Newsletter January 2014
Catches and news from Thailand’s only exclusive syndicated sport-fishing venue.
Hello & welcome to our January Newsletter – Everyone at Jurassic would like to belatedly wish all our customers and future customers a happy and prosperous New Year.
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As many of you have pointed out our Newsletters dried up early last year, and seem to have been sorely missed by some of you…so we made a New Years resolution to start them again. Like all New Year resolutions, we can’t guarantee how long it will last but we will do our best!
If you have tuned in to the news recently, you will have no doubt learned about the political unrest in Bangkok, and if you watch certain news channels you could be led to believe Thailand has descended into complete chaos, although nothing could be further from the truth. Demonstrations and protests have been taking place since November last year, after Thailand’s ruling party attempted to pass a controversial amnesty bill for corrupt former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, which would have granted him access back into the country following his self-imposed exile, but for the fisherman, tourist or visitors those protests have largely gone unnoticed.
The bill was eventually overruled following uproar from politicians and human rights activists. However, opponents continued to stage their anger, and over 200,000 protesters gathered in Bangkok to protest since the New Year. In some ways the British public could take a lesson from the Thai’s. If they cared more about what their MPs are allowed to get away with and less about the football results perhaps we would see some policies and laws passed that was more favorable to those born in the UK and less favorable to shall we say “long term” visitors, with there eye on nothing but our wonderful benefits system.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of Thaksin, organized a general election for 2 February. The day was swamped with further protests at the Prime Minister, and elections had to be called off in several areas of the capital. Protesters believe that despite his exile, Thaksin still controls Thailand’s government from his overseas location. Regardless of whose controlling the country, here at Jurassic the fish are still biting! And Thailand remains a thriving tourist destination. In fact, data released from STR Global revealed that from November 2012 to November 2013, occupancy increased by 7.6%. During the same period, revenue per room and average daily rates were also up – by 15.1% and 7%, respectively. Furthermore, figures released from the Office of Tourism Development revealed that in 2013, a record 26.74 million people visited Thailand, which is a 167% increase from the 10 million visitors recorded at the start of the millennium.
Embassies will always issue worrying travel warnings and journalists will always scaremonger. But in reality, Thailand’s tourism market continues to witness strong growth with each passing year. Throughout the recent political demonstrations, hotels, restaurants and other tourist attractions traded as normal, meaning that little impact was felt within the tourism industry.
In a statement issued by the Tourism Authority of Thailand on 2 February, the majority of demonstrations take place in the central Bangkok areas, and “life in most parts of the Thai capital and throughout Thailand continues as usual.”
The statement confirms that all major attractions, including the Grand Palace, the Temple of Dawn and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, are all trading as normal. This is also the case with businesses, entertainment venues, gas stations, supermarkets and hospitals, etc. Transport links, including the main airport, also experienced no disruptions.
Regardless of recent events, Thailand is still a country rich in history, culture and true Asian hospitality and FANTASTIC FISHING, so don’t let any news channel with an axe to grind put you off your fishing trip of a lifetime.
Jurassic Mountain has gained significant attention since we opened the resort, not just for the quality of the fishing, but also the quality of our onsite accommodation and the wonderful authentic Thai and English food that comes out of our kitchen. Although Jauary was a quieter month than usual, some our guest enjoyed the following results:-
Some of this months catches
The month started off slowly due to the continued cold weather that started mid December, although Jurassic had no shortage of customers, there were a number of hard sessions. Despite this nearly everyone visiting Jurassic got results typically with 3 or 4 fish per angler, although one or two anglers struggled and where invited back for extra days. The cold weather though always brings on the Indian Carp which rarely get seen in the summer months, and Dave (picture above) managed several, along with a few nice redtails. This Indian Carp looked like it had swallowed a football it was so fat!
The 2nd week of the month was a frantic time at Jurassic with many anglers turning up unannounced, and lots of fish coming out. This one came to Nicolas from Sweden, fishing on “Sam’s Sala” for a 2nd Session having enjoyed his first one so much in late December. This was
a stunning photo, showing the sheer power of our Siamese Carp as it flexed its muscles and threw a huge spray of water at the camera. With 3 or 4 carp like this coming out in a typical session it’s know wonder we are getting customers on day trips returning just a few days later for another go.
The month started off slowly due to the continued cold weather that started mid December, although Jurassic had no shortage of customers, there were a number of hard sessions. Despite this nearly everyone visiting Jurassic got results typically with 3 or 4 fish per angler, although one or two anglers struggled and where invited back for extra days. The cold weather though always brings on the Indian Carp which rarely get seen in the summer months, and Dave (picture above) managed several, along with a few nice redtails. This Indian Carp looked like it had swallowed a football it was so fat!
Next up on the carp runs water was Andy who enjoyed 2 days her at Jurassic with his partner and soon got into waggler fishing for the carp, which produced 10 fish for Andy from 7am until around 5pm. Several fish where lost too, but 10 fish without even waiting for the dusk rush is enough of a result, and this along with the Sweet and Sour Chicken, will see Andy returning in November with a friend. Look forward to seeing you then Andy.
By the 3rd week in January temperatures started to rise at Jurassic, so other species began to come back on the bite. Stefan was one of many visitors this month that hails from the Netherland’s, for some reason Jurassic is proving more popular with the Dutch than any other nationality at present. Stefan operates the levers on the planets largest excavator, which weighs in excess of 620 tonnes. Even so, this redtail gave him arm ache, along with several others throughout the day.
Despite cooler weather here in Thailand, the carp get captured on a daily basis. Sometimes it’s one or two fish per angler sometimes its double figures. At 8AM Miller got his first bite within minutes of casting out and found himself into this beauty. Always seems to be the big anglers catching the big fish! The photo doesn’t do this fish justice, as Miller is about 6″6′ . Despite the good start though Miller didn’t see another fish this day although he did lose a few!
For those wanting to know more about Jurassic we have started naming swims, and we will endeavour to describe these to Newsletter readers over the coming months, and also give a mention which fish are being caught from which swims. Jurassic has a total of 17 purpose built swims. The one pictured below is the approach to “Jamboree” which is the 2nd swim on the eastern flank of the lake as you leave the clubhouse. This swim enjoys beautiful views looking west and of course of Jurassic Mountain itself. This photo is taken just past the 1st swim on the eastern flank 25 meters back towards the clubhouse. The first swim is called “Lazymans swim” as its the one with easiest access to the beer fridge in the clubhouse!
As the months go by we will begin to associate catches with swims…so if your trying to figure out where to fish when you get here you really must keep reading the newsletters.
More fish where introduced into Jurassic in January, as they are every month. We don’t just stock anything we can get our hands on however, as it tends to be a waste of money, and it isn’t always good for the fish either. If Arapiama are too small we only place them in the central ornamental pond to bring them on, letting our guests feed them by hand. We don’t stock species that we feel will only be to the detriment of existing species. And we only stock in sizes that ensures one species simply doesn’t start predating on another that has already been stocked. We don’t stock cold-water fish species in a tropical lake, as they will never grow and simply be unhappy, unhealthy fish.
Below is one of our latest additions in January, although it’s just a tantalizing glimpse of another monster introduced into Jurassic late in the night. You’ll have to watch this space to find out exactly how big.
Another feature for our guest’s stay here at Jurassic is our wonderful Sunday Roast Dinners. Lamb is a real favourite with both angling guests and those who simply take a lazy Sunday drive up from Hua Hin to enjoy the food and panoramic views.
To see this months newsletter out, heres a few more catches…….
Jason from Hull came fishing with us towards the end of the month. Having fished elsewhere in Thailand, we was hopeful he would have a good first day so he will choose Jurassic next time round. This day the fish obliged and Jason with his first two casts of the day produced two hook ups, but the first fish got off right at the moment we told Jason how easy it is to pull small hooks on fish with big mouths! No matter, a few moments later the buzzer went into full song again with a screaming run from yet another Indian, which made a great account of itself stripping line to the other side of the lake, before coming to the net, this was to be the first of many carp for Jason and he ended the day if not in double figures very near, and vowed to return.
For those looking for “exotic” species how about this Unusual Koi Siamese Hybrid? Ted captured this during his 2nd three day visit to Jurassic in as many months. Ted came with 2 other mates on his first trip in December but in truth it was more about the party than the fishing. This time though Ted nailed all the fish he wanted except
the elusive Arapaima.
Jamie from the US also came and spent the day chasing Arapiama and carp. Early in the day a large fish on the predator rod managed to shed the hook mid fight, but Jamie did manage to bank carp right at last knockings.
Finally this months catch report wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the Bowen family. Matt, brought his brother and father along to Jurassic for a family reunion of sorts, Matts father Win is not much of the fishermen really but the fish are not to know that of course and Win immediately upon casting out hooked up with one of our biggest Arapiama only for it to shed the hook after a few minutes, battle, but Win was then fortunate enough to hook into a large carp shortly after as a consulation prize.
Then it was Gareth’s turn for some action with a nice Indian carp. Then Matt struck a very finicky bite which met with a lunging weight on the end of the line and within moments it was obvious another Arapiama had joined battle. After a 40 minute or so fight and several failed netting attempts an 80kg Arapiama was in the bag…just in time for lunch! In the last week a lot of Arapiama have been hooked and lost, so its nice to see a few finally getting to the net, and for us to be able to show pictures of some of our better fish.
Although there have been many more visitors to Jurassic this month and we can’t mention them all, we hope you get some idea of what a few days at Jurassic can produce. Next month we have some exciting new opportunities to anglers visiting Jurassic for a day or more. So watch this space for more news about what is rapidly becoming Thailand’s most popular fishing resort.
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