Newsletter April 2014

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

“The fishing was good;….it was the catching that was bad!”
–Anon Angler.

Phase II of Jurassic Mountain Resort and Fishing Park commences.

Another month rolls by here at Jurassic. April was hot, sticky and busy not just on the fishery, but also with major developments for the resort as a whole.

Those of you who have visited us regularly will know that our fishery and resort here in Ch- Am has gone from strength to strength since our first anglers fished here in June 2012. At that time the lake was still mostly without vegetation, the carp where green and very easy to catch and often like peas in a pod, and our Arapaima where so niave we was offering a “catch guarantee” ticket.

In June 2012, we hadn’t even broken the ground to start building the resort, we was a “hole in the ground” fishery like so many in Thailand, but even at that stage the setting and location of Jurassic combined with prolific carp fishing still made it a must visit for the vast majority of anglers that come to Thailand for it’s superb fishing.

By June 2013 Phase I of Jurassic’s development was completed, using a combination of our own funds and the proceeds from the sale of our syndicate villas Jurassic’s team had managed to create an unrivalled carp fishery with 4 star accommodation and bar and restaurant facilities. With the help of our syndicate members who invested in our villas we also managed to create a fantastic resort environment on the lake for our guests.

Many of our guests have discussed our vision for the future of Jurassic in depth during their time here, everything from the stocking profile of the lake thru to the location of the spa, and have spent days or weeks here immersed in the wonderful, relaxed environment that Jurassic offers. The result of all that time spent has for some created a desire to become a part of a shared dream.

Just as when we began building Jurassic we didn’t have funding in place for Phase I, all we had was enough money to construct and stock the lake and build a clubhouse and that was it….the rest of the funds came from other anglers enthusiasm for our ideas and their ability to see what we could see and invest in their own little bit of angling paradise. The project ballooned from being a 12MBHT Project to a 30MBHT Project in less than 6 months, and after a year of trading as a resort, we are now ready with the support of several new villa owners to extend the project further.

PHASE II Jurassic Mountain Resort

We are very happy to announce Phase II of Jurassic with 4 new syndicate members on board. We would like to welcome James and Steve Byford from the UK, and Christophe Audebeau and his friends Bruno and Martine from France.

Steve Byford first came to Jurassic on a recommendation from our good friend Dave Wilson. On his first trip he hooked and landed some 17 carp, on his next trip he landed a 260lb+ Arapaima, but like so many of our villa owners Steve was taken aback not just by the fishing, but by the setting and convenient location of Jurassic as Steve lives in Hua Hin for at least half the year and has a beautiful Condo there, but he wanted to have a place just out of town where he could relax after his wild weekends, being just a short taxi ride away Jurassic fitted the bill perfectly, what’s more Steve could see Jurassic’s potential for the future, being so close to several major tourist towns, and with a massive new Golf course development just 2 kms north being created by the Beer Chaing Company Jurassic’s location couldn’t be more perfect for outdoor pursuits.

After half a dozen or so visits to us over a 6 month period and having bought family and friends to share the experience with them, Steve decided he wanted to buy the villa as a gift for his son Jimmy. The clincher for Steve was that Jimmy and a lot of his friends are also keen anglers in the UK, who could also make good use of the fishing villa several times a year, this and of course our Sunday dinners!

Christophe first came to Jurassic with Fish Thailand, and again like so many of our visitors was instantly taken aback by the natural beauty of the place, but also as a Frenchman Christophe and his friends are big fans of excellent food and personal service, something in abundance here. By Christophe’s third or forth visit he had virtually been thru the whole menu and settled on the Sweet & Sour as his favorite! By his forth visit Christophe was bringing friends along with him to sample the Jurassic experience, coming as two couples Christophe and his wife, and friends Martine and partner spent 4 days here. As a party of 4 they made use of the clubhouse every night as we had imagined it should be used, socializing, telling angling tales, eating great food and drinking in a peaceful tropical garden setting looking out across the lake. Living in an Asian city, running a business Christophe is like so many expats in Asia, when he has time he wants to get away to a quiet peaceful place and relax, but equally he needs to have easy access to a major airport so if he has to leave on business he can do so quickly, the fishing of course just adds to the benefits for villa owners here at Jurassic.

With the support of Christophe, James and their family and friends phase II of Jurassic will commence in May, with the construction of several new villas, new rooms for the resort , a free form swimming pool, a spa and massage and a few other items requested by existing villa owners, such as a few stingray and a brick BBQ somewhere in the gardens.

April Catches

April was our 2nd busiest month ever on the resort and fishery, with 80 or so different anglers visiting Jurassic over the course of the month, typically 4 to 6 people a day fishing and the resort being fully booked out for several days over Songkran, we found ourselves running around like headless chickens and turning late bookings away on several occasions, so if your planning trips this year or next during the months of December and April please bare this in mind and actually book up your trip in advance, which doesn’t mean 24hrs notice! This not only ensures you get on the lake, but it gives us a fighting chance of providing the level of service we want to provide you. Setting some one up with a quality days fishing means tackle inspection and preparation, buying fresh bait, defrosting bait, drilling bait, cleaning and checking of fishing tackle, and having gillies in place to assist.

Despite how busy we was, disappointingly only two visiting anglers submitted a photo for “Photo of the Month”, congratulations to Rich Moore for taking the trouble to send in a couple of photos for us. We have used your photo of Andy at the top of the newsletter, so we’ll let you guys fight it out which one actually gets the prize of a free days fishing, the photographer or the subject? Either way hopefully we will see one or both of you both back here soon.

The first week of April saw nearly 20 anglers staying or passing thru Jurassic. Catch rates where typically 5 or 6 fish per angler and as ever most of the sport came from our Siamese carp and Amazon Redtail Catfish. Member and regular visitor Rob Andrews brought along his friend “Dammo” and fishing in Sam’s Sala, enjoyed numerous carp and redtail to 50lbs. Rob took the prize this time though when he managed one of our more cagey, Arapaima that we haven’t seen caught for sometime. Coming in around 200lbs, the fish has grown considerably.

Also arriving in the first week for a 3 day stay Ed Balma and members of his family Wayne and Brian, who despite being wheelchair bound enjoyed some great sport from Redtails after we parked him under our now enormous Raintree to allow him to play fish from the wheelchair whilst sheltering from the tropical sun.

John Stadius has been a regular visitor too Jurassic from the outset and returns despite having had a few tough sessions. This time whilst staying in Hua Hin John had two seperate day trips.On his first day there was a lot of anglers on the lake and the fishing was once again low for John, but on his next trip he did much better with 8 or 9 fish including this cracking redtail and of course the mainstay of sport here our Siamese Carp.

Peter, like so many of our customers, took a 1 day trip here for the first time, but based on his experience simply had to return again a few days later for another fix before returning to the UK. For Peter this turned out to be a very good decision as he landed his biggest Arapaima yet, so left for the UK on an angling high.

Clive and best mate Gary from Manchester spent a total of 9 nights on Jurassic, and reinforced the widely held view that northerners are friendlier than southerners! An absolute pleasure to have the pair of them on the resort, making for good banter in the evenings and a few nights out on the town as well where me and Clive put the world to rights and studied Bhuddism whilst Gary investigated the depth of the beer fridge. Despite us being very stretched on the lake in terms of staff, both Clive and Gary remained in good spirits, whilst also giving us plenty of suggestions on how we could improve things, from me not moaning as much to trying to get our gillies to stay awake during their sessions, in all truthfulness we couldn’t ask for two more understanding customers considering the fact that one of our gillies was absent due to a family member being in a road traffic accident over Songkran and other staff not being available for work for other reasons, but Gary and Clive took the whole thing in their stride and enjoyed their stay all the same. Clive catching a decent size Arapiama under his own steam, and Gary enjoyed carp to around 60lb.

Barry and Barry did around 3 days on Jurassic during April. As privelaged members they focus solely on carp fishing, and have managed to hone their technics to such an extent they rarely see less than 6 or 7 carp in the short afternoon session they do. Working a sinking pellet under a waggler with constant catapulting of free offerings is labour intensive in the tropical sun but it sure does produce the results. Over 3 short sessions Barry and Barry managed around 25 or more carp between them as well as Tambaqui and Redtails.

With a lot going on here at Jurassic with the negotiations and preparations for phase II during one of our busiest ever months, getting out on the lake with the camera has been somewhat low down on the agenda.

The “photo of the month” competition was set up with the idea in mind of helping us to get photos for the newsletter and other forms of media. It’s not working out so well so far! Last month only John Stadius and Rich Moore sent in a couple of pics, so winning the competition wasn’t that hard, so bear this in mind Mays guests! Below is another nice shot sent in by Rich a beautiful sunset as the fishermen Andy, and Rich look on. So anyone up for a free days fishing who visited us in May…remember its easy! Just send in your pics or post them to our Facebook page, and there’s a strong chance you’ll win a free days fishing. For the lack of pics we will have to wrap up the catch section for this month, lets hope next month we get more.

Finally….

As Phase II of Jurassic commences, we have just two available plots left for sale on the resort. All the time the builders are present its possible for a prospective buyer of either of these plots to jump in on phase II, so any anglers interested please do let us know. Provided you enquire before the end of August, you could be the proud owner of your own Thai fishing villa with fishing rights before the next high season. The next available opportunity might not be until late next year, or perhaps never if the resort decides to retain the plots. Expressions of interest should be made to enquiries@wordpress-1242400-4445492.cloudwaysapps.com

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