Back from Koh Samui and Bangkok

**spill** · 28-09-2007, 09:38

Just got back from my honeymoon - 3 days in Bangkok and 10 days in Koh Samui.

There didn't seem to be much information on Samui when I made a previous post, so I thought I would at least make a start. As it was my honeymoon, I obviously could not dedicate all my time to fishing.

In Bangkok, I had a day at Bungsamran for a bit of freshwater fishing. It was hard work landing about 30 Meekong and Striped Catfish up to approx 50lb (average over 30lb) and a Siamese Carp - 40lb.

On Samui, I stayed at the Sala Samui resort on Choengmon beach, on the North East coast of the island.
On arrival, I spoke to a couple of locals who appeared to be spinning from the beach at night in the lights of the hotel. They were actually trying to catch squid from the beach. They were there every night, but I never saw them catch one.
The first day I took out a kayak that was availble to hotel guests. I trolled a variety of plugs around the bay and made some casts drifting past a rocky island. This resulted in no takes or sign of any fish at all.
In the afternoon, a few locals arrived to fish of the rocks with line tied to the end of sticks. They were using sea snails gathered off the rocks on small hooks below a float to catch a few species of small fish. I joined them and caught a few of these brightly coloured fish. I got the impression that there was not much chance of decent sized fish from the shore.

Half way through the stay at Samui, I had a session at "Topcats", a freshwater fishing resort. 5 hours fishing with 3 rods (all tackle provided), 2 guides and bait ended up costing a very reasonable 2,100THB (approx £30). I missed a few takes and landed a Meekong cat (40lb?), an Arapiama (30+) and an Alligator Gar (approx 20lb). I would like to return to this place some day and stay in on of the house-boats.

Back to sea fishing - we booked a "big game fishing" boat trip through our rep. It only cost approx £30 per person for the whole day. I didn't expect much from the trip. On arrival, I was wishing that I had brought along my fishing tackle, as the stuff provided was a bit rubbish. The day was good fun. "Big game fishing" turned out to be fishing for small reef fish with squid for bait on 1/0 hooks. We both caught plenty of fish, some of which were cooked for our lunch.

My first impression of Koh Samui was that the sea fishing is not up to much. If you like catching mini-species, there is still something for the sea angler. The freshwater fishing was great at Topcats, and I would consider returning to Samui to fish this venue for a week.

**DaveIrving** · 01-10-2007, 05:25

Hi Spill,

Sounds like a good trip! You did very well to get a Siamese Carp in just one vist - it took me many trips to get one that size....the fact that you caught one suggests to me you were fishing with the guide Kik?

Good to here that the freshwater fishing in Koh Samui is good - as you mentioned the sea fishing is pretty poor (I experienced the same "Big Game" fishing).

They now also have good freshwater fishing in Krabi and Ratchaburi....both are wortha visit!

Cheers

Dave

**spill** · 02-10-2007, 17:25

http://www.fishthailand.co.uk/catch_...3-09-2007.html

Dave,

I fished with Fish Thailand (and Thai Guide Alley). Picture on the link above to the Fish Thailand catch report. They seem to be quite successful at picking up a Carp.

To get the Carp, we fished one rod on the bottom, pretty close in. We also fished a separate rod for the Meekongs.

Phil.

**jaidam** · 03-10-2007, 08:29

Sorry to hear you both had no luck with the sea fishing off Samui, but there are rogue operators everywhere in the world. In fact next to our shop, someone has just opened another tour agency. He googled some pics of marlin fishing in Hawaii and made that his advert. Heaven only knows what they will do when they have a customer??

The best way to know if you are being taken for a ride is check the bait available. If you have either live squid or sardines, you will catch fish. If the boat only has dead bait you will be catching 4 inch groupers and reef fishes.

Marlin season starts early January and weather permitting you have around a 50% chance of catching one. King mackerel are here all year and get to a nice size. Cobia, african pompano, dolphin, sharks all abundant.

Prices are cheap also. I charge 5,000baht( about 80 quid) for private charter game fishing WITH LIVE BAIT, and other decent boats charge 1,400 baht/ person on a shared charter. Most boats here are using Penn, Shimano reels etc but some like the ones you were on are still using the fisher price egg beaters. Look before you book!

**spill** · 05-10-2007, 14:27

Shame I didn't know this before I went.

At least others will find this info now when they use the search facility for Koh Samui.

I didn't have the time to fully research the boats while I was there. The fact that the trip I went on included snorkelling and barbecueing of the fish was one of the reasons that we went on it, as it was certainly more interesting for my wife that way. My wife did end up catching more fish than anyone else on the boat - expert tuition, I told her!

Spill.

**HARRIS GILLIE** · 14-10-2007, 00:17

Sounds like u had a good time there with plenty good fish

**spill** · 19-10-2007, 09:15

Sounds like u had a good time there with plenty good fish

I certainly did have a good time thanks!

**sharked** · 19-10-2007, 10:00

Originally Posted by spill

Just got back from my honeymoon - 3 days in Bangkok and 10 days in Koh Samui.

There didn't seem to be much information on Samui when I made a previous post, so I thought I would at least make a start. As it was my honeymoon, I obviously could not dedicate all my time to fishing.

In Bangkok, I had a day at Bungsamran for a bit of freshwater fishing. It was hard work landing about 30 Meekong and Striped Catfish up to approx 50lb (average over 30lb) and a Siamese Carp - 40lb.

On Samui, I stayed at the Sala Samui resort on Choengmon beach, on the North East coast of the island.
On arrival, I spoke to a couple of locals who appeared to be spinning from the beach at night in the lights of the hotel. They were actually trying to catch squid from the beach. They were there every night, but I never saw them catch one.
The first day I took out a kayak that was availble to hotel guests. I trolled a variety of plugs around the bay and made some casts drifting past a rocky island. This resulted in no takes or sign of any fish at all.
In the afternoon, a few locals arrived to fish of the rocks with line tied to the end of sticks. They were using sea snails gathered off the rocks on small hooks below a float to catch a few species of small fish. I joined them and caught a few of these brightly coloured fish. I got the impression that there was not much chance of decent sized fish from the shore.

Half way through the stay at Samui, I had a session at "Topcats", a freshwater fishing resort. 5 hours fishing with 3 rods (all tackle provided), 2 guides and bait ended up costing a very reasonable 2,100THB (approx £30). I missed a few takes and landed a Meekong cat (40lb?), an Arapiama (30+) and an Alligator Gar (approx 20lb). I would like to return to this place some day and stay in on of the house-boats.

Back to sea fishing - we booked a "big game fishing" boat trip through our rep. It only cost approx £30 per person for the whole day. I didn't expect much from the trip. On arrival, I was wishing that I had brought along my fishing tackle, as the stuff provided was a bit rubbish. The day was good fun. "Big game fishing" turned out to be fishing for small reef fish with squid for bait on 1/0 hooks. We both caught plenty of fish, some of which were cooked for our lunch.

My first impression of Koh Samui was that the sea fishing is not up to much. If you like catching mini-species, there is still something for the sea angler. The freshwater fishing was great at Topcats, and I would consider returning to Samui to fish this venue for a week.

I found exactly the same when I was there 4 years ago! Did a bit of trolling on the way to the mark and then it was reef fishing all day. Caught plenty of fish like snapper and small grouper -but nothing decent.

Shame cos the posters in the shop make it look more appealing!

Oh, and I got sunburnt for just about the first time!

**jaidam** · 20-10-2007, 00:45

Well its been windy but managed to get out 4 times last week. Targetting king mackerel which was a total failure with zero caught, but lots of marlin around. Easy to see them cruising around on the surface with that huge tail sticking out the water. Hooked 3 and landed 2 on those 4 days.

Trolling isn't very effective here for whatever reason. Great fun trolling mackerel feathers for the small tuna, but if you want sails, marlin, or king macks live bait is the ticket. This week the marlin have been around the offshore reefs, but come January they should be right inshore as well as around the FADs.