Date:
29 February 2008
When it comes to
catching the very biggest fish on rod and line that inhabit Thailand’s
waters, any knowledgeable worldwide sport fisherman knows that
Jean-Francois Helias and his Fishing Adventures Thailand team of
professional guides have no competition. As the oldest freshwater
guided fishing tours agency in town, consisting of the country’s true
pioneers of sport fishing, they are simply the game; and they rule it!
Proof lies in the
previous unequalled angling achievements that speak for themselves.
This includes the catch of a of a 407 lb. (185 kg) Arapaima, the
biggest predator fish ever caught on rod and line in the history
of Southeast Asian angling, as well as the capture of a 264 lb. (120
kg) Siamese giant carp, the biggest carp ever caught in the history of
sport fishing, and the catch of a very rare 220 lb. (100 kg)
freshwater giant stingray.
Just add to these
amazing exploits a few more outstanding achievements like the 135 IGFA
world records Helias and his crew have racked up in less than a
decade, both as anglers and guides, or the more than 60,000 Mekong
giant catfish they have caught and released during the past 20 years;
then you know they are truly the best at what they do.
The only thing
they needed in order to say they had caught the biggest specimen of
each of Thailand’s gigantic fish species was a Mekong giant catfish
close to 100 kilos, or even better, over that mark. They could have
easily been satisfied with several big cats that exceeded 80 kilos;
the two biggest being an 85 kg catfish caught in August 2004 and an 82
kg catfish caught in August 2006, but they were not until they could
capture a 100 kilo catfish.
They have now reached their goal with a catch exceeding their
expectations……..big time. One of their frequent return clients,
Tim Webb, a 48 years old angler from Crawley, West Sussex, England,
and currently based and working in Australia, booked Francois’ guide
service for 29 days of fishing all over Thailand. On Feb. 25, 2008
Tim landed a gigantic 151 kilos (332 lb.)
Mekong giant
catfish at Bung Sam Lan Lake.
Tim’s
151 kilo Mekong catfish - the biggest
ever stocked by the lake's owner two decades ago - had never been
caught by anyone until Feb. 25, 2008. It is not only the biggest
catfish ever taken from Bung Sam Lan since its very opening 25 years
ago, but it also imposes itself as the biggest catfish ever caught on
rod and line in Southeast Asia.
Though the 151
kilo catfish was weighed on 500 lb certified digital scales in front
of 12 witnesses, it cannot qualify for an IGFA world record. Tim,
using
an ABU 9.5 ft Uptide rod coupled with a Shimano Stella 10000 spooled
with Fins 80 lb braid, could not control the
unstoppable fish.
It entangled the line around structures several times. As usual,
Jean-Francois’ team guides had to swim to find the entangled line
underwater, cut it free and retie so the angler could resume the
fight. It took two good hours between the hook up and the landing of
the fish.
As an anecdote;
Tim Webb, currently holds the IGFA All Tackle record for the Mekong
giant catfish with a 79.80 kg catch, dating February, 2007. Had his
catch been fought and landed according to IGFA rules, it would have
been quite an achievement for him to literally "explode" his own
record with a fish almost twice as big.
Apart from his gigantic 332 lb. capture, Tim, who used our regular
rice husk flour based secret recipe during his sessions at the lake,
added to his tally, a lovely 176 lb. Mekong cat - a catch that was
tiny bit over his current IGFA record – as well as another 10 cats
weighing between 90 lb. and 130 lb.
On top of that, he also scored several Siamese giant carp catches, and
even broke his PB (personal best) for that species with the catch of a
beautiful 121 lb. carp.
