Fishing the Giant Mekong Catfish at Bung Sam Ran Thailand

My frustration at the lack of big fishes led me to Bungsamran along with the urge to possibly land a record Giant Mekong Catfish. I spent a full 12 hours fishing that day at Bungsamran. Wanting also to hook my first Giant Siamese Carp, I had the guides set out 1 rod to target this elusive but interesting fish. It wasn’t to be. The Siamese Carp were only interested in showing us how big they are as they broke surface in front of us time and again but they did not take our bait.

There was a few takes from small Pla Sawai (Patin) of up to 10 kg on the hook meant for the Siamese Carp. As they were starting to irritate us we decided to also bait this rod along with the other rod for the Giant Mekong Catfish. It was a big “mistake” of sorts. I had to practically fight and land fish after fish almost non-stop from there on. The smallest Mekong was at 22 kg. And at the end of the day, one angler landed a total of 300 kg of Mekong Catfish.

The “dance” starts…

And the wait begins.

Some of the best fishing guides at Bungsamran in action.

And the fun starts!

How does a single angler land 2 Giant Mekong Catfish at one go? Actually… make it 4 fishes!

And let the torture commence…

After the frenzy of landing Giant Mekong Catfish after Giant Mekong Catfish, all rigs were baited and set out to try for the Giant Siamese Carp once more and to also give me a well deserved break. The baits were cast out, recheck every 20 minutes or so and re-baited when necessary. Everyone walked bare-footed and whispered when we had to talk, or curse, at the millions of mosquitos that had descended on us along with the nightfall. We did not have any repellents on our exposed skin. Neither did we have any mosquito coils around. We were men. Macho but silly men!

3 hours we waited when the little “bottled-bite alarm” fell onto the wooded boards. Everyone stood up thinking “Could this be it? After all the discomfort. Could it be a Giant Siamese Carp at the other end of the line?” I picked up the rod and reel. Line was peeling out slowly but it did not go far. It seemed like a Siamese as I locked the bail and the fight began. But alas, our joy was short-lived as we later realized it was another Mekong. But fight on I had to and the fish at times gave a good account of itself letting us know it ain’t small but in the darkness we were not sure and just fought it as our last Mekong for the day.

I thought I was getting too tired and let the fish swim under my feet into the platform beams. One of the guide had to strip and down he went into the water. I handed him the rod which he wound 3 times round one of the beams before handing the rod back to me. We asked him if he could see the fish, he couldn’t, but say it is no monster. The fight continued albeit with less enthusiasm. But then, just for a second, everyone got a glimpse of the length of the fish and went “HOLY SMOKE” big fish big fish! So the evening just got interesting again where shouts of encouragements and advises flowed again! After giving a few more tense moments and lots of huffs and puffs, 3 of us finally pulled the netted fish up onto the platform for some celebrations and photo taking. All 57 kg of it!!!