Hidden away from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok’s streets lies Bungsamran, the most unique and prolific fishing venue in Thailand.
Fishing in Thailand, I had an
ideal base in Bangkok to undertake a spot of fishing when I could fit it into our busy holiday schedule.
Our hotel was in the centre of Bangkok, overlooking the
Chao Praya
River. See www.siamfishingtours.com for lots of information on
fishing venues. Whilst many travellers avoid
staying in Bangkok area for long I found it an ideal location from
which to organise my
fishing
holiday in Thailand as we could reach a number of venues on
single day trips to places such as
Bungsamran,
and the well known
Predator
Lake
Lake Monsters .On an early morning start we could also reach
Palm
Tree Lagoon make sure you book in advance for this venue (and before you arrive
in Thailand or you’ll miss out). With a two minute walk to the
office of Siam Fishing Tours I was bound to capture a fishing trip
at some time. There are a variety of day trips available. If you wish to go out and fish in the
provinces then it has to be an all day trip but there were plenty of half day trips for ‘pot luck’ catch whatever comes along or trips targeting certain species depending on the time of year.
Bungsamran is always a good starting point. But if you really get
your teeth into a Thai Fishing Holiday you will want to try the
other venues mentioned and target
Arapaima,
Redtail Catfish,
Giant Siamese Carp,
Barramundi
and many other fish species.
With a quick walk along the street you can obtain flyers with contact numbers for the
Thailand fishing
tour operators. I was a bit less organised and simply turned up
at Bungsamran 5.30am and was lucky enough to find a
Thai Fishing
Guide who was free although I wouldn’t recommend this. Book in advance if at all possible
thru Siam Fishing Tours.
There were 5 of us fishing and once on the boarded lake the action was
pretty much non stop after lunchtime. We were each issued with a rod
but could have easily shared just one or two rods. This is the
approach that the tour companies recommend because the Mekong
Catfish is very tiring to catch. The one thing I’ve learnt is that
the fishing in Thailand appears to be quite easy to hook stuff not
so easy to land it!
It wasn’t long before we had all had half a dozen or so
Mekong Catfish each.
My first success fishing in Thailand was with the
Giant Freshwater Stingray on the
Maeklong River
that used its wingspan and strong tidal currents to put up a strong fight. Once it was on board I stayed my distance as it flapped away and I let the crew do the unhooking!
For more information on the
fishing
holidays available in Thailand go to the www.siamfishingtours.com
website and look at the fishing packages.