180kg Freshwater Stingray fishing Ban Pakong River Thailand – 26 01 2009
Another visit fishing at the Ban Pakong River saw the Fishsiam team once again fishing for Giant freshwater stingray.
The team was joined by Dr.Zeb Hogan and the Infocus production company to film the capture and release of Giant freshwater stingray.
Ian Welch from the Anglers Mail was also in attendance to assist in the fishing on the expedition as a guest.
The Ban Pakong River continued to be problematic with vast rafts of floating vegetation continually fouling the anglers lines.
Several aborted takes were received which saw the livebaits being retrieved only to find they had been decapitated by the extremely cagey Giant freshwater stingray.
The team moved to another part of the river and fishing the rods in the central reaches of the river.
A determined run on one of the rods saw the hook being set by one of the team before Ohm took charge of the rod and quickly slipped into the fighting harness.
After attaching himself to the reel Ohm proceeded to apply maximum pressure with the rod.
The 100lb class rod creaked with the strain as it was wrenched towards the surface of the river.
An epic one and a half hour battle commenced which saw the 40ft boat being clearly moved by the fish.
The battle was fought out in a small area with the fish characteristically clamping onto the bottom creating an unmovable weight.
Each time Ohm prized the fish from the bottom skillfully cranking the fish up into mid water and each time the fish would return to its muddy sanctuary on the riverbed.
After almost one and a half hours the angler finally succeeded in pulling the Monster Fish up from the depths.
With the fish some six metres from the bottom the fight was almost over.
The massive Giant freshwater stingray was soon brought to the surface where it was quickly secured and brought to the riverside.
All events throughout the battle were expertly filmed by Dean Johnson with Zeb Hogan making a quick scientific examination of the stingray.
The stingray which was observed to be a female was measured at a width of 1.85m and was estimated to weigh in the region of 180kg.
The freshwater stingray was released soon after back into the murky depths of the Ban Pakong River.
