Thailand part 2: Mae Klong River

From the Khao Laem we headed to our next destination which was a Mae Klong River situated about 100 kilometers west from Bangkok. Here our primary target species was a Freshwater whipray which can reach an impressive weight of over 500kg.  Jarno had booked three days of fishing so we had fair chances to catch at least one ray.

Picture taken from our hotel balcony. We were situated right in the middle of the famous Amphawa river market.

Before we got fishing we had one days day off which we spent sleeping of our sleep debts and checking out the shore fishing possibilities nearby.

By this promenade was going to be our shore fishing spot for couple of afternoons.

Next morning our fishing guides picked us up with a boat straight from our hotel door. We drove about five kilometers downstream where the deckhands had already set our baits out. Now it was all about waiting. Unexpectedly the first run came really soon. Jarno admitted the first turn to me and after a few minutes easy fight our crew netted my first ever whipray. It was a small specimen estimated about ten kilos.

A small specimen of Himantura chaophraya.

After we had released my ray Jarno and I set up our light rods and tried to catch some smaller species. We caught one small catfish each. Then our guide had a call that there was bigger fish on at one of our baits.

Arius nenga. I didn't find any english name for it.

A bait used for rays.

Well it was Jarno’s turn to fight a fish and what a fight it was. It took little bit less than an hour of sweating and huffing and puffing until we could see the fish first time. As you can see from the following video the landing of the ray was not easy either. It was a one massive fish!

Quite soon after Jarno’s ray had majestically glided back to her own element there came another bite. It was my turn again and the guides estimated the fish to be between 50 to 100 kilos. Sadly the super strong Owner Mutu hook snapped after a few minutes fight. Well you can’t have all, can’t you?

A bit bigger specimen. Estimated to 210kg.

This fight ended way too soon....

Since we had some fishing time left we went back to the shore to wait new bites. While awaiting we casted our light rods out again. I caught only one fish but how cool it was. It was a Spotted green goby and it looked just like a soft bait with a green glitter inside it.

Acentrogobius viridipunctatus. Look at the glitter on it!

There was no more ray bites to come and we headed back to our hotel. In the afternoon we headed to the promenade of Amphawa to do some fishing. Soon I spotted couple of archerfishes cruising on the surface. I dropped my hook baited with bread near to them I they vanished immediately. But then something unexpected happened. My float dived under and the result was a Smallscale archerfish, one of the coolest species I’ve ever caught.

Smallscale archerfish (Toxotes microlepis).

A bit later Jarno decided to leave back to the hotel since he haven’t caught a single fish. I stayed and it was a right decision. I found a nice little eddy by the river wall and managed to catch four fish from there. The best part was than all of them were different species. One of them was another archerfish and the three new species were Silver barb, Red tailed tinfoil and Spotted scat. I also dropped few fish on the lift cause the wall was about two meters high and I didn’t have any landing net with me. At least one of the fish I dropped would be a new species.

Red tailed tinfoil barb (Barbonymus altus).

Very rough looking Java barb (Barbonymus gonionotus).

Spotted scat (Scatophagus argus).

Day two at the river was a bit quieter. We had only one run on our ray baits and since I lost last fish day before it was my turn again. It was not a huge fish this time either but I managed to double my whipray record with a fish estimated to twenty kilos.

The release.

It was quiet with the light rods also. Jarno caught one more catfish, one Tinfoil barb (new species) and from the delta of the river he caught a small breamlike fish which later identified as a Pacific seabream. I also caught one new species (still unidentified) when I lifted up a tiny little catfish with my whip rod.

This little fellow is still unidentified.

On the afternoon shore fishing trip we focused to catch a needlefish that were cruising on the surface. There was lot of them but they were not easy to catch. Still Jarno managed to catch two of them quite quickly and I really struggled with them. The only way to have their interest was to pull the worm rapidly from the front of them and if they hit you just had to hope the hook will stay on their bony beak. It was almost time to left back to hotel when I finally caught one also.

Jarnos Spottail needlefish.

Strongylura strongylura

On day three we had plenty of time to fish with our light tackle cause we didn’t have any bites on the ray baits. We parked to the pier of the big hotel. There was also a nice looking river wall. By the wall we caught few Spotted scats. It was a new species for Jarno. We also tried to fish from the deeper water but it was apparently the kingdom of the “nenga-catfish”. Then I found out that the hotel had a small pond on their property too and there was some fish swimming on it. I think that the pond had a connection to the river too. From the pond I managed to catch two more Red tailed tinfoils and as a new species one Tinfoil barb and an Blue tilapia. So after all it was not so bad day at all.

Tinfoil barb (Barbonymus schwanenfeldii).

Blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus).

When we got back to the hotel it was again time to pack our bags and head back to Bangkok where we had couple of more fishing days booked.

Some local wildlife