Newsletter December 2012

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

Introduction Fishing Thailand

Already for the past three months, anglers visiting Thailand have been enjoying some of the country’s most prolific fishing; incredible considering that just twelve months ago Jurassic Mountain Resort & Fishing Park was nothing other than rice paddies and waste land.

With the clubhouse, restaurant, bar, resort and facilities still in development we decided upon a soft-launch for the fishery. After all, the lake was maturing nicely and fish had been constantly stocked since the lake’s excavation was completed and there are of course a lot of hungry mouths to feed! During the past three months 136 anglers descended onto Jurassic Fishing Park. The crowds were keen to get in and sample the carp fishing, of which there are few if any places that can rival Jurassic for sheer numbers of carp being caught. This newsletter has been compiled amidst the relative chaos of running a fishery during Thailand’s high season whilst the resort itself is still under construction so please forgive us if it is light on detail; although as they say a picture tells a thousand words. This being our first newsletter which spans the first three months of operation, October, November and December 2012. From January 2013 the newsletters will be delivered on a monthly basis.

Catch Reports

Having spent the past 8 years writing catch reports of fish caught from venues all over Thailand – we know what average numbers of fish each venue typically produces. We were therefore gladly surprised at our own venue’s catch statistics of our primary species. During October, November and December 2012 there were 72 arapaima captures, 1418 Siamese carp landed and 417 Amazon redtail catfish graced the banks along with lower numbers of other species. These catches were taken between 136 of the anglers we accepted bookings from, needless to say most of them caught upwards of 10 carp each in a day session. One angler in particular that enjoyed the fruits of our well stocked carp fishery was Stretton Honor from England. Being a regular visitor to the Thai fishing scene Stretton has caught huge fish of varying species but nowhere before had he enjoyed such prolific numbers of carp, landing over 30 Siamese carp and catla to 55lb in a single day session which stands as our lake record at present, although catches of 20 plus carp have been common place.

Specimen hunter Andy Harman who likes to chase the biggest fish at every venue he visits had already caught a 210lb arapaima on an earlier visit to Jurassic Fishing Park (pre-pre opening!). Hearing the news however that an even bigger arapaima was stocked he just had to come back to reset the lake record. The first day Andy caught two of our smaller arapaima of around 110lb and 140lb followed by our best fish of the time at around 230lb. The trouble for Andy however is that since then the arapaima are even bigger still and knowing Andy he will see that as a challenge – after all he has set lake records at several venues for one species or another.

Fishery News and Stocking

The most exciting aspect of a new fishery for both the management and anglers alike is fish stocking. Deciding on fish species and numbers to stock is one of the most important tasks making up the backbone of the fishery for anglers to enjoy. Locating monstrous fish takes time and fish from all over Thailand are constantly being sourced and stocked. The bulk of our efforts for the past months have been on stocking large numbers of Siamese carp and catla catla (a specie of Indian carp) which are now making up the majority of anglers daily sport. Like the arapaima, the Redtail catfish have been piling on the weight from gorging themselves on the several thousand kilos of mackerel that has been fed to the lake inhabitants in just the last few months aimed at rapid weight gain. It’s impossible to overfeed  these tropical feeding machines, and they are always willing to put in an appearance throughout a days fishing. The biggest fish in the lake are our  arapaima of which several have been on a feeding frenzy gaining as much as 20kg in a matter of weeks.

With more big fish lined up and the relentless stocking program at Jurassic – the fishing experience will continue to grow more exhilerating. Each returning angler to Jurassic Fishing Park will find themselves catching new exciting species and beating their personal best weights of previous visits.

Jurassic Mountain Resort – Project News

Phase I of Jurassic Mountain Resort is now very close to completion – certainly 80% of the way. The four villas which were sold to fishing holiday makers have been built to a very high standard from quality materials by greatly skilled contractors. The clubhouse is a little further ahead than the four villas and is due to be complete and operate as a facility by the end of January 2013. The most daunting part of the fishing resort project was always the resort development. It seems one only ever hears horror stories of builders leaving the job unfinished, building to poor standards, costing fortunes to correct mistakes or not following the plans or listening to the client. Well we can honestly say that we experienced none of the above and were impressed with the speed, quality and professionalism of the contractors along with their ease to work and communicate with. We will from the Spring onwards begin marketing Phase II of the residential development. There are still a few villa plots remaining for interested parties to take advantage of the prime real estate at Jurassic Mountain Resort and enjoy benefits of lifetime membership to the fishery, and the opportunity to invest in the only syndicated sport fishery in the country. Please contacts us if you would like to receive more details about the remaining plots. Owning a home on a fishery is the shared dream of many anglers and now Jurassic Mountain has made this possible, whilst at the same time creating a community for those who have found themselves hooked on the Thai fishing scene. We welcome you to become a part of that community.

Foot Note

The Jurassic Team would like to thank all of our guests to date who have visited us at Jurassic Fishing Park and to those who are taking a keen interest in our fishery and resort development, a special thanks to our villa owners – your support has made this all possible.  We look forward to seeing you all throughout 2013 and meanwhile we wish you a happy and safe start to the New Year.

We’d also like to thank Bird’s Tackle of Ipswich for sponsoring us with many tackle items. Please visit their website Birds Tackle  for all your tackle needs. The showroom and tackle store is based in Ipswich but their gigantic online shopping website distributes UK country wide. With an incredible range of tackle stocked and their knowledgeable team of staff we recommend shopping at Birds Tackle.

Tight Lines

The Jurassic Team