I went Bangkok from the 24th of December to the 28th for Sid's friend's wedding.
On one of our free days there, he brought me to this catch-and-release pond called Bang Sam Rum (or something like that....) and we went fishing!
This is the first fish I caught, it's a Mekong Catfish, and they grow to really big sizes, even bigger than this! And they can only be found in Thailand.
This fish I caught is about 20+kg!
Well, because this is my first time fishing, I had some help from Sidney.
See the yellow thing I'm wearing around my waist? There are two grooves at the sides to "hold" your fishing rod in place (because you literally have to fight with the fish! They are really strong.)
I was lucky because the first fish I caught was on a "foul hook", not sure if it's correct. It basically means instead of the fish getting hooked in the mouth, the hook got hooked to the side or the tail. In this case, it was the tail.
I felt so bad because when I was reeling it in, the fish was upside down!
SO POOR THING!!!
I kept telling him the fish very poor thing and I felt like stop reeling it in.
But anyway, when it got to the bridge I was standing on, it struggled and it was very hard to get it into the net.
Having not exercised in a while, and this crazy fat fish was damn strong, it was quite difficult.
Sidney had to take over at some point in time because the yellow hip guard I was wearing (it's his) was too big and kept sliding around my hips...
Anyway, the fish is super slippery (slimy) and it has no scales!
Imagine me a 45kg human trying to catch something about half my weight for the first time. My biceps were killing me.
You can't really tell in the first photo, but this fish was weirdly fat in the stomach, like it just ate a really full meal, haha!
This was my second fish that I caught, with less help from Sidney. Very big right!?
But I assure you, Sidney says there are much bigger ones.
And they have no teeth because they're vegetarian. Many of the fish we caught had like "battle scars" from old hooks.
I caught another one after this, largely without Sid's help and it was a pity because he was trying to hold on the belt of the yellow thing because it kept slipping around, so he couldn't help me take photos! :(
But never mind!
Here comes a big one!
I look like shit in this photo but anyway, the main subject is the fish, so guess how heavy!?
It took me about 5+/-mins of physical exertion to catch my smaller fishes...
Our guide called Boy (don't ask me why, think it's a Thai thing) told us to catch larger fishes we should go to the end of the pond, due to the water flow affecting oxygen flow, etc...
So we were there for quite long but he kept catching the sizes I managed to catch.
Until this fish got hooked (we couldn't see because they're underwater)...
Apparently, smaller fishes when hooked will swim a bit further away and later it's easy to reel in, but big fishes will get hooked and just swim away with the hook in it's mouth and the line will just run.
So when this fatty fish got hooked, the line kept running and when I pulled up the rod (Sid was standing behind me, helping to keep me steady) and I tried to reel it in, the thing just couldn't turn! I felt damn embarrassed because a lot of people came to watch (not many girls fished and our position was near the place's restaurant).
Anyway, I was telling Sid I couldn't reel in at all and he sort of gave me a look of disbelief and he took over. After fighting the fish for more than 15 minutes, he was at the other end of the pond and after help from 3 other guys to lift it up from the net to the deck, the fish is about 60+kg!
Crazy right?! Heavier than me!
He was so tired we stopped after that, and we went back to our hotel.
Sid says it's his biggest fish so far, and the biggest Mekong Catfish he ever caught too.
The weather in Bangkok was surprisingly cold, like 16+ degrees, so even though I was fighting with the fish, I didn't sweat at all!
Really great trip! :)
