Newsletter April 2018

Welcome to our latest newsletter where you’ll find what’s been happening at Jurassic in April!

Welcome to Jurassic Mountain Resort, Fishing in Thailand

There’s been a change in the weather this month; the mercury is rising but there’s been some short spells of rain in the afternoons, which ties in with the Thai Songkram festival (more of that later). Temperatures are averaging 38 degrees and not much cooler at night but don’t worry as all the villas here at Jurassic have air conditioning units. A bigger stamp of carp have been landed at short range, between 12-15 yards in depths where the lead is taking 5 seconds to hit bottom on a tight line. The action on the float has slowed down slightly mainly due to the warm weather and our guests seeking shade during the warmest part of the day. Coconut milk along with Juassic’s own range of “Tropical Topical” flavourings have proven to be a worthwhile additive to the rice brn creating a cloud in the water column that has drawn in the fish. With a large number of 100lb+ carp appearing as well as the tambaqui, alligator gars, arapaima and catfish life at Jurassic is never quiet!
If you’re thinking of visiting next year enquire now; enquiries@wordpress-1242400-4445492.cloudwaysapps.com

Tom Broomhead – Fishery Manager
Tom has been Jurassic’s Fishery Manager for a year now and has proved to be an invaluable member of the team managing the lake, the gillies and ensuring that our guests’ fishing experiences are memorable.

He has been a keen angler from a very young age and has always enjoyed catching fish irrespective of their species or size. It was as a youngster that Tom decided that he wanted to make a career out of his passion for angling. Originating from Bolton in the north east of England fishing was hard as was getting information about waters holding good sized fish and this started him on a route to becoming a fishery manager. Academically Tom finished school and then attended Sparsholt College in Hampshire where he achieved a 2.1 Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Fishery Management and Aquaculture – in between lectures he gained as much experience in different aspects of fishery work as possible including: guiding on the Ebro and Segre in Spain for Catmaster Tours; working as a head marshall at the world carp classics in Spain and Italy and being head marshall and match organiser for both the British Carp and Eric’s Angling Centre’s carp championships. After gaining his degree Tom worked for Eric’s Angling for 4 years as a fishery manager and during this time he started visiting Thailand. Well, Thailand well and truly caught Tom and reeled him in – he heard that we were looking for an experienced fishery manager and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

LAST CALL FOR THE CARP COMPETITION

JURASSIC CARP COMPETITION WEEK is all set with a fantastic line up of events.
Special guests Martin Bowler & John Wilson will be staying with us at Jurassic for a few days and cheering on the anglers.
With great company, spectacular fishing, friendly competition and enjoyable entertainment arranged for the evenings the Jurassic Carp Competition is set to be a memorable weeks fishing for all concerned.

The event runs from 1st to 8th July 2018 – there is still 1 place available so if you’d like to join us for this amazing week then please email your interest to enquiries@wordpress-1242400-4445492.cloudwaysapps.com without delay.

30 THB or 30 SPF?
A couple of anglers, who shall remain anonymous to save their blushes, visited recently for a couple of days – the second day was beautiful with not a cloud in the sky and a steadily rising temperature. One of them, determined not to get sun burnt and potentially ruining his trip, duly applied some recently bought sunscreen. After landing a few fish and diligently applying regular doses of his sunscreen he started to get very red and by the afternoon it was obvious he was in some discomfort. Our Fishery Manager Tom noticed and being concerned about the possibility of sunstroke decided to speak to him about it. Well, the angler showed Tom the bottle and all became obvious. He hadn’t been applying sunscreen at all – he’d actually been rubbing Sunsilk, a Thai brand shampoo, into his skin all day!! The shampoo was priced at 30 baht and all the writing on the bottle was in Thai so it had been assumed that it was factor 30 sun cream!!!!

April on the Lake
This month has seen predominantly new visitors to Jurassic savouring the delights of our fishing resort for the first time. We hope they have enjoyed their time with us as much as our returning guests have!

Below are just a few of our guest’s experiences at Jurassic – apologies, as always, to those we haven’t included.

Nick had a 4 day trip with us – 2 days fishing and 2 days exploring the local area. After a few hours chilling by the pool, an afternoon ATV driving through the hills (speak to reception for details) and an evening in Cha Am market the following day it was back to the serious business of fishing. Swim 12 had been chosen in the draw and Nick worked the margins with crushed pellet and fish. The continuous feed and pungent smell proved too much for the Amazon redtails and before long some nice specimens graced his net.

Ryan came to Thailand with over 30 of his family and friends as after a quick fishing trip he was getting married. The groom and 5 of his friends came on a day ticket and whilst having breakfast saw the arapaima and alligator gar (in the garden pond) being fed before collecting their tackle and being guided to their swims. Fishing in pairs the group helped each other and soon double runs were taking place culminating in an eventful and enjoyable day for everyone. Hope the wedding went well Ryan!

Dean visited Thailand from Australia and although most of his holiday was spent in Pattaya he made the short trip to us for a 2-day session. With 10 fish landed on his first day the trip was more than worthwhile.

Young Harry and his dad David were in Hua Hin on a family holiday and came to us for a few days. Back in the UK Harry is a keen carp angler who competes in many junior events/matches and will definitely be someone to watch out for in the future. Harry dreamed of catching an arapaima so it was great when his dream became a reality on his last day. He’d spotted a few fish on the opposite bank around swim 6, which was unoccupied, and asked a gillie if he could move for the rest of the day. Well, this move paid off and within half an hour his rod arced and battle commenced.

Josef and Danny were relentless in their pursuit of the different species Jurassic has to offer. Averaging over 10 fish a day between them they have caught Siamese carp, Amazon redtail, Asian redtail, arapaima and a surprise tambaqui taken on a dead bait from swim 12. Tambaqui are notorious for their sudden explosive bursts of power which means they have a habit of trying to jump the net when being handled but with experience and guidance we got the all important photos.

Nick is a regular at Jurassic and April saw him visit for a day trip with the aim of catching an alligator gar, something that is quite a challenge given the fish’s morphology and feeding habits. Choosing swim 2 on arrival he fished the right hand rod on the pellet producing takes on a regular basis whilst the predator rod was kept in the left margin. After retrieving a few baits that had been cut clean in half and a few aborted takes he persisted and in mid-afternoon he struck gold and achieved his target. Another species down – what’ll be next for Nick?

Niclas is no stranger to predator fishing venturing out in all weathers to target pike in his native Sweden. Welcome of the warmer weather in Thailand he spent 2 days with us; first day he caught 6, mainly redtails, from swim 14 before choosing swim 12 for his 2nd and final day with the aim of finding an arapaima. The morning was quiet but at around 3pm he received his first take and hooked into the longed for arapaima. Job done!

Postman David had a great start to his trip, landing an arapaima shortly after arrival. With that species ticked off the list it was then time to target the Siamese carp. Well, his hard work paid off as he was rewarded with a 100lb+ specimen that took his breath away!

If we haven’t included you in our round-up and you would like to share your experience of fishing/staying at Jurassic please email enquiries@wordpress-1242400-4445492.cloudwaysapps.com

Still need convincing to come to Jurassic?
Here’s a testimonial from one of our recent guests – Andy Duff
“My name is Andy Duff, I’m from Wilmington, Kent. I had been to Thailand previously to fish but this time I was going to Jurassic Mountain for 1 week in the hope of catching a large Siamese Carp and an arapaima. Well I arrived at Jurassic Mountain and I was taken aback; from the moment I entered via the electronic doors to seeing the accommodation and the lake, just first class – a fishing paradise. My second to last day and with a 72lb carp under my belt, I was determined to catch an arapaima. I picked swim 9 – all day nothing, both rods fishing small mackrel. Then at 6.15pm my line took off, my reel packed with 65lb braid screamed as it paid off line, an unstoppable run, taking me and the rod in to the lake to try and regain some line. I was close to empty, it must have taken 150-200 yards and then stopped in the deep water, lake gillie Phil took the rod from me and we pursued the beast by moving up to the next swim, where I took over, and again moved up to swim 12 where battle commenced. Just short of 2hrs in the pitch black being we could finally see our prey. Tom was constantly giving me help and advice; reel in, pump, and then give. I said how big is it, Tom replied biblical, well over 300lb. A day in my life never to be forgotten. Many thanks to Tom and gillie Phil for their help.”

Angler(s) of The Month

April has seen the angler of the month award shared between Alan & Keith.

Alan and Keith were booked in to fish just the one day but after the first day they decided to return for another two. Working as a team throughout the duration of their trip some amazing memories were made. Choosing to fish from the same swim their team work paid off as they applied bait in an arc out in from of them at about 10-20 yards, spreading the rods along it and taking it in turns to hit runs. The takes were slow to begin with but their hard work and perseverance paid off with;
Day 1 – 10 fish – 365lb
Day 2 – 6 fish – 485lb
Day 3 – 12 fish – 565lb
This gave them an amazing 1415lb of fish in 3 days including 3 Siamese carp over 100lb – close, to a lake record in terms of average fish size of 50lb plus for the haul, but not fish numbers, for which they would have had to make this tally in a day!

Adapting tactics to changes in conditions
Since arriving in his swim Shaun had seen that there were fish in front of him; carp rolled at about 30 yards whilst a few arapaima breached along the water hyacinths in the left margin. He lowered a dead bait along the edge whilst a pellet rig was applied off the shelf. Within minutes he had hooked an Amazon redtail just as the sun broke through the clouds and the temperature started to rise. Shaun continued to apply feed over the area whilst fishing a double pellet on the deck but having no response and thinking that the fish were reacting to the increase in temperature, he decided it was time to change tactics. After speaking to one of our gillies the lum was brought to his swim whilst he rigged a float feeder set-up. Taking time to mix the lum to an even consistency and forming a cloud in the water column by carefully applying a layer at a time to the feeder. Twinning it with a 3 inch hooklink and a single pop up Shaun was ready!

First cast and within minutes the rod tip wrapped round and Shaun had his second Siamese carp over 100lbs.

It is a great time to visit Thailand with festivities taking place literally everywhere – our local towns of Cha Am and Hua Hin both have processions and celebrations and would be a fun occasion for all ages – just be prepared to get very wet!! To see how Hua Hin celebrated this year – –http://www.tourismhuahin.com/songkran-huahin.php

If you would like to submit an article for inclusion in a future newsletter please send it to enquiries@wordpress-1242400-4445492.cloudwaysapps.com

TIGHT LINES, SEE YOU ALL ON HERE NEXT MONTH.

Jurassic Mountain Fishing Resort
43/6 Moo Baan Kokesehti Tambon Na Yang, Na Yang, Cha-am District
Phetchaburi 76120 Thailand