The New Yank and Bank is not doing its job.

I am a lover of pole fishing as well as most other styles, I have just moved out to the San Sai side of town and found a lake that holds a large head of Plaa Suai (Striped Cat fish I think) most are only around the two kilo mark. So, I figured I could use my newly shipped in Yank and Bank. These poles are designed for the comercial carp fisheries of the U.K. So they are meant to be able to handle large fish. But I am finding out, it is realy struggling to handle these little power houses. I lose every secound or third fish which is not the rate I want to be losing them...
I am going for the ton out of this lake and when I get it I will let you know..

Fishing Dream Lake for Arapaima in Chiang Mai

Big Red Chiang Mai's Biggest Arapaima

It is not even eight o’clock and the sun is already beating down at Dream Lake. I have missed the last two summers here and forgotten just how hot it gets. Having chosen my swim for the day, I am going to fish bungalow number four, I have set up two ledger rods one with sausage and one on dead bait.  I am really hoping for a fish early on because as the day wears on the chances of getting a bite decrease rapidly.

An hour or two pass and I am getting fidgety l have had only a few taps on the rods. I am trying hard to resist the temptation to recast every time I see a fish swirl or a few bubbles. “Big Red” (one of the lakes big arapaima) keeps swirling outside the bungalows a bit further down the lake. It’s about eleven o’clock now and believe me it is hot in the shade. I decide it is time for a change as nothing has moved down my end for a while now,  I collect my gear  together  and place it between bungalow number one and two really not sure which one to fish, until a big arapaima  shows  his head just off bungalow number one , that’s it, sold!!!
As change is needed I choose lives baits one on a float and one on the bottom. Watching the float keeps me busy now  . Watching the float bob around as the small plaa nin pulls the float all over the place as it panics. This is defiantly a lake where you wouldn’t want to be a small fish, with all those predators swimming around. I am now confident the float will disappear soon. But the arapaima is now topping outside bungalow number two, did  I make the wrong choice again? Should I move again?  No, keep working the float. This, I feel is my best bet.  Float rod in hand trying to keep the line from bowing in the wind.  I jump with the split second of wandering what is happening; my hand is on the other rod the line screaming of the real.
I strike. Yes, it is on. I can see Reiner and A a Thai friend start walking straight away to come and help. But it does not feel that big. I nearly tell them not to bother. When; there it is. It is a huge arapaima!!  But why is it not fighting?  It breaches the surface and then realizes it is hooked it is off stripping line. Wow, this beast is fast. The anti back wind on the real gives way the handles starts spinning I can’t stop this fish.

Eventually I succeed in turning the fish and working it back to the bungalow it now swims right next to the bungalow with all three of us looking down on the monster with huge shoulders. Then the fish is off again I know there are snags where this beauty is going. All I can do is pray as it is doing what it wants today it doesn’t find any and I finally feel the battle is won.  With the fish near the bungalow I jump in and handle the fish in the water as these fish are known to be very fragile.   I find it amazing that such a huge predator has such a small mouth. Unlike the big cats that I have out of the Ebro this fish is beautiful. Several pictures later the fish of a life time is released back into the depths of the lake.

Handshakes and grins all round Reiner estimates the fish to be between forty five and fifty kilos. That!!!, I am more than happy with!!! I think it is a new lake record. Today there is no point in fishing any more so it is time to buy the beers.

Cheers to Dream Lake

Dream Lake Chiang Mai

I had lived in Chiang Mai for a few years before I eventually discovered Dream Lake. This is a well stocked, well kept lake just on the out skirts of Chiang Mai town. It holds some enormous fish that bend the rod double. I also love this place because of the large numbers of smaller fish that I can cast a waggler or fish the pole for. I have just brought a new pole because this place broke my last.(I hope this one is strong enough) The owner and his wife are great people, I have fished with Reiner on numerous occasions, he is a passionate angler from Germany and I have eaten enough of his wife's(Ploy) food to know she is a great cook. This makes Dream Lake a great place to spend the day . Also, I can bring the wife. I fish, she eats, now everyone is happy.

About My Blog

Chiang Mai is situated in the north of Thailand and is surrounded by mountains. Chiang Mai has many opportunites. From nice sedate tours on coaches to see the temples, to down hill mountain biking or enduro riding which I myself enjoy. (Albeit on the baby slopes). Chiang Mai, well Thailand as a whole has a great reputation for its food and people...I have always enjoyed food so I am blessed to live in a country where the locals love to cook. The people are great as long as you take the time to understand their ways and show a little respect.
But as an Englishman passionate about my fishing there is one thing that keeps me going and that is my Angling. As a boy I started at the age of six, I went with my dad but we never caught much more than a gudgeon or two. Which didn't impress me too much. Then we started going with my granddad and we we catching perch and roach all day long... He had his split cane rod and I had my ten pounds one from Argos a real cheapy.

From then on I fished as often as I could walking the mile to river nearly every day to fish for an hour or two after school. As I grew I fished the match scene with varying success, Just as I was getting good the usual problems of drink and ladies got in the way for a few years till I eventually rekindled my love by packing my bags and heading of to the Ebro in spain with a one way ticket and far too much equipment to carry with my good friend Frank.... This was many years ago now long before the crowds and the big fishing tour trips of guaranteed 100 pounders.. It was real adventure. This gave me the buzz for traveling and from then on I always traveled with a fishing rod or at least some line and hooks.... maybe as this blog continues I may find the time to tell my fishy tales and the adventures that led to them, not necessarily for you, but just for my self.