TopCat 2007 - A Trip down Memory Lane

I started fishing abroad in 1991, my fishing in England is very limited due to pressures of work and family so I try to get a few weeks abroad every year. Most of this time is spent on the River Ebro in Spain with my friend Colin Bunn of Catmaster Tours. We have been fishing together for a few years now and have had some very successful sessions. Over the last four years we have caught some huge catches of Catfish over 100 pounds, resulting in personal bests of 206 pound to me and 222 pound to Colin in November 2006.

It was during these sessions that I told Colin of my desire to catch an Arapaima and a Red Tail Catfish. These fish reside in the mighty River Amazon in Brazil and are notoriously hard to locate. We often talked about planning a trip but always ended up back in Spain after the Catfish.

In December 2006 we were on the Catmaster Tours stand at the Carp Show in Sandown. While talking to customers the subject of Arapaima came up, a friend of Colin’s, Spencer Butler told us of a fishery in Thailand called TopCats. The fishery held Arapaima, Red Tail Catfish and many other exotic species.

Enquiries were made through the internet (www.fishinginthailand.com) and email and the owner Mike Lucas kindly invited Colin and I out for two weeks fishing. In April this year we boarded a plane at Heathrow direct to Bangkok with a connecting flight to Koh Samui. We were picked up from Samui airport and after a short 30 minute journey we arrived at TopCats fishing resort.

Mike was there to greet us on arrival along with the rest of the friendly staff. Welcome drinks were poured, introductions made and Mike took us for a tour of the resort. The site is approximately 5 acres; there are two lakes, a small guaranteed to catch lake and the large specimen lake that contains over twenty different species with some of these weighing over 100 pounds. Apart from the Arapaima there were different types of Carp including Siamese Carp that can grow incredibly large. There were many different species of Catfish, including Red Tails, Leopard Cats, Tiger Cats, Niger Cats, Mekong and Russian Cats all of which were an obvious interest to Colin and I. There were many other species including Alligator Gar and Pacu, a type of vegetarian Piranha. Most of these fish are native to the Amazon but are thriving in the warm waters and hot climate in Koh Samui. We could not wait to start!!

We found the overall set up to be superb; the restaurant and bar are set in a large open air but covered building over looking the lakes. In the bar area there is a big screen TV for those that want to keep up with the sport, a pool table and a wide selection of drinks to cater for all. The menu for the restaurant is superb offering a variety of cuisine including Thai, Indian and English including your traditional fried breakfast and TopCats Sunday roast. All are reasonably priced and are a fraction of what it would cost at home.

All tackle and bait is supplied along with a full time guide. The guide will row your baits out and help with the netting and handling of the fish. The fish are very well cared for and treated with the utmost respect when on the bank, all the fish we caught were in lovely condition. There is a well equipped tackle shop with bait and all the bits and pieces you might need.

Our accommodation for the two weeks was one of the nine Thai Teak houseboats that are permanently moored along one side of the lake. These boats are 60 years old but Mike has renovated them to a high standard. There are one and two bedroom boats; all have air conditioning, electricity, hot and cold water, showers and flushing toilets. They really are the business and they all have a platform next to them so you have your own swim!!

After our tour of the resort we were shown to our boats and left to settle in. Colin was in Boat 1 on one side of the lake and I had Boat 8 on the other side. We took our own tackle and due to the potential size of the fish, were going to use the rods and reels we use in Spain. The rods were the Eurocat Catfish rods and Penn multiplier reels. Mike kindly allowed us to use braid main line as a trial, this being 70kg Dyneema.

As we had arrived in the afternoon our original plan was to settle in and then go for a look around the island and start fishing the next morning. However there were fish rolling every where and I just couldn’t resist! Colin was tired after the journey so retired to his bed; I set up a float rig and went fishing in his swim!! Nothing is to much trouble for Mike and he really wanted us to get of to a good start so he gave me three live Koi to use. I couldn’t believe my luck. I lip hooked a lively, set the float at about 2 foot deep and cast it to the edge of a large weed bed in the corner. The water here was about 12 feet deep but the fish were clearly feeding on the surface and some of them were Arapaima. I have wanted to catch one for years and the excitement was clearly getting to me as I promptly missed the first take!!

On went another lively and I cast to the same spot. It wasn’t long before the float started moving along the surface and then slipped away. I struck and the fish tore of at an incredible pace stripping braid from the reel. I soon got it under control and guided it over the waiting net. It was a Leopard Catfish at approx 20 pounds. They really are a stunning fish to look at, with long whiskers and a pale brown body covered in black spots.

Mike has large aerators at both ends of the lake to oxygenate the water, but due to the high air and water temperatures and low oxygen content the fish are kept out of the water long enough for a quick photo and are then gently nursed back. To avoid undue stress not many fish are weighed, but as a result the fish are thriving and in good condition.

After getting off the mark I retired to my boat to unpack and settle in. We had a good meal, a few beers and then went to sleep off the journey for an early start in the morning.
The next morning I was up at 0600 hours. From Boat 8 I had the wider end of the lake in front of me with a large weed bed growing out into the lake from the right hand side. The water was 12 feet deep under my boat and went down to about 27 feet in the middle.

Colin was in Boat 1, this being the narrow end of the lake and not quite as deep. The weed here was growing out from the left hand margin and had naturally created two lovely spots for Colin’s baits.

I set my rods up with running leads, 70kg Dyneema hooklength and size 4/0 Owner hooks, the bait was hair rigged sections of fresh fish. I put one as close to the edge of the weed as possible and the other into the open deeper water. I baited up with chopped fish round each hook bait. The traps were set, fish were rolling every where, the sun was out and I was eating a TopCats English Breakfast, could life get any better?

It wasn’t long before I got a take which resulted in another Leopard Catfish at approx 25 pounds. A new bait was quickly rowed back out to the edge of the weed, it had only just settled when it roared of again. This was definitely a better fish that put up a fantastic fight making numerous strong runs. The net was eventually slipped under one of my target fish, a Red Tail Catfish. This turned out to be “Harry” one of the most sought after Red Tails in the lake; he was in great condition and weighed 58 pounds.

I fished through the day and into the evening and had approximately 15 takes. A lot of these were real fast and had dropped the bait before the rod was struck. Others, the fish was on for a few seconds and the hook pulled out. I tinkered around with hooks, hook lengths and rigs through out the day and did manage to land two fish. These were both Arapaima, one at approximately 35 pounds the other 25 pounds. They have a very tough, hard mouths and it was difficult to get a good hook hold. They fight to the max making really fast runs, quite often straight at you, which was when the hook would fall out if you couldn’t keep a tight line.

The rig I had settled on was a bolt rig with a five ounce lead with the Dyneema hooklength. I continued to chop and change my hooks between Owners and Gold Label Penetraters, from size 1 to 4/0, fish were caught on all of them with neither proving to be the best. With two of my target fish caught already an early shower was called for and a good night was spent in the bar.

The following day Mike kindly agreed for us to use three rods each to really test the potential of the lake. I put two bolt rigs out into open water at different ranges with chunks of fish as bait. Colin and I decided to use our third rods to experiment with. Many of the catfish we have caught in Spain have been taken from just under the surface so we thought about trying the same tactic here. The rod was set up with a large float set at about two feet deep with the same hooks and hooklength as the bottom rig. This was baited with chunks of fish and rowed out to the areas where the floating weed bed formed a point. The rig was dropped over the edge of the weed so that it sat just behind it with about a foot of braid lying over the weed. The thought behind this was that the weed would hold the rig in place and help to drive the hook home.

There was not as much action but I did land two fish. Another lovely Red Tail at 38 pound on the float rig which was very encouraging. The other was on the bolt rig, this fish picked the bait up and moved off very slowly. It was a strange take and initially I thought it was a liner, but it kept going and obviously was a take. I struck and the fish immediately started to thrash around on the surface before going on a very powerful run. I soon had it under control but hadn’t seen it until it surfaced in the margins and my young guide Goye immediately shouted “Crocodile!” The sight that met us was a fish with a long, thin mouth like a Crocodile with loads of razor sharp teeth called an Alligator Garr. He slipped the net under the fish and what a cracker it was. These fish originate in the big rivers in Texas, America and can grow to well over 100 pounds. Mike was on hand to see and photograph the fish and although only a modest 25 pounds he said that it was the biggest out of the lake so far and that they were growing really fast. Great care has to be taken when handling these fish as they actually try to bite you when they are unhooked and their scales are like armour and can cut you if you are not careful.

Colin was suffering the same problems as me with dropped takes and hook pulls but had also managed to land some good fish. He had a Red Tail at 40 pound and was doing really well with the Arapaima catching quite a few.

On the Wednesday I had a very frustrating morning missing five takes and losing a good fish on the surface rod. The fish were clearly feeding on the large water snails that live in the weed. I asked Goye to collect some for me to use later on as bait. Colin and I went into the local town and hired out a scooter each. These are really cheap and a great way to get around the island. Koh Samui is a beautiful place and it was well worth taking the time out to have a look. The towns are full of market stalls selling sun glasses, clothes and souvenirs, all at good prices and if you want a tailor made suit there are many shops to choose from. The beaches are lovely and scenic and there are bars and restaurants every where.

Back on my boat I decided to set one rod up for the Siamese Carp. I rigged up with a method feeder, a four inch Dyneema hooklength to a size 1 Owner hook and hair rigged 3 pieces of Maize and 2 pieces of Enterprise rubber Maize. I set it up so that the hook touched the lake bed and the bait stood up proud of the baited area. I used a method ball, laced with Maize about the size of a grapefruit; Siamese Carp have huge mouths and would have no trouble taking this in one go. This rod was cast to the left into the deeper water with six balls of method mix to bait up the area. I put two water snails on the surface rod and a chunk of fish on the bolt rig.

I landed another really hard fighting Red Tail on the surface rod at 38 pound almost straight away and later on that evening I had another at 25 pound. In between these I had a take on the method which resulted in another new species to my list, a Pacu at approximately 5 pound. These are lovely fish and look like a Piranha and have big teeth but are vegetarian so you can safely dangle your feet in the water.

Thursday morning followed a similar pattern with missed and lost fish. I landed a small Gar and had an Arapaima at about 30 pound on Snails. I had my first Siamese Carp at about 15 pound on the method and had another Pacu.

It was so hot during the middle of the day so we had a break and went back out on the scooters. We called in at the local fish market to pick up some fresh, alternative bait. There were loads to choose from but I settled on some Barracuda, Mackerel and Squid. This was all really cheap, about £3 would buy enough bait for two days!! Mike supplies cooler boxes and ice so keeping bait fresh was no problem.

Back at the boat I started fishing early evening, I was now happy with my rigs so started to introduce more bait to encourage the fish to stay in my area. I had two Pacu on the method one was nearly 7 pound, another Gar at approximately 20 pound and two cracking Red Tails 40 and 45 pound.

Friday morning was quite slow, I landed one Arapaima at about 30 pound and missed a few. During the day I was steadily introducing method balls to build up a good bed of bait in the area. By early evening this finally paid of when the method rod tore of, the fight was long and hard with the fish making loads of powerful runs. Eventually Goye slipped the net under a good fish, a Siamese Carp at 31 pound. It was quite pale in colour due to the coloured water and had a lot of red in its fins, a big tail and it had an absolutely huge mouth!! I was to learn at my cost that Siamese Carp have quite soft mouths and great care has to be taken when playing them as the mouths tear and the hook pulls which is exactly what happened on my next take!

Another Pacu followed on the method and a 40 pound Red Tail on the float rig on Squid. It was dark and quite late when I had another screamer on the method. This fish fought really hard and would not give up; I played it for a good 25 minutes before we even saw it. By now there was quite an audience watching as Goye slipped the net under a huge Siamese carp at 48 pound, I was over the moon.

Colin decided to stick with the fish baits on all three rods and had been catching a lot of Arapaima but none over 50 pounds, it finally paid off for him when he landed a big Arapaima at approximately 80 pounds. They really are a beautiful fish to look at and we were both really pleased to be able to catch one. They are very difficult to locate in their natural environment in the River Amazon and unfortunately are usually killed for food when caught. Having places like TopCats available gives travelling anglers the chance to be able to catch one without spending possibly weeks trying to locate them.

Another highlight of the holiday happened on the Sunday. An English couple, Dave and Jade, were on holiday in Koh Samui and stumbled across TopCats by chance, Dave being a keen fisherman promptly booked a boat for a week. After a few nights in the bar they thought it would be a great idea to get married in Thailand. Nothing is to much trouble for Mike, he managed to organise a traditional Thai wedding in a matter of days! The ceremony took place in the open air restaurant area and was conducted by Thai monks. We had a reception in the bar all afternoon and were all fishing again by the evening, it couldn’t have been better.

The fishing continued to be as good for the rest of the holiday with big fish being caught every day. I finished the holiday with 46 fish with Arapaima to 55 pound, Red Tails to 58 pound, Siamese Carp to 48 pound along with four good thirties, Mekong Catfish to 45 pound and in all I caught 9 different species.

Colin faired as well catching 9 different species and did particularly well with the Arapaima catching 16 up to 80 pound. The real highlight for Colin was the capture of a Tiger Catfish. Although it was only about 20 pounds it was a quite stunning fish to look at with a pale body with black stripes and long whiskers.

For the travelling angler TopCats is a great place to visit, the fishing is fantastic, the accommodation and food are first class, Mike and his team are welcoming and good company and Koh Samui is a beautiful island. We thoroughly recommend it and will be returning.

Julian Barnes