A Winning Event!

I found out that it happens about twice a year. The first one this year was sponsored by the Hog’s Breath, which was later taken over and sponsored by The Tavern. Hogs Breath Golf Charity Catfish Derby.

It was two days of activities.

Day one: Friday, May 18th, Time: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Where: Fishing Derby at Bungsamran Fishing Park (about 20 to 30 minutes from The Tavern). The Tavern is located in the Nana, just down soi 4 from the NEP across from the Raja Hotel.

The second day (next day, Saturday), was the golf event, which I did not partake in so I will share some of the events from Day One.

We met at The Tavern for breakfast which included bloody Mary’s J, included in the price of the donation (2,000 Baht). At approximately 09:00, we loaded on to the bus, waiting in the parking lot of the Raja Hotel, across the street. Happily, we were provided with “go cups” for those that had remaining beverages that they wanted to take along for the bus ride.

It took a little longer than expected to get (near) to the fishing lake, because…true to the course, the bus broke down about 2 Km from the fishing site. We took the opportunity to restock on beverages and a quick taxi (or pickup truck) ride later, we were all at the lake.

There was a well stocked “7-11” type store at the lake where beverages of all sorts could be purchased as well as “munchies” type foods (chips, crackers, etc). Also, a well stocked tackle shop was in operation so you get purchase
lures and bait of all sorts.

NOTE: the lures and baits catch more fishermen (persons…to be politically correct?) then fish! There were phones at each of the fishing “huts”, so anything from a massage to pizza could be ordered and delivered to your hut!
We ordered up a variety of Thai foods for lunch and it was all tasty, proven by nothing remained.

The fishing was at what I call a “five star” fishing compound, as can be seen in the pictures below.

The fishing huts were very nicely setup with color TVs, frig (in some “huts”), tables & chairs,
sink with running water to wash up, bed to rest on and much more!

We really had to “rough it” here…the Bungsamran Fishing Park even provided a “bait boy” who was stationed at each of the huts to put the bait (usually a “dough ball”) on to the hook and cast the bait out in to the lake…and these gents could cast, in excess of 30 ~ 50 meters! Of course I thought I could cast the same…NOT! Mine flopped out to a whole 10 meters L.

So, without much effort on our parts, we were hauling in large catfish about once and hour, on an average.

The real treat was when the ladies hooked in to one of these “monsters”…they had some work ahead of them! Much to the ladies’ credit, they did not fold but stayed the course and hauled in the big ones. The largest fish caught was
28 kg, by a lady!

My friend, T (in the blue shirt), caught the next largest, 25 kg…and he had to work to land it. How did the little lady do it? She was in another hut so we did not get to enjoy that event.

Our ladies did very well. It didn’t just happen, they had to work and they did!

…and the results for the ladies…

All in all, an excellent day. The funds collected from the event were going to purchase some computers for a school up country.

Since the bus broke down we were “forced” to stay longer (until 6 PM) to complete the fishing contest. Big surprise, no one complained. It was more the other way that we had to be dragged away and herded back on to the bus J

New bus and we were shortly back at The Tavern spinning our tales of “the big one that got away”! Beverages, of your choice, were flowing and the large and most excellent hamburgers were in demand. We were all asking when the next fishing
/ charity event was going to take place and we were told that they do this about every six months. Stay tuned and check with The Tavern when the next event will happen.

A big thanks to Mr. M who organized this event and all the efforts that he put forth to make this happen…from the initial organizing of the event…to handling the bus breaking down…to getting us all back in a timely manner.
Also, to Mr.
S at The Tavern for having the bloody Mary’s in ample supply to start off the morning and the event…to the well received “go cups”…to the welcome back beverages and hamburgers.

You can check the Bungsamran Fishing Park for on line information, available in both Thai and English, here. I will be going back for a “tune up” and stay overnight. Feel free to
email me for additional details.