Pattaya Sports Club Fishing News
Six of us set sail from Khram Marine Fishing Lodge on Saturday, 3rd March, on calm waters and commenced fishing some 90 minutes later on arrival at one of our regular fishing spots.
Initially, it was a bit of a let-down after such a great month in February with 5 very successful trips. In the morning the fish were sleeping or not hungry and action was slow. Fortunately with a tide change around lunch time the fish became more cooperative.
The big greys coveted by the Pattaya fisher folk.
By the end of the day we had our usual bag catches of 6 to 10 kilos each. Our prized big grey cod also participated and we landed several of these beauties around 1½-2 kilos each.
We were all well satisfied with the day’s fishing by the time we docked at 6:00 p.m. and even more so after our snacks and ales at our usual restaurant. We were pleasantly surprised when Robert (Yai) joined us after recently returning from Belgium. We wish him well in the forthcoming week when he undergoes surgery.
A special night trip on Monday, 5th March was organized by our regular member Jeff Doutch who, if my memory serves me correctly, has participated in all but one of our trips during the last 2 years, accompanied by his lovely wife Khammoon on half of those trips. It was his wish (and one or two others) to have a night time excursion.
Alas, it is difficult to find much to put in this report about the trip. The five intrepid anglers, which included 4 regulars and Ban Chang Adrian, set out at 18:00 hours Monday evening, returning at 06:00 hours Tuesday morning with an overall catch of approx 10 fish, only 2 of which are worthy of mention – 1 nice grouper around 2 kilos and 1 good sized snapper.
I think the fact that no further night time trips are planned for the future sums up what they all thought about the trip. Even the captain was subdued and reluctant to talk about the trip when I spoke with him later.
For our trip on 8th March the attendance was down and I am loath to mention this was possibly due to the unsuccessful night trip 3 days prior. The word “fiasco” springs to mind when I refer to that trip.
Anyway, only 4 of us set out on perfect waters, a little apprehensive about the weather forecast of summer storms. On arrival at our grounds around 8:30 a.m., we immediately started hauling in our usual good sized snapper, grouper, yellow tail and pladang and we were kept busy for the next 2 hours.
We kept a weather eye open however, and we were not surprised when heavy black clouds rolled in from the south west. The captain headed off for the leeward side of one of the islands and we spent 20 minutes in light rain on the edge of the storm which by passed us on its way to Bang Saray, Pattaya etc. The rest of the day was perfect, smooth waters, light breeze intermittent sunshine & cloud and brisk fishing.
Champions for the day were Peter (2 big grey cod of 2 kilos each) and his wife Summai, with the most fish. Between them they caught an estimated 17 plus kilos. They beat Jeff and me and won the bet (no money involved). Nevertheless on weighing my clean and gutted fish at home, I had 13 kilos but was disqualified as the skipper contributed to my catch.
Our next trip on Saturday, 17th March is full but there are several vacancies for 22nd March.
