Just another day in paradise.With some spare time to take a stroll down a nearby river and a box of Thailand made fishing flies to test, hopefully we can tempt out a little fishy or two for the MFT camera. Luckily we don't live anywhere near a city and being on the coast as well theres lots of natural wildlife so when casting around in a canal or tidal river if you keep your eyes open you can see an amazing amount of wildlife species that you might miss if you didn't have the mind to look around.
Fly fishing in Thailand. Light tackle for stalking along the river, a 10ft 7/8 OscaR travel rod Ebay bought fishing reel and a box of fishing flies made by Mango Fishing Chiang Mai.
Usinga figure of eight retrieve mixed with slow pulls and slowly dragging the bottom I hoped to pick up interest from a Snakehead (pla chon) Channa Striata searching for crustaceans or other bottom dweling prey maybe even a Marbled goby (pla bu)Oxyeleotris marmorata on my newly purchased fly fishing tackle.
This particular part of the river has lots of attention from locals with gill nets and longlines so to say its a little presured would be very conservative but its certainly not empty and you could expect to catch any number of native and non native Thailand fish species. Probablly the last one I expected to catch was a Red bellyed Pacu (pla jaramet) Colossoma brachypomum but again these fiesty fighters prove to have grown very fond of thier adopted waters.
A Pacu caught from this small river (Klong) in Thailand This one fell for a minnow pattern fly made by Mango fishing of Chiang Mai Thailand.
Pacu are a very hard fighting fish, that is for sure and this particular one was very fiesty indeed, making strong non stop left to right darts right until banked.
There is always debate about what is the strongest fighting fish and even people who would compare the fight from a Pacu with the fight from a Snakehead, this in itself is quite comical. There can not be a real comparison firstly as the two species only share the same water through importation and secondly as these two species are built for different purposes, the built for Snakehead for Surprise attack spending hours just laying in wait rather than constant swiming and circling in search of food which builds up stamina. The same example can be used for Carp vs Pike, Yes a big pike will surely give a good battle and may take some time to land but pound for pound will not last the distance against a bullish Carp.
Catching any fish is always a pleasure and to do it on your own time in a foriegn land in such an amazing setting is truly serene.
Blooms of Morning glory flower can be seen all along the riverbank. The weather at this time of year is considerably cooler than the rest of the year so that means you can actually walk around without becoming a big sweaty mess.
Blooms of Morning glory flower can be seen all along the riverbank. The weather at this time of year is considerably more cloudy and windy than the rest of the year so that means you can actually walk around without becoming a big sweaty mess.
Wild flowers are all around and insects like this wasp enjoy thier sweet nectar while a water spider lies in wait in her web built between water rushes for flying bugs to get trapped.
Amazing wildlife can be seen along this Thailand canal fishing venue. A walk along doing some fly fishing with a camera you can get some great shots.
Another hour of walking and casting pays off with another take from the resident Pacu, again on a small minnow pattern but this time about mid water and on a fairly quick jerky retrieve.
Fiesty little fighters are the Pacu, these strong amazonian fish have human like teeth that can and do cut through many leaders. Fortunatley ours were both hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth.
Two fish in the bag and the sun down behind the ever present Palm trees, time to start the walk back for this is also Snake territory.
The scenery around here is just mind blowing and every sunset and sunrise brings the most amazing colours and cloud formations.
Just another day in paradise.With some spare time to take a stroll down a nearby river and a box of Thailand made fishing flies to test, hopefully we can tempt out a little fishy or two for the MFT camera. Luckily we don't live anywhere near a city and being on the coast as well theres lots of natural wildlife so when casting around in a canal or tidal river if you keep your eyes open you can see an amazing amount of wildlife species that you might miss if you didn't have the mind to look around.
