Soi fishing?

[Merlin]

I've spent many hours chucking baited hooks, flies, spinners and every other kind of lure imaginable at likely-looking spots in many countries, but have never tried casting a line down a concrete road. That's obviously where I've been going wrong!

We woke up today to find a dry road outside the house, and that's separated from the unused rural road and rice fields beyond by a 2 metres high wall. The house is at the far end of a cul-de-sac, but there is a pond at the opposite end, around 100 metres away.

In the carport, MBH found a snakehead around 25cms in length. It looked rather dry and still, but when she looked more closely it opened one eye and winked at her... Being a good Buddhist, she put it in a bucket immediately, pending (I thought) a swift trip to the kitchen, but no... she had "saved its life" and as a result would have to care for it, ensuring it lives to a ripe old age. It is now on its way to fishy luxury - the rice field - from where I fully expect it to perform as a homing pigeon might, returning to the white bucket by morning...





Seriously, do others find it unusual when a 10" long fish visits them without any visible means of transportation? (I know it rained last night because we drove through it on the way home from Bangkok, but there was no sign of roads flooding within 0.5 kms of us.)

How far can a snakehead walk along YOUR soi???

With apologies for the poor pic, and the mucky water!

 

[Prakhonchai Nick]

We regularly get 2/3 small fish after heavy rain - and like Merlins better half, mine buckets them and drops them in the local pond.

Yesterday we had 2 crabs (the somtam variety) about 2" in diameter. They were left to fend for themselves

 

[CO-CO]

We regularly get 2/3 small fish after heavy rain - and like Merlins better half, mine buckets them and drops them in the local pond.

Yesterday we had 2 crabs (the somtam variety) about 2" in diameter. They were left to fend for themselves

Nick, I imagine that you are more experienced than Dow in dealing with crabs.

 

[Rice]

Fish migration has fascinated me ever since I was a young man. My first father in law was a farmer as well as my second. It all started when I was 18, when said first father in law a true blue Aussie bush farmer of generations dug a new dam on my property. It was at least two kilometers to the next pond/dam water source. He told me matter of factually that "dig a hole fill it with water and fish will come" I thought he was mad, as you probably are thinking now. But as the dam filled over time. Fish did appear as he said. He did not know how it happened himself. But fish have been known to be dropped by large storms (sucked up by water spouts) Fish traveling across large spans of dry earth or spawn or fingerings being transported by birds. So when I did it a second time in my life in the rice fields of Thailand, I once again tested this premise, and fish did come! I have since added fingerings as well. So how do you stop your fish from migrating during flooding to other dams in your area. Fish always will migrate to the deepest water source in a area. So with the knowledge I have gained on this subject, I dug my dam 8 meters deep.

 

[Surin]

I've spent many hours chucking baited hooks, flies, spinners and every other kind of lure imaginable at likely-looking spots in many countries, but have never tried casting a line down a concrete road. That's obviously where I've been going wrong!

We woke up today to find a dry road outside the house, and that's separated from the unused rural road and rice fields beyond by a 2 metres high wall. The house is at the far end of a cul-de-sac, but there is a pond at the opposite end, around 100 metres away.

In the carport, MBH found a snakehead around 25cms in length. It looked rather dry and still, but when she looked more closely it opened one eye and winked at her... Being a good Buddhist, she put it in a bucket immediately, pending (I thought) a swift trip to the kitchen, but no... she had "saved its life" and as a result would have to care for it, ensuring it lives to a ripe old age. It is now on its way to fishy luxury - the rice field - from where I fully expect it to perform as a homing pigeon might, returning to the white bucket by morning...



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Seriously, do others find it unusual when a 10" long fish visits them without any visible means of transportation? (I know it rained last night because we drove through it on the way home from Bangkok, but there was no sign of roads flooding within 0.5 kms of us.)

How far can a snakehead walk along YOUR soi???

With apologies for the poor pic, and the mucky water!

I have a dam covering about 4 rai. The dam is filled with all kinds of fish and Pla Chon (Snake head)...I have your experience in reverse..mine throw themselves out of my dam and weave a very crooked path to the paddy fields adjacent. When the wet is coming to an end they then try to migrate back to the dam.

 

[Merlin]

Happily, the said snakehead decided not to crash down in the small and artificial waterfall in the corner of the garden. That was "stocked" in March with fewer than 10 small but decorative fish to munch on the inevitable mozzie larvae. Despite a few flood overflows, jumpers, and a small, semi-resident snake, we transferred well over 100 into a bucket on Friday prior to cleaning the waterfall and the pump. MBH noticed a further quantity of new babies (maybe 20) in the bucket just before putting them all back in their little pool. I guess that the snakehead would have eaten the lot given a chance.

 

[Surin]

Nick, I imagine that you are more experienced than Dow in dealing with crabs.

I think that the crabs you have in mind would also be quite suitable for som tam! Smell most likely would be the same.