First Female angler to ever land a big Giant Freshwater Stingray – 14 02 2012
After spending the previous day Stingray fishing at the Ban Pakong River and failing to land any fish, Emma Backer and her fiancée Atle Hakonsen returned once again to the Ban Pakong River in search of Giant freshwater stingray.
Making an early start to coincide with the morning tide the angling couple soon had a series of baits positioned at various marks across the river.
With water conditions looking favourable it was not long before Emma was connected to an unseen river monster which had picked up a large catfish deadbait.
Winding down into the unseen Giant freshwater stingray saw the heavy duty stand up rod taking on a healthy curve as the female carp fishing ace battled to keep the Giant freshwater stingray away from the muddy substrate.
The Giant freshwater stingray moved slowly through the lower layers of the river requiring Emma to apply maximum pressure to keep the stingray from embedding itself in the muddy riverbed.
The battle raged on for almost twenty five minutes with the stingray obviously being larger than the angler herself.
As Emma continually piled on the pressure with the heavy stand up rod and Okuma Multiplier reel it slowly began to take its toll on the Giant freshwater stingray and it was finally brought up to the surface layers where it wildly whipped it tail.
The Giant freshwater stingray was quickly brought to the riverside where the barb on its tail was wrapped with a strong cloth.
The Giant Freshwater stingray was quickly identified as being a female and was estimated to weigh 60kg’s a fair bit more than the captor.
The stingray was released back into the Ban Pakong River after a few photographs allowing the angler time to regain her composure.
The anglers continued to fish for the Giant freshwater stingrays for the rest of the day but did not encounter any further river monsters.
