Fishing for predators in Ratchaburi – 03 09 2009
German anglers Peter and Mark visited the prolific IT Lake Monsters in Ratchaburi.
The anglers decided to fish with lures for the early part of the day and adopted a mobile approach fishing at different parts of the lake.
Casting a variety of lures including Cultiva and Rapala’s the anglers fished well capturing a few decent sized Redtail Catfish.
With other anglers present at the lake the fishing was relatively slow and saw the anglers working very hard to put fish onto the bank.
Continued casting of their artificial lures still continued to produce fish at regular intervals with Asian redtail catfish and Pacu also making an appearance.
A change over to deadbaits later in the afternoon resulted in a change in pace of the action with some good Redtail Catfish to an estimated 30kg’s being banked.
With a decent sized Arapaima regularily surfacing in a quiet corner of the lake the anglers patiently waited for the fish to move further out into the lake.
On seeing the fish moving further out into the lake the anglers silently flicked mackerel deadbaits a mere two metres from the bank.
Several minutes passed before the Amazonian predator returned to the baited area regularily surfacing to gulp air.
The anglers waited with baited breath as the fish proceeded to roll over the baited hooks on two or three nail biting occasions.
Without warning a violent take saw line being ripped from the spool of the reel as the fish charged towards open water!
Quickly closing the bail arm and firmly setting the hook saw the fish immediately become airborne as it aggressively attempted to free itself from the hook.
A dogged ten minute battle followed which saw the Arapaima embarking on a series of powerful runs towards the centre of the lake.
Constant pressure soon saw the fish tiring and the fish was soon beaten after another couple of aerial displays.
With the fish thrashing wildly in the net it was carefully placed in a nearby unhooking cradle to recuperate after the fight.
The Arapaima was estimated to weigh 45kg’s and was released shortly after photography.
The anglers continued to fish throughout the afternoon and into evening catching a few more fish each.
On a particularly hard days angling, the anglers succeeded in landing a jointly caught double figure capture with some good Redtail Catfish to an estimated 30kg’s topped by a beautiful Arapaima of an estimated 45kg’s.
