 I have received recently a couple of emails from angling buddies who were wondering why I was not sending anymore emails reporting some of our outstanding fish catches here in Thailand. They say they miss the reading of these emails, and more especially having a look at the pics of the fish. Now that a couple of you have told me they are missing my updates, I feel kind of guilty of having been "lazy" for a while. So thanks to these buddies asking me to write again about what is happening with Fishing Adventures Thailand.
Here we go:
John Merritt (above left) displaying his record 29.50 kg giant pangasius or Chao Phraya giant catfish. This IGFA Pending world record is the new All Tackle world record for the giant pangasius (aka Chao Phraya giant catfish). The record fish was a splendid 29.50 kg (almost 65 lb) captured at Bung Sam Lan by another UK angler (should I say again), our good friend John Merritt. John's 29.50 kg catch breaks the 25.50 kg former record held since May 24, 2005 by Finnish angler Petteri Venho, another client of ours.
Piet Dorchain (above right) displaying his 160 lb cracking cat... - for the Mekong giant catfish species, we had lots of catches over the 30 kg mark, but the most outstanding one has to be without a doubt the lovely 73 kg (160 lb) landed by my Dutch amigo Piet Dorchain, a several times return client, fishing with us again this past October.
Stephen Jesty (above left) , helped by pro guide Noi, displays his lovely 47 kg (103 lb) giant carp. - this year, September and October turned out to be the two very best months for Siamese giant carp. The carp were really feeding well, and numerous of them got landed by our clients - who for the anecdote come for most of them from the UK. In September, we had many carp catches (and as usual for that fish species, lots of misses too) though none was - according to my strict personal standards - of the size I would qualify of "super biggie". Not giant ones yet but already big enough for the angler to be very pleased. The two best carp catches were respectively a lovely 31 kg (68 lb) caught by our faithful numerous times return client Tim Webb (born in England but living in Australia), and a nice 29 kg (64 lb) landed as well by a return client, wellknown UK match fisherman John Merritt.
Mark Swaby (above right) with a mouth almost as big as his 103 lb Catlocarpio.. - October delivered two superior carp catches, two fish over the 100 pounds mark, both catches being weighed at 47 kg (103 lb) on our certified scale. The first one was caught by UK angler Stephen Jesty, who was on his first fishing trip to Thailand. The second one being caught by UK globetrotter angler Mark Swaby, who was also visiting Thailand for the very first time....and for sure not the last.... 
202 lb of it....you earned your bragging rights, Adrian, with that catch of a lifetime (above)... - waaoow, we are talking now of a a helluva catch! A few days ago, on November 21, 2007, Sheffield angler Adrian Hancock, who was on his second fishing trip with us, fought for almost an hour and a half on "light tackle" - a combo 6.6 ft Pro Kik custom built spinning rod + Shimano Sustain 4000 reel spooled with 40 lb PowerPro line - a gigantic 92 kg (202 lb) Arapaima he hooked up on a small size live Tilapia, before finally taming the beast. Adrian's outstanding catch is now the biggest Arapaima ever caught by an angler at the Ratchaburi lake, followed by Joe Taylor's 85 kg (187 lb) and Tim Webb's 78 kg (171 lb). There are much bigger Arapaima at our new latest destination. I am confident that sooner or later someone is gonna catch an even bigger fish. Until then, well done, Adrian, you have earned your bragging rights, mate.....!!
My bald brother Peter Collingswoth with his 9.87 kg world record Redtail catfish (above left) ..- we added another two more records - one in September and one in October - to our current tally of 134 IGFA world records (130 homologated + 4 pending homologation).
While checking out in the IGFA records which records could be targeted, I found out that the freshwater fly category for the redtail catfish was fully vacant. No fly angler had ever submitted a Redtail catfish in any tippet class. For a guy like me who is always looking for new challenges, it was perfect. Not being a fly angler myself - cuz' I like to catch fish...(lol) - I had to ask the help of a few good fly anglers of my friends to finalize what I had in mind. The first one saying OK to my invitation to go after any of these vacant records was UK based in Hong Kong John Michell. John, who had previously set with us two freshwater fly records for the Barramundi in October 2006, came to Thailand last July and succeeded to set a first entry in the 16 lb tippet class with the catch of a 12.12 kg Redtail catfish.
On November 1, 2007, my "bald brother" Peter Collingsworth, the founder of the UK's best outfitting agency, Angling Direct Holidays, with whom I share a special bond, set himself a second record, this time for the 20 lb tippet class, with the catch of a 9.87 kg Redtal catfish. Next, he was extremely close to set another record for the 12 lb class, but the catfish he had on sadly manage to unhook itself during the fight...
Dave Irving (above right) displaying one of his Tambaqui catches, caught on floating bread...a Tambaqui catch (in fact two of them) by my good friend Dave Irving. Dave, a UK angler based now in Japan, is a regular client of ours. I am not sure how many trips he has done with us through the years but it has to be at least more than twenty. The Tambaqui, a non native Thai fish species imported years ago from South-America, is not an easy one to catch. So far we have only caught 7 of them. This past October, Dave, using his own method (floating bread) at Ratchaburi Lake, hooked up various species including not less than 3 Tambaqui, landing two and losing the third one on a broken line (he was fishing on a very light 6 lb mono line). 
Darren Bailey (above)admiring his 3 kg Arawana catch... - congratulations to another UK angler, Darren Bailey, who also belongs to Angling Direct Holidays' management. Darren caught recently the biggest ever Arawana - a 3 kilos specimen - caught by an angler at Ratchaburi.
Roberto Ferrario (above left) and one of his numerous big size Redtail catfish catches.... - another angler deserving a special mention is Italian globetrotter angler and freelance sport fishing writer Roberto Ferrario. I had not fished with Roberto since his first trip to Thailand in August 2001. It was a great pleasure to meet him again and to spend some good time fishing with him. Though the fish were a bit touchy for a few days at the Ratchaburi lake when Roberto came, he ignored the difficult conditions and did extremelly well with lure fishing. The special mention I give him is for "killing" them Redtail catfish, though the fishing conditions were not the easiest. Roberto caught lots of them. numerous being of big size.
A splendid 5 kilos mark giant snakehead caught by Aussie angler Charles Papper (above right).- congrats as well to my Aussie amigo, Charles Papper. Charles, who came recently with his wife Sue (a very good female angler) for a 3 days trip at the Ratchaburi Lake hooked up on lure a nice 5 kilos mark giant snakehead. Well done Charly!
Maxime "la durite" Marguerat....a kid who can fish I'm telling ya'....(above left) - my special mentions would not be complete if I was not adding the name of a young French angler, Maxime Marguerat, a kid of 11 years old. Max who came with his dad for a 4 days trip at the Ratchaburi Lake amazed me with the talent he already displays as a junior angler. For the anecdote, on two mornings of the trip, that kiddo put both his dad and myself to shame by catching on lure several predators, while we were struggling to get a bite. Call that "luck" if you like...anyway the bottom line is he whooped us big time...
Because nobody is gonna give me a special mention - though I feel honestly I do deserve one (lol) - please allow me to give it to myself for two particular recent catches that I felt good about: - a 21 kg Redtail catfish I caught in October on Rapala (Floating Magnum 11 cm). - a 30 kg Redtail catfish I caught in November on a dead Tilapia. That 30 kg Redtail catfish is today the biggest ever caught by an angler at the Ratchaburi lake (above right). Hoping to see you soon in Thailand, or whenever you feel it is time to catch some good fish!
Thank you very much for reading me amigos & lots of love to all of you,
Jean-Francois Helias
IGFA Representative - Thailand.
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