The Sessions - February 2018

Second half of my trip to Thailand

Palm Tree Lagoon, Thailand

I finished last month’s piece with a funny sorry of a lost fish after playing it for 2 hours and 6 minutes, looking back it still makes me chuckle thinking about it, but if it was a huge English Barbel of awesome proportions I would have been devastated. The aerator issue was causing us concern as we were all experiencing blank days but we could do nothing other than try our best and enjoy the holiday.

The next day Julie and I were on the hut swim which was where we started on day 1, so we’d fished every swim and had blanked in two. The day was quite slow but we always find plenty to chat about and it was lovely sitting in the sun watching the water as there were fish rolling constantly, it’s quite amazing you don’t get more takes. I had a small Asian Red Tail and a Roho / Black Carp cross but the highlight of the day came to my rods in the evening. A rod baited with bread and a ball of Lam melted away and I played what we all thought would be an average Big-Y Catfish but when it rolled I was desperate it didn’t come off. It went into the net and I have to say I was rather pleased; it was an Albino Catfish Shark that looked stunning when held up for the camera.

The next day was frustrating; I had one Big-Y and then had a take on a lump of chicken that when I set the hook tore of up the lake and was clearly a good fish, even now I’m convinced it was a big Arapaima. The problem was it had got round the aerator and was moving at pace, I managed to flick the line up onto the uprights and then got it over the first but couldn’t get it over the second. Cop jumped in and climbed up onto the aerator but instead of just lifting the line over he tried to go under and let the line go slack, I told him to go over but quite obviously when I tightened up again the barbless hook had become dislodged and pulled, although only a holiday fishing trip I was a little gutted at that one. Some of the guides showed a lot of inexperience through the holiday and that wasn’t one of Cop’s best days!! Below is a picture on the aerator, the cause of many problems on that trip.

The following day Julie and I had a day away from the lake and went on a road trip, we had a plan and hired a taxi for the day that cost approx. £70. Julie loves her trekking and found a place called Kao Cho Waterfall in Suan Phueng, this was two hour drive but worth every minute. It was a nine tier waterfall that took two and half hours to climb, it was quite stunning and very different to our countryside as most of the vegetation was bamboo. It was popular with Thai people but we were the only white people there and the further we went up the less people we saw, as we got near the top we could hear monkeys and the many different butterflies were beautiful.

We then had a two hour plus drive to monks temple that’s in a cave in the side of a mountain, followed by a walk amongst the many monkeys that live there.

We then drove to another cave called Khao Bin Cave, a must visit if you stay in Ratchaburi. It’s quite deep underground and the rock formations are stunning and pictures do not do them justice, we will certainly go back if we return to the area.

The following day we were back on the lake and it turned out to be a better day. My first take was on a float fished dead bait and it was a species I wanted to catch, a Wallagoo Attu and put up a great fight for its size.

I had another small Asian Red Tail on a dead bait and Rob and Dave were getting the same kind of action with many different species being caught. My next bite was on float fished bread and the fight was incredible, you would never believe how quickly the fish could move and it would not give up, time and again I got it to the net and it flew off again, eventually it went in the net and was lovely looking fish with a very course prickly body called an Elephant Ear Gourami.

Julie had the next take and did really well again playing the fish in with no problems, this was an African Catfish.

It went a bit quiet in the afternoon but we were all full of anticipation for the evening. I had baited up the corner swim at the bottom of the shelf with a few pieces of fish and placed a dead bait there hoping for a Chao Phraya, a fish that was top of my list when we came out to Palm Tree. With ten minutes to go before finishing time the dead bait was picked up, I struck and it took off at pace like so many of the species there, Benny shouted Chao Phraya and she was right when my target fish dropped in the net. It was far from the biggest in the lake but I was very happy with this one.

The next day it went quiet again, looking back this was clearly due to the aerator issue which was a shame as we could have caught so much more. I only had the one bite, this was another marathon tug of war with a large Mekong but it ended well.

We had another day out the following day and we both felt it was one of the best days of the trip. We hired another taxi and went to the River Kwai bridge, the war cemetery and bothmuseums. If you ever go to Thailand you must visit this place, we spent hours in the museum and read every piece of text, it was a very harrowing, moving experience and you can’t comprehend how people could treat others in such a way. The Thai people treat this place so well and are so respectful it’s fantastic, the cemetery grounds are beautifully maintained as is the bridge and museums, another place I would defiantly go back to.

We walked across the bridge and it remains with all the original sleepers and brick work, we took loads of pics but it was so busy it was hard to get good ones. Some of the Thai people wanted pictures with us which was amusing, they were so friendly and thought it was great to see a white person, lessons there for us all.

To finish an amazing day we went to another national park called Erawan Waterfall, this was another stunning place to see. It was a seven tier climb but unfortunately we could only go up to the forth tier as it was due to close so we dropped back to the third and went for a swim in the pool below a waterfall. The pool was full of Thai Mahseer that were up to 14 inches long, they were lovely to see but you couldn’t stand still as they nibbled your feet enough to keep you moving.

I noticed a group of people looking at something near a large plant and went over to look only to see a huge spider web that must have been ten feet high with a BIG spider in the middle of it. I took some pics from the front and back and it was easily bigger than my hand. Me being me wanted to see it move so I started to poke the web with my finger, everybody gasped and moved back leaving the stupid English man poking the spiders web, I had to chuckle but who knows whether it was venomous or not.

The next day was slow again but I had another big Mekong that left its mark on Julie as we were releasing it. We’d got some great photos and as I went to ease it back into the water it kicked with its tail giving Julie a right old slap across the chest, obviously Dave and I were laughing and although it hurt her she did see the funny side.

Our last day on the lake really evidenced the aerator problems, it was hot and the water was clearly de-oxygenated as there were Julien’s Prize Carp in all the margins clearly stressed and gasping. I caught four more Big-Y and Ashley had two big Mekong but it was tainted by the aerator issue. They finally got all three working late in the afternoon and they were like a magnet for the Carp, there were rows of them fighting to get into the oxygenated water. If we doubted it before it became clear that afternoon how much of an impact the aerators had on the fishing. Although we all caught good fish, we all experienced a few blank and difficult days so it makes me wonder what we could have caught if all was well.

I finally forgave the Rottie after ignoring him since he bit me in the first week, he had sat with me nearly every day trying to make up and by the last day I caved in, who knows what was up with him at the time but he couldn’t stop licking and nuzzling up since.

To finish our holiday we had two days and crazy nights in Bangkok, I took Julie to Soi Cowboy and we danced and drank the night away with the locals, it was brilliant.

So… would I go back?? If you’re looking for a luxury holiday at a fishing resort Palm Tree is not for you, the guides and tackle are dodgy at best, it’s untidy and you have the issue of the dog but it has some massive fish in the lake and the people are friendly.

Personally I liked it enough to go back for a massive Siamese Carp one summer so who knows, but there are so many places to go in the world and I’m already planning a trip to Surinam for Lau Lau so we’ll see…..

When we arrived back in England it was freezing and we really felt it after basking in 30 degrees plus most days in Thailand. I was keen to get out on the rivers and christen my Free Spirit HS Barbel rods, the fishing was a struggle but I managed it and I’ll tell you about it next time.

Until next month tight lines and be lucky

Julian Barnes