler’s rowed baits out to various points of a wide section of the tidal river.
Large catfish baits procured from the local market were soon dispatched to the riverbed mounted onto 9/0 Owner SSG Circle hooks.

The anglers sat back and patiently waited for the incoming tide to reach its highest point in anticipation of the arrival of the Giant freshwater stingrays.
A knocking on one of the rod tips soon alerted the anglers of a disturbance down below but a run unfortunately failed to develop.
On retrieving the baited hook the anglers were greeted by nothing more than the catfish baits head still impaled on the hook with the body of the bait having been completely stripped from the hook.


After rebaiting the hook the anglers quickly repositioned the bait in the same area that had seen the bait stripped from the hook.

A further thirty minutes passed before a violent take began to rip line from the multiplier reel at high rate of speed.
Quickly engaging the clutch on the reel saw the 80lb class stand up rod dragged powerfully towards the waters surface.

An epic two hour battle began which saw the unseen Giant Freshwater stingray dragging the boat a considerable distance upstream.
After repositioning the boat above the unseen stingray the anglers continued to pile on the pressure cranking up the clutch on the reel.
The rod began to bend into an aggressive curve as the fish embedded itself deep into the muddy substrate.

Throughout the dogged two hour battle the stingray continually clamped onto the bottom creating an almost unmovable dead weight.
Each time the anglers piled on the pressure eventually moving the fish from the muddy riverbed causing the stingray to embark on another powerful run.

With the fight nearing almost two hours in duration and the fish being brought up to just under the surface revealing a monster stingray, the anglers applied as much pressure as humanly possible to prevent the stingray from diving back down into the depths.

Several more violent lunges followed as the freshwater stingray was pulled inch by inch towards the boat.
With the monster stingray laying motionless a few inches from the boat the anglers quickly scooped up the creature’s deadly tail causing the fish to thrash wildly on the surface.
With the assistance of two other anglers on the boat the fish was firmly secured alongside the boat before being slowly transported to the riverside.

On inspection the fish was observed to be a large female which was quickly measured at a width of 1.70m’s.
The stingray was quickly photographed before being promptly returned to the river after being allowed a few minutes to recover from the epic battle in shallow water at the riverside.