Exotic FISH Pictures

strange fish from around the world..
..so far Thailand, Malaysia, Persian Gulf, Guyana and now Australia!

Tigerfish from South Africa

Species: Tigerfish
Angler: Shaka
Friends: Boas(left) and Toms(right)
Location: Cahorra Bassa Dam in Northern Mozambique (Southern Africa)
Weight: 7 kg (~15.4 lbs)

Here is a picture of me and my friends on the Cahorra Bassa Dam in Northern Mozambique (Southern Africa). It weighed 7kg's and was caught using a shimano culcatta 250, shimano carbomax rod(7ft), 4kg Carpbuster line. Bait was the local baitfish (Capenta) rigged on a bass-worm hook casted and slowly retrieved. It took about 25minutes to land after it made some spectacular jumps - as high as 2 meters!!

154 lbs Mekong Giant Catfish from James

Common Name: Mekong Giant Catfish
Fish Weight: 154 lb
Location: Bung Sam Lan Lake, Thailand
Angler: James Heighes
Home: Petersfield, Hampshire, UK
Date: March 17, 2006
Guiding Team: Jean-Francois Helias' Fishing Adventures Thailand br>
Just a few words to inform you we had a tremendous Mekong giant catfish catch this morning (March 17, 2006) by a UK angler, by the name of James Heighes.

James (25 years old) is from Petersfield, Hampshire. He's mainly into carp fishing in his homecountry. He booked us for a single day fishing which turned out to be the kind of unforgettable one for a sport angler.

James hooked up and landed a 154 lb (70 kg) Mekong giant catfish after having fought it for an hour and a half. Unfortunately again, his catch cannot qualify for a IGFA world record though it was much larger than the current 63 kg IGFA All Tackle world record. The unstoppable giant catfish succeeded to entangle James' line around structures not less than three times during the battle. Rules were broken as we had to swim and touch rod, reel, and line to help freeing the snagged line out of the structures, so we could secure the catch.
Jean-Franois Helias

Barramundi from Austalia

Species: Barramundi
Angler: Blinky
Location: Adelaide River. N.T. Australia
Time: Build up to the Wet Season
Length: 113 cm
Weight: Unknown
Released
Tackle: Daiwa CV-Z 203A, Loomis CR722, 10 lb Platil Millennium braid, Reidy's Lure "Goulbourn Jack"

165 lb Mekong - Thailand

Common Name: Mekong Giant Catfish
Fish Weight: 165 lb
Location: Bung Sam Lan Lake, Thailand
Angler: Sandy Weed
Home: Port Huron, MI
Date: Nov 26, 2005
Guiding Team: Jean-Francois Helias' Fishing Adventures Thailand

We had quite an amazing day, yesterday 26th November, guiding clients at Bung Sam Lan Lake.

Two of our Fishing Adventures Thailand client's catches records were broken, and big time....

First, a young angler (13 years old) by the name of Claudius Odermatt (Switzerland), set a new mark for the "junior category", by fighting on his own and landing a 35.00 kg (77lb) Mekong Giant Catfish. Knowing how hardfighting is the Pla Buk, it is an amazing achievement for such a young fellow with for sure much less strength than an adult angler, but already displaying a very strong will. The previous biggest cat ever caught by a junior angler was a 15.50 kg landed by Muhammad Akil, a 9 years old from Malaysia, on September 7, 2000.

Later in the afternoon, Sandy Weed, a female angler from Port Huron, Michigan, USA, who with her husband Dave were fishing with us for the 4th time, accomplished the exploit to land a 75.00 kg (165 lb) Mekong Giant Catfish. This impressive catch would have been a new IGFA All Tackle World Record if the IGFA rules had not been broken (current world record is 63.00 kg). Unfortunately for Sandy - and there was nothing she could do about it - her line got entangled twice around stuctures during the fight that lasted well over an hour. We had to jump twice in the water to help with the snagged line, so she could resume fighting.

A running catfish of this weight moves in the water like a tow truck. It is totally unstoppable at times. And this one seemed to be gifted with a big amount of stamina. Its defense was outstanding. This catfish just did not want to give up. Heil to Cindy for not quitting, but bearing the pain she had to endure in her arms while playing this fighting machine, until it got tamed! This lady being over 60 years old, there is only one word to say, and it is "bravo"!

Her 75 kg (165 lb) Mekong catfish catch is now the new Fishing Adventures Thailand's female anglers record catch for the Pangasianodon gigas. A record that should stay safe for a long while. The former record, was a tie between Vee Carlson (UK) and Sue Papper (Australia), for their respective 53.00 kg (116 pounders) catches, both landed in 2004 (April & November).

77 lb "Pla Kang"

Common Name : Hemibagrus wyckioides
Local Name : Pla Kang or Pla Kot Ang Daeng
Scientific name: Hemibagrus wyckioides
Fish Weight: 35.00 kg (~77 lbs)
Catch Place : Srinakarin Reservoir, Thailand
Catch date : October 5, 2005
Angler's name: caught by a local commercial fisherman on a trotline

I was recently (Oct 3 to Oct. 6) on a 4 days jungle fishing trip at the Srinakarin Reservoir, guiding Arnaud Filleul, a French biologist who is also a globetrotter angler, and currently the most prolific sportfishing writer in France. The purpose of this trip was to catxh as many Thai fish species as possible to photograph them for Arnaud's work. More especially for a coming book he is writing about Southest Asian fish species. A kind of book I should have written myself long ago. But being busy the way I am daily I guess I'll have to wait to be retired to spend my time writing features and books....

During our trip, we had the opportunity to take photos of an exceptional fish. One of my local friends living at the reservoir, and fishing there commercially, caught an impressive Hemibagrus wyckioides (a species called in Thai "pla kang" or "pla kot ang daeng", on a trotline. His capture was weighted at 35 kg.

Knowing this Thai catfish species can reach 100 kilos, by looking at the attached pics of this 35 kg fish I wish to share with you, I have no doubt your imagination will work to figure out how big can be a 100 kg specimen!

137 lbs Mekong Giant Catfish from Chicagoan Dale

Common Name: Mekong Giant Catfish
Fish Weight: 137 lb
Location: Bung Sam Lan Lake, Thailand
Angler: Dale Michell Rothschtein
Home: Chicago, IL
Date: Nov 24, 2004
Guiding Team: Jean-Francois Helias' Fishing Adventures Thailand
Rod: Pro Kik custom built
Reel: Shimano Baitrunner 6500
Line: PowerPro 80 lb

Mark with 106 lbs of Siamese Giant Carp

Common Name: Siamese Giant Carp
Fish Weight: 106 lbs
Date: November 9, 2004
Location: Bung Sam Lan Lake
Angler: Mark Clark
Home: UK

Here is a pic of a helluva Siamese Giant Carp catch weighting 106 lbs and caught on 9th November 2004 by our English client Mark Clark. He scored this tremendous catch on the 2d day of a 3 days fishing session at Bung Sam Lan Lake. A nice reward for his very first trip to Thailand!

187 lbs of Mekong Giant Catfish

Common Name: Mekong Giant Catfish
Fish Weight: 187 lb
Location: Thailand
Angler: Dennis Tang
Home: Singapore

Dear Jim,
It has been a long time my good man that I haven't sent you any news from us here in Thailand!

Things are you already have lots of game fish photos from the Land of Smiles. Too many are displayed on your great website. Fishing on a daily basis of course we do catch lots and lots of all size freshwater fish species. Some of them are surely worth to be shown too. But it would be far too many for you to choose from. Also your site Jim is about fishing, more especially carp fishing, and I feel it has to stay the lovely way it is. Just a little tiny bit of Thai spices (our Thai game fish photos) in your photo gallery seems to me largely enough to bring to worlwide angling surfers a nice exotic taste to the exquisite cuisine (your website) you have cooked for all of us with that much love...

I was waiting for an eventual opportunity, Jim, to send you a catch pic of something that we could call a biggie. And I mean a true real big freshwater fish. One who had to be a 200 pounders or at least almost close to it.

It just happened this last Sunday 29th August 2004 with the catch of this impressive 187 pounders (85.00 kg) Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) who got finally landed after a tough battle lasting one and a half hour. And I mean "a battle". Not a WWF wrestling match. Those who have fought a Mekong catfish know too well they don't take any prisonners. Even a 30 pounds cat can kick any skilful angler's ass......

The lucky guy who caught this record size Mekong giant catfish is a Singaporean by the name of Dennis Tang. We were guiding him with 7 of his buddies who came cto Bangkok for their very first Thai fishing experience with the hardfighting "Pla Buk" (local name), the world's biggest catfish species.

At this kind of weight, Dennis' hooked up monster cat was absolutely unstoppable. The fish had no problem to do whatever he wanted and entangled the angler's line several times around structures. IGFA rules had to be broken during the fight, this to avoid losing the fish on a broken line. Therefore Dennis' record size catch cannot qualify for a new All Tackle World Record. The current IGFA All Tackle world record is "only" for a 138 pounders Mekong cat.

This 187 pounders Mekong catfish is up to today the biggest ever cat landed by one of our Fishing Adventures Thailand's clients. The former biggest catch was for a catfish of 176 pounds (80.00 kg) caught by Japanese Norihiro Murakami (a former IGFA All Tackle world record holder for that particular catfish species). Third biggest catch being a 156 pounders landed by Richard Rossillon (Switzerland).

Let's see who will be the next lucky visiting angler to set the mark above 200 pounds or even higher break.....

Sooner or later Jim, even if it has to take a year or two, I am pretty confident you will receive an email from yours truly telling you it just finally happened!

Kind regards,

Jean-Francois Helias
Fishing Adventures Thailand
61 IGFA World Records
Angling Thailand

Samantha with a Tigerfish and friend with a Banana fish in Guyana

Common Name: Tigerfish, or short headed culit
Scientific name: Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum
Fish Weight: ?
Location: Rewa River, Guyana (South America)
Angler: Samantha James

Hi! - I visited your site and thought I would share some photos of cool fish too!
Me with Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum (short headed culit, or tigerfish). I have no idea how much it weighed but to say it was heavy. Caught in the Rewa River, Guyana (South America) on a firetiger Deep Diving Rapala. I've been spooled by these guys before, and they are a ton of fun to catch as they're big and strong and love to strip line as they swim in fast, long arches away from the boat.

Common Name: Red tailed catfish, or bananafish
Scientific name: Phactocephalus hemiopterus
Location: Rupununi river, Guyana
Angler: Gordon Duncan

Gordon Duncan with Phactocephalus hemiopterus (red tailed catfish, or bananafish). Every time Gordon visits Guyana from the UK, he says "I want to catch a bananafish before I go home", and he gets his wish every time! This fish was caught in the Rupununi river, Guyana.

Enjoy, and wish you tight lines!

Samantha

Francois' new Siamese giant carp personal best

Fish English Name: Siamese giant carp
Local Name: Pla Caho
Scientific name: Catlocarpio siamensis
Fish Weight: 49.00 kg (~108 lbs)
Catch Place : Thailand
Catch date : March 23, 2004
Angler's name: Jean-Francois Helias

Freshwater Stingrays

Jean-Francois with an 18 kg (~40 lb) stingray

We were fishing on March 18 & 19, 2004, for one day & one night at the Bang Pakong River mainly for the Grey Eel Catfish (Plotosius canius) and the Freshwater Stingray( Himantura chaophraya) with 2 English friends and return clients, Bruce Dale & Terry Robert Mather. Water conditions there are just starting to be perfect to have chances to catch both species. It will be good until the end of May.

We caught a total of 3 Stingrays. Bruce Dale caught 2 Freshwater Stingray (Himantura chaophraya). Though they were not huge specimens (estimated respectively 25.00 kg and 10.00 kg), they gave him two good fights. Also it was really nice to have an opportunity to take as many pics of both fish prior to release them safely. Pics of these particular ray species are rare.

Bruce Dale with a 25 kg (~55 lb) stingray

I was myself fishing for the Grey Eel Catfish, caught one only, and hooked......an unexpected stingray too. I used a 6 ft custom built casting rod for snakehead fishing on top water & a Shimano Twin Power 4000 loaded with Fin's 40 lb braided line. This kind of fishing tackle was far to be the best to fight a stingray and I wondered many times if my highly bent rod was going to break next or to be strong enough to take the kind of punishment it was displaying. The powerful ray's first run was such that I doubted an instant I could do anything to stop it and to avoid having my reel spooled out. I adjusted my drag as tight as it could be permitted and gave the ray some stick. After a 20 minutes tremendous tug of war where I shade a lot of sweat in the hit of the night I was finally able to bring it to our boat.

..and Bruce with a 10 kg (~22 lb) stingray

This stingray turned out it was not a Himantura chaophraya but another ray species called in Thai "Pla Kabeng Chai Tong" (I don't know yet its English name neither its scientific name but I've asked several biologist friends to help me with the ID of this stingray). The ray weighted on certified scales was scaled at 18.00 kg sharp. Its total length from its nose to the end of its tail was 199 cm. The length of its disc taken from its nose to the beginning of its tail it was 67 cm. Its girth was 132 cm. Our boatman says it is the biggest "Pla Kabeng Chai Tong" he has ever seen caught by an angler on this river (the biggest he saw prior to my catch was close to 16.00 kg). He said this species can grow to a max. weight of 30.00 kg.

Kind regards,

Jean-Francois Helias

Armand with a couple more stingrays in UAE

Stingrays from Dubai Creek

New Mekong giant catfish record - 64 kg (~140.8 lbs)

English Name: Mekong Giant Catfish
Weight: 64 kg (140.8 lbs)
Where: Thailand
Date: February 27, 2004
Angler: Richard Ainsworth, England
Guide: Fishing Adventures Thailand

Just a few words to say that we have finally broken yesterday the current All Tackle record for the Mekong giant catfish (56.50 kg held by English Terry Robert Mather). Terry's record catch was was in February, last year. Yesterday Feb. 27, English angler Richard Ainsworth (from Bedford) caught a 64.00 kg Mekong Giant Catfish. The fish was 187 cm long for a girth of 103 cm.
Warm regards amigo,

Francois

Armand in the Persian Gulf

Hi Jim Its me again; Armand. A few new exotic catches! The first pic is a Giant sea catfish, excellent sport fish & amazing taste. The second pic is of a Leopard sting ray. will keep sending pics as I catch more fish.
Tight Lines..

Giant sea catfish caught in Dubai Creek

The lucky angler.. Terry Robert Mather

Fish English Name: Siamese giant carp
Local Name: Pla Caho
Scientific name: Catlocarpio siamensis
Fish Weight: 53.00 kg (~117 lbs)
Catch Place : Thailand
Catch date : 18th February 2004
Angler's name: Terry Robert Mather, England
Guiding: Fishing Adventures Thailand / Jean-Francois Helias

Terry's 53 kg giant carp

34 kg giant carp

Last year at the same period (February 2003), my good friend and return client Bruce Dale from England invited some of his best Geordie mates to join him on a fishing trip to Thailand. One of them was a lovely lad by the name of Terry Robert Mather, a game keeper who doesn't have any spare time to fish in his homecountry.

From their first day fishing to the end of their trip, Terry turned out to be the luckiest angler I've ever met. On day 1, he caught a 25.00 kg Chao Phraya Giant Catfish, setting a new IGFA All Tackle world record for this predator catfish species. The next day Terry did it again. He landed this time a 56.50 kg Mekong Giant Catfish which is still today the current IGFA record. Then we headed up for upcountry for some more days fishing in the jungle where Terry hooked up a 6.00 kg Spotted Featherback, again current IGFA record.

Terry's 20 kg giant catfish

This year Bruce & Terry booked us for 5 days and 3 nights. And again Terry stole the show!

On Feb. 18, a French Canadian angler by the name of Francois Cadieux had the chance to experience a Siamese giant carp's bite, landing a 25.00 kg. One hour later, Terry showed to everyone he did not lose at all his very special luck, hooking up a 53.00 kg giant carp (the second biggest ever caught by our clients). This carp gave an amazing fight due to the fact she had only one eye.

Yesterday morning Feb. 19, Terry went on landing an Arapaima of 37.00 kg. This Arapaima was a nice welcome catch to break at last a kind of jinx we felt having. We experienced a total of 7 Arapaima bites within the last 3 days, including bites of 2 big ones well over the 150 kg mark, but failed to finalize a catch due to fish getting unhooked and one broken line.

..and a 37 kg Arapaima

These 2 catches were already nice enough to say that Terry's 2004 trip was a successful one. But Terry, I told you, is a very lucky guy. He proved it by catching next another giant carp, of 34.00 kg this time.

We spent last night fishing together, catching several good size Chao Praya giant catfish with a new bait that we are testing for this species and Arapaima too. This new bait proved to be absolutely great. It works very good with both species. Terry again landed the biggest Chao Praya catfish, a big size 20.00 kg.

It is almost 11.00 am right now here in Thailand. We are entering soon our last afternoon fishing after a tiring fishing marathon with very little sleep. Terry and I are fishing for the giant carp. I'm expecting anything at anytime from him to confirm he is one of the very few anglers on earth to have this kind of perpetual luck......

Francois

Potential new IGFA record Siamese Giant Carp, but...

Fish English Name: Siamese giant carp
Local Name: Pla Caho
Scientific name: Catlocarpio siamensis
Fish Weight: 75.00 kg (~165 lbs)
Catch Place : Thailand
Catch date : 23rd January 2004
Angler's name: Arjan van der Linde, Holland
Guiding: Fishing Adventures Thailand / Jean-Francois Helias

Jean-Francois Helias & his Fishing Adventures Thailand team of pro guides who have been part of 54 IGFA world records are known to have caught more specimens of the rare and elusive Siamese giant carp or Catlocarpio Siamensis, the world's biggest carp species inhabiting Thai waters, than any other angler on the planet. Very recently, they were guiding 2 Dutch anglers, Arjan van der Linde and Ingmar Ooms (Rotterdam), on their second trip with Francois in the "Land of Smiles".

These 2 anglers will never forget their trip as they both experienced a unique and tremendous "hat trick" of record size catches that any worlwide freshwater angler would love to experience himself once in his lifetime. On their last day fishing on January 23, 2004, Dutch Arjan van der Linde hooked up the biggest ever giant carp landed so far by any of Jean-Francois' clients, a monster size giant carp of 75 kg. On the very same day, his fishing partner Ingmar Ooms landed himself a 30 kg Arapaima gigas and a 52 kg Mekong giant catfish.

"We had 2 clients last year who caught respectively a 50.00 kg carp" says Jean-Francois. "Both fish were already tremendous catches but nothing to compare with this 75 kg Catlocarpio siamensis monster. I'm so delighted with this helluva catch. It is a true carp catch of a lifetime that hundreds of European carp anglers would love to brag about....."

"Like for these two 50 kg carp catches last year, again IGFA rules had to be broken to save the angler's catch. This monster carp was absolutely unstoppable and entangled Arjan van der Linde's line around obstacles not less than 5 times in a row. An over 20 kg European common carp is kind of "kindergarden fish" compared to a giant carp of this weight. It is like hooking up a freight train. We had to swim all along the fight to find the entangled line underwater, then cut it to extract it from the structures and tie fast both line parts to be able to bring finally the fish to the landing net."

Francois stalking the toman bunga (emperor snakehead) in the jungle

First for 2004 - 88 lb Arapaima

English Name: Arapaima or Pirarucu
Scientific name: Arapaima gigas
Weight: 88.00 lb
Location: Thailand
Date : January 9, 2004
Angler: Nick Berridge, London, England
Guide: Jean-Francois Helias/Fishing Adventures Thailand

20 Kg (~44 lb) Arapaima

Species: Arapaima Gigas
Weight: 20 Kg
Place: Bung Sam Lan Lake, Thailand
Angler: Jean-Francois Helias

Burgundy wine tastes so nice! I just had a bottle tonight to celebrate....

I fished for the giant carp this morning. Why did I decide to go for a live fish bait late afternoon, don't ask me, because I don't have any answer. I usually don't do that much live fish bait at Bung Sam Lan.

Maybe it was an intuition that I could eventually be lucky to catch a predator, either a big size snakehead or a Chaophraya Catfish. It turned out a predator took it but I did not expect it to be a "Pla Tjon Amazon"......or Arapaima.

There was a period when I wanted so bad to hook one of those giants. I was trying almost daily but never succeeded. Facts are I hooked 5 of them in the last 3 years but I never had the chance to fight one, not even a single minute. Fish spitted the bait or tangled my line around structures, got broken line, once I even got spooled. I thought I had a kind of jinx with that species....

That 20.00 Kg I caught today is the best feeling I had in years, except maybe for some snakeheads that I'm proud to have made bite. It is not the size I wished to hook years ago but today I'm absolutely delighted with that catch. That is the 10th Arapaima catch in 18 years, our 6th. I feel good. The Arapaima "jinx" is gone....

Francois

July Guide's Trip..

Noi's 7.50 Kg Rohu

Francois' 2.10 Kg Java Barb

Since we (3 of my guides and I) came back a few days ago from a one and a half day fishing trip, we were thinking daily about going back there again as soon as we could. We had so much fun fishing for our personal pleasure. We got to guides visiting anglers on a regular basis therefore we have too little free time to travel and go fishing together upcountry. One month ago we got a phone call from a local friend and boatman who told us that Rohu or Indian Carp (Labeo rohita) were starting to bite well. We could not escape from work and had to wait an opportunity, a break of 2/3 days with guiding.

It was already too late to experience the best fishing as the weather (rainy season) was starting to be very bad with very strong winds and heavy showers. We should have been there at the right time beginning of June. But even fishing conditions were tough each afternoon, we caught 2 record fish to be submitted with the IGFA. Kaeng, one of my pro guides, landed a 6.60 kg Rohu, setting then a new record for that species (current record being 5.70 Kg). I caught myself a very big size Java barb of 1.50 Kg which already was a big specimen for that small species (to be submitted as well as a All Tackle record).

We had no clients to guide from July 7 until this morning 10 so we headed for that reservoir again, this time for 2 and a half days fishing. Except for a few small size fish (Java Barb and Mystus) caught on Monday afternoon and yesterday we almost got blank. The weather was terribly windy again, with heavy rain in the evening, and we experienced 2 heavy storms. We were even lucky to make it back to Bangkok last night. We were camping on a very small island surrounded by water of about 30 meters wide, since Monday. Very strong winds came beginnning of the afternoon yesterday followed by a violent storm. All around us it was high waves, almost looking like being at sea. The 2 locals boatmen friends who brought us there and all of our gear with their wooden pirogues had to bring us back to land but were not confident at all we could make it. We had to wait for the storm to come down before travelling back to shore. But the weather was getting worse. We had no other option then than having a pirogue ride in the storm as the van chauffeur to bring us back to Bangkok was waiting for us at the local village. Man, I must say it was kind of a very frightening experience. We had no life jackets, just Buddha to ask for help.....If I had any client with us on that trip then I would have taken the decision to wait for the storm to end even if I had to camp one more night. But being only as "the gang", my wife Lek, and my guides Kik, Noi and Kaeng, and having to guide clients this morning, we had to dare. Good karma, good boatmen, we reached the shore allright.....

There is always negative and positive (ying and yang) in everything included fishing trips. A part of that scary experience, we had a ball on July 8, breaking both records we had set on our first trip. I got very lucky to hook one huge Java Barb of 2.10 Kg this time. That is a serious record size for that species. And Kaeng (my very same guide who caught that 6.60 Kg Rohu the other day) did it again, landing in the morning a whooper Rohu of 12.50 Kg, a female with a very fat belly full of eggs weighting twice his first record catch! Later, I had a 7.30 Kg Rohu in the afternoon and Noi, another of my guides, had a 7.50 Kg. Now we got to wait next year to get there again and try to do even better. It will be very difficult to break again the Java Barb record as 2.10 Kg is already kind of an exceptional fish. The Rohu record will be also tough to break but a few fish close to the 15 Kg mark have already been caught at that reservoir.

Keep on fishin'

Francois

Francois' 7.30 Kg Rohu

Kaeng's 12.50 Kg new record Rohu

50 Kg (~110 lb.) Siamese Giant Carp

English Name: Siamese Giant Carp
THAI Name: PLA CAHO
Scientific name: Catlocarpio siamensis
Weight: 50.00 Kg
Place: Bung Sam Lan Lake, Thailand
Date: June 2003
Angler: Kenji Takata
Homecountry: Japan
Guide: Fishing Adventures Thailand

Dear Jim,

How are you my friend? Just a few words to send you a couple of pics (taken by a Thai friend so not very sharp) of a 50.00 Kg Siamese giant carp caught end of June by my friend Kenji Takata from Japan. That is a helluva fish! Unfortunately Kenji got his line tangled around structures during the fight (40 minutes) so we had to touch his rod and line to secure the catch. Therefore that record fish could not qualify under IGFA rules to break the current 47.00 kg All Tackle record held by Dutch Arnout Terlouw since November 2001.

Kind regards,

Your friend.

Francois

56.50 Kg (~124 lbs) Mekong Catfish

English Name: Mekong Giant Catfish
Weight: 56.50 Kg (~124 lbs.)
Fate: Released - pending IGFA world record
Where: Thailand
Date: February 18, 2003
Angler: Terry Mather
Guide: Fishing Adventures Thailand

Emperor Snakehead

Scientific name: Channa maruloides
English Name : Emperor Snakeheaad
Local Name : Toman Bunga
Fish weight : 1.8 Kg (~3.96 lbs.)
Measurements: 60 cm long, 24 cm girth
Catch date : 19th January, 2003
Place : Malaysia
Angler : Jean-Francois Helias

Dear Jim,

I'm just arrived last night from a jungle fishing trip in Malaysia where I was guiding my old buddy Joe Kubisz (65 years old) from Key Largo, Florida. We had a fantastic time together in the jungle catching lots of giant snakeheads and jungle perch (including 4 new IGFA world records in line class) in 6 fishing days. The highlight of that trip for me was the catch of a specimen of the rare Emperor Snakehead or Channa maruloides. That unique snakehead species can be only found in very remote areas of Indonesia and Malaysia. I succeeded to hook one lovely specimen on the 19th January. Just the day before my 47 years old birthday which was the very best gift I could offer to myself....

That beautiful and unique Channa species is called in Malaysian language TOMAN BUNGA (Toman meaning snakehead, and bunga meaning "flower" due to the pattern on its body). My Channa maruloides which I'm going to submit as an All Tackle world record with the IGFA was weighted at 1.80 kg (they can reach a rare maximum weight of 3.00 kg but in average specimens of 1.50 kg are mostly found). It was 60 cm long for a girth of 24 cm.

Kind regards and keep the good work amigo,

Francois

Rohu or Indian Carp

Scientific name: Labeo rohita
English Name : Rohu
Local Name : Pla Yissok Ted
Fish weight : 7.00 Kg (~15.4 lbs.)
Measurements: none taken
Catch date : 19th October, 2002
Place : Nakorn Pathom, Thailand
Bait : rice husk flour
Full name of angler : Jean-Francois Helias

Have you ever heard of the hardfighting Rohu or Indian Carp (Labeo rohita) ? That species here in Thailand can reach max weights over 30.00 Kg. Here is a pic of a nice 7.00 kg Indian carp specimen I just caught a few days ago. You might like it for your exotic page on your site. Keep up the good work!

Jean-Francois

Great Snakehead Bites..

Jim

I was scanning pics the other day. Going through all the photos I took here the last 16 years, I found in my collection some pics I didn't even remember I had taken. More especially these 4 pics that tell a lot about snakeheads, showing local fish species that have been in contact with deadly giant snakehead's jaws. Pla tapien, pla boo, pla nin, pla kassop, any of these 4 Thai fish species specimens were just unlucky that day to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Life underwater is no different than in the outside world.....

Take care my friend,

Francois

Targeting The Chao Phraya Giant Catfish With Live Koi Carp Bait

Species: Giant Catfish
Weight: 18.25 kg
Bait: Koi or goldfish
Angler: Eric King - UK
When: Oct. 10, 2002
Where: Bung Sam Lan Lake - Thailand

We came up recently with a new fishing strategy at Bung Sam Lan Lake. A part of catfishing and giant carp fishing, we are doing now bottom fishing with live fish baits with visiting anglers who want to target different species. Not any kind of bait fish... but small orange Koi carp! Man, they are really good to attract those predator fish at that lake. Our main target is the Chao Phraya Giant Catfish (Pangasianodon sanitwongsei) but we also got bites from big size Pacu and Snakeheads. I wouldn't be surprised to se an angler hooking an Arapaima next....

We have done it three times so far but we hooked good fish each time. It started the 12th September. We were guiding 2 Dutch and one French anglers for 2 days at that lake. They caught too many cats on their first day and said they had enough of them. So I proposed them to do some live bait fishing the next day. That was a good idea as one of the 2 Dutch, Ingmar Ooms, caught a 17.00 Kg record size Chao Phraya Giant Catfish (see pic). His catch could have been a new IGFA All Tackle world record for that species if the fish had not tangled his line around obstacles. Unfortunately we had to help to save the catch, tempering with the angler's rod and line to free the fish from the snags. It couldn't qualify then for a record because of the strict IGFA rules about that particular case.

I caught myself a 5.00 Kg specimen later, again using those Koi carp. That was not enough to break the current record I ste up this year with a 9.00 kg fish. But we finally broke it last week. This time the right way! We were guiding on the 9th & 10th October a nice gentleman from the UK by the name of Mr. Eric King's (66 years old). I planned to make him fish live bait on his 2d day. Late afternoon, he hooked a fish that gave him a good 20 minutes fight. Once landed it turned out the fish was the biggest Chao Phraya Giant Catfish we ever caught at that lake. The predator catfish weighted on certified scales was exactly 18.25 Kg (see pic). Eric King's catch was double size than my personal record catch. No need to say the nice UK gentleman was more than very happy and decided to submit his catch with the IGFA as I advised him to do so.

In case you are a Koi carp lover, I guess you might have some ugly thinking about me by now. Sorry about that my friend. Only positive results are important to me. So please curse me as much as you wish, even for several generations to come, cause I'll do it again......

Kind regards,

Jean-Francois Helias

Species: Giant Catfish
Weight: 17 kg
Bait: Koi or goldfish
Angler: Ingmar Ooms - Netherlands
When: October 2002
Where: Bung Sam Lan Lake - Thailand

Snakehead fishing report: July 2002

Dear friends,
I'm just arrived last night from another expedition at the Khao Laem dam. I was guiding 3 nice guys (one from Iceland, one from the UK and one from France). The fishing conditions were not as great as I expected them to be. The water level was far too high to produce some great Snakehead fishing. Since my last trip at the beginning of June, it seems the rain has apparently fallen too much daily and the dam authorities have not released any water at all. But we were there to fish anyway and told the boys my favourite saying: " A lure that catch fish is first of all a lure you must cast in the water!"

Jean-Francois Helias with a 4 kg (8.8 lb) giant snakehead

Jon Ingi Agustsson & 2 Kg (4.4 lb.) Snakehead.

Jean-Francois with a 4.95 kg (10.9 lb) Snakehead

So each of us had to cast hard all day long but of course we had a few good rewards at the end of each day. Each angler caught at least 2/3 Snakeheads per day and a few Jungle Perch too. Three males (all between 3.50 Kg and 4.00 Kg) and one female (6.75 Kg) were the best catches of the trip. I missed myself one of those big females protecting her fry that I estimated being around 7/8 Kg. I got the male first on an Addy top water lure (3.90 Kg), kept it in the boat for a while before releasing it, and went after the female. She bit my lure twice, crushing a brand new Rapala floating firetiger in her powerful jaws (see what is left of my lure after 2 bites). She was quite smart, got more than very lucky, cause she struck twice but didn't get hooked. She headed then for cover in heavy weeds. Oh boy, the adrenaline was boiling like crazy inside of me....

Jean-Claude Aubouy with one of the male Giant Snakeheads

For 30 minutes, she chased my top water frog lure imitation each time I was casting at her fry, making each time a big boil under the lure, but without striking it. My heart was pounding like hell, maybe that fish's heart was too, cause she was for sure pretty mad and upset. I believe I could have hooked her if I have had more time. But I had no choice than to call it a day as the night was falling.

We might have set there 3 first world records in line class. I'm going to check tonight with the IGFA if any angler from Malaysia or Singapore has already submitted any bigger Snakehead for the line class category that started on the 15th of July. We are ready to submit 3 records. The 6.75 Kg female (a beautiful fish) caught by my UK client on 30 lb test, and 2 other snakes I caught myself on 40 lbs : a male of 3.90 Kg and another lovely male of 4.95 Kg. Then we'll do our best to break that next month...
We keep in touch,

Kind regards,
Francois

Peter Cartwright with a 6.75 kg (14.9 lb) Giant Snakehead

The Mekong Giant Catfish and U.S. angler Jere..

English Name: Mekong Giant Catfish
Scientific Name: Pangasianodon gigas
Local name: Pla Buk
Weight: 28.00 kg (~62 lbs.)
Fate: Released
Where: Thailand
Date: June 14th, 2002
Bait: Bread & Coconut Milk
Angler: JERE GETTLE
Home: Mansfield, MO - USA
Guide: Fishing Adventures Thailand

I received a mail a couple of months ago from a young angler by the name of Jere Gettle, from Mansfield, Missouri. He wrote me:

"The Size of those cats really got us excited. I have wanted to try a Mekong Giant Catfish ever since I saw that 64.00 kg monster in Carpe Carpio Exotic Fish Pictures. "

I told him I'll be glad to help him and his friends catching loads of them during their stay with us in Thailand, the Land of Smiles. There was no trouble later backing up my guarantee that, they too, would land these hardfighting fish. They landed more than 30 fish a day including that nice 28.00 Kg Pangasianodon gigas specimen.

Jean-Francois Helias

First U.S. Angler Guided to a Siamese Giant Carp..

Angler: Jonathan Mizner
Home: Missouri, USA
Date: June 14, 2002
Weight: 23 kg, (~50 lbs.)
Species: Giant Carp

Congratulations to Carpe Carpio friend Jonathan Mizner! On the 14th June 2002, Jonathan became the very first American angler to have caught a rare Siamese Giant Carp. He and two of his angler friends from Missouri were vacationing around Thailand. They decided to profit of the occasion to do some good fishing with Jean-Francois Helias from Fishing Adventures Thailand. For 2 consecutive days they had a ball fighting numerous huge Giant Mekong Catfish but Jonathan was the luckiest of the group. He got a bite on his carp rod from that 23.00 Kg beauty, landing her after a long twenty minutes tough fight..

Pending IGFA Record Sea Catfish

Angler: Anongnart Sungwichien
Home: Bangkok, Thailand
Date: 4th April, 2002
Species (scientific name): PLOTOSUS CANIUS
English Name: Gray Eel Catfish or Sea Catfish
Local Name: PLA DUK TALE (meaning SEA CATFISH)
Bait: Live prawn
Line test: 15 lb

Snakeheads in Malaysia..

April 18, 2002
I just got back from Malaysia 2 days ago. I was there on a jungle fishing expedition for a week. Fishing conditions were pretty tough. The water level at the dam I was angling was at its highest and the temperature at its hottest. God knows I can take the hit anytime, anywhere, but it was so hot from noon to 3.00 pm that I had to be more than crazy to go on with the fishing. Biting was only good with live catfish bait, lures didn't work at all and anyway the action was mostly good early morning. My biggest Shado catches were two fish at the identical weight of 5.75 Kg.

I hooked maybe 2 bigger fish but I'm not so sure if they were real "giant ones". The Shado strike, by 3 meters deep from a boat with a live catfish bait, is so powerful with that particular predator that it is impossible to have an accurate guess at the fish weight. It looked to me very big but who knows...

The underwater territory is more than very crowded with submerged timber trees all over the dam so broken lines are very frequent there. I fished 50 lb braided line but even at that strength I got twice my line broken on the first rush of those fish. Even with ultimate quality braided line, the friction of the line on a fish rush in the branches of those submerged trees is really too much.

The best moments of that trip was the 2 attacks I got from the rare Toman Bunga (a very rare Snakehead jungle species only found in Malaysia. That very rare fish species, step by steep disapearing, is now so difficult to find. It hides itself in low level water, at the dead end of very narrow channels in terribly snagged territories. It was already so good to get a bite from them. I got lucky to at least see them striking. But it was not my karma again to finalize ... both fish stroke my mini imitation frog surface lure but just didn't get hooked. It is my third time in 4 attempts to make bite those fish without succeeding. It makes me think a lot since my return to Thailand. I am still trying to figure out why they just didn't get hooked. I got to land one of those rare Bunga to add that rare species to my Snake catches. I'll be back there again, one of these days, to pay those lovely "buggers" a visit...

Kind regards,
Jean-Francois

Species: Siamese Giant Carp
Weight: 44.0kg (~97 lbs.)
Fate: Released
Where: Thailand
Date: February 24, 2002
Bait: Bread & Coconut Milk
Angler: Guy Fennech
Home: France
Guiding: Fishing Adventures Thailand

Nice hat!

Species: Siamese Giant Carp or Catlocarpio siamensis
Weight: 32.0kg (~70 lbs.)
Fate: Released
Where: Thailand
Date: March 14th, 2002
Bait: Bread & Coconut Milk
Angler: PATRICK LAWN
Home: England
Guiding: Fishing Adventures Thailand

It is a long time I wanted to take a pic with that great cap of yours Jim ! I was wearing it every time I was doing carp fishing but then I had to stop for a while. Supersition or not, certainly in fact because of too cold water for the season, I didn't experience a single bite when I had it on my head. Then we caught 3 carps in a row.

I decided to put it on again yesterday. Just to check if I could break that "jinx". It worked ! My client landed that 32.00 Kg. I was glad to have a pic with the carp and the cap. I'll try to get something more impressive for your site in the future.

Jean-Francois

Pending new IGFA World Record Siamese Giant Carp

Species: Siamese Giant Carp or Catlocarpio siamensis
Weight: 47 kg (~103 lbs.)
Fate: Released
Where: Thailand
Date: November 19th, 2001
Bait: Bread & Coconut Milk
Angler: Arnout Terlouw
Home: Netherlands
Guiding: Fishing Adventures Thailand

Current IGFA World Record Siamese Giant Carp

Species: Siamese Giant Carp or Catlocarpio siamensis
Weight: 45 kg (~99 lbs.)
Fate: Released
Where: Thailand
Date: November 12th, 2001
Bait: Bread &Coconut Milk
Angler: Jean-Francois Helias
Home: Thailand
Guiding: Fishing Adventures Thailand

The Arapaima Gigas, or Pirarucu

It was around 1:00 am that night of the 26th August 2001 when that 185 kg monster Arapaima gigas decided to take our fish filet bait. As usual, powerful and unstoppable, once hooked the huge predator fish rushed through all the obstacles it could find underwater. The Arapaima went absolutely everywhere, snagging the line several times around pillars of a wooden bridge and stilts of near by bungalows. Its unique strength and speed was amazing to observe. It ran non-stop for a while, then stopped, showing itself later several times at surface level, far at the other end of the lake.

Two of my guides had then to proceed to the strategy we use in that case, when the angler's line is snagged in obstacles, to save his catch. One of them spent an hour swimming, often underwater, to find out where the snagged line was. Meanwhile the second one, each time it was necessary, was spooling out the line from the reel, cutting it, getting it free from the snags, tying promptly the two line pieces. The angler, Joe Taylor, would then take contact again with the monster fish and fight it until he got snagged again. It took a total of 2 very long hours before the fight could be ended. One hour spent working on the snagged line, and another 60 minutes for the tug of war with the giant fish. Under IGFA rules, you can guess fighting the fish that way wouldn't have been sanctioned by an All Tackle World Record. Too bad, that Arapaima was almost 3 times bigger than the fish of the present record: a fish of "only" 67.13 kg caught in the Rupununi River, Guyana, by a certain Ed Migdalski, in April 1953. That monster fish is currently the Asian’s biggest freshwater fish ever caught with a rod.

Thirty-five of those Amazonian Arapaima gigas have been introduced in Thailand 17 years ago. So far, only 6 specimens have ever been caught. The 2 last fish landed were hooked by legendary European angler friends whom we had the privilege to guide during their stays. In December 2000, Arnout Terlouw, a wellknown Dutch globetrotter angler, fishing writer and editor of the prestigious magazine Karper, was the very first foreign angler to catch an Arapaima gigas in the Kingdom of Siam. We estimated that fish at 110 kg but I believe now it was certainly much heavier. After that catch, we experienced around 30 more Arapaima bites. Unfortunately, none of those fish that took our baits were landed. We just couldn't finalize. Those fish either spit the bait, got unhooked, or broke our visiting anglers' lines in obstacles.

That second fish landed in August 2001 by our UK angling friend Joe Taylor was much bigger. That monster was weighting an impressive 185 kg, had a length of 263 cm and a girth of 185 cm. That catch of a lifetime was more than well deserved. Before landing this fish, Joe had previously experienced with us a total of 7 Arapaima takes during his 2 previous Thailand fishing trips.

It was on a Saturday night and about 50 Thai people stopped fishing and came to watch the action. Once the fish was netted, a huge ovation from the Thai crowd congratulated all of us. Joe, as the "hero" of the day, and us the Fishing Adventures Team as his accomplices. Every one was clapping loudly his hands. It was a very amazing and emotional moment and a few tears came out of Joe's eyes.

Jean-Francois Helias

Species: Arapaima gigas or Pirarucu
Weight: 185 kg (~408 lbs.)
Length: 263 cm (~8 ft. 8 in.)
Girth: 165 cm (~5 ft. 5 in.)
Fate: Released
Where: Thailand
Date: 26th August 2001
Bait: Fish fillet
Angler: Joe Taylor
Home: United Kingdom
Guiding: Fishing Adventures Thailand

Species: Arapaima gigas or Pirarucu
Weight: estimated over 110 kg (~240 lbs.)
Fate: Released
Where: Thailand
Date: December 2000
Bait: Live fish bait
Angler: Arnout Terlouw
Home: Netherlands
Guiding: Fishing Adventures Thailand

The Chaophraya Giant Catfish

Species: Chaophraya Giant Catfish
Weight: over 4 kg (9 lb.)
Fate: Released
Where: Bung Sam Lan Lake, Thailand
Bait: Bread/coconut milk
Angler: Jean-Francois Helias
Home: Thailand

The Mekong Giant Catfish

Species: Mekong Giant Catfish
(Pangasianodon gigas)
Weight: 64 kg (~141 lbs.)
Fate: Released
Where: Benjamin Lake, Thailand
Angler: Jean-Francois Helias
Team: Fishing Adventures Thailand
Home: Bangkok, Thailand

The Siamese Giant Carp

Species: Siamese Giant Carp
Weight: 37 kg (~81 lbs.)
Date: 29th Nov. 2001
Fate: Released
Where: Bung Sam Lan Lake, Thailand
Bait: Bread/coconut milk
Angler: Jean-Francois Helias
Home: Thailand

The Giant Bagarius

Species: Giant bagarius
(Bagarius yarelli)
Weight: 9 kg (~20 lbs.)
Fate: Released
Where: Srinakarindra Dam, Thailand
Angler: Jean-Francois Helias
Team: Fishing Adventures Thailand
Home: Bangkok, Thailand

15 lb. Giant Snakehead

Species: Giant Snakehead
(Channa micropeltes)
Weight: 7 kg (~15 lbs.)
Fate: Released
Where: Khao Laem Dam, Thailand
Angler: Jean-Francois Helias
Team: Fishing Adventures Thailand
Home: Bangkok, Thailand

Jullien's Golden Price Carp

Common name: Jullien's Golden Price Carp
Local name : PLA YISSOK THAI
Scientific name: Probarbus jullieni

That rare species can reach weights in the wild of 100 kg too. Only a few rare anglers here in Thailand have landed one in the wild. The carp on this pic is 25 kg. (~55 lbs.) That fish was landed by Oot, one of my Fishing Adventures Thailand team of guides, at the Srinakarindra dam in August 1999. The day he caught that fish, we had another 9 bites but we lost all the other fish, much bigger. Everytime we got our lines snagged as there are submerged trees all over the place underwater...

color close-up of the Jullien's Golden Price Carp

132 lb Siamese Giant Carp

Species: Siamese Giant Carp
Weight: 60 kg+ (~132 lbs.)
Fate: Released
Where: Bung Sam Lan Lake, Thailand
Angler: Pi Poot
Home: Thailand

Small Scale Mud Carp

Jean-Francois Helias holds up a Small Scale Mud Carp (Cirrhina Microlepis)

Wife Lek, also with a Small Scale Mud Carp, known locally as PLA NUAN TJAN

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