November 28, 2011

LAOS: report from Jean Francois Helias




Just a few words to keep you posted about the great fishing we are enjoying right now here in Laos.
I've been joined on that 5th angling adventure in Northern Laos by 2 old friends and numerous times return clients: UK Gavin Clarke and USA Dale Fischer (79 years old). Dale who was also with me here last November set the IGFA All Tackle world record for the Mekong Pangasius at the very same mountain lake we are fishing today.

We started the expedition by some exciting lure fishing by boat for 2 different species of predator Hampala barb.
Then we traveled further north to target the Stracheyi Mahseer in the wild,  fishing for that specie on both lure and bottom fishing in fast river streams. The lure fishing turned out to be the best we ever had at that river. We caught several Stracheyi Mahseer close to the 2 kilos mark which are real biggies for that particular specie.

We are now almost at the end of our trip. Only one more day fishing to go before heading back to Thailand. None of us had the chance yet to repeat the ball I had here last January when I captured a Siamese giant carp weighing over the 50 kilos mark.
But we have done very OK so far with several catches for each of us - Chinese common carp, Mrigal, Bighead Carp, Mekong Pangasius, Lagleri Barb, Rohu - considering the fish are not very active in the very cold waters of that mountain lake, at this fresh period of the year.

Gavin had the best catch to date with a lovely 7.30 kg Koi Carp, the biggest I've ever seen caught in South East Asia. That superb Koi was a true catch of a lifetime!
The highlight of the trip to me was at last the visit of the school we have had built with the help of a good bunch of generous angling buddies from all over the world. Thanks to them and their respective donations, the school is now almost completed. There are only a few finitions to be done in the inside. And I am going to try to collect a bit of more money to have it done, and to purchase a few more things (furnitures, books, stationnery, sport equipments, etc), so the whole project can be completed once for all.
 

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