29 December 2014
The last time I actually did pond fishing was when I was a teenager. In those days, I would spend an entire day at a mud pond in Singapore hoping to catch the elusive grass carp. On a good day, our family may catch one or two fish. So, I jumped at the chance to do some pond fishing during my year end trip to Chiangmai, especially when I read the reviews for Bo Sang Fishing Park with its well stocked lake full of giant Mekong catfish. Further research led me to Mr Suvit who runs a Big Game Fishing Adventure Tour business and is an expert guide when it comes to catching the big ones.
I booked the afternoon half day tour with Mr Suvit as I read that the big catfish are more active in the afternoon when the water is warmer.
We were picked up from our hotel promptly by Mr Suvit’s staff named Ef at 1 PM and about half a hour later, we were at the Bo Sang Fishing Lake where we met another of Mr Suvit’s staff named Mio. I later found our that Mr Suvit was leading another tour to do lure fishing for the Giant Snake Head at a water reservoir. So we were in the good hands of Ef and Mio who I later found out were his sons-in-law. Mr Suvit runs a family business that provided fishing services only.
It had been a long time since I fished using a rod and tackle and for Sam, it was his first time. Mio was a jovial and patient instructor who taught us how to do casting and operate the reel. After a few practices, Sam and I were deemed ready and operational.
Bait and tackle were all provided. The fishing technique for the Mekong Catfish was quite different from I was used to, as a teenager. Here, each rod has only a single hook (approximately 2 cm across), with a small piece of sliced bread as the bait on the hook. In addition, a small plastic cage with a small lead weight was tied about 20 cm above the hook. Ground bait consisting of secret ingredients that Mio told me was “something sweet” was pressed around the small cage with the baited hook to form an egg size ball. We had to cast our bait with just the right swing of the rod so that the whole “egg” lands in the water, as far away as possible, and in one piece.
The guides Ef and Mio helped to put the bait on the hooks and provided helpful instructions at each step for the casting and fishing. After casting, we were told to reel in a little to tighten the line and loosen the drag on the reel. Then put the rod down and wait.
Mio says “Pond fishing is known as the waiting game” with a smile.
“Remember to loosen your drag on the reel” was the constant reminder after each cast. Failure to loosen the drag may mean a swim in the lake to retrieve the rod when a big fish takes the bait and yank at the line. A loosen drag allows the fish to pull out the line from the reel without pulling the rod into the water. This gave us time to dash to the rod.
We need not wait too long before there was a yell of “fish on!” while Sam dashed to his rod.
“Tighten the drag 2 turns and swing to set the hook on the fish” was the reminder as Sam hooked the first fish of the day. This was his first attempt at pond fishing and Mio provided useful tips along the way. A gimbal belt was tied round the waist to provide support for the rod as the fight goes on.
Once the fish is hooked, a hard battle was started as the fish at the end of the line was quite strong. Sound of the line being pulled out by the fish on hooked could be heard. If the drag on the reel is too tight, the line may break due to the high tension. If it was too loose, it would be easy for the fish to pull out more line from the reel, making the battle longer.
The first fish took about 10 minutes before it was finally netted and landed. Ef helped to haul up the fish on the young man’s lap for a photo.
After snapping photos with the prized catch, the big fish was released back into the water. It must have experienced that many times during its life in the pond.
There was another of Mr Suvit’s customer fishing with us on this day. He was a young man from Denmark and had signed up for the whole day fishing. He told us he had caught about 10 fish since the morning, largest being about 28 to 30 kg. He was aiming to get a larger fish this afternoon. There was a big group in the morning, hence we had the services of two guides instead of one. Soon enough, our Danish friend got a bigger fish.
I did not have to wait too long to have a fish on hook but it was relatively small (about 20 kg). For the smaller catch we did not bother to take it out for photos. Just unhook and set it free.
“Fish on!” came pretty quick after each cast and we did not have much time to do the “waiting game”.
I caught about 4 smaller fish before a big one finally came to my rod. Now, it was my turn to sweat as I battled the big fish.
There were moments where all three fisherman had fish on our rods.
Towards the later part of the afternoon, Ef attached a float to the line on one of the rod. I guess this is to set the bait and hook higher up in the water with the aim of catching the bigger fish. It’s all down to trial and error and experience to be successful in catching the largest fish. Some can be as big as 40 to 45 kg in the lake.
Pretty soon I lost count of the number of fishes caught between Sam and I. All in all, it was a great day of fishing. Each of us caught at least 2 big fish weighing above 30 to 35 kg, plus countless of smaller ones. Would need a massage in the evening to soothe the aching arms!
The two guides were extremely helpful, patient and made sure everything went well for us. Besides teaching us the basics in catfish fishing, they helped us to bait the hooks, untangle the lines when needed, haul the fish out onto our arms for the photo shoots, unhook and release the fishes and help take nice photos of our catch. In addition, Mio was quite fun to talk to and we had nice chats regarding fishing in Bangkok versus fishing in Chiangmai (Tip: fish in Chiangmai!), the family business, weather for fishing etc.
The next time I visit Chiangmai, I will call upon Mr Suvit and his family again for more fishing.
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