P40 - FISH & BOAT, February 2019 Fishing Abroad Mega Mekong Catfish Madness By Dan Bowater needs consideration before a naïve In North Queensland, anglers are ‘farang’ foreign angler (like you or blessed with some of the world’s me) expects to conquer the wild finest fishing options ranging ‘guns ablaze’. The fishing parks have from rampaging ‘grander’ black mar- become exponentially better as an lin, huge trophy red emperor, line alternative for your average (and not burning oceanic speedster mack-so average) angler. Also, keep in mind erel, iconic bucket mouthed barra- that the Mekong Catfish is a forage mundi, all the way down to finesse feeder; therefore, it is a bait-only sweet water species like timid rock species. Some purists might, there- pool jungle perch. Without a doubt, fore, argue it falls outside of the ‘true’ it truly is a premier location to be sport fishing category. based as a serious angler. In Asia, they are still While us Aussies have this huge highly regarded. wealth of fishing options on ourSome local Thai’s doorstep, it’s easy to forget the di- even perform special verse range of opportunities offered rituals before they cast in nearby countries. their catfish lines. Just think for a moment about Making Bread Bombs brutal PNG black bass fishing, huge Thailand’s many Vanuatu dogtooth tuna or even the stocked sports fish- emerging peacock bass fishery in ing ponds allow Singapore. Being a successful angler for anglers to en- ter is a personal investment that comes for varying fees. Pos- through experiencing a range ofsibly the best value (I was such on-water challenges. told) existed in a place called Jom- Earlier this year I created a plan in tien Beach, just south of Pattaya. The Author with a nice Mekong catfish close to forty Thailand to catch one of the tough- Sure enough, the next morning my pounds at Pattaya Fishing Park. est freshwater species in Asia- the privatetaxi driver arrived at my ad- mighty Mekong catfish. dress, and we began an hour-long The Mekong Mission southbound journey. It all started when I was innocently Eventually, we turned off the main eyeing off a very nice chrome Abu road into a quiet side alley that even- Learning from ‘Lefties’ The Mekong catfish hit the bait A Mekong Catfish Mecca 7000 overhead reel in ‘Rigger’ - one tually opened up into a wider dirt The gear itself was very basic at ferociously hard, simply zooming off At midday, I decided to walk to of Pattaya’s biggest tackle stores (lo- road. This park was only basic in Jomtien Fishing Park with the pro- …presumably to find more bread to some other ponds nearby simply cated about two hours drive south- terms of gear and general facilities. vided outfits consisting of old fibre- gobble down. Giving your cattie a named ‘Pattaya Fishing Park’. Upon east of Bangkok). Like most Thai A special breadcrumb mix wasglass surf rods and rickety left-handfew seconds of free-spool is usuallyseeing monsters swirling in the dis- people, the shop assistant became used to catch the monster catfish. retrieve reels. Like most average sufficient but be warned once they tance, I couldn’t resist paying a steep very friendly when a possible sale It had additives to help the bait Aussies, I have avoided left hand feel the hooks sink in be prepared for 2000 Baht fishing fee. It was very was in the balance. stick and consequently attract the retrieve completely in the past, but a huge tussle! I was totally amazed encouraging to see a half ‘cut’ Pom- Through some basic conversation, big line burners below. realistically, a lot of Asian and Euro- by how hard these buggers fought. my enthusiastically fighting a mon- sign language and pencil drawings Like a good Thai stir-fry, you don’t pean countries do favour it. What made it more difficult wasster upon entering. He had downed I was able to procure some useful ask exactly what’s in it! On the end It was time to learn quickly or miss learning to re-coordinate my hands one ‘Singha’ beer for every catfish, fishing information while keeping of the (rather heavy) 30lb monofila- out on my mega Mekong cat! Theto accommodate the new alien feeland seeing there were nine Singha the potential Abu purchase close ment lines were small springs used staff members prefer to decide the of the left hand This powerful species hastallies on the table by. Supposedly these guys could get to hold in some drag settings, retrieve during fa cult followingI felt pretty good me a good personal taxi driver who bread as an attract- Being a successfulangler is awhich is under- each fight. Nowbuilt a bit o about my chances knew about finding the local fishing ant. Below the personal investment that comes standable with Iknow why all throughout Asia, butThailandat this new venue. parks. I agreed to buy the Abu only spring were smallthrough experiencinga range this basic spinthose Pommy an- has ar guably thebiggest inThe procedure for AFTER the taxi service helped mecatch one of the iconic giant Me- dacrontwin snelled /bartraces withof such on-water challenges.tackle. Too lightwouldglers hate our rightand retrieve pref-h termsof angler numbers.baiting up wasidentical, but the - create kong catfish! bless 1/0 suicide drawn out fights, erence in Australia! The left-handed gear was far more upmarket. The This powerful species has built a hooks. The fishing guide would pin excessive line twist and render fish technique keeps the ‘strong’ arm on staff were also more professional, bit of a cult following throughout a piece of crust on each hook then unsuitable for release. the rod- it’s actually more effective the beers were obviously flowing, Asia, but Thailand has arguably the form a huge ball of sticky bread Too heavy would overload the ca- during these big catfish fights. Over and the people around me were all biggest in terms of angler numbers. crumbs around the spring. pabilities of the gear, and possibly a short timeframe, I caught two re- friendly English speakers- perfect! They are an extremely fast grow- The hooks were hidden in the ball the anglers involved too. What com- spectable catfish around the ten-kilo Like clockwork, I began hooking ing fish with absurd specimens to so the rig essentially became like a plicates things further is the way the mark. They were nice fish but sadly some ‘garden variety’ 10-kilo catfish a reported 350kg from their natu- massive bomb when cast out. lines are ‘set’. not exactly the giant sizes I hoped until I eventually hooked a better- ral habitat and fish exceeding 90kg The huge ball would smack loudly Most catfish are caught by free- for. The Russian anglers around me estimated 40-pounder. from the fishing parks. The native upon landing, and you can imagine a spooling the bait then applying the were faring a bit better but honestly By this time I had the fighting populations of Mekong catfish only sizeable cloud of bread crumbs dis- drag; sort of like when you let a achieving basic communication with technique wired, and nobody was exist as a tiny remnant population persing through the water column grunter suck down a strip of squid these guys was probably harder than afraid to throw in a few cheeky re nowadays- it’s just something that afterwards. bait in an NQ estuary. fighting the actual catfish! Continued next page This was the largest cat- fish I saw at Jomtien Fish- ing Park- a top effort! One of the hardcore Russian anglers locks onto a big Mekong catfish at Jomtien.