Fishing Mekong Catfish at Bungsamran Lake – 18 05 2009
Tino an angler from Finland made his first visit to Bungsamran Lake in Bangkok.
Joined by a friend the angler opted to fish from the public bank with sliding bung setups for the hordes of Mekong Catfish that regularily surfaced out in the centre of the lake.
After loading their inline feeders with local groundbait the anglers cast out towards the centre of the lake.
As the balls of groundbait hit the surface the floats quickly bobbed up to the surface in a sea of ripples.
Immediately one of the floats disappeared as a Mekong Catfish engulfed the ball of groundbait.
Tino quickly wound into the fish causing the rod to loop over into its full fighting curve.
A ten minute battle ensued which saw the angler skillfully playing the fish as it made powerful runs towards the other side of the lake.
After a few fraught moments during netting the Mekong Catfish was finally hoisted onto the unhooking mat.
The fish was estimated to weigh 25kg’s and was released shortly after photography.
It was not long before Tino’s angling companion was into another catfish which once again proceeded to tear off towards the centre of the lake.
Another fifteen minute battle followed before a Mekong Catfish of an estimated 17kg’s was brought over the waiting net.
The days fishing progressed well and saw both anglers landing a succession of Striped and Mekong Catfish.
On several occasions fish took baits almost simultaneously requiring both anglers to battle Mekong Catfish at the same time.
At the end of their days fishing at Bungsamran Lake the anglers had amassed a twenty three fish capture comprising of Mekong Catfish to an estimated 25kg’s and Striped Catfish to an estimated 10kg’s.
