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Fishing Tips

Fishing at Lake Bungsamran for the Giant Siamese Carp, Bangkok, Thailand

 

I arrived at Bungsamran Lake at 6am on the dot, just as the daylight was beginning to appear. It was a beautiful morning with very little breeze, the surface of the Lake was like a mirror only being disturbed by the appearance of some of the huge fish that lurk in this world class fishing water.

 

Khun Boonsong mixed the bait while he waited for me to set my rods up, the apprehension of the first cast still makes my heart beat that much faster here. Khun Boomsong is one of the leading carp specialist guides working here and what he does not know about Siamese Carp is not worth knowing.

 

The bait that he had mixed was a combination of baby milk powder, custard cream flavour, sweet corn with a few other secret ingredients (he calls it his mega mix carp bait); all this was added into the base mix of rice bran. This blend is a much wetter combination than the one we use to catch the Mekong Catfish.

 

Nothing had happened for the first half hour, so Boonsong had gone to buy breakfast; he had not been gone thirty seconds, when bingo, I had a bite, the fish ran and the line was screaming off the reel, then it just stopped (probably sensing the hook). I wound the reel to take up the slack line, I thought, maybe it had shed the hook, suddenly the line tightened as the fish moved, I immediately struck and set the hook firmly in its mouth; the fight was on!

 

After the initial excitement of hooking into the fish, I had started to look for hints as to what kind of fish it was. From my previous experiences, the Striped Catfish and the Mekong Catfish are similar; they tend to run with the bait stripping line off the reel at a fantastic rate. The Mekong and the smaller striped Catfish give long hard runs, which slowly curve in a “C” or a wide “S” shaped course.

 

The Siamese Giant Carp tend to run deep and turn suddenly in an almost zig zag path. It is hard to believe that these fish when in the water are completely weightless and you are just fighting its sheer power.

 

My line carved a classic letter “Z” and I was fairly certain that I had a carp on the end of the line.  I knew I had to take my time and play the fish, unlike the Giant Mekong Catfish the Carp has a very soft mouth and too much drag will pull the hook out. I decided to back off the drag slightly; I used an Accurate Boss Magnum 870 with Lever Drag, very fine consistent adjustments to the drag are easily achieved without moving your hands from the rod and reel. They are much easier to use than a fixed spool reel especially when fishing for the larger specimens.

 

My aim at this point was to tire the fish as quickly as possible and keep it out as far as I could; the Siamese Giant Carp are renowned for appearing to give up and roll over, then at the last minute making a dash for freedom (there are many bungalows surrounding the lake and a pier splitting it in half, many fish have been lost in between the supports and stanchions).

 

The fight was ten minutes in and I had made progress, the fish was tiring -it was not the only one, my arms were beginning to ache. After another five minutes of struggle, it made a determined sharp turn, which actually brought its side out of the water, it was a Siamese Carp.

 

The Carp made several more sharp turns and then typical to these creatures, it feigned submission, which I had been ready for. I shifted to one side and instead of letting the fish run underneath the bungalow we were in, I moved it towards the left, increasing the drag slightly and with some fancy footwork (I new those ballet lessons would come in handy one day) the last ditched run for the snags was foiled.

 

The carp made its last attempt to go deep, kicking up the silt -causing lots of bubbles of natural gas, which is trapped in the bottom of the lake- but by this time it was exhausted so was I, but the fish did not know that, Boomsong appeared, with the landing net in hand I was never more pleased to see him, he quickly prepared the deck to receive the fish.

 

We unhooked the line from its mouth and we also removed another snapped line from a previous battle which it had obviously won.

 

The Siamese Giant Carp weighed in at 25.3Kg 56lbs which was quickly returned to the lake after a couple of photographs for the album.

 

Guided by Khun (Mr.) Boonsong

 

Jason Butler is a free lance writer. He is currently residing in Thailand and enjoying life. Writing articles on Fishing and Steam engine models is a passion of his. He is also a scuba Diving Instructor with over ten years experience.

contact Jason…divebutler@hotmail.co.uk

http://www.john-tom.com/

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Carp Fishing Equipment

Saltwater Fishing- Get The Best Fishing Reels

Irrespective where you are fishing the fishing reels must be the best quality and not let you down. If you are in the process of building your fishing kit, you should pay particular attention to the kind of equipment you are putting together. A penny pinched here and there could cost you a prized trophy on any of your fishing trips. There are different sets of equipment for different game. You definitely so not want to fish for shark with a rod and reel designed to go after carp do you? As you gain experience an angler you will be adding equipment to your fishing gear. You should only add the best and proven equipment if you want to prevent frustration and disappointment on any of your fishing trips.

The reel on your fishing rod is a very important bit of equipment, especially if you are fishing in the salt waters of the deep seas. The size of the fish that you can hook can be monstrous and put up a big fight when you try to land it. The reel is essentially a set of gears that facilitate reeling in a huge weight. When you hook a large fish such as a Marlin or a shark you will ensure that you are able to bring it in without losing your equipment. This is the reason many fishing boats have a seatbelt for the angler and a fastening system for the rod as well. The saltwater fishing reel is designed to lock in a way that will prevent the reel from un-winding. The gears on the reel facilitate the angler to effortlessly reel in the fish a little at a time.

If you hook a large fish it is going to put up a great fight to prevent you from bringing it in. You will have to be patient if you do not want to lose your hook and lure. Reel in the fish slowly allowing it to swim and trash around in the water. If your fishing rod is secured to the boat you do not have to worry about losing it, at the most you will have to cut the line and let the fish go. But if you have patience, and the right equipment, you can have the biggest fish for a trophy. Basically you’re fishing reel and line is what should not let you down.

Salt water fishing reels differ in size and use. A reel too big will not serve the purpose of fishing for smaller fish and a small reel will not be any use when you are fishing for big game. Experience will teach most of what you need to know about fishing and the equipment that is just right for the game you are after. Experienced anglers will teach you where to get that equipment from.

Abhishek is an avid Fishing enthusiast and he has got some great Fishing Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 116 Pages Ebook, “Fishing Mastery!” from his website http://www.Fishing-Masters.com/772/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

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Fishing Tips

Carp: Oily fish, Freshwater fish, Cyprinidae, Common carp, Crucian carp, Grass Carp, Silver carp, Bighead carp, Koi, Goldfish, Oranda, Pearlscale, Angling, Mirror carp, Carp fishing, Rough fish

Product Description
Carp is a common name for various species of an oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. Some consider all cyprinid fishes carp, and the family Cyprinidae itself is often known as the carp family. In colloquial use, however, carp usually refers only to several larger cyprinid species such as Cyprinus carpio (common carp), Carassius carassius (Crucian carp), Ctenopharyngodon idella (grass carp), Hypophthalmi… More >>

Carp: Oily fish, Freshwater fish, Cyprinidae, Common carp, Crucian carp, Grass Carp, Silver carp, Bighead carp, Koi, Goldfish, Oranda, Pearlscale, Angling, Mirror carp, Carp fishing, Rough fish

Fishing Tips

Maize carp bait?

Maize is a bizarre bait. At times carp seem to stuff themselves silly on the little yellow grains. The majority of carp anglers that I encounter who use maize seem to prefer to use it uncooked after a 24 hour soak in flavored water. In this form the grains are bullet-hard and pass straight through the carp more or less intact. I feel that maize is a hundred times more effective if it is not only soaked for at least 2-3 days, but is also then cooked for about thirty minutes. After this prepa­ration most of the grains split and soften and they are far more palatable.

 

Maize takes on flavor very well and I have also found that it benefits from the addition of a sweetener of some kind. This does not necessarily have to be an artificial sweetener but could quite easily be ordinary white sugar, icing sugar or caster sugar. On the rare occasions that I use maize in France, I flavor a large bucket of 5 kilos of maize with 20ml Strawberry and 500g of ordinary
sugar. The flavor is added to the sugar which is then dissolved in boiling water which is in turn poured over the maize. I add sufficient boiling water to cover the maize by an inch or so, then leave the grains to soak up the sweetened, flavoured water for 24-72 hours, then I boil the grains for half an hour.

After boiling, return the cooked maize and the water in which they have been boiled to the bucket and allow them to cool. Do not drain off the water as contin­ued soaking will encourage the cooked maize to ferment. The liquor will thicken and the maize will start to leak its attractive sugars. The maize is then at its most effective. I am encountering fewer and fewer waters  where maize is still effective. For many years it was the bait of choice for most French carp anglers as well as with visiting carp men from all over Europe, but with the enormous growth in the popularity of carp angling in France, the widespread use of maize is proving less and less effective.

On the other hand, maize is not a popular particle bait in the UK and provid­ed the bait is properly prepared and applied, I see no reason why it shouldn’t be successful on many British carp lakes.

www.carp-tricks.blogspot.com

Carp fishing blog with loads of usefull information about carp fishing carp fishing tricks