Depending on how you look at it, the fishing ticket on the right can be your ticket to a good time or it can be also be your ticket to a muscle-pulling back-breaking time.
Whatever it is, you will get your money’s worth fishing for Giant Mekong Catfish at Bung Sam Ran Fishing Park which is conveniently located within the city of Bangkok itself.
Four anglers – four hours of fishing – traveling time 2 hours from hotel to pond. The distance to Bung Sam Ran (BSR) from City Point Hotel located off Rachadapisek Road is just over 20 km. Traffic was at a crawl the whole journey. That’s Bangkok’s notorious traffic for you.
First Timers
This visit to BSR is a prelude to our Arapaima fishing the next day. On this occasion there are 2 BSR-Giant Mekong Catfish first-timers, Piu and Alan Leow. I never get tired of watching the reaction of first timers’ fishing here.
Although we will only be fishing for about 4 hours, two sets of fishing gear shared among four anglers will suffice as bites will come non-stop. Most angler will push their rod to others after the second or third fish from seeing how frequent the bites come and after discovering how hard the fish fights. There is really no worry of not catching enough fish here.
Unless you are looking to break a record of sorts, sharing one fishing rod for every two anglers is advisable. On this trip, the four of us landed 15 to 20 fish (we did not keep count) in just four hours with just 2 rods.
The Tackle
We bought some bait (sacks of rice bran/husk) and four sets of terminal rig consisting of pre-rigged feeder cage with hook and float.
I prefer jigging rods, such as the Daiwa Monster Mesh, for this type of fishing as jigging rods offer lots of lifting power which will come in handy when the fish is near to the platform.
Don’t be shy with the line poundage. I recommend 50 to 80 lb (or higher) braided lines.
By the time we started fishing there was only about an hour of daylight left. We ordered our “lunch” from the BSR kitchen consisting of pineapple fried rice, barbecued pork rice and prawn tom yum.
As usual we did not have to wait more than two minutes for the bites to start.
Slippery When Wet
It was a wet fishing session this time around and the slippery wooden flooring makes fishing a little tricky. We fished from the main platform that stretches across the pond and this is a good choice too as there will be less mosquitos here compared to the bungalows once the sun sets.
The main platform area is also where most locals fish from. There will be many especially on weekends and after paydays. Many will come with friends and fish and booze through the night. It is not a bad way to spend some quality ‘bromance’ time with your buddies, catching big fish and getting a little high at the same time!
How to Fish a Giant Mekong Catfish
For those who regularly jig in the salt you will know what to do. For those not familiar remember not to fight the fish with your arm strength.
Instead straighten your back and use your knees. Basically using your body weight as a leverage. You will bring the fish in much faster and with less effort than by employing brute arm muscle strength.
Having said that, nothing beats trying it out first hand. Use a fighting harness if it is your first time. Once you are a regular you may get away without using one as long as your rod butt is not an exposed aluminum butt!
