Thailand reef fishing

I spent 17 days in thailand at the start of the month, although it wasn't a fishing holiday i was still itching to get out and test the local waters. I travelled to 5 of the Islands in southern thailand, and went on only one longboat fishing trip off Koh phi phi. It really is such a beautiful country and I am already planning a trip back there in march!

The beautiful koh phi phi

On the way to the fishing grounds

Fishing

Lazy fishing

Our guide with the live bait.. I caught a long tom on the live baits but it shook the hook at the boat

I wish I had paid more attention to the guide as he was telling us the name of the fish we caught..

the guide called these grouper we caught about 20 of these

African pompano i think.. anyway it was very pretty!

The guide with a deadly fish

Sunset

Maya Bay

The fish feeding on chips

This is not a travel blog so I will save including anymore of the 400+ photos i took during my holiday. I am looking forward to going back over in March, although this trip the plan is to see more of Vietnam and Laos then Thailand. I am also planning a trip to Kuala Rompin next year for some light tackle sailfish trip!

Cairns to Ayton

The trip from cairns to Ayton came and went much quicker than I would have liked. The conditions weren’t idea with 20-25 knot winds at our chosen camping location. That and the boat falling through leaving us to land based fishing only still did not ruin what was a great trip... cant wait to get up there again!

Ged with a little mangrove jack, the only one of the trip.. on a metal!

The coastal road from cairns to cooktown

The daintree rainforest.. still on tarmac

Our camp site..

A wolf herring on the saltiga.

Me with my branzino christening GT..

Catfish off the beach at night

Me about to get spooled before slamming on the breaks

Sunny the suzuki on the sand :) Unfortunately no barra this trip.. gives me an excuse to go back...

Another dent in the wallet.. Daiwa morethan branzino

I have a trip to cairns planned for next month Barra fishing and I have put a fair bit of thought into what outfit to buy.. originally I was going to get a baitcaster - maybe a Daiwa steez or pluton, although i think the pluton might be a bit heavy for barra.. anyway in the end i decided on the Daiwa morethan branzino 3000 spinning reel. My reason for choosing the spinning reel over the baitcaster was I can cast smaller, lighter lures which may be needed if the barra are fussy, also i prefer spinning reels for soft plastics and i will also use it for throwing sluggos at markers around the harbour in search of kings or jigging plastics for snapper on the inshore reefs.

Black and gold = sexy... also hyper digigear!

Carbon fiber embedded in spool.. nice touch

Waterproof sealed drag..

A real four real... the best of the best..

More recent catches around the Harbour

Here is a few more photos i found on my camera..

Daiwa Monstermesh 702MFS

I needed a rod to match the saltiga, but as cash was an issue i decided to get a rod i could use for light popping as well as jigging.

Aluminum gimbal with cap..

Woven carbon mesh..

Fuji reel seat..

Fuji SIC guides..

Daiwa Saltiga Z4500 H

After much research I decided to invest in what I like to think of as my first high end spinning reel. the Daiwa saltiga Z4500H high speed for jigging, cubing and light popping on an upcoming trip to cairns. I bought the reel fitted with the jigging handle and upgraded carbontex drag washes. I decided to fill it with 50lb Daiwa accudepth braid and will eventually get a second spool to load up with 30lb braid.

Hyper Digigear!!!..

Made in japan...

Spool filled with 50lb daiwa accudepth braid

High speed - 5.7:1... 11kg’s drag pressure

Hot jigging handle..