River fishing Giant freshwater Stingrays – 16 12 2012
Returning client Keiron from the UK with his wife Julia decided to begin their Thailand fishing holiday with a visit to the Maeklong River fishing for Giant freshwater stingrays.
As their Thailand stingray fishing holiday began they were transported down stream to a wide bend and were soon fishing for the Giant freshwater stingrays.
Fishing with large livebaits the angler waitied patiently for the Giant freshwater stingrays to become active with the rising of the incoming tidal waters.
With the tidal river almost at its highest point one of the heavy duty stingray fishing rods gave a slight tap, and then another before the spool of the multiplier started to slowly click.
Unsure whether the line had become fouled by underwater debris the stingray fishing guides carefully grasped the line between their fingertips feeling for any sign of a stingray.
Quickly passing the stingray fishing rod to Keiron he was instructed to wind down to set the large Onwer circle hook into the unseen stingray.
After widning down into the Giant freshwater stingray the rod arched over gently indicating the presence of a small Giant freshwater stingray several metres beneath the fishing boat.
The Giant freshwater stingray was duly winched up from the depths where it soon broke through the surface wildly thrashing its tail.
The stingrays tail was quickly made safe by the guides and the fish was carefully pulled into the boat to reveal a very small juvenile Giant freshwater stingray estimated to weigh 15kg’s.
After a few brief momets for photography the Stingray was released back into the Maeklong River.
With no further stingray action in the next hour or so and another tide due later in the afternoon Keiron and Julia retired back to the hotel for a few hours.
As the second tidal influx of the day began to push up the water levels Keiron was once again positioned in a wide section of the Maeklong River in readiness for more Giant freshwater stingray action.
This time he did not have too long to wait until he received a fast determined take on a bait fished in 18 metres of water.
This time the take was much more obvious with the riod tip being pulled towards the water and line being stripped from the multiplier.
On engaging the clutch the rod was bent over even further towards the water and battle commenced.
The Giant freshwater stingray on this occasion moved off with unstoppable force and saw the anchor being pulled up allowing the boat to be towed a few yards upstream.
Keiron raced to replace linbe onto the spool f the reel ast the fish continued to move upstream.
Suddenly everything went solid as the Giant freshwater stingray went to ground burying itself in the sandy substrate of the river.
The stingray fishing boat was soon positioned directly above the unseen stingray where Keiron began to pile on the pressure.Using a combination of the powerful stingray fishing rod and his own body weight the angler soon had the stingray moving again and proceeded to get the stingray into the middle layers of the tidal river.
With the stingray now languishing in the middle layers Keiron slowly brought the stingray up to the waiting net.
On being brought over the waiting net the stingray made one last vain attempt to escape but was expertly netted by the guides.
The Giant freshwater stingray was quickly transported to the riverside where it was quickly unhooked and photographed.
An estimated weight of 45kg’s was placed on the Giant freshwater stingray before it was released back into the Maeklong River.
With the tide beginning to subside and return to the Gulf of Thailand the days Thailand stingray fishing trip came to a close
