I have added a new page to the Fishing in Thailand section of my website (www.john-tom.com)

This page covers venues for Fly Fishing in Thailand and includes free to fish locations as well as “pay to fish” Fishing Lakes.

The page also covers Fly Fishing Equipment Suppliers in Thailand.  Before it was not possible to kit up for Fly Fishing without importing the fly fishing rod, reel, line and incurring import duties etc.  This has now changed and more fishing tackle shops have the equipment in stock.

Prices are reasonable and a basic but very usable set of an 8wt 9ft rod, 8wt reel and wf line will cost about  4500 THB  ($140) and is a good option if you do not wish to transport your “old faithful” to Thailand.

Fly Fishing for Barramundi, Jungle Perch, Giant Snakehead, Striped Snakehead and many other species is taking off steadily with local anglers.

More details of Locations to fly fish in Thailand, natural habitat, streams, rivers along with Jungle Fishing and Reservoir fishing from boats is available at my website on the Fly Fishing Page

Free Fly Fishing venues and Pay to fish Locations are included.

Bang Phra Dam in Chonburi is probably the closest venue to Bangkok for catching Giant Snakehead and Jungle Perch.

Bang Phra Dam

Located in Chonburi near to the Kao Keow Open Zoo it is only a crow’s hop from Bangkok and you are in the wild fishing for jungle perch on Fly or Lure fishing for Giant Snakehead.

The good news is that it only costs 300 Thai Baht for a half day or 600 baht for the full day to hire a boat with a guide to row you to the various fishing locations on the dam.

Bang Phra Fishing

More Details including directiond and GPS coordinates are available at my website on the fishing pages

Fishing in Thailand

Bang Phra Reservoir

Giant Snakehead - channa micropeltes

This is an ideal location for a one day or even half day fishing trip, the boat hire staff are friendly and helpful and you can not go wrong for the price.  We had a great days fishing catching Giant Snakehead on Surface Lures early morning then moving on to fishing for Jungle Perch on Fly before sitting down to lunch then making our way back to Bangkok in the afternoon while the traffic is good.

A great mornings fishing.

The new website for It Lake Monsters is up and running again after a long break.

The website is under development and the only language available at this time is in Thai but this will be changing soon to include both English and Japanese.

The history of the lake started back in 2004 -

The first residents stocked where Striped Snakehead fish, followed by Giant Gouramy – soon after adding the Gouramy all the snakehead disappeared!

In  2004 Mr Tawan approached Mr It  to share his idea of a new fishing lake.  Shortly afterwards Mr It started work on turning the idea into reality.

The excavation works in progress

Mr Tawans idea for a fishing lake for sport fishing enthusiasts starts to take shape as the first customers arrive.

The project is still underway with a new lake (which is twice the size of the existing lake) coming online in 2010 which is rumoured to be for Local Species of fish.

More details and photographs at www.john-tom.com on the fishing pages with links to more photographs of IT Monster Lake (IT lake Monsters)

Also known as Bor Pee-It, (บ่อพี่อิท) and Predator Lake this is the venue for world class predator fishing.

It is located in Ratchaburi Province in the Ban Pong subdistrict – For Details and Location go to www.John-Tom.com

Prices as at September 2009 are

Full day live baiting 7,000 baht

Half day live baiting 3,500 Baht

Lure and fly fishing full day 3,500 Baht

The location, directions and road map for IT Monster Lake are at my webpage

My last post for the Gouramy was when it was 1 year old – Giant Gouramy Original Post

Last year the Gouramy was  11.5 inches long, this year it measures 15.5 inches and is doing fine.  Less than 2.5 years ago this fish was 2″ in length and very timid, it now rules the roost here and will not tolerate any competition.

More coming soon.

More details on freshwater fish and fishing in Thailand at www.john-tom.com

My first attempt at fly fishing was 20 years ago in Brecon, South Wales. We fished a stream that ran past the priory and after a lot of practice and instructions I failed to catch a fish and to even get a decent cast.  Bob Lloyd, the man teaching me caught several trout and it was embedded in my thoughts that fly fishing was difficult and next to impossible.

On a vist to Bor Num, in Bang Pakong province (see my website for the GPS Coordinates) I noticed a few locals fly fishing.  On speaking to them I found out that they had hired the equipment from the small shop at Bor Num and had been taught to cast by one of the staff at Bor Num.

I spoke to the owner of the shop and we made arrangements to for me to go to the lake mid week when it was less busy and he would teach me for free – yes free!

My first hour was spent untagling myself and transporting grass from behind me into the lake but eventually it clicked and I had my first fish within 2 hours.  Hooking the 2kg Barramundi also hooked me and I have had many hours on varoius lakes fly fishing for Barramundi and Pacu.

For more details, location and tips for fly fishing at Bor Num go to my Fishing in Thailand webpage

Caught on rod and line using rice bran flower, this 160 pound monster took over 45 minutes to land.  The video clip was filmed while fishing with freinds at Bung Samran in Bangkok, Thailand.

The species is endangered in the wild but is very common in sport fishing venues across Thailand.   The Thai goverment sponsers a breeding program which releases Giant Mekong Delta Catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) into the wild and the project is funded partly by the sales of juvenile fish to sport fishing venues.

More details, with locations and venue details are available at the fishing pages of www.John-Tom.com

A  “Stand Up” three dimensional camouflage system – effective without hiding the majority of the body, the system achieves one of the best results of camouflage in plain sight.  This system is designed for fast moving combat games such as Paint Ball or Airsoft and can be used for hunting.  The system is especially suited to Bow Hunting as the camouflage is designed to be effective while standing up in plain view.

The camouflage is coloured and tailored for the local environment – in this case it is geared towards the leafy tropical forest found in central Thailand.  Of course the suit can be used in the traditional prone position with the appropriate changes to the texture and colours used.

The following vide demonstrates the effectivness of the system at very close range – remember that the subjects are in plain view, not laying prone and not hiding behind any large objects.

More details are available at my website – www.John-Tom.com on the camouflage pages

August 2009 – Long Tail boat races are held regularly in the Thai provinces, many owners and teams travel to compete in the competitions – the winnings are status and a trophy and a prize money that just above covers the cost of the fuel and transport.

Many of the competitors are owners/workers of the small engineering shops scattered around the provinces that maintain, fabricate and repair farming equipment. Success at the boat races brings more custom to the shop and the prestige of having a successful race team.

The fastest speed recorded while I was at the race was 165 kmh or 102 mph and was confirmed by radar gun.

I only saw one dipping when a boat shattered a prop at full speed which caused the pilot to do a spectacular cartwheel along the water surface with the remains of the prop missing his forehead by inches as the boat continued on its way – lucky escape!

More info can be found at the longtail page at www.john-tom.com

A quick update to inform the interested ones out there that a new plans page has been added to my website – www.john-tom.com

The Classic Wooden Boat Plans Page details model wooden boats, some free plans and some premium plans are available for download and there are more plans being added weekly.

The plans are all easy to follow so there is no need to spen all that money on the ready warp completed hardwood model that with crack if it sees water – make your own and buy some tools with the saving!

All the plans are RC friendly and you can ensure the quality of the materials and workmanship becuse you are making it.

I have seen many of the Vietnam hardwood boats after being exposed to water – they without fail crack and warp within a couple of weeks.  be warned.

Time consuming – yes but not expensive, the materials are readily available and you can properly waterproof the inside of the model as you build it – something that you can not do to your ready made option which is designed as a show model, not as a working RC model..

Some plans are CNC friendly, frame templates come on Autocad files that can be loaded into CNC software and the frames cut by machine – speeds up the build and ensures accuracy.

No customs duty or import duties, the plans are sent by email.

More info at my website - www.john-tom.com

Check out the model Boats at Model Power Boat Plans Page

At last, I have manged to complete the Thompson M1A1 Replica plans. they are available at the Replica Firearms Page on my site – Thompson Machine Gun Replica

The project requires that you are proficient at welding and there is a fair amount of machine work to be able to complete the project to a high standard.  The completed Replica will easily pass for the real thing to the layman and is ideal for use on military reenactments, as a prop or for cosplay.

The replica has moving internal parts with a working trigger.  The working parts can be locked to the rear and released by the trigger to give the impression of a working weapon.  The replica will not fire blanks or even chamber live ammunition.  The barrel is solid aluminium with the ends bored out to a depth of 2″ to simulate the breech and muzzle.

More details on the webpage at Replica Weapons and more plans at www.john-tom.com