Fishing Adventures Thailand

Fish English Name: Siamese giant carp Local Name: Pla Caho Scientific name: Catlocarpio siamensis Fish Weight: 53.00 kg (~117 lbs) Catch Place : Thailand Catch date : 18th February 2004 Angler's name: Terry Robert Mather, England Guiding: Fishing Adventures Thailand / Jean-Francois Helias

Terry's 53 kg giant carp

34 kg giant carp

Last year at the same period (February 2003), my good friend and return client Bruce Dale from England invited some of his best Geordie mates to join him on a fishing trip to Thailand. One of them was a lovely lad by the name of Terry Robert Mather, a game keeper who doesn't have any spare time to fish in his homecountry.

From their first day fishing to the end of their trip, Terry turned out to be the luckiest angler I've ever met. On day 1, he caught a 25.00 kg Chao Phraya Giant Catfish, setting a new IGFA All Tackle world record for this predator catfish species. The next day Terry did it again. He landed this time a 56.50 kg Mekong Giant Catfish which is still today the current IGFA record. Then we headed up for upcountry for some more days fishing in the jungle where Terry hooked up a 6.00 kg Spotted Featherback, again current IGFA record.

Terry's 20 kg giant catfish

This year Bruce & Terry booked us for 5 days and 3 nights. And again Terry stole the show!

On Feb. 18, a French Canadian angler by the name of Francois Cadieux had the chance to experience a Siamese giant carp's bite, landing a 25.00 kg. One hour later, Terry showed to everyone he did not lose at all his very special luck, hooking up a 53.00 kg giant carp (the second biggest ever caught by our clients). This carp gave an amazing fight due to the fact she had only one eye.

Yesterday morning Feb. 19, Terry went on landing an Arapaima of 37.00 kg. This Arapaima was a nice welcome catch to break at last a kind of jinx we felt having. We experienced a total of 7 Arapaima bites within the last 3 days, including bites of 2 big ones well over the 150 kg mark, but failed to finalize a catch due to fish getting unhooked and one broken line.

..and a 37 kg Arapaima

These 2 catches were already nice enough to say that Terry's 2004 trip was a successful one. But Terry, I told you, is a very lucky guy. He proved it by catching next another giant carp, of 34.00 kg this time.

We spent last night fishing together, catching several good size Chao Praya giant catfish with a new bait that we are testing for this species and Arapaima too. This new bait proved to be absolutely great. It works very good with both species. Terry again landed the biggest Chao Praya catfish, a big size 20.00 kg.

It is almost 11.00 am right now here in Thailand. We are entering soon our last afternoon fishing after a tiring fishing marathon with very little sleep. Terry and I are fishing for the giant carp. I'm expecting anything at anytime from him to confirm he is one of the very few anglers on earth to have this kind of perpetual luck......

Francois
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