Who's Bad? Fishing with Badboy in Bangkok

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My boys have been bugging me to post a Catch Report to share our experiences in Bangkok since we returned on 17 Dec. With my wife and 2 kids in tow, our escapade was nothing like the lyrics in the song, "One night in Bangkok" by Murray Head.

"One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me"

The 'angel' sliding up to me was Badboy and boy was I lucky he's NOT a 'she'. But seriously, my boys were thrilled to meet him in person having watched him countless times in the "River Monster" episode about Giant Stingrays on Discovery Channel. Badboy told me some anecdotes about Jeremy Wade which I shall confine to the annals of fishing folklore.

"Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine"

Boy, did we get our kicks and plenty of sunshine! Three days of absolute fishing bliss at Pilot, Boonma and Bungsamrun. We hooked up more fish on flies then we did in a year's fly fishing here in Singapore and that's no exaggeration.



Pilot111 is a nice little fishing enclave nestled in the suburbs of Bangkok just about an hour's ride from our hotel in the Pratunam shopping area. The resort is dotted with about 10 ponds each housing different specie of fish - Barramundi, Pacu, Snakehead, Belida, Asian redtail, etc. At each pond stands a shady hut with a sign designating the specie in the pond.





In the middle is a nice little dining chalet serving delicious Thai cuisine operated by the owner's wife. The owner and his lovely wife reside in a splendid bungalow near the premises which would not look out of place in our district 10. Badboy said that they owned most of the land from where we turned off the main road. Wow.



We set up base at the diner and quickly set up our fly rods and reels. Tied up some Surf Candies to the leader and we were good to go. Badboy taught my boys to make noisy splashes by 'slapping' the water with our flies. Apparently, this imitates the feeding of baitfish. Soon after, both D & G were hooked up on nice table sized Barramundis.















Me? I was laying out line beautifully... without a splash... admiring my fly line rolling out smoothly. Slowly stripping the fly so as not to spook the fish and tip-toeing my way around the pond. Watching my boys landing fish after fish from afar, I was beginning to feel discouraged. Badboy was laughing at me, "Brotheeeer, why your son catch more fish than you?"

"Time flies -- doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it
All change -- don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue"

Sheepishly, I retreated to one corner. Aiyah, if I cannot beat them might as well join them. So I resorted to slapping the water with my fly and zipping the fly through the water with dizzying speed. Soon I was landing fish after fish as well. Phui, so much for the stealthy approach and blending with the environment as expounded by countless fly fishing textbooks.



"One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me"

The devil, Badboy, took my boys to the Pacu pond. There, they had a bountiful catch also. Meanwhile, I tried the Belida pond. Cast after cast... no take. The Toman pond was dominated by a bunch of Japanese fishermen casting lures. So, did not try there. Try the Asian Redtail, also no luck. Sheepishly again, I followed in Badboy's trail and ventured over to the Pacu pond. One cast... a Pacu snatched my fly! Wah, siok leh.



Badboy then called time out and took my boys back to the Diner for a drink. "Brotheeer, are you coming?" "Er no.. I will stay awhile."

Secretly glad to have the whole pond to myself, I cast my fly to the eager Pacus. My orange-coloured Surf Candy was soon crushed to a pulp by the powerful molars of the Pacu. Just as well, as one Pacu took the orange fly and kept it for good. Took out a yellow Surf Candy and this served just as well. I must have caught and released more than 10. They were not big but just as satisfying to catch.



Lunch time rang and we were having a delicious meal at the diner. But Badboy would not be deterred, teasing up another Barramundi to tempt my boy G from his meal. Soon after, D abandon his meal as well to continue fishing. The Japanese fishermen were having their meals as well and laughingly admired my boys catching fishes on fly.





After lunch, a staff came with a bucket of baitfish to feed to the Barras. A feeding frenzy soon ensued and the Japanese tourists were casting their lures into the melee. Both my boys had multiple hookups. I retreated to the Pacu pond to continue my sojourn with the Pacus. The wind had picked up by now and this later session was not as productive as the first but I still picked up a few Pacus. Altogether, we must have hooked up more than 20.



Meanwhile, D ventured to the Belida pond to try his luck. He circled the pond and after much effort landed 2 Belidas. Have to admire his persistence. My son has out-fish me... once again. Mixed emotions of pride and embarrassment.

I wandered back to the diner for another rendezvous with the feisty Barras. Another bountiful haul brought our catch total of Barras to 30+. Evening drawn upon us with a lovely sunset ending our day at Pilot111.



END OF PART 1

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On the way back from Pilot, we stopped over at 7 Seas Proshop in Bungsamrun. Picked up 3 fishing hats and 3 sets of UV sleeves to shield us from the hot sun at Boon Ma.



BOON MA

The next day, we were picked up by taxi from our hotel at 7am to take us to Boon Ma. Boon Ma is a commercial fish farm and has more than 100 ponds collectively according to Badboy. Each pond has about 1 million baht worth of Baramundis. Badboy secured for us a 'virgin' pond, one that has not been fished before. After setting up our fly tackles, we donned our 'Stormtrooper' hats and UV sleeves to deflect the shearing heat. These items would proved to be worth their weight in gold as the day wore on.

Badboy suggested that 40lbs leaders would be sufficient, no flourocarbons needed here just plain old monofilament. I made sure that both boys had flies ready to tie on should they break off one. They already know how to tie on the flies with the Perfection Loop so no worries there. Choice of flies? Any fly will do as we soon found out. We had come prepared with 3 boxes full of flies, at least 60 assorted flies in total.



D started the ball rolling with the first cast and was on to a Barra immediately. G followed in his footsteps and countered with another. This was a precedence for double & triple hookups. The pond was tranquil and deceiving. There were no ripples or splashes, even the pumps were not operating. But underneath the surface must be thousands upon thousands of Barras.





I strolled over to the corner and stripped out the belly of the 6wt WF floating fly line. Loaded my 5wt rod and backcast... two false cast... a single haul on the line and then let it rip. The fly line floated out in a 'C' loop. The leader rolled out nicely and landed about 40-50ft out. Waited for the leader to sink and started stripping back the line with short quick strokes. A few quick strips was all that was needed to feel a tug on the line. My casting fingers clamped the line down against the rod and I lifted the rod. The line shot straight out, spewing up sprays of water. FISH ON!



The fly line on the ground flew up in a flurry from the pull exerted by the fish. My line hand fed out the excess line until all line was taken up to the reel. Then reel sang. I kept my hands off the knob as it spun wildly. I had a stiff rod and it kept the Barra in check, applying pressure to slow the fish down. The Barra made a spectacular leap out of the water and landed with a noisy splash... another leap, head shaking violently. My rod followed the leaping Barra, maintaining tension. When the Barra stopped its acrobatics, I pumped and reeled in the line. It was not the biggest of specimens but a very healthy 4-5kg fish.



After capturing countless trophies on fly with effortless ease, both D & G decided to try their hands at spinning lures. We had brought along a whole bunch of poppers & lures. Badboy helped set up their spinning tackle and prep up the leaders. Soon, they were casting lures and landing fish all over. Again, any lure seems to work. Even my wife, a complete novice, was able to hook and land a couple of Barras on fly and lure. The Barras were that hungry and all 'virgins'.

Me, I was having too much fun landing Barras on flies. It was literally 1 cast 1 fish. It came to a stage where I did not bother to put back the line onto the reel. I just stripped the fly line on the ground, unhook the fish and cast out again. I even engaged Badboy in idle chit-chat whilst fighting the fish. We discovered that we have a lot in common, both of us ride motorbikes and both of us have an 8 year old child. And of course we both love fishing.



I had brought along my 8wt and 10wt but there was no need to bring out the heavy artillery. And since G took to spinning lures, I decided to use his 4wt instead of my 5wt for better feel and challenge. As the fish were not big, my 5wt was a bit of an overkill. The 4wt proved to be a delight for casting and working on these medium sized fish. With this rod, I was really enjoying my tussles with the Barras.

At around 1pm, the Dark Lord Badboy called time - we were given a half hour to wrap things up. At this point, we must have landed more than 50 Barras. As the half hour trickled away, the Dark Lord said, "Brotheeeeer, 2 more fish okay?". At this time, G had already called it a day. But D and I could not get enough and we savoured the excitement of our last 2 Barras catches.



Sadly, all good things must end. Badboy then took us for a belated lunch back at Pilot. When we got back to hotel we were really drained, our battery level probably showing only 1 or 2 bars left as my boy would say.

We apologized for the lack of action shots as most of the leaping, head-shaking action was captured on video and the trophies were captured with still photos.

END OF PART II

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BUNGSAMRUN

After re-cooperating from the trashing by the Barras at Boon Ma, we were ready for the legendary Mekongs at Bungsamrun. I had hope to try my 10wt fly on the Mekongs but Badboy said that the owner do not allow fly rods to be used there. I was disappointed but I suspect this was to spare me any embarrassment. After sampling the power of the Mekong catfish, I realized that a 10wt was no match for the Mekongs - it would be foolhardy to try.

We brought out our Travel rods - Shimano Axis STC S60-70 & S70-80 with Baitrunners 4000 & 6000 running 30lb and 40lb lines. Badboy must have been snickering under his breath, hehehe.



The terminal rig comprised of monofilament leader, a sliding float, beads, bomb rig and a short dacron line attached to a hook. A rubber band is utilized as a sliding stop to the float. The leader is then attached to the main line via an FG knot.

Badboy started preparing the bait which a mixture of 'kng', coconut milk and butter milk. The mix should not be too dry or too wet. It should throw up a mist like a mushroom cloud when it lands in the water . It looks easy but I could not make the dough stick to the 'bomb' rig.







We were soon to find out that our tackle were hopelessly outgunned. The S70-80 was barely able to contain an average sized Mekong and we were bullied by them on the S60-70. The Thai locals must have been laughing at our foolishness as they were using mainly standup rods and multiplier with 80lb braided line.



The first Mekong hooked up told us we were in BIG trouble. Thankfully, I think Badboy knew exactly what he was doing and somehow we were mercifully spared any encounter with a monster Mekong. Next time, I will be better prepared with my standup rods and after I have schooled my kids in the use of a multiplier.





What can I say about Mekongs? Well, they are bruisers like an aquatic Mike Tyson. They lulled you into a false sense of confidence when they tamely followed the line in and you think, aha, you have the measure of the beast. But once in close quarters, they really messed you up by running rings around you. Diving under the platform structure, swimming under and across to the other side of the lake. There was not much we could do but hang on with our puny sticks.





One fish took me underneath the platform and clear through the other side of the pond. With Badboy coaching me, I managed to slowly pulled him back. There was another that did not stop running until it reached the bungalows on the other side of the pond. Then it just allowed me to tow him back without a struggle.







I suspect that Badboy intentionally target these medium sized Mekongs to give us a fighting chance. And he spared the Siamese carps from our foolishness as we did not hit any although I requested that 1 rod be used to target them. A good guide knows you better than you know yourself.







Boy G only managed like 4-5 Mekongs before he petered out and joined Mummy for a spell of shopping at a nearby shopping mall. D was more game and landed maybe 10 or more Mekongs. I managed a few myself but was playing backup mainly for situations which they could not handle. All in, I think we managed to landed about 20 Mekongs between 15-30kgs. What we lacked in size was made up for in ample quantity.





Except for a short lunch break, we have been fishing since 9am. I believe D was still game but G was ready to call it quits. We wanted to sample the legendary Mekong catfish and we did. So, we decided to end our fishing at 5pm.



At the end of the day, I asked my children which pond did they prefer. I was surprised when they chose Pilot for the challenge. They felt that Boon Ma was too easy. Bungsamrun was a tug of war, a physical challenge which they were not fully equipped for. All in all, a very pleasant 3 days of fishing which I hope they will remember for a looong time.

END OF CR

[swoffer]

Amazing write-up and photos! Thanks for sharing, the boys must be thrilled! Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays.

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Dec 25, 2010 14:58:02 GMT 8 swoffer said:

Amazing write-up and photos! Thanks for sharing, the boys must be thrilled! Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays.

Thanks swoffer for the holiday greetings. We wish the same for you.

Thanks also for reading our 'little' report. It's our pleasure to share the experience with you. This was a trip I planned months ago and my boys enjoyed it VERY much - it showed in their GRINS. ;-)

[ninetail]

Uncle, nice holiday trip there. I see potential anglers in the making.. ;D ;D

[azlan123]

hi bro
it looks fantastic. i want some of that too!
can you send me bad boy's contact? email address or mobile phone?
cheers ;D
eric, hong kong