I was back at TopCats Fishing Resort, Koh Samui last week for an excuse to get away from the pre-arranged power cut plaguing our part of the tropical island that day.  I’d opted for a full 10 hours and set myself a couple of challenges to keep the day interesting and myself fishing hard.  First goal being to land a minimum of 20 fish in the day: and the second, much harder goal of bringing a Juliens Golden Carp to the net. 

The Juliens is a particularly beautiful strain of carp that looks more like a European Common carp in body and head shape, with a smaller, down turned mouth and longer, cylindrical body shape when compared to its larger native cousin, the Siamese Carp.  However, instead of the muted browns and oranges of the European Carp, the Juliens is a mesmerizing silvery golden colour with dark black lines running laterally down the fish.  The head is always a deeper gold pricked with its distinctive red eye. They truly are a sight to behold, so much so that the fish has earned the nickname as the Golden Prize Carp.

I would be fishing two Century Excalibur Cat Rods backed up by Shimano Baitrunner Reels each on their individual pod equipped with Delkim alarms.  The fish in TopCats go anywhere from a few pounds right up to and over 400lbs, so the gear you use needs to be heavy enough to tackle any eventuality.  Everything is provided for you at TopCats, and the equipment is kept in good shape.

Terminal tackle and tactics wise we would be fishing two different methods on each rod (and a third later in the day).  The first rod would be geared up to target the Juliens.  An in-line open spring feeder with an 8” braid hook length tied to Pallatrax Gripz size 2 hook.  On that we would be hair rigging a Pallatrax Jungle Fluro Pop-Up paired up with a single piece of corn.  On the feeder we would be using a mix of Soya Powder, Fishmeal, Ground Boilies, Corn and Dried Bread to create a stiff mix perfect for long range casting.  Doy, my guide for the day, recommended a middle water spot where he had seen Julien’s rolling in the past – and so out went the bait and the trap was set.  A few more handfuls of the ground bait and a few loose boilies scattered over the top and that was that; the waiting game was on.

The second rod was destined for a more voracious and busier approach.  Again, using a hair rigged Pallatrax Gripz, wide gape size 2 hook, I paired this up with the excellent Pallatrax Inline Stonze natural fishing weights.  Completely non-toxic, these ingenious weights are disguised to look like a natural stone and really do look the part.  They’ve been very cleverly designed, not only do they look natural, but thanks to their porous and rough design they also make an excellent method feeder that your mix just loves to stick to.  The award winning Stonze are perfect for a lake like TopCats where fish have seen a lot of tackle in the past and now know what to avoid.  The Stonze tool them every time. Bait wise, this rig was paired up with TopCats own 20mm high quality Boilies and a big ball of the method mix tightly gripping the Stonze.  I would be targeting the far bank hydrangeas, about a rod a length off them.  Out went the bait – and catapulted over the top 5 more big balls of the ground mix and a lot more free offerings of Boilies.  The idea with this rod was to keep introducing a good amount of bait into the area which would bring the fish in and keep them there.

Within minutes the left hand Julien’s rod screamed into life and the first fish off the day was hooked.  Could this be the illusive gold bar already on the way to the net?  I asked Doy what he thought, and he laughed “no”.  And he was right; a smaller Amazon Red Tail of around 20lb had taken the bait and was now in the net waiting for the obligatory picture.

Very soon after that the right rod came alive and I was soon into my first Siamese Carp of the day.  Again on the smaller side at around 25lb – but compared to European Carp of the same size, these fish fight much, MUCH harder!  The next couple of hours both rods were regularly catching fish, alternating between Amazon Red Tail Catfish and Siamese Carp up to about 50lb.  But 11am, from starting at 8.30am; I had landed 8 fish – but no Julien’s.

The day was a hot one, clear blue skies and a temperature touching 32c which seemed to be keeping the bigger fish away and in deeper water.  I opted to move the right rod into a more central spot in the lake and sure enough, a larger fish took the bait.  It was a fish I was already quite familiar with and a local celebrity of sorts – Tyson the Mekong, at around 70lb.  He’s not your typical Mekong and doesn’t fight anywhere near as hard as most others but any large fish is always a welcome sight.

As the morning progressed into the afternoon the alternating Siamese Carp and Red Tails kept coming and by 1pm the tally was up to 11 fish.  I had also had a couple of small Asian Red Tail Catfish, a Pacu and disappointingly had been bitten off by a large Tambaqui.  The Tambaqui is a larger cousin to the Piranha and Pacu, green and often with random and distinct black patterning making for a unique looking fish.  I’d only ever caught one before a few years ago and was quite upset when it managed to free itself only inches from the net.  Tambaqui have flat, almost human like teeth that can bite through anything, including 80lb braid!

By 2pm and with no Julien’s showing anywhere on the lake I decided to abandon the more refined approach on the left rod and go all in to get the tally right up.  Both rods now fishing over large offerings of bait, the Gripz wide gape hooks paired up with hair rigged Boilies – the fish were coming thick and fast and by 4pm the tally was approaching 17 fish. I have to say, by this point I was starting to feel it.  The fish fight like nothing I’ve ever experienced fishing in the UK and Europe – even the smaller fish require you to use your whole body to fight them.  Your legs are tense, your back rigid and your arms tight as battle every fish to the net.  It’s an extreme work out to say the least!

My favourite time of day on the lake was approaching and as late afternoon, early evening approached I switched out the spring feeder rod for a Predator setup.  I had been priming a margin swim for the last hour or so with a mixture of fish and boilies and dropped my lip hooked half tuna dead bait into the area.  Within minutes the bait was gone, the alarm was singing and I hooked into the biggest fish of the day, which decided to take me for a walk down the bank.  Sometimes you’ve got to jump in and follow the fish around the lake as was the case here.  Doy guided me down the bank where I fought hard to get bring a much larger Amazon Red Tail to the net.  Large Red Tails are one of my favourite fish and this specimen of around 70lb was a beaut.  Pictures were taken and the fish was released.

As soon as we got back to the rods the other screamed into life.  I suspected another Carp but as I we got it closer in Doy shouted out “Tambaqui!”.  It seemed redemption was possible but while I was getting overly excited and pre-empting my tally climbing to 19, Doy was quick to remind me that the fish wasn’t yet in the net.  However, after a few nail biting moments and powerful lunges away from the net, the fish was finally mine.  I was ecstatic.  A fish I’d wanted to catch for a while, which had bested me earlier in the day had made an unexpected second showing and had this time been captured.  I jumped in for the picture, raised the fish out the water and just as Doy was about to click away, the fish flicked its tail and got away.  I rained myself in, remained calm and said out loud “oh well, at least I caught it”.  Inside I was sobbing like a 10 year old girl!

Back at the rods and the tally kept increasing and reached the 20 mark.  At least I’d hit one of the days targets and there was still a couple of hours to go.  Then the Predator rod came alive again and I hooked into what would be the biggest fish of the day.  Was it an Arapaima, another large Red Tail or some other monster predator?  Nope, surprisingly it was a huge Siamese that took the dead fish.  From the margin, the fish torpedoed right out into open water where I battled in back in again and after around 10 minutes a large Siamese well approaching the 100lb mark was in the net.  By this time, after the day we’d had I could hardly lift the rod let alone this huge fish, but it had to be done and into the water I jumped once more for my trophy shots.

A couple more smaller fish followed and by 5.30pm I’d landed a total of 23 fish and that was enough for me for one day.  I packed it in early but was extremely happy with another very successful day at TopCats.  As always I’d been looked after impeccably by the staff and guides and I’d enjoyed some great food and drink on top.  I considered it yet another Red-Letter Day in Koh Samui.

And a special mention for Simon the new owner who took over last year from Shaun.  He’s an extremely personable chap that’s very welcoming and would make anyone feel at ease on the lake.  He’s doing a great job in these tough times we’re facing at the moment and standards at the fishery have not slipped one iota.  If you want to experience this amazing place for yourself get in touch now and get booking – you won’t regret it!

Written by Sean Wilson