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.