A chance to get out the Classic handmade Hyper Viper floating buzz bait fishing lure on some local snakehead and barb species. A hand finished topwater lure carved with intricate detail in the shape of a pit vipers head a truly stunning lure with stunning performance to boot.
Cheow Lan lake in the Koh Sok national park Surrathani province is a huge lake, the flooded forest below and thick jungle vegetation make perfect habitat for snakeheads.
The scenery is stunning all around, some dense jungle merges into sharp rocky cliffs and overhangs. The are hundreds of small coves and inlets. Wildlife is all around and the jungle is constantly humming with insects and possibly the loudest cicada’s in Thailand.
There were a pack of 50 or more baby snakehead a few inches long snapping at the tails of the lure again and again. Probablly just been left by the mother and father they were happy to attack anything around them.
A snakehead on a snake head. The Hyper Viper is a floating lure and with the double hooks semi weedless. This fine Giant snakehead specimen was lurking right under a mass of twisted bamboo and thick morning glory flower.
Another specimen caught by our Thai boatman from a rocky ledge surrounded by sunken trees, a perfect hideout.
Releasing a Giant snakehead fish back to its domain. Feared and even persecuted by many in the west this is really and truly a wonderful predatory fish with millions of years of evolution combining to make it near the top of the food chain in its natural habitat.
The snakeheads in Cheow lan lake seem to have the very stark and beautiful pure Black/White markings. The water in the lake is crystal and clear and deep turquoise Blue for the majority of the year so extremely exciting, explosive visual action on topwater lures.
Make the most of the casts as the boatmen do not wait around one area for long, covering a large area of the lake throughout the day. Most will have their own favourite spots so best to always go with the local advice.
The weight of the lure is almost perfect for distance casting and aerodynamic enough to hit the spots. We bagged a few Jungle perch from about 20 meters as they were herding bait fish to the surface of the water. In these circumstances they seem to take pretty much anything but you still got to get your bait to the hot zone.
We practice catch and release 99% of the time, snakeheads are targeted heavily by spear fishermen, long liners and netted. Fry are also taken for the aquarium trade. Usually the boatman will take their catch at least one to eat for dinner back at the raft houses. This jungle perch was fried up crispy and covered with a Thai spicy sauce, absolutely amazing tasting fresh clean food.
