Monster Mekong Catfish Bangkok – 18 02 2012
On the final day of their Thailand fishing holiday Atle and Emma from Svendson Sports in Norway ended their trip with a visit to Bungsamran Lake in Bangkok.
Fishing from a private bungalow the anglers cast out large balls of groundbait under sliding floats towards the many showing catfish in the centre of the lake.
After only a matter of minutes one of the floats burst into life as it scooted across the surface before burying itself under the water.
As line exited the spool of the reel at a rate of knots Atle wound into the first fish of the day.
Several minutes later after a highly spirited fight the Mekong Catfish was netted and hoisted up onto the mat.
The Mekong Catfish was estimated to weigh 20kg’s and was quickly released after photography.
Further casts to the centre of the lake were met with the same result with the float hardly having time to settle before another run developed.
After landing a succession of Mekong Catfish throughout the early part of the day both anglers had already had landed fish approaching 30kg’s and decided to change one rod over to carp tactics.
Fishing in the next bungalow to Rick, Atle and Emma enjoyed a hectic afternoon landing several more Striped Catfish on the carp rod.
At some point in the afternoon Rick hooked a monster Mekong Catfish which he played for almost thirty minutes. The large Mekong Catfish entered the snags under the nearby fishing platform on several occasions and each time was extracted and played away from the danger area.
After entering the snags for the fourth time the rod was handed over to Atle who continued to try to haul the Mekong Catfish from the submerged supports.
After removing the catfish from the snags one further occasion the Mekong Catfish finally surfaced within netting range where it was scooped up on the first attempt by the guide.
The monster Mekong Catfish was estimated to weigh 50kg+ and was proudly held aloft for photography by the lucky captors.
The days fishing at Catfish Bangkok, Bungsamran Lake finished with yet more Mekong Catfish and Striped Catfish being landed but no carp made an appearance.
