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Newsletter July 2015

Newsletter Archive

Catches, entertainment and news from Thailand’s only exclusive syndicated sport-fishing venue.

Hi again readers and welcome to the July edition of the Jurassic Mountain newsletter that gives you all the news, gossip, catch reports and lighthearted anglers antics that relates to our Thailand fishing paradise. A big thanks to all the new faces and returning guests who ventured into our ‘Extreme fishing’ gem as it was indeed our pleasure to see you all at Jurassic Mountain Resort and Fishing Park.

In recent months it’s apparent that over 80% of guests return to Jurassic within 2 years. We are extremely proud of this record and that Jurassic Mountain has, in such a short space of time become firmly established and is now recognised as the second best carp fishery in the world. The number one spot goes to Lake Baikal in Siberia so if you fancy a dabble at the worlds number one spot first, let us know how you get on! By the way, if you haven’t already seen our Jurassic Mountain promotional video that was filmed with assistance from Angling Times journalist and TV producer Martin Bowler, you can see it on Youtube. And here it is:-

Before we go onto the fishing reports, I’d like to share with you one of my angling experiences during my time in Cornwall. It’s quite a story so if you want to put it on hold just scroll down to the angling reports below it but here goes …..

Chugging along the South Cornish coastline in my twenty three foot Mahogany Clinker built boat, fishing for Bass with Suki the Shi Tzu for company was one of my life’s greatest pleasures. I can still hear that beautiful deep ‘pop pop pop’ throbbing of the Lister Diesel engine that took me and my constant companion at a maximum of five knots as we spent hours on end hugging the coast that runs between that famous shark fishing harbour of Looe and down to the Fowey estuary. I was living in Polperro at the time, a picturesque and very quaint Cornish fishing village situated about four miles west of Looe with odd shaped cottages with whitewashed walls, a few little pubs and tiny shops scattered along the narrow streets around the harbour.
Having recently landed the coveted double figure bass along with a few ‘schoolies’ which I automatically returned to fight another day, my expectations were high as I, along with my trusty companion Suki and an ice box full of lagers were chugging along as normal with about a hundred metres of line off the stern gently pulling along a sand eel lure behind us.

As we entered Talland Bay, a mile east of Polperro , the line screamed off the reel as I’d never witnessed before so I quickly knocked the drive into neutral and grabbed the rod which was dancing like crazy in the rod holder that housed it. What followed momentarily baffled me as the line was still screaming off at a rate of knots as ‘straight as an arrow’ off the stern towards Plymouth and I was in imminent danger of being spooled out but suddenly it changed course and started to come around in a fast sweeping circle off my starboard side and back towards the boat. I was reeling in as fast as I physically could in an almost vain attempt to try and keep some tension between the rod and the fast approaching fish. I knew I was into something big but I never in my wildest dreams expected how big and what was about to happen next.

A huge pilot whale which was certainly as large and if not larger than my twenty three foot vessel and who had taken great offence at being foul hooked in its massive bulk, breached and flew out of the water so high that I could actually see Talland Bay beach in the distance below it. It was only about a dozen metres or so from the boat. For those of you who are interested in the details of the tackle that was used when fishing for these creatures, I fished with a seven foot Abu spinning rod with a six inch bright orange sidewinder Sand eel on twelve pound monofilament line wrapped around an Abu Garcia spinning reel. Obviously, if you feel this set up is inadequate for your needs, please feel free to upgrade it to a harpoon and rope.

This is only one of the many experiences of my mishaps and laughs and if you’d like to hear more, you’ll find them all on my blog www.fishinginthailand.info. or if you’d prefer all stories are also posted on the Facebook Page of the same name.

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Chris and his son Cameron did the now common dual trip to Jurassic, once at the beginning of their vacation and again at the end!

Now let’s get down to  the Jurassic Mountain catch reports and a light for the month of July. As usual, my apologies to those who wanted a mention and didn’t get one and to those who got a mention…. and wished they hadn’t ! Here goes ………

Chris from Manchester kicked off the month in style with a spectacular Arapaima on his final days fishing of an extremely productive visit enjoyed also by his son Cameron. Chances are that he also touched base with the legendary Grim Reaper too as he hooked into a monster Carp before it snapped him up to swim off and still remain our undefeated prize that is attracting attention from all corners of the globe. Is anybody ever going to land this brute ? Sadly not Chris this time around.

Enter Christophe and the French foreign legion that accompanied him. They decided to take the long and winding ‘frog and toad’ to return once again to Jurassic. Number two in command , Monsieur Michel took centre stage with a fine Siamese around the seventy five pound mark but then got himself promoted to General with a fabulous 160 plus beauty. One happy Frenchman indeed which resulted in vast quantities of the old Vin Rouge being consumed in the clubhouse that evening. Vive la France !

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Michel with one of many fantastic carp he caught during his birthday gift trip to Jurassic.

First time visitor, Paul from Belgium also came to Jurassic intent on landing a big Carp and during the day he hooked a few Redtails which he found to be rather a nuisance factor in his quest to catch the big boy, clearly he’s fished too many times in Thailand for the cutest fish in the pond to be a nuisance? Even so come 5 pm, BANG! He was into what he came here for ….. Well, he was for well over an hour before the dreaded hook pull put paid to Paul landing this Carp estimated to be in the 160lb bracket. Hard lines Paul.

Then the Cockneys arrived. Phil ‘Born within the sound of the Bow bells’ Whitechapel. Paul is a very experienced carp angler of some twenty five years and the first thing he saw when walking to his swim was a Frenchman landing the biggest carp that Phil had ever seen in his life. Unfortunately for Phil like Paul, that was the only carp he was to see all day but great sport from a few large Redtails gave him the incentive to return again next year with his Cockney mates. I will look forward to seeing you again Phil.

Returnee and regular UK angler Chris Brown from Hungerford showed up again at Jurassic. If you need any explanation as to why he always shows his face around here, I think that by landing this monster Arapaima well in excess of the 200 might give you a clue!

Ian and Gary, two fellow Chelsea fans from Carshalton in the UK turned up and obviously by supporting Chelsea FC were not used to losing anything but alas, a large Arapaima gave Gary the runaround before eventually giving him the slip. Never mind boys….the Champions will be kicking off the new season pretty soon. Come on you Blues !!

From North of the Thames we also welcomed Ex-Pat Tony who thoroughly enjoyed his days fishing here at Jurassic and bagged a nice few Redtails with this beauty being the pick of his day.

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Ex pat Tony’s fine Redtail

Three Aussie lads, Christian, Tom and Lewis flew in from Perth after hearing the news of our Grim Reaper with the sole intention of landing him. After we’d informed them that they’d stand a better chance of catching him from the side of the lake instead of sitting in the bar drinking us dry of Jack Daniels, they proceeded to give it a go. Unfortunately the GR weren’t playing the game with the Aussie boys this time but they still managed to land some very decent fish between them including some beautiful specimen Siamese around the sixty mark. Fair Dinkum Cobber !!

Another two French visitors originally from Paris whose names I can’t even pronounce let alone spell turned up at Jurassic. Both being French chefs, they actually complimented us on the quality of our food which is compliment indeed. They now both reside in New York andno doubt gaze proudly every day at the wondrous Statue of Liberty that the French had very kindly bestowed to the Yanks to celebrate Independence Day. Not like our French neighbours to give away something so magnifique! …. There must have been an ulterior motive there somewhere but I haven’t worked it out yet. Anyway, Jurassic gave away a great days fishing provided them with double figures of fish between them with a Siamese around the 80 pound mark sending them back home to the Big Apple with fond and happy memories of Jurassic Mountain.

Two ex pat UK insurance salesmen Kyle and his pal, now based in Bangkok momentarily put their job aside and tried their high pressure techniques and tactics in angling instead. Suffice to say a good return at Jurassic was also had for this successful duo as proved with a 70 pounder amongst others committing themselves to signing on their dotted line !

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Yours truly!

Next came a record breaking time at Jurassic. Three Northern England anglers on the lake in a one day session, John from Mansfield, Chris from Manchester and Yorkshireman tour guide Tony from Doncaster landed an incredible 1500 pounds of carp between them with them landing a single fish over the 100 pound mark each. There must be something I don’t know about in those Northern pies !

As we suggest in the opening of this newsletter, Jurassic Mountain has without a doubt firmly established itself as Asia’s premier carp fishery with the news that there’s even bigger and better to come in the future ….. So watch this space !I’m useless at keeping a secret so does the future plans of introducing….(Snipped, by the management) whet your appetite ?It’s certainly whetted mine watching these soon to be lake residents enjoying themselves and getting bigger by the day in the resorts stock ponds.

Dino and his Malaysian mates turned up for a one day visit and they had a great day’s sport, Groundhog day is how Jules described it especially for Dino who declined admiring the stunning views that surround Jurassic Mountain for at least an hour whilst he concentrated on landing the Grim Reapers baby brother which weighed in at an astonishing 182 pounds and 4 point 5 ounces. These last few ounces being the technical info solely for the benefit of all you ‘professional’ anglers who regularly read my newsletter with interest.

Yours truly took time off from writing the newsletter to claim a cracking Chao Phraya weighing in at eighty two pounds. For what it’s worth, my opinion of this species is that it’s the best pound for pound fighting fish that I’ve managed to land out of our lake and I’ve not had a buzz like that since my first visit to Pattaya …… But that’s another story, one which, if you’re interested, you can read on my ‘Bivvied up and bored’ facebook blog .
Luke from Manchester arrived but unfortunately had a little moan about the strimmer activity in earshot of his well manicured swim. Granted, a fair point Luke had but he was in agreement afterwards that you can’t have it all ways in as much that the lakes vegetation needs addressing on a regular basis otherwise you’d be sitting neck deep in a jungle but, having taken Luke’s comments on board, Jurassic are now considering carrying out the gardening works at night by candlelight with a free supply of ear plugs for our light sleepers. Anyway, Luke realizing he may have over reacted soon put the buzz of the strimmer behind him to concentrate on getting a buzz of his own by landing twenty five fish in his two day stint with a seventy odd pound Siamese being the pick of his bunch.

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Dino’s cracker

A glut of anglers that resembled a United Nations meeting arrived at Jurassic included the Chan family from New York who now reside in Beijing, a guy from Korea whose name I couldn’t pronounce but who strongly resembled North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un , two large as life Italians Luca and Stefano from Parma who obviously enjoy their pasta justa like mama used ta make, Australia’s Lewis, the Jack Daniels heavyweight from Perth who got withdrawal symptoms and came back for another four day session, within a week of leaving, Belgium’s Johann a first time visitor and a self confessed Belgian chocaholic from Bruges, Denmark’s Nickolai arrived by longboat with three fellow Vikings who were obviously bored with that famous Danish pastime of raiding and pillaging to engage in the more serene activity of angling, Northern Ireland were represented by Steve and Gerry from Belfast who swapped the Crumlin Road to live and sample the Guinness in the far safer habitat of China would you believe and last but not least we had Colin representing that world famous Yorkshire town of Pontefract. All these multi nationals had successful days at Jurassic landing specimen Siamese Carp and Amazon Reds like it was going out of fashion with the odd two hundred pound plus Arapaima or two thrown in for good measure.

A big welcome back to Steve from Guildford in the UK who last month landed twenty one fish in a two day session topping off with an 88 pound Siamese. Steve returned here to have another crack at the lake and in the afternoon prior to his day’s angling, he came and sat with me where I was fishing. My reel screamed into action and having just landed a beauty of around the eighty mark, I said to Steve ‘ Go on mate, have that one on me.’ Poor Steve. He struck into a monster carp which led him a merry dance way past sunset and into the night and after a massive tussle, he sadly lost it to a hook pull. Devastated weren’t the word. Absolutely shattered, he crawled back to his room presumably to drown his sorrows. Don’t be late in the morning Steve !

Welcome back to Brett from the famous pie making town of Melton Mowbray in the UK. Brett is obviously used to holding the easier option of a double handful of their famous pork pies because he got himself in a right pickle trying to get his hands around a specimen Siamese weighing in at an estimated 120 plus pounds that he’d just landed and dropped before the camera came out. Bet he wouldn’t have let it slip if it’d had a crust on it ! However, Brett redeemed himself a few days later when he landed seven Siamese, two Indians, two Redtails and a Ripsaw in a one day session …… And managed to keep his hands on each and every one of ’em.

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Brett managed to hold on to this one.

Matthew, formerly of South East London but now firmly based in Thailand arrived with his Thai wife and daughter for a few days sport. After a mediocre first day he ventured out for his second days fishing. Well, he did after he and his family eventually recovered from the food poisoning from the restaurant that yours truly had very kindly recommended to him and so, having recovered from the trots, he trotted down to his swim to land this fine Siamese in excess of sixty pounds. Well done Matt, sorry about the restaurant mate, in future eat at the resort…..it’s far safer !!

We welcomed Adam from that Shakespeare haven of Stratford upon Avon. ‘ To be or not to be’ is one of old Bill Shakespeare’s quotes but sadly for Adam,’ it was not to be ! ‘ The fish on this particular day proved to be somewhat elusive but he still managed a couple of fish with the best being this forty pound Siamese. However, as Bill Shakespeare also said. ‘Better three hours too soon than a minute too late,’ and with this in mind, Adam has vowed to return as soon as physically possible. Better luck next time eh mate ?

Welcome back to Bangkok based father and son team from Leeds in the UK. Better luck occurred this time around for Scott and his Dad as last year they were almost swept away with the flash flood that hit Jurassic without warning but the torrential downpour didn’t dampen these two’s spirits to make a return visit. Unfortunately, I’m afraid to say that although the rain held off this time, a monster Carp continued the trend of making these two look like drips again by soaking up all the pressure Scott gave it before eventually spitting the hook and parting company. On this occasion, drenched in sweat and not rainwater, they fortunately redeemed themselves with some fine Siamese, the best one being in the region of fifty pounds.

In came Fabian and his blonde girlfriend all the way from Austria. A fantastic day our yodelling skier from near the Swiss border had as did most of the male anglers on the lake who had one eye on their rods and the other eye on Miss Austria. Fabians best fish of the day was a Siamese around fifty pounds but as the photo was only of Fabian and the fish, we’ve binned that one as we’d rather concentrate on this photo of a Redtail.

The Norwegians arrived in the form of Karl and Thomas and promptly challenged two of our UK anglers, Brett and Matthew to a match and they settled on the biggest Carp wins the day. After a fair days fishing for all four anglers, Karl landed seven, Thomas landed eight, Brett landed nine and the winner, whilst landing only four fish but which included the heaviest Carp of the day at sixty four pounds was our very own UK representative Matthew who originally only came for a couple of days but ended up fishing for five plus a night fishing session thrown in too. Now there’s dedication for you ! As for the runners up with twenty four fish between them…..definitely not unhappy losers !

The powers that be at Jurassic Mountain decided to implement a night fishing facility from 6 pm until Midnight. As there hasn’t been any previous after hours fishing on the lake we were unsure as to what results this would bring. Enter our ‘Guinea pig’ Matthew who became Jurassic’s first night owl and, carrying on from his full day session, he set himself up with only the moonlight and with whatever else that came out at night to keep him company.

Matthew’s night time session produced two decent Redtails, two Siamese Carp with the largest at sixty odd pounds and an Arapaima that led him a merry dance before losing it to a hook pull which was fortunate really because Jurassic’s rule of after dark Carp fishing only would only have resulted in our ‘no photo of Arri at night’ rule coming into play. However, not a bad night time session for Matthew in any event.

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Returning Guest Colin

We welcomed Greg, another Aussie from Perth whose married to a Thai boxer believe it or not. ( yes, it is a lady before you ask ) Greig asked the wife whose obviously the boss in this relationship if he could go fishing and he enjoyed a great days sport landing Siamese, Redtails and a 150 pound Arapaima whilst also losing a stonker of a Carp late on to a hook pull.

I shared a taxi with Greg on the way back to Hua Hin and he asked me what I do in Jurassic when I’m not fishing or writing the newsletters. I told him that I was learning to play the guitar and that my girlfriend played saxophone. I also told him that Wayne my neighbour played the harmonica and I added ‘ Why don’t you drop by one night for a few beers and we’ll give you a recital ?’
‘Yeah I’d like that’ said Greg and then I asked him what he did for a hobby other than angling.
‘Well,’ replied Greg, ‘ I’m a black belt in Karate and as you know my wife’s a Thai boxer, my son does wrestling and my daughter does judo…….. Why don’t you drop by one night for a few beers ….. and we’ll give you a bloody good hiding.’

An array of Americans ambled in including father and son Mike and Michael from Pennsylvania. Their biggest fish to date being a 15 pound Bass so you can imagine how these two felt when they landed a Siamese of over fifty pounds ……each !!

Andrew from L.A. also weighed in with a Siamese around the fifty mark whilst Mike and Joe from Virginia and Washington prepared themselves for their days sport by both kneeling in prayer at their swim prior to the action. Well whoever it was they were praying to must have heard them because they landed a nice few fish including a beauty of a Siamese around the seventy mark.

This might prompt me to give the old praying game a go myself but to be honest, I don’t really believe in it anymore. I mean to say, I’ve been praying to God for the last ten years to let me win the lottery and I’ve won sod all. Mind you, to be fair to God, I might stand a better chance of having those prayers answered if I actually bought a bloody ticket !

In came Jeff, an ex pat Bali based Bermondsey boy originally from South London who, being an orchid enthusiast, had a spare day whilst visiting the orchid flower show in Bangkok so he decided on a days fishing here at Jurassic. I don’t know about orchids but Jeff certainly came up smelling of roses with his total of landed fish that included four Siamese to sixty pounds and an Arapaima in excess of the two hundred. Obviously delighted with his days work, Jeff packed up slightly early to get back to Bangkok and no doubt his Orchids and it was a bunch of fun indeed having you here mate !

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Greg gets up close with a nice Siamese

Now it’s not often we have an angler blank at Jurassic, in fact, I can’t actually remember the last person that did because it was that long ago. However, all good things must come to an end and finally we had our first blanker of the year. So, Ladies and Gentlemen, without further ado, we at Jurassic are sad to announce that the winner of Jurassic Mountain’s ‘ You’re nothing but a total blanker award’ for 2015 goes to……. my old mate Dave Brewster who arrived at Jurassic today with his mate Alan Jones from Oswestry in the UK who proceeded to show Dave how it’s done by landing Siamese, Redtails and a nice Arapaima. Dave actually did have a beauty on the end of his line at one stage but because he was so busy enviously watching his mate Alan pull fish out of the water like Hook Abu Hamza would do in Billingsgate market, he not only lost the fish but his rod and reel went in too. Wouldn’t bother buying a lottery ticket tonight Dave if I were you !!

Just to rub salt into Dave’s wounds, the next day two little lads named Nick and Bank arrived with their Dad Rik from Bangkok. They set themselves up in Dave’s vacated swim and……. look away now Dave because this don’t make pleasant reading. They landed a cracking eighty odd pound Siamese and then proceeded to hook, play and eventually land a two hundred plus pound Arapaima between them and, more importantly…..they also managed to keep both rods on their rod pod.

Along came John Bradbury originally from the UK’s Benidorm equivalent namely Blackpool but now residing further south in Hemel Hempstead. John hooked into a massive Carp and after five hours, the common consensus was that the Grim Reaper was back in action. I was standing watching John play this brute perfectly but the fight was taking its toll on him. With sweat pouring off him, he asked his wife for some tissue to wipe his face. It was then that I suggested that it might be a good idea to give him the boxful because if he actually got to see the size of this fish, it’d be more than his face that’d need wiping !! Seven hours into the fight and this fish showed no signs of showing the white flag so John applied some bullying tactics in an effort to get him to the net….SNAP !! The Grim Reaper story continues ……whose next for a good hiding ?

And finally readers, you may be aware than we impose a ten man limit here at Jurassic but I want to tell you a quick story why for once we relented and raised the limit to twelve for a one day period only. Two guys from Liverpool, Danny and Billy, phoned in early one morning on a spur of the moment decision with full intentions of enjoying the Jurassic Mountain fishing experience. Unfortunately for these two, the lake was full to its ten man capacity and although we have seventeen swims available, it’s a rule that Jules and Eddy stick to religiously ….. Or so I thought.

‘Terribly sorry lads, full to capacity today I’m afraid’ said an apologetic Jules to which he added ‘ Full again tomorrow but you’ll be ok after that, would you like to book yourselves in ?’

Danny replied in his broadest Scouse accent ‘ Nah, we’s going home tomorrow pal, cant you slip us in somewhere like ?’

Jules proceeded to go through all the reasons why Jurassic adheres to the ten man rule and an obviously disappointed but a fully understanding Danny said ‘Ok pal, no problem like, our fault for not booking like, we’ll know next time but d’you mind if I ask you a question like ?’

‘Of course’ replied Jules, ‘fire away’.

‘You promise to answer me truthfully like ?’ said Danny,

‘Of course’ replied Jules wondering what was coming.

‘Well, it’s like this like’ said Danny ‘Tell me something honestly like, if Robson Green and John Wilson phoned in this morning, would you somehow try and squeeze them in like ?’

The old saying of ‘He who hesitates is lost’ was never truer when Danny immediately detected the hesitancy in Jules’s answer of ‘Er’ and before Jules could even come up with anything resembling a reply, Danny steamed in with, ‘Exactly, well they ain’t bloody coming, so we’ll have their swims if you don’t mind like.’

Needless to say, Danny and Billy enjoyed a great day at Jurassic Mountain due to Jules relenting after being lost for words for once in his life and it ended up a pleasure having the Scousers with us. Just one request though lads ….. Any chance of returning Jules’s hubcaps when you’re here on your next visit ? Don’t forget to mention the newsletter in your booking enquiry for a chance of a free upgrade of your room, email enquiries@jurassicfishingthailand.com

See you all next month

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