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[ufishin]

Robbie, I think you made a good point about having more customers, it is a lot cheaper to not to have to feed the fish.  It is simple economics and people will vote with their wallet.  They make money on the cost per rod plus you are feeding the fish.  The owners are entitled to charge whatever they think the customers are willing to pay, if if customers do not see the value, than they have to drop their prices.

I disagree with one of the replies where they say you make a lots of money and you should not complain.  If they were a millionaire, does it mean they will pay fifty bucks for a bottle of water? I go to many fishing parks that guys spend hundreds of baht on bait, when they only pay a hundred baht to fish.

[robblok]

Just to make a few things clear here. I was talking about regular fishing. That means going there every week 1 or 2 times. I am not talking about the occasional trip to a lake.

Also i was talking about lakes holding mekong catfish not the predators. These damage easier.

Anyway i had a great experience as Gilhams a few days ago. So much better as palm tree. For almost the same price. The lake is better, much larger. The fish are treated much better. Scenery ten times better. No funny stuff with prices.

I would certainly return there, but its not a lake for regular fishing even if it was closer to me. Its just too expensive for that. I would go there once in a while.

The lake was fished by about 10-15 anglers on the days i was there. You were not crowded (though if a mekong was hooked problems would arise). I found the rods and reels a bit under powered (for mekong). But that is because i use different gear now. Fish were treated for wounds with a kind of anti biotic, mekongs got an injection after a fight to help them deal with the stress of the fight. I never seen fish being treated better.

I am also of the opinion that a mekong lake is a lot less costly then a predator lake so those things must be taken in consideration.

[kuripot]

Robblok...

  I am heading to Gillhams for a few days fishing myself in a few weeks time and was wondering how it is currently fishing. The website currently does not sport a newsletter for November.

  I had intended bringing a couple of rods over but Lufthansa want too much as they are over 1.49metres in length so will have to resort to using the hire tackle. There will however, be room in my bag for an 8 weight fly rod and I was thinking of bringing a 4 piece Shimano exage texasbt3050  rod coupled with a TLD25 loaded with 150bs braid as per fishery recommendations for tackling the freshwater stingers.

Yes,It's not cheap but compared to chasing a white ball around a manicured lawn represents value for money.

robblok, on 2011-12-16 22:09:28, said:

Just to make a few things clear here. I was talking about regular fishing. That means going there every week 1 or 2 times. I am not talking about the occasional trip to a lake.

Also i was talking about lakes holding mekong catfish not the predators. These damage easier.

Anyway i had a great experience as Gilhams a few days ago. So much better as palm tree. For almost the same price. The lake is better, much larger. The fish are treated much better. Scenery ten times better. No funny stuff with prices.

I would certainly return there, but its not a lake for regular fishing even if it was closer to me. Its just too expensive for that. I would go there once in a while.

The lake was fished by about 10-15 anglers on the days i was there. You were not crowded (though if a mekong was hooked problems would arise). I found the rods and reels a bit under powered (for mekong). But that is because i use different gear now. Fish were treated for wounds with a kind of anti biotic, mekongs got an injection after a fight to help them deal with the stress of the fight. I never seen fish being treated better.

I am also of the opinion that a mekong lake is a lot less costly then a predator lake so those things must be taken in consideration.

[rufanuf]

robblok, on 2011-12-16 22:09:28, said:

Just to make a few things clear here. I was talking about regular fishing. That means going there every week 1 or 2 times. I am not talking about the occasional trip to a lake.

Also i was talking about lakes holding mekong catfish not the predators. These damage easier.

Anyway i had a great experience as Gilhams a few days ago. So much better as palm tree. For almost the same price. The lake is better, much larger. The fish are treated much better. Scenery ten times better. No funny stuff with prices.

I would certainly return there, but its not a lake for regular fishing even if it was closer to me. Its just too expensive for that. I would go there once in a while.

The lake was fished by about 10-15 anglers on the days i was there. You were not crowded (though if a mekong was hooked problems would arise). I found the rods and reels a bit under powered (for mekong). But that is because i use different gear now. Fish were treated for wounds with a kind of anti biotic, mekongs got an injection after a fight to help them deal with the stress of the fight. I never seen fish being treated better.

I am also of the opinion that a mekong lake is a lot less costly then a predator lake so those things must be taken in consideration.

Gillham's is an example in point. You couldn't possibly expect to pay a few hundred baht to fish a place like this, its not a "regular" place to fish unless you have considerable funds, but most dont argue that its value for money. Not withstanding facilties and services Palm Tree has at least as many big fish per rai of various species, and if you asked the owners what is the most expensive element of the business they would both say the fish. Which is really the point I was trying to make. Barring surroundings they are exceptional fisheries becuase of the fish, and thats the single biggest expense.

I

Edited by rufanuf, 2011-12-31 11:40:25.

[robblok]

rufanuf, on 2011-12-31 11:35:17, said:

robblok, on 2011-12-16 22:09:28, said:

Just to make a few things clear here. I was talking about regular fishing. That means going there every week 1 or 2 times. I am not talking about the occasional trip to a lake.

Also i was talking about lakes holding mekong catfish not the predators. These damage easier.

Anyway i had a great experience as Gilhams a few days ago. So much better as palm tree. For almost the same price. The lake is better, much larger. The fish are treated much better. Scenery ten times better. No funny stuff with prices.

I would certainly return there, but its not a lake for regular fishing even if it was closer to me. Its just too expensive for that. I would go there once in a while.

The lake was fished by about 10-15 anglers on the days i was there. You were not crowded (though if a mekong was hooked problems would arise). I found the rods and reels a bit under powered (for mekong). But that is because i use different gear now. Fish were treated for wounds with a kind of anti biotic, mekongs got an injection after a fight to help them deal with the stress of the fight. I never seen fish being treated better.

I am also of the opinion that a mekong lake is a lot less costly then a predator lake so those things must be taken in consideration.

Gillham's is an example in point. You couldn't possibly expect to pay a few hundred baht to fish a place like this, its not a "regular" place to fish unless you have considerable funds, but most dont argue that its value for money. Not withstanding facilties and services Palm Tree has at least as many big fish per rai of various species, and if you asked the owners what is the most expensive element of the business they would both say the fish. Which is really the point I was trying to make. Barring surroundings they are exceptional fisheries becuase of the fish, and thats the single biggest expense.

I

To be honest you cant possible compare Gillhams with Palm Tree. No comparison for the serious angler what so ever. Size of the lake, looks of the lake.. accomedations. And the prices are similar. Palm tree would have been half the price of Gilhams if you compare the two. Its just too small and doesnt look the part. I seen sawai ponds that are bigger then that.

[gray42]

Just wanted to throw this in... I went to Top Cats in Koh Samui and had a great time catching monster catfish, carp, and arapaima. It was the low season and it was only myself and one other person there that day. I think the total bill for an entire day of fishing (two sessions) including a hamburger and a beer was almost 5,000 baht. It was fun to do, but I'm not going to make it a regular thing. No doubt if they brought down the price there would be more than 2 people fishing that day. Also no doubt if they brought down the price the fishing wouldn't be nearly as incredible as it was that day. I caught 12 fish: 9 huge redtail catfish, 1 mekong catfish, 1 giant siamese carp and 1 arapaima. ALL of the fish I caught that day were bigger than some of the smaller ones I've seen people catch at the more popular places in YouTube videos. Although I'm not keen on falang-only venues, I had an awesome day and I think the price was justified.

One more thing to add, local fishing in Thailand can be amazing if you put in the effort to find where they live and haven't been fished out, and it usually requires getting advice from Thai people. Snakeheads, especially pla chadow, are some of the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught. I live near Chanthaburi and if you ask [Thai] people were to find the pla chadow or pla chon they'll tell you the standard places... popular lakes, bridges, etc. If you fish with them a while and you're a nice enough person they'll take you to the good spots. They don't use the same methods as me (I lure fish with a rod and reel) but the biggest chadow I've seen was taken by my Thai friend using a hand line with raw chicken on the end. It was bigger than the biggest chadow I caught on a GUIDED fishing trip in mountain reservoirs. Right now I live on a river and fish from my balcony some nights for pla dook (the real pla dook with the eel-like tails) or pla gote (a type of silver catfish). Some nights I can get 12 fish in 45 minutes. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is even though it's not the freakishly big fish you catch at the pay-lakes, there's still great local fishing to be found probably everywhere in Thailand. And it's free.

[GarryP]

gray42, on 2012-03-25 10:14:12, said:

Just wanted to throw this in... I went to Top Cats in Koh Samui and had a great time catching monster catfish, carp, and arapaima. It was the low season and it was only myself and one other person there that day. I think the total bill for an entire day of fishing (two sessions) including a hamburger and a beer was almost 5,000 baht. It was fun to do, but I'm not going to make it a regular thing. No doubt if they brought down the price there would be more than 2 people fishing that day. Also no doubt if they brought down the price the fishing wouldn't be nearly as incredible as it was that day. I caught 12 fish: 9 huge redtail catfish, 1 mekong catfish, 1 giant siamese carp and 1 arapaima. ALL of the fish I caught that day were bigger than some of the smaller ones I've seen people catch at the more popular places in YouTube videos. Although I'm not keen on falang-only venues, I had an awesome day and I think the price was justified.

One more thing to add, local fishing in Thailand can be amazing if you put in the effort to find where they live and haven't been fished out, and it usually requires getting advice from Thai people. Snakeheads, especially pla chadow, are some of the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught. I live near Chanthaburi and if you ask [Thai] people were to find the pla chadow or pla chon they'll tell you the standard places... popular lakes, bridges, etc. If you fish with them a while and you're a nice enough person they'll take you to the good spots. They don't use the same methods as me (I lure fish with a rod and reel) but the biggest chadow I've seen was taken by my Thai friend using a hand line with raw chicken on the end. It was bigger than the biggest chadow I caught on a GUIDED fishing trip in mountain reservoirs. Right now I live on a river and fish from my balcony some nights for pla dook (the real pla dook with the eel-like tails) or pla gote (a type of silver catfish). Some nights I can get 12 fish in 45 minutes. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is even though it's not the freakishly big fish you catch at the pay-lakes, there's still great local fishing to be found probably everywhere in Thailand. And it's free.

I think that is the dream of many. To live on the bank of a river and fish from the balcony. If only I didn't have to work for a living.

[robblok]

GarryP, on 2012-03-27 10:41:39, said:

gray42, on 2012-03-25 10:14:12, said:

Just wanted to throw this in... I went to Top Cats in Koh Samui and had a great time catching monster catfish, carp, and arapaima. It was the low season and it was only myself and one other person there that day. I think the total bill for an entire day of fishing (two sessions) including a hamburger and a beer was almost 5,000 baht. It was fun to do, but I'm not going to make it a regular thing. No doubt if they brought down the price there would be more than 2 people fishing that day. Also no doubt if they brought down the price the fishing wouldn't be nearly as incredible as it was that day. I caught 12 fish: 9 huge redtail catfish, 1 mekong catfish, 1 giant siamese carp and 1 arapaima. ALL of the fish I caught that day were bigger than some of the smaller ones I've seen people catch at the more popular places in YouTube videos. Although I'm not keen on falang-only venues, I had an awesome day and I think the price was justified.

One more thing to add, local fishing in Thailand can be amazing if you put in the effort to find where they live and haven't been fished out, and it usually requires getting advice from Thai people. Snakeheads, especially pla chadow, are some of the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught. I live near Chanthaburi and if you ask [Thai] people were to find the pla chadow or pla chon they'll tell you the standard places... popular lakes, bridges, etc. If you fish with them a while and you're a nice enough person they'll take you to the good spots. They don't use the same methods as me (I lure fish with a rod and reel) but the biggest chadow I've seen was taken by my Thai friend using a hand line with raw chicken on the end. It was bigger than the biggest chadow I caught on a GUIDED fishing trip in mountain reservoirs. Right now I live on a river and fish from my balcony some nights for pla dook (the real pla dook with the eel-like tails) or pla gote (a type of silver catfish). Some nights I can get 12 fish in 45 minutes. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is even though it's not the freakishly big fish you catch at the pay-lakes, there's still great local fishing to be found probably everywhere in Thailand. And it's free.

I think that is the dream of many. To live on the bank of a river and fish from the balcony. If only I didn't have to work for a living.

Same here.. i dream of fishing from a house next to the mekong. I am sure the fish are not that big in the river though some of them must be monsters. Too bad money is not in an unlimited supply.

[impulse]

Went to Bungsamran yesterday with a work permit and the price was 400 baht.  A pleasant surprise- 100 less than last time.

Getting there has gotten slightly more difficult with construction continuing on the Soi 42 bridge.  But I had the taxi drop me off at the bridge and caught a scooter from there, over the bridge and the last km or so.  Much faster than having the taxi take me on the loooong detour.  

Getting out, they had me hop on a scooter to the main road and get a taxi from there.  Taxi's are a little scarcer now the bridge isn't open and scooters make life easier and save time (but not as safe).