Freshwater Stingray fishing Maeklong River – 02 09 2009
Another visit to the Maeklong River at Samut Songkran saw German specimen hunter Peter Lipah and his friend Mark fishing the infamous Area 51 stretch of the tidal river.
After fishing the previous day without success the anglers positioned baits at various intervals across the river.
It was not long before the anglers received a finicky bite which soon developed into a steady take.
On winding down into the fish the rod was slowly pulled towards the surface causing the fish to respond by clamping onto the muddy bottom.
Steady pressure applied directly from above soon had the fish moving again causing the anglers to wind down hard into the fish.
After a few moments it became apparent that the stingray was not of a large size with the angler bringing the fish into the middle layers after a few short minutes.
Soon after the first fish of the day was brought alongside the boat and netted on the first attempt.
The small female Giant freshwater stingray was estimated to weigh 20kg’s and was quickly transported to the riverside where a thorough scientific examination was made by veterinary scientists from Chulalongkorn University.
Not wishing to waste valuable fishing time the anglers quickly returned to the productive area and soon had six rods positioned a various intervals.
Thirty minutes later saw another fast take indicating the presence of yet another Giant Freshwater stingray.
In almost a carbon copy of the previous capture the small freshwater stingray was rapidly winched up towards the surface before being skillfully netted by the team.
The stingray which was identified as another female, on this occasion was estimated to weigh 25kg’s and was once again delivered to the waiting scientific team.
After once again repositioning the rods the anglers waited patiently for another take for a further two hours before a blistering run signaled the beginning of another epic battle.
With the fish clearly being a much larger specimen the anglers valiantly battled the monster stingray for almost thirty minutes.
Several occasions during the battle saw the stingray clamping onto the bottom and creating an unmovable dead weight!
After moving the fish already on various occasions the fish was finally extracted from its underwater lair and fought out in the middle layers.
The large Giant freshwater stingray was netted several minutes later on the second attempt and carefully transported to the riverside.
On arrival at the riverside the fish was identified as being a large female and on inspection found to be a stingray previously captured by the team.
The stingray was estimated to weigh 175kg’s and was recorded as having a width of 1.8m’s.
After a thorough scientific examination and photography the fish was released back into the river.
