Another wonderful day at Dreamlake!

5am, up-washed-dressed, on the bike and go.

Fishin here I come. It’s been over 6 months since I wet a line .I NEED a fix.

Arrived at Dream lake at 5:45.  Conditions were not good,cloud,overcast and smirry rain.

Never mind here now, happy just to be at the water.

A lovely red tail catfish!

Said good morning to Riener and walked round to bungalow 1 where I had left my gear yesterday,while I was prebaiting the 3 swims with sardines, chicken hearts, pla nin,(tilapia), tabtim,for the predators and lam, bread crumb, sweet corn, peas, coconut and diced carrots for the Giant Siamese carp.

I grabbed the rods and cast the first dead bait rod baited with sardine 30 yards under a huge overhanging tree, (very fishy looking spot) sat the rod in the buzzer and started to get the other rod ready,BEEEP ,spun round to see the buzzer flashing and line pealing of the reel,struck into the fish ,5 mins later a beautiful redtail catfish was in the net, a quick photo and slipped  back,20lb+,great stuff, what a start.

Recast the 2 dead bait rods 1 with sardine the other with chicken heart, and the carp rod baited with bread,veg mix and poly ball on the hook.

Not really expecting to much more action due to the worsening weather conditions I sat back and admired the photos of Mr. happy redtail.

Rods set for the red tail catfish

Less than an hour later. BEEEEEEP the other dead bait buzzer baited with chicken was flashing like a cheep karaoke bar with line screaming of the baitrunner,lifted the rod and struck into it,OHH  this felt bigger,all I could do was hold on,taking line she ran over 50 yards before veering right and heading towards the undercut banking,putting as much pressure on as I dared just managing to stop her. After 10 minuets and 3 more powerful runs she gave in,Riener slipped the net under the  beautifully marked red tail and gently lifted her into the weigh sling the Avons spun round stopping at 26.7lbs “Lovely”,A quick picture, back into the landingnet and into the water,10 minuets later she had recovered,swam away no worse for her adventure.

My fishing buddy Simon who loves fishing in Chiang Mai, showed up around 2pm we spent the rest of the day catching pasawai,freelining bread on the surface, always exciting watching fish take bait.

Sunset at Dreamlake in Chiang Mai

7pm time for a celebratory beer.

The moral of this story is don’t pay to much attention to conditions use them as a guide,”If you don’t go you’ll never know”.

Thanks again to Riener for another wonderful stay at Dreamlake this is my favorite place for fishing in Thailand.

Dreaming of Fishing Soon!!

It has definitely been a while now since I got my tackle out.  I have had a very busy year which has not allowed time for fishing. So, I am sorry to all those that follow my fishing blog. This year I have made a promise to myself that I have to make time for the fishing.

I am sat at my desk at work dreaming of catching Arapaima and other huge fish. I must admit I am also keen to go after a Julian price carp this year. I tried a few times before but I kept catching giant Chinese carp which is not a problem really.

Huge fish in Chiang Mai

I have also seen on a catch report that a 56kg Giant Meakong Cat fish was caught from Paradise lake while fishing with one of Dreamlakes guides. This is a huge fish for this lake. There are many rumors of fifty or sixty kilo fish but they are normally just the normal fisherman's tales.

Fishing in Chiang Mai with my daughter

I am a lucky father my daughter enjoys fishing, too. Well I think she does. I took for an evenings waggler fishing at one of Chiang Mai's local fishing lakes.

We enjoyed bagging several hard fighting striped catfish. These little fish fight hard and fast and do not really want to give up. The fish were caught using a waggler fished about a foot under water on a  nice piece of fluffy bread.

I just love fishing in Chiang Mai

Fishing With The Worlds Smallest Rod

I don't know if the Shimano reels were designed for a two foot fishing rod!!!

Great Fight On the Tiny Fishing Rod

A great Giant Garami while fishing in Chiang Mai

Well done to Mac for catching this giant Garami on one of his last days in Chiang Mai before returning to Scotland. Mac caught this fish while fishing with his daughter.

Loooook at the Teeeeeeeth on that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Fishing in Chiang Mai)

Finally the Alligator Gar stays still long enough for a picture.

After a slow start to the day the whether changed and so did the fishing.... I moved away from the swim I had been fishing all day to do a bit of stalking. I moved up to the top end of the lake only to see several alligator only feet from the bank. Casting a live bait around these only caused them to slowly slide away into the deep depths of Dreamlake. So, I stopped chasing the fish I could see. I just cast the bait into the middle of the lake, basically giving up. I had hardly settled the rod down when the float started to move around a bit too fast for the little live bait dangling from the hook. What's going on??? Then, that was it! The float shot under.  Without waiting I struck hard feeling a solid lump on the end. I new instantly that this was a big fish as the rod curled round and the the drag had no choice but to yield line. My father and fishing friend Mac came running up with the landing net and camera. The fish stayed deep, but was coming closer to the bank all the time then it broke the water. All three of us saw the fish at the same time and all new it was big. The fish dove several more times then Mac got the net ready and tried to slide it under the fish realizing we really need a bigger net. Mac being well experienced  with big fish managed to bend the fish in to the net expertly. Mac and myself lifted the fish from the water and laid it on the unhooking mat this is where the fish starting fighting again. It didn't stay on the mat for long It is almost impossible to hold a fish this big, we managed to wrap it in the unhooking mat and I basically sat on the giant beast.  My father would not come near the fish once he had seen the teeth. He decided it would be safer to use the zoom on his camera then come any closer.When you see the teeth on these amazing predators you know instantly that you do not put you hands anywhere near there teeth , unless you want to find out what Chiang Mai's local hospital is like. Today thou we were lucky Mac's skill as a pike fisherman came into play and he slipped the hook out without much fuss.

A few pictures and we slide the fish back into the lake water.

Another Great Day Fishing in Chiang Mai

The real fight began when this fish was on the bank.