Striped Catfish
Posted on 2009-03-23
Brian hooks a mekong Monster
Brian's first day on Shadow Lake had been an eye opener for him having beat his PB's several times over. However Brian soon undertstood that the fishing is not always easy in Thailand! In the morning a common pattern of events unfolded, something we have noticed as we fish more and more anglers. The first day goes smoothly, but as anglers get confident in Thailand's fishing venues abilty to produce many takes the angler in turn starts to get a little over excited which results in lost fish for one reason or another. Brian's not on his own in this pattern of behaviour, we see it often, so it's not a question of bad angling, simply a question of trying to retain composure in the midst of fantastic sport! The first day most anglers are relaxed and a few banked fish only serves to build confidence, but then somehow the anticipation starts to get the better of us all, and the result is striking to fast (even before the bait runner is disengaged!) or not positively enough (to eager to get on with the battle before the hook is properly set!), the consequence? A lot of hook pull's and before we know it we are into a string of lost fish... to day was one of those days! Combine this with the fact that the fish were actually being rather fickle too, and the result was zero fish on the bank by early afternoon, with around 5 coming off the hook.
However at around 4pm Brian was about to undertstand fully what we was targeting at Shadow Lake when a fast take was struck by our guide Peter, who handed the rod to Brian, who then preceded to hold on for grim life as an 80kg plus Mekong stripped some 200mtrs of line off his spool against a clutch wound as tight as it would go!!
As is so often the case when things start out badly they often continue that way. The fish was now very close to swimming into the next section of the lake, so the guide took the rod to try and turn the fish, applying a severe amount of pressure saw the fish turn, but unfortunately just as it did, the hooked pulled! Lost fish number 6!
Brian went on to take a few consultaion Stripies and a few Mekongs, but today really had become a "One that got away" story
Brian hooks a mekong Monster
Brian's first day on Shadow Lake had been an eye opener for him having beat his PB's several times over. However Brian soon undertstood that the fishing is not always easy in Thailand! In the morning a common pattern of events unfolded, something we have noticed as we fish more and more anglers. The first day goes smoothly, but as anglers get confident in Thailand's fishing venues abilty to produce many takes the angler in turn starts to get a little over excited which results in lost fish for one reason or another. Brian's not on his own in this pattern of behaviour, we see it often, so it's not a question of bad angling, simply a question of trying to retain composure in the midst of fantastic sport! The first day most anglers are relaxed and a few banked fish only serves to build confidence, but then somehow the anticipation starts to get the better of us all, and the result is striking to fast (even before the bait runner is disengaged!) or not positively enough (to eager to get on with the battle before the hook is properly set!), the consequence? A lot of hook pull's and before we know it we are into a string of lost fish... to day was one of those days! Combine this with the fact that the fish were actually being rather fickle too, and the result was zero fish on the bank by early afternoon, with around 5 coming off the hook.
However at around 4pm Brian was about to undertstand fully what we was targeting at Shadow Lake when a fast take was struck by our guide Peter, who handed the rod to Brian, who then preceded to hold on for grim life as an 80kg plus Mekong stripped some 200mtrs of line off his spool against a clutch wound as tight as it would go!!As is so often the case when things start out badly they often continue that way. The fish was now very close to swimming into the next section of the lake, so the guide took the rod to try and turn the fish, applying a severe amount of pressure saw the fish turn, but unfortunately just as it did, the hooked pulled! Lost fish number 6!
Brian went on to take a few consultaion Stripies and a few Mekongs, but today really had become a "One that got away" story
