I have never been fishing and have never been interested in the sport. But last weekend i was invited by Kevin from Plantations International to join a fishing event at JM Fishing Restaurant in Pattaya.
I was picked up at 10 am and driven to the fishing restaurant, where i set up my camera ready to film
In the next hour, others had started to turn up perpared to win the compittetion.
I was actually quite surprised by the number of people who had entered the competition and the feeling of excitement you feel at these events.
Fishing weekend
So more on the weekend, there will be a video highlighting the best of the weekend and a short interview with Kevin coming tomorrow, however, for now please enjoy the photos from the event.
Why do people like fishing?
Where should I begin… there are so many reasons why people love fishing that it’s hard to distill them down to just a few. But here goes:
- Fishing is a great way to spend lots of time outdoors. And that applies no matter whether you catch anything or not (as the old joke goes: “The fishing was good, but the catching not so much…”). and many people remember the few moments in their life being at peace with myself and the world as much as when they are out on a summer lake at sunset.
- It’s a pleasure to hone your skills in order to catch fish that are hard to catch. The challenge can be of many kinds: maybe it’s difficult to get them to bite, maybe you have to travel to distant locations in order to find them, or maybe it’s hard to win the battle against a strong fish on light tackle. In any case the fish usually have a better than even chance to avoid being caught, which greatly increases the satisfaction for any angler who finds a way to succeed.
- Fishing is a wonderful way to spend time with friends and family. Even strangers that you just met become good friends after a day spent fishing together.
- It’s a wonderful way to learn more about nature. When you spend a lot of time fishing, you automatically become interested in the habits, biology and habitat of the fish you’re pursuing. Most anglers feel a responsibility to take care of their lakes and rivers, which is a win for nature conservancy.
Saturday was a very hot day with one angler Tim catching a 45lb fish which happened to be the biggest catch of the day. I don’t know who was more excited, Tim for catching the fish or me watching in anticipation to see how effortless he made it all look.
It’s a great feeling, obviously. But more than that. It’s a combination of several things, I guess. Surprise is one. Of course you’re expecting to get a bite, but you hardly ever know if you will. Disbelief is another feeling you have. You’re not sure if it WAS a bite, then you know it IS, so two conflicting feelings. And pride; you’re pretty proud you got a bite and your buddy didn’t!!!
There’s always that first instance of confused shock for a split second. Its a case of Is it or isnt it? Then when the reel starts to spin with a biiizzz sound and the line starts to rapidly trail out with a jigging feeling on the end of the line, then the excitement really starts. You have to “not count your chickens” at this point, because there’s always a chance that it was gill-hooked. It’s usually customary to tire the fish out before trying to reel him in, so usually what happens is you let out some drag, then pull back, tighten the line and then release again, until there isn’t much fight left.
JM Fishing Restaurant
JM was chosen to hold the match for its location, fantastic facilities, great food, two styles of fishing lakes and ability to cope with a large number of anglers. Sponsoring the competition were Siamburi’s, Jurassic Mountain fishing resort, Corner Stone estate agents, Fish Scale fishing bait and Pattaya car rental. Each displaying banners and featured on the ‘Holywood board’.
The two-day fishing competition was held at JM fishing park approximately 30 minutes from the center of Pattaya on the frontage road going towards Bangkok.
Plantations international held the event hoping to promote their business generously offering 55,000 baht in prize money and 5 very nice trophies in presentation boxes. The event was held over the weekend with the overall winner winning 30,000 baht.
One lake holds small fish and points per fish system was adopted with Simon Bradshaw (from Chang Mai who runs lovey homes estate agency) landed 45 Rohu carp, 12 Tilapia, and a small Bighead carp for 3238 points, second was Chaianan Thapthai with 85 points (76 Tilapia + a small Gourami and Rohu carp).
Third was Ian Charles Watson with 34 points and lee Butler 4th with 15 points.
On the other lake (Specimen lake) the points system was a points per pound system with smaller more rare fish being allocated more points per pound to help encourage more versatile angling.
Tim Coakley landed a Siamese carp of 45lb (20.5kg) winning the lake with 450 points, second was Denis Dixon with 4 Rohu carp for 300 points and third on 240 points was the legendary UK match angler Billy Makin (author of many books here in Thailand and has Dargon bar 1 on soi Bukhow and Dragon bar 2 Soi Made in Thailand) the other anglers did not catch a fish.
Day 2 was very exciting with Simon the leader from the match lake landing 4 Rohu carp for 220 points and Chaianan Thapthai second again on 80 points with one Striped catfish.
Simon became the overall winner of the match winning his lake both days. Billy Makin won on the match lake on day 2 with 195 points, Dennis Dixon second with 120 points, Tim Coakley was third.
results:
Overall winner 30,000 baht Simon Bradshaw (lovely homes Chiang Mai) 2 points
Overall second 10,000 baht Tim Coakley (4 points 1 + 3 winning on count back from the specimen lake)
Overall Third 5,000 baht Denis Dixon (4 points 2 + 2 points beating Billy on count back gaining more points on the specimen lake)
Biggest fish 5,000 baht 45lb Siamese carp landed on the first day
Most species 5,000 baht shared between Chaianan Thapthai, Denis Dixon, Tim Coakley, Simon Bradshaw, Billy Makin)
Prize ceremony and a few beers followed and fun was had by all.
Moving on the the future, Plantations International are hoping to have a final compition in Chaing Mai with up to a million BHT in prize money up for grabs. So all you anglers out there that wish to get involed, i will be providing links beloew where you can sign up for future compitions and follow what is going on and of course how you can become an investor earn money and help save the planet.
We would just like to give out a big thanks to John Harvey who helped organise this amazing event and provide the photos and some of the write up for the winners etc.
John Harvey has been living and fishing in Thailand for the last 15 years and was lucky enough to land the largest carp in the world which made the international press last year.
The carp was a Siamese carp of 232lb (105kg) landed at Palm Tree Lagoon fishing park Ratchaburi
John also had one of 185lb (80kg) this year at Jurassic Mountain fishing resort in Cha-am
I also landed the biggest Arapaima in the world again at Palm tree lagoon, a fish of around 550lb (250kg) but the fish was so large it escaped before I could get a really good photo.
Plantations International Facebook
And you can get more information about John Harvey here
