Until the present, only five “big ones” weighing over the 220 lb. mark have ever been landed. One of 135 kilos was landed by local angler Lung Dam Bung Sam Lan; the four others being caught by Jean-Francois Helias' Fishing Adventures Thailand, a freshwater fishing guide service agency known on the international sport fishing scene to be one of the very best in the world.

The first one they landed was in December 2000. Jean-Francois’ team was guiding legendary Dutch fishing writer and editor of the carp fishing magazine Karper. That fish was estimated to be near the 240 lb. mark and was certainly a tiny bit heavier.



“After that first catch” says Jean-Francois, “we had another 30 takes or so by Arapaima until August 2001, which was a very good score considering how elusive and cautious that giant predator is. We knew exactly their respective territories at the lake, their behavior, and what bait was best to tempt them. But sadly, none of these hooked up Arapaima were landed. Clients were loosing them one after another, mainly due to broken line after the fish had snagged it around structures. At other times fish were throwing the bait or getting unhooked during the fight.”

At last, during August of 2001, they succeeded in landing a second fish. That beast was taken by their client and good friend Joe Taylor from the UK.  The team was guiding Joe for 12 days at the lake. The huge Arapaima weighed in at an impressive 185 kg. It had a length of 263 cm and a girth of 185 cm.

“Joe Taylor’s catch of a lifetime was more than well deserved” added Jean-Francois. Before catching that fish, he had experienced a total of 7 Arapaima bites during his two previous visits in Thailand to fish with us. As in many other fields of endeavor, persistence is one of the best assets for anyone to succeed!”



The text that follows, written years ago by Jean-Francois Helias, relates that unforgettable night on the 26th August, 2001 when his Fishing Adventures Thailand teammates and the legendary UK globetrotter caught the gigantic 185kg Arapaima. A catch which is still today - and certainly for many more years to come - the unofficial record of the Southeast Asian biggest fish ever caught on rod and line.

“It was around 01:00 that night when the 185 kg monster Arapaima gigas decided to take our fish filet bait. As usual, powerful and unstoppable once hooked, the huge predator fish rushed through all the obstacles it could find underwater. The Arapaima went absolutely everywhere, snagging the line several times around pillars of a wooden bridge and stilts of near by bungalows. Its unique strength and speed was amazing to observe. It ran non-stop for a while, and then stopped, showing itself later several times at surface level, far away, at the other end of the lake.

Two of my guides then proceeded with the strategy we use when the angler's line is snagged on obstacles, to save his catch. One of them spent an hour swimming, often underwater, to find out where the snagged line was. Meanwhile the second one, every time necessary, was spooling out the line from the reel, cutting it, getting it free from the snags, and promptly re-tying the two line pieces. The angler, Joe Taylor, would then take contact again with the monster fish and fight it until he got snagged once more.

It took a total of two very long hours before the fight could be ended. One hour was spent working on the snagged line, and another 60 minutes for the tug of war with the giant fish. In accordance with IGFA rules, you can guess that fighting the fish in this manner wouldn't have been sanctioned as an All Tackle World Record. Too bad, our Arapaima catch was almost three times bigger than the one holding the IGFA record at that time: a fish of "only" 67.13 kg, caught in the Rupununi River, Guyana, by a certain Ed Migdalski, in April 1953.

This battle occurred on a Saturday night and about 50 Thai people stopped fishing and came to watch the action. Once the fish was netted, a huge ovation from the Thai crowd congratulated all of us.  The applause was first for Joe Taylor, as the “angling hero" of the day, and then for us, the Fishing Adventures Thailand team, his accomplices.
Every one was cheering and clapping loudly. It was a very emotional moment and a few tears came from Joe's eyes.”

Jean-Francois and his teammates added some more Arapaima catches during the following months but none was of the size that a professional guide would even dare to brag about. They had to wait almost another two years before catching their third Thai-Amazonian predator fish over the 220 lbs mark. In August 2003, while guiding a 73 year old US globetrotting angler by the name of Dale Fischer, Jean-Francois and his teammates hooked up a fish they estimated to weigh near the 310 lb. mark. Though nowadays Jean-Francois is convinced that fish was in fact, much bigger.

“When bringing that fish to the landing net we saw that it was not feeling well. It was already belly up. We did not have a good look at it, taking only 3 photos to ensure the fish was not kept too long. We gave that fish an estimated weight of 310 lbs. But when comparing the photo of Joe Taylor’s 407 lbs catch and Dale’s there is no doubt Dale’s capture was well over 350 lbs.”

“The arapaima is an extremely fragile fish. More especially the old, large ones who become stressed a lot when captured and sadly, most of the time, do not make it. It is even more complicated than that. I have seen Arapaima dying the next day after their capture even though they were hooked on lure, not deep inside their throat but outside of their mouth. On the other hand, I have also seen fish taken on live or dead fish bait which I felt were not going to survive. They were hooked very deep in the throat, but they made it. I’ve talked to several lake owners who have Arapaima in their waters. Like me, they just cannot explain why some of them die and others survive.”

Their fourth and last mega catch was a 265 lbs Pirarucu caught by their UK client Leonard Bignell during November, 2005.

Since, they have caught several more Arapaima but none of them to be considered what Jean-Francois and his team of guides would call a “super biggie”. One of them though, in the 200 lb. range, was captured by Jean-Francois last month (June 2007) and could have been a new world record as it exceeded the current 83 kg IGFA All Tackle World Record, for a fish taken in Ecuador.

“I was surveying the potential of a new destination, fishing for Redtail Catfish with one of my boys, when I hooked up that lovely fish using a live fish as bait. Once the fish was landed, we all agreed it had to be near the 200 lb. mark. The owner of that lake, who was with us that day and knows well the fish he has stocked, confirmed that our 200 lb. estimation was correct.

Unfortunately, I only had my 50 lb. certified digital scales with me. My 220 lb. certified scales were with my teammates who were guiding clients for Mekong cats at Bung Sam Lan Lake. I kissed both the fish and the record good-by. But no big deal! That 200 lb fish is now my new personal best for that species. That’s already nice enough!”

“But the best feelings I’ve had recently were to catch 3 Arapaima on lures. Two of them were in the 110 lb. category. This is an achievement that pleases me very much. There are not too many fishermen worldwide who can say they have ever caught an Arapaima. Rarer still, are the very few anglers who did it by casting a diving lure. I did it three times in 9 days of fishing!  I also missed another 5 fish that got unhooked.”



“Man, let me tell you! Humbly speaking I think I have experienced and seen a lot in 47 years of sport fishing. But until I began recently to hook these big Arapaima on lures I didn’t realize what a kick was in store for me.  Not a clue!  It is such an explosive rush of adrenaline from my toes to my bald head. There is nothing in lure fishing that can compare to the taking of your lure by an Arapaima exceeding 200 pounds and then the unique and powerful full speed run. You hang on to the butt of your rod the best that you can and wait for the fish to slow down. Out of this world!”

Jean-Francois Helias