Thai Fishing

I love to go fishing. I have all the way since my dad gave me my first ABU fishing rod back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. It was the summer of 1976. Elvis and John Lennon was still among the living. My dad was driving a Renault 12TL, we had a black and white TV, and there was only one channel. My folks where on a waiting list to have a telephone installed. Mobile phones? That was something James Bond had, and I was not allowed to watch that anyway.

We played in the woods behind the estate. Climbed trees, fell down, got dirty, and once in a while our mothers would call us from the windows by yelling our names from the top of their lungs. This for a sandwich and lemonade. Then it was outside again, to play football on the gravel pitch, sneak into Mr. Olsens garden to pinch some strawberries, or go to war against the kids in the next estate. Battles where fought in those woods. But nobody got hurt, except from the odd scrubbed up knee, or the sting of a sling shot loaded with wire cramps. When we got to warm, we would ride our bicycles down to the beach, and swim in the 10-15 Celsius waters, or start a water fight with plastic bags filled with water from the nearest garden hose.

It was this summer, the last before I started school, that my dad took me fishing. And 30 years later I am still loving it. So when I headed for South Asia for work, I brought a couple of rods with me. The trouble is, there was not really many opportunities to go fishing where I am now. So when I had some leave coming up, I booked tickets to go to Phuket for a fishing trip.

I had arranged a trip with guides from Fishing-Khaolak.com to take me fishing for 3 days at Cheow Lan Lake, just north of Phuket Island. Cheow Lan is an artificial lake and one if the largest in Thailand. And I must say that the area is stunning. Me and my two guides, Jonas and Neil, where taken by long-tail boat for the two hour trip across the lake. And my camera got very busy catching the scenery.

We got installed in a floating bamboo hut, and Neil fixed some sandwiches that we swallowed down with a couple of beer Singha. Then out came the rods, and it was time to go catch some Giant and Striped Snakehead. But luck was not with us that afternoon, despite several strikes, non of us managed to land any fish.
The next morning I was woken by Jonas at 6am. A quick breakfast an into the boat for a day off fishing. But the fishing was kind of slow, despite being in a perfect area for snakehead. Dead trees, lots of water plants and shallow water.

So we moved to a channel, where a river empties itself into the lake. Here Neil got our first catch, a small cat fish. Our Thai boat captain suggested we move up into the river itself. And so we did. We went as far as the boat could go, and we where now in a narrow river with the jungle closing in on each side. We where pelted with fruit by monkeys, heard the trumpeting of wild elephants, and we where now getting out of the boat, to wade further up the river.

So sinking knee deep into the mud, we waded around a bend in the river where there was a pool. I was now armed with my ultra-light Beastmaster 165UL rod. And on the first cast, strike! It was a nice 1kg striped Snakehead. The fight was intense but short. The fish jumped like the trout at home, and the light fishing rod was allive in my hands. Pure fun!

Jonas then got a 1.5 kg Hampala Barb, and Jonas also got lucky. I cought a few Barbs myself on the ultra light. But we where getting sore feet from the sharp stones under the 30-40 cm cover of mud on the river bottom. So we headed back to the boat.

I caught a smallish Giant Snakehead in the channel. And that was it for the day. We had spent 12 hours on the lake fishing. So back to our floating home. The fish we had not released where prepared for supper. And Snakehead prepared the Thai way, is pretty good after a 12 hour day on a lake. The evening where passed listening to the sounds of the jungle, drinking a few beers and trading war stories from fishing trips around the world.

The next days fishing was more or less like the day before. We saw a swimming wild pig cross from one island to another, barking deer, heard more elephants and a King Cobra was swimming past the boat, while I was busy reeling in another Hampala Barb. Then the adventure was over a fantastic trip.

Thank you dad for that fishing rodFishing Khaolak