Record 76.3kg Giant Mekong Catfish!It was a misty morning at Bung Sam Ran when my Wife Kag and I turned up, to say goodbye to some clients from the UK we was hosting for Siam Fishing Tours, that had chosen to stay a couple of nights on the lake. Kag decided that we would enjoy a days fishing too ourselves for a change. So we said our goodbyes and sat back to a nice coffee, when our Thai friend Joe turned up, he had booked the Bungalow next door, then also who should stroll onto the lake but Jep, another of our friends! He had pulled a sicky for the day! Well that was it! The first time the lads had come together this year, we was going to enjoy our day’s fishing in comfort and style. After coffee all round it was time to fish.
Now fishing for the big ones is like a Zen styled moment, all calm and no rushing, the rod comes out methodically from its cloth cover, the reel is wiped down and attached, the bolts are tightened and re-tightened, the line is threaded, the tackle box is opened, you select your rig all whilst having a chat with your fishing partners and taking in Bungsamran’s atmosphere of expectation. You look up to the sun, feel the wind, check the temperature, look at the shade cover. This is hunting, we call ourselves Team Kiwi, A group of friends that get together and talk about the ones that got away! But best of all we break out the laptops and show pictures of the ones we landed! So here we are at the lake, when Jep decides to put out my big rod, it had just come out of the custom shop and hadn’t landed a real fish yet, it was in the sin bin, I had decided to make it watch my fishing fully rigged just to make it jealous, for three trips! Well it was baited and cast out, it sat there for about 5 minutes when Joe picked it up, he wasn’t sure if there was movement in the float, then he hit it hard! This is where all that Zen stuff just goes out the window for a few moments as the adrenalin kicks in! I looked at the run, he had the heavy drag setting and it was running smooth, and going deep this looked like a Big Fish. I grabbed the shoulder harness and ran next door, this was were the BIG problem came into it, Joe is Huge! The gimbal was a bit small for him, but we managed to squeeze him into it, then it was the shoulder harness, hhhmmmmmm ok testing time for sure, as this to is a custom piece, so we opened it up and squeezed him in. This was the first time Joe had used a harness, he fishes with a Big Penn International II on a Penn Stick, he just PULLS them in! but now with a harness he leaned back and enjoyed the fish. This is where the Zen bit comes in again, it is a slow game of Kilo Chess. Moving the fish, turning it, making it run deep, making it run long, stopping it, all of these things he did with the most amazing style! We decided to get some more witnesses as this was looking like a very good fish, so we asked Teruo Nakahigashi to come and watch knowing he is an experienced international angler, he also had a fellow Japanese angler with him, so in the style of Team Kiwi we gave them seats and a grandstand view of a world record catch. There were some impressed people looking on when the fish waved its big propeller in the air, at that point I was 100% sure it was world record material. After a 40 min fight in which the harness did it’s bit helping Joe keep the fish out of the snags, he had it along side, I was the number one net man and we managed a clean head netting, Boonsong came in with the second net and had a clean tail netting. Joe landed a Pending World Record 76.3kg Giant Mekong Delta Catfish!
Jep suddenly remembered he is off work sick, hmmmmmm explain these photos to the boss!! You think the story would end after a few pictures and a weigh, well no, as Joe was on a roll, 1 hour later he had his gold reel loaded up with a nice 32kg Carp. This was an amazing day at the lake, we had the IGFA Weigh Station just lying around and the boys just happen to turn up, it is days like this that make you think of the fishing god, and if you work hard enough then the fishing god may give you a chance, sometimes you get two! This was the best possible start to the year for Joe and Team Kiwi, this is the year that we are putting in some serious training for the first International Carp and Catfish Competition at Bungsamran this November. So you had all better get “training” because Team Kiwi looks like we have a not so secret weapon!
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