snack head!

[geffaz]

had a trip last year se asia in pursuit of a saimese carp to no avail!
got stuck into some decent mekongs tho!
planning a trip for next year arfter a big snake head!
anyone got any tips or advice on the species?
ill be doing the thailand,laos,viet,cambdia trail as usual
but thinking about heading into myanmar this time (burma)

[Ken L]

A live frog fished in the weedy margins is usually the favorite method with locals but not to everyones taste.
I've also had success with lures (usually spinnerbaits) fished tight into the bank.
Another method that is particularly popular for Toman (Giant Snakehead) is to walk or boat arround looking for a shoal of tiny fry pinpricking the surface in a tight ball. These will be baby Toman and mom and dad will be on protective duty underneath. Fishing a lure right past the edge of the fry will often result in an attack from mom or dad.

[marktheshark]

Ken's right: toman skulk under obstructions and in holes close to the bank and ambush frogs, fish and prawns. They're a bit like pike in their habits. I used to catch them as a kid with a green rubber frog lure, sometimes casting it onto lily pads then plopping it off into the water. Abu used to do a circular spinner called Amulette that also worked well for smaller fish. They're air-breathers and tolerate pretty stagnant water in drains and ponds. They bite most at dusk or dark and you can often see (or hear) them come on the feed: they're splashy eaters. No teeth, so you won't need wire. I never tried plugs, but I think they'd take them.
They edible and Chinese rate them as a medicinal, but the ones I caught always had a muddy taint.
Good luck
Mark

[Indian Angler]

Hi Guys,

I spent the weekend going after murral which is the snake head in India. We had an absolute blast catching them and did very well with six fish in the 4 to 5 kilo range, one in the 5 to 6 kilo range and a whole lot that were much smaller.

The fishing was done from a coracle (circular boat) in a large lake that's part of the Cauvery called Forbes' Pool. Was known for its Monster Mahseer back in the day.
There is an abundance of weeds and waterlillies, which make it ideal murral territory. The nice part about fishing here is it requires a very high level of accuracy while casting spinners. The fish hang out in the weeds, or just below them so one has to cast as close to the weeds as possible.

Murral waters are large still pools, pools with alot of structure, very often found among rocks in a river or lake, they hang about under weeds or in the shade of overhanging foliage. Any place where there are alot of snags :)

They will readily go for spinners (mepps) french blade or aglia in sizes 3 and above. They will go for plugs as well, provided they are 4 inches or smaller and don't dive too deep. They can be caught on live bait that is fish and frog :uhuh:

Murral/toman is quite similar to pike. They have their eyes high up on their heads and opposed to on the sides like a carp. This shows that they sulk around close to the bottom and ambush their prey as they swim by.

Geffaz I'm sure the same rules will apply to the snake head in Thailand. Carry a bag full of mepps and small plugs and you'll be fine. In the initial bit of the fight go a little hard on them and get them out into open water or there's a good chance they'll take you into a sunken tree!!

I'll post a couple of pics seperately.... they're on the other comp

[Indian Angler]

These are the pics of the Snakeheads/ Murral caught on sunday.

[geffaz]

great stuff! i apreciate that!
thanks to all of you for your time! cant weight to get out ther!

[Serene Blue]

Just thought I would mention Snakeheads will happily sink their teeth into you, given the chance. Weird experience getting bitten by a fish....

As a blood thirsty brat, I used to stick a size 2 through the back of a live Gourami, and cast close to rafts of water hyacynth in lakes. No weights, just freelined under a float at dusk or dawn.

Strange fish; when observed they lie around all day, half asleep, in underwater debris or moving around lethargically.

I have rarely seen them attack live bait. But i have taken them on livebait, worms, dragon fly, tied fly, spoons and silver foil wrapped on hooks. So there is a pikish verve in them somewhere.

[DaveIrving]

Here' a pic of a small snakehead from Thailand showing the most common lure used for the species there.

This lure makes a huge amount of noise which seems to get the snakehead to be more aggresive.

This lure is made in Thailand and can be found in any tackle shops there.

From the species you were targeting last time and the mekong catfish caught, I guess you were fishing with Francois.....you will not go wrong if you fish with him again as snakehead are a huge passion of his!

Cheers

Dave