Phuket International Sports-fishing Tournament: the secret of (El) Dorado

Hi once again my fellow Ofishinadoes.

P.I.S.T.  The Phuket International Sports-fishing Tournament

Well P.I.S.T. 2012 got off with its usual bang from the starters firework although many of the boats on the first day reported fishing was a bit of a damp squib. I was even said to me by a friend who knows I write for the P.N. “It will take a cunning linguist to make this sound exciting.” And initially I was a bit worried.

For the past few weeks following the annual beach “clean-up” the waters around Phuket have had an inordinate amount of flotsam including trees, one of which I managed to hit, plastic galore and flip-flips (flip- flops for the one legged), which most boats blamed for their poor performance, but as any experienced Big Game fisheroo will tell you flotsam is good for catching Dorado as they like to assemble around what many would consider rubbish. The RBFC team, after a poor start, took advantage of this knowledge and landed 24 Dorado in 2.1/2 hours.

Bull Dorado being the most aggressive normally are the first to strike but it’s always worth hanging around as Mahi- Mahi or Dolphin Fish, as this world traveler is often called, mostly travel in pairs and the females can be almost suicidal when the male has disappeared, unlike my Missus, who would be off to  the insurance people, toot sweet.

On the competition, Thai2On released 3 Sail Fish and the biggest thing landed was an impressive 15k Wahoo, a local prize winner if I ever saw one, not like the miniscule Rainbow Runner brought in by “The Rawai Pla Boyz” on the hope of no one else bringing one in. This was even smaller than our “PGFC team’s” embarrassingly small Queen Fish brought in for exactly the same reason.

Once the boats had adapted to the conditions catches improved quite dramatically and Peter Pauli and the Captain Hook Team won the biggest overall catch. Well done guys.

The trophies this year were, by far, the most impressive yet and the fishing competition with the world’s best name P.I.S.T. came to a very successful conclusion thanks to Uwe Schittek and his organizational team, and while on the subject of names, the ladies from Texas “The Deadliest Snatch” on their annual fishing pilgrimage also steamed in with a reasonable tally.

For those not in the know regarding Andaman Sea fishing, the rules are:-

1. Know your “hot-spots”.
2. Watch for fish jumping, which is a bit of an art, as the Andaman Sea with its weird tided loves to imitate this phenomenon.
3. Look out for Frigate / Pirate Birds. These bent- winged, V tailed, toe-rags of the air, when congregating and diving are a great sign of fish. – This week’s quiz  :- What do you call a flock of Frigates – a flotilla?
4. Last but not least, when the water conditions are scummy, look for the biggest concentration of flotsam because under it is liable to be Dorado by the bushel, the tastiest and fastest growing fish around.

Tight lines

Jimmy

First posted in the Phuket News