May Phuket Fishing Roundup

Ahoy me hearties.

And with our entry into May, once again it coincided with the Tuna Bashing Season, more small tuna, around 1K, than you can shake yer boson’s mate at.

Freshwater fishermen are renowned for keeping their favorite fishing hole/spot a closely guarded secret, often becoming extremely annoyed if anyone else happens along by chance. This for obvious reasons rarely happens at sea with all the modern technology, GPS Etc. but following on from my “Burma Banks” article last month, I just was advised of an exceptional find “marked” by Thai 2 On, which for the third year running has come up a winner with one or two large billfish caught on every occasion. Skipper “Ian” has nicknamed this hot-spot “The Big Drop Off” as it goes off the scale on his depth sounder at 350 meters which means you can’t hang about overnight unless you have a sea anchor or a skyhook. Found by accident due to a foul-up at the Myanmar Immigration which changed the boat’s customary course when heading to the Banks, this “Holy Grail” of fishing is now it’s “A Must” for T2On en route to and from the Banks.

Congratulations to Daniel Johannson who has just caught the biggest Halibut ever,  “tagged and released”, a monster at 462lbs not bad with the world record standing at 515lbs. Wait till you catch it next time Danny Boy. For those “warm-water” fishermen who don’t know what a Halibut looks like, here’s one we prepared earlier. Picture courtesy of “Big” Bo Neff our longtime resident “cold-water” pro.

Not to be outdone I went out mid-month with a couple of my pals on Mena 2 and pulled in a huge, by local standards, GT (Giant Trevally) estimated at 30/35kgs, a personal best, which will feed me and most of my neighbors for the next week or so. Caught on a steel line and my mate’s Rapala, I had a 40-minute fight on a 50lb leader. Photo above for all those septics who demand photographic evidence, another one for the anals.

Overheard in a restaurant: - Customer “What’s wrong with this fish?” Waiter “Long time no sea, sir.”

Finally, if you are wondering about why I included a catch report from the other side of the world – “I only did it, for the HALIBUT.” Ouch!

As usual, keep yer rods bent yer lines tight and send in any decent catch reports, as I can’t guarantee my luck every month.