Monster Giant Freshwater Stingray Captured Again

Last month saw us filming with NHK channel from Japan.

In a one week expedition funded by the Japanese TV station the Fishsiam team captured six different fish from both the Ban Pakong and Maeklong Rivers.

Pregnant female

We were joined by Dr.Zeb Hogan from the National Geographic society and Megafish project throughout the week with the US scientist carrying out various scientific examinations on all fish captured.

The first day was spent on the Maeklong River and saw the team catch two relatively small Giant freshwater stingray’s.

Both fish were acoustically tagged before being released.

The second day saw the team capture another small male stingray on the first tide.

The second tide saw the team fishing a wide section of the river in the lower reaches and hooking a massive Giant freshwater stingray.

With Dr.Hogan and the NHK film crew in attendance I battled the fish for 3.5 hours before having to get a few of the guys to continue fighting the fish for a further 30 minutes.

Rick and the Giant Stingray

After safely netting the fish the fish was identified as being the same fish previously caught by Ian Welch by a previously attached numeric tag.

On inspection at the riverside the fish appeared to have dropped in weight slightly I would estimate the fish’s weight to still be in the 250kg+ region.

The fish was quickly returned after a brisk inspection by Dr.Hogan and was observed to be in a healthy condition.

On release the fish swam away strongly.

The biggun was caught exactly one month to the day after the previous capture from an area a considerable distance from the site of the first capture.

This fish has been fitted with a state of the art tagging device and is currently being tracked by recievers placed at various intervals along the river.

During the week the team also visited the Ban Pakong River and caught several other fish to an estimated 180kg+.

After finishing the NHK production we also filmed a reconstruction for another National Geographic show of the capture of a big freshwater stingray from the Ban Pakong River last year.

After blanking on the Ban Pakong we moved back to the Maeklong River and within minutes of positioning the baits my partner hooked and landed a monster freshwater stingray of an estimated 180kg’s+.