IT(pronouce as ‘It’, not I.T) Monster Lake is a paypond that housed many amazing fishes. This lake belongs to a Mr It Khun, a sugar refinery boss who loves fishing himself. In the beginning, Mr It would import all sort of fishes from Amazon River, Chao Praya River, Mekong River etc. Fishes like araipaima, Chao Praya Catfish, Red Tail Tiger Catfish and carps, like the famous Temoleh, big head carps, rohu etc to put in his lake and he would invite some of his close angler friends over to fish them. Only lately he decides to open this monster lake to public with a minimum charge(3500bath per rod).
From my observation, Mr It does not make any profit at all from the charges he collected from anglers(only 2 anglers were fishing at the lake, me and an Irish) as he would need to pay for the maintenance cost and also the cost for feeding those monster fish every evening in his lake. Mr It feeds his monster fish with live tilapia which is not cheap. This is the reason why his monster fish are always healthy and strong.
Truck loads of Tilapia being fed to the monster fish every evening
Lots of monster fish will congregated at this area during feeding time. This would be the best time to lure for moster fish….
Thanks to Mr It, now we don’t have to travel to the Amazon river to fish for amazonian fishes like the araipaima. Although according to John, not every angler would be the lucky one to get the araipaima. According to him, some anglers had repeated trips before they successfully hook on an araipaima. There’re about 100 araipaimas ranging from 20 to 100 kgs in Mr It lake.
After a good night rest, 1 started my journey from Rachana to Ratchaburi at about 3am Thailand time where the IT monster Lake is located. John came with a Cab to fetch me there. He did not drive his SUV this time because we are suppose to stay one nite at Ratchaburi and heads to Sri Nakarin Dam at Kanchanaburi for Wild Toman and Sebarau fishing the next morning with Mr Pipom 4X4. Mr Pipom is a pro lurer from Thailand who also owns a paypond near Boon Ma Barramundi Farm.
We reached IT Monster Lake at about 6.00 am in the morning. After some preparation, we begin fishing at about 6.30am. John had advice me to take the ‘Lure Package’(you are allowed to use hong/dedak) which an angler must use lure or dedak/hong fishing from 6am to 2pm then switch to ‘bait fishing’ from 2pm to 6pm, a solid 12 hour fishing for 3500bath. If an angler prefer to only use ‘bait fishing’(Bait Fishing Package), the charges would double which is 7000bath for 12 hour fishing.
I started luring with my 14 footer Shimano Surfcasting Rod….
I casted for about an hour with this Thailand Handcrafted Lure……
Actually this Pacu was the first fish on my Surfcasting Rod instead of the Red Tail Tiger i posted earlier to make Okie drool…hehee……
Then i continue luring for another hour with my Surfcasting Rod before i switch to my lure casting rod…..
Suddenly, something took my lure and….sttrreeeettttttttt…..i strike and it’s hook on!!! This fish runs like a Port Klang Kurau, it’s powerful and fast!!!
It’s a Red tail Tiger, a cross breed between a Stripe Tiger Catfish and a Red tail Catfish….
Just before lunch time, few more pacus took my lure. I tested a few lures here but it’s proven once again, the Thailand Handcrafted lure work the best….
Lunch was simple, just a fried rice and kopi peng…..
After Lunch, i continue casting and a Chao Praya Catfish took my lure. Notice a black dot near the gill area(my finger covering the black mark)??? That’s the Choa Praya Cats trademark, if don’t have that mark, it would be a plabuk…..
It’s 2pm now and we are allowed to use ‘bait’ for fishing(after 2pm, you are allowed to use bait, lure or hong/dedak). Just take a guess what bait we’re gonna use for all this freshwater monster fish? I wouldn’t have guess it correctly if i didn’t see it with my own eyes….
Anyway, the Thai Fishing Guide had bought some of the ‘bait’ earlier on and had it cut into smaller pieces for fishing and ‘charming’. This is the 4th day i’ve fished with him and i’ve know better than to question his action. The ‘magical bait’ that he used works wonder. Withing the first half hour we used his ‘magical bait’, i already hook up a Red Tail Tiger….
The Thai Fishing Guide showed me the correct way to ’strike’ at this pond. He says, “KK, you must leggo about 2 meter of line out first and wait for the fish to run before you strike”. I followed his instruction and true enough, the fish that took the bait and stop, no movement at all for about 2 minutes and it would strike again and this time, it go for the run. This is went John shouted, Strike!!!
Again i gotto feel the fight of a cross breed Tiger Catfish. This fish really fight like a Kurau, fast and powerful.
The monent it reaches the shore, the ‘fish handler’(i forgot his name) would scoop it up with the extra large landing net.
I was amazed by the way they handled the fish at Bangkok. They took extra care during landing and unhooking the fish, unlike some paypond in Malaysia……
The weather was perfect for fishing that day, it was sunny throughout with a little bit of cloud. The water temperature was a warm and i’ve tasted the water, it’s a bit salty but unlike brackish water, it actually tasted like mineral water which indicates the water in that pond if full of minerals. Fishes at this pond already made this pond as their home and with this correct habitat, they breed. I’ve seen many baby fishes swim around the pond and they are growing in a healthy rate. The owner of this pond really took care of his fish.
Earlier on, the Thai Fishing Guide had landed a few pacus, some Red Tails Tiger and Red Tail Cats with his own rod and lure. During bait fishing, we are only allowed to use one rod and this is where John assisted me to get the big ones. He knows all the spot in this pond. He instructed the fish handler to ‘charm’ the correct spot for us to fish. This IT Monster Lake covers an area of 5 acres and has varying depths ranging between 2-6 metres which house many predatory fishes like the araipaima, Arowana, Redtail Tiger, Redtail Catfish, Alligator Gar , Barramundi, Chaophraya Catfish, toman, haruan and featherback species like the belida and many more.
The Thai Fishing Guide would immediately zoom to the rods whenever there’s a slight movement of the mainline. He would use a empty mineral water bottle as an indicator. He would hold the rod and leggo about 2 to 3 meter of mainline and wait for a while before he strike…..
He would wait for about a minute or two, waiting for the fish to make its next move before he would strike.
I told the Thai Fishing Guide to fight this fish because i wanted to see for myself how he handle a fish on my rod. I myself caught a few more Red Tail Cats before we decides to change spot….
At this spot, the fish handler use the Thai Fishing Guide magical bait to charm the spot before we cast our rod into it. As we was chit chatting away with our catches that day, i noticed some movement on my mainline and after a while, the mineral water bottles which act as an indicator, drops. I dash out immediately and reach for the rod. Remembering his instruction, i release about a meter or two of my mainline and waited…..”STTTTTRRRREEEETTTTTTT”, the fish that took my bait makes a run and i strike!!!, It’s a hook on!!! This fish did not fight like all the other fish we caught earlier. It moves slowly in a ‘S’ pattern like a snake. Remember the movie ananconda where one guy fish that giant snake with a monkey, and when hook on, it swirl around in circle of ‘S’. That’s exactly how this fish is moving. I tighten my line and the fish dived, taking about 30m of my mainline…..”Strrreeeeeetttttttttt”, with occasional ‘knocking’ on my line. I pumped this fish slowly and gentle, litfing my rod to a max of 45 degree angle. My short stroke technique managed to turn its head and i retrieved some of my loss line. Suddenly the fish move upwards towards the surface and showed its body and he shouted….Araipaima!!!!!
I fought this fish for about 20 minutes before it decides to give up….
The fish handler jump into the pond and gently hold the araipaima in his extra large landing net maneuvering it towards a special cage specially design for this fish…..
They gently heave the fish up and put it in the special cage…..
sorry for the poor quality photo, this is the only pic i have during the transfer of fish to net
And this is how my dream came true, i finally landed my dreamfish!!! I landed a Araipaima Gigas!!!!!
