Fishing in Thailand

[Philly]

I’m no expert but I’m getting slightly better. My preference is sea/beach or pier fishing.

ive tried off the beach in Pattaya and caught nothing but the guys beside me caught 7 or 8 tiny fish.

ive tried the lighthouse in Pattaya many snags in the rocks but I’ve always caught there usually quite small but I’ve seen 2 big skate/flatfish/stingray type fish being caught.

I’ve also tried Bang Saen beside Walking Street have caught many but all small.

I tried Ang Sila opposite the fish market and got my biggest catch there but still it was small.

I think I’m not casting out far enough or my technique is wrong. I bottom fish using prawns as bait, I’m hoping to experiment a few different techniques soon.

On the other hand I decided for a break from the sea and decided to head to Freddie’s fishing park in Pattaya. We had a nightmare finding it, we drove in circles for about 30 minutes. 
We called them a few times for directions my driver was thai but I think he had no sense of direction

Finally I asked to speak to the falang owner, who said I was right beside them and he would come and guide us there. A beautiful touch.

We arrived too late to enjoy the whole experience but what we did experience was excellent.

A nice change from sea fishing, great food and a few falangs that were so nice, great fun and very generous.

The owner John is a character, great banter and doesn’t hold back on his opinions which I thoroughly enjoyed as I hadn’t been chatting to an ex pat here for a long time.

My final point and questions are where are the good locations near pattaya for beach/pier fishing? What setup are you using, if you could include pics for me a novice that would be great and would you recommend any other parks?

Happy fishing

[Sgtsabai]

I'm pretty sure surf fishing here, at least the Pattaya area is poor. I used to do some back on the Texas Gulf Coast, enjoyed except for the stingrays, man-o-wars and sharks. I loved fishing the Gulf and have fished the Gulf of Thailand from the slow wooden boats, used to go about once a month from the town near Sattahip, forget the name. Every now and then we would catch something worth while. 

There used to be modern boats with proper electronic gear that could "hunt" the fish like we did back on the Gulf but I never was able to book one and then Covid. Perhaps after everything gets to the new normal, whatever that is, it may be possible to book one of those for real fishing. Phuket is a bit out of my price range.

[TWS60]

The organized fishing parks and roadside khlongs, while I've done it plenty of times, just don't interest me here. 

The place I did enjoy myself fishing a more natural setting, albeit it several years ago now,  was in Kanchanaburi.  At the time, there was an Irishman running a small kayak business, and he enjoyed mixing fishing with his float trips if the customers were into it.  We'd drive to Kan during the work week to avoid Bangkok weekenders.

The handful of floats I took with him were about 4-5 hours, taking our time to fish and troll along the way, eventually making our way back downstream to the tourist/hotel area of town.  Enjoyed the calm, un-rushed pace and the quiet, scenic environment, and did catch a few small Jungle Perch (Hampla Barb / Plaa Kasoop Kit) along the way on small Rapallas.  My freshwater gear is Western-centric, typically Large Mouth Bass, but worked fine on the JPs, and imagine it would for Snakehead as well. 

[Fishermanbkk]

I fished Pattaya/Jomtien areas for sand whitingS /scad only no big fish never seen Gts here. Koh Kood is pristine can get green spotted groupers/mackerel,spotted snappers, barras .. table size at best. for better action go squid edging/night squid fishing.

i fished the Andaman seas off Myanmar there you get serious blue water big game , mostly deep sea bottom or jigs.. YFTup to 25kg, Doggie up to 52kg, ruby snappers up to 15kgs, groupers up to 30kg has been caught in the past but been few years since i last went and was planning a trip then covid came. Thai waters off similan is a hit n miss sometimes biggies at the pinnacles..most times almost zero.

[Fishermanbkk]

On 10/6/2021 at 3:20 PM, Sgtsabai said:

I'm pretty sure surf fishing here, at least the Pattaya area is poor. I used to do some back on the Texas Gulf Coast, enjoyed except for the stingrays, man-o-wars and sharks. I loved fishing the Gulf and have fished the Gulf of Thailand from the slow wooden boats, used to go about once a month from the town near Sattahip, forget the name. Every now and then we would catch something worth while. 

There used to be modern boats with proper electronic gear that could "hunt" the fish like we did back on the Gulf but I never was able to book one and then Covid. Perhaps after everything gets to the new normal, whatever that is, it may be possible to book one of those for real fishing. Phuket is a bit out of my price range.

Not only GPS n fishfinder else you will be crusing nowhere trying to locate a good spot, its a big sea out there, some charters do that for tourist fishing tour with snorkelling stuff n lunch thats ok but for serious fisher..no time to waste . The Capt must have productive spots and equipped with good knowledge n skills to  anchor/position boat. 

[RickThai]

On 7/25/2021 at 6:24 PM, Philly said:

On the other hand I decided for a break from the sea and decided to head to Freddie’s fishing park in Pattaya.

Wife and I have fished at Freddie's and had a great day. Here are a couple of the fish we caught