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Newsletter April 2016

Newsletter Archive

Catches, entertainment and news from Thailand’s only exclusive syndicated sport-fishing venue.

Welcome once again to the Jurassic Mountain newsletter that gives you all the news, gossip, catch reports and light hearted anglers antics that relates to this Thailand fishing paradise for the month of April. A big thanks to all the new faces and returning guests who succumbed to the gravitational pull of our ‘extreme fishing gem’ as it was indeed our pleasure to welcome you all to Jurassic Mountain Resort and Fishing Park.

We welcomed in April with a thunderstorm that provided us with ear splitting thunderclaps that rebounded and echoed off the mountain ranges that surround the resort.
Occasionally after every storm you may just see one of Gods creations in the shape of a beautiful rainbow which is without doubt one of natures most stunning visions that has pleased the eye since time began. The next time this amazing multi coloured vision appears, If you have eyes you’ll have the privilege of admiring it, if you miss it your imagination can create it, but if you just happen to be standing in the awesome surroundings of Jurassic Mountain…….you simply just won’t need it.

So, lets kick off my second year of writing the Jurassic Mountain newsletters by taking a look at a selection of anglers and a light hearted look at their antics who graced Jurassic Mountain in April. As usual my my apologies are extended to those who wanted a mention and didn’t get one, and to those who did……. and wished they hadn’t. Here goes……

First let’s have a little doggy tale. It was just another normal day here at The Mountain when Alfie my Shih-tzu and Jurassic Mountain mascot decided that he quite liked the look of the new stock ponds that have recently been constructed and promptly jumped in for what he believed would be a nice relaxing dip before he did his daily rounds of meeting any newcomers to the lake. Unfortunately he chose stock pond no.2 to practice his doggy paddle in and was promptly attacked by one of the many arapaimas that reside in its murky depths and by one who obviously fancied a dog breakfast for a change. Like a scene from the film Jaws, Alfie disappeared in a swirling frothing whirlpool within the gob of one of the Amazons finest who then thankfully realised that maybe Alfie was just a little too much of a furry mouthful and promptly spat him out again. Then the closest thing to a dog walking on water was witnessed when Alfie made a bolt for the bank and with the priceless look that almost said ‘what the f–k was that?’ was last seen running with his tail between his legs to the sanctuary of my villa and needless to say Alfie’s morning dips are now on almost certain permanent hold.
Not so lucky was the unfortunate gosling who last year landed on the lake with mother goose only to be devoured in an instant by a 300 pound plus predator that seemingly enjoyed an early Christmas dinner much to the dismay of mother goose who has evidently decided that this lake is far too dangerous for it’s precious offspring and has never ventured back here since.

We welcomed amongst others ex pat match angler Phil who now resides in Hungary of all places. Phil had a great time here at Jurassic and made sure that he put his match angling skills to good use by landing plenty of specimen fish during his stay here which was just short of a fortnight. Included in Phil’s haul was this fine redtail as shown in the photo below.

Bradley, a landscape gardener and qualified green keeper from Dorset had previously flown here for only a six day visit and enjoyed it so much that he promptly dumped the cold green green grass of England and flew back out to Thailand again but this time for quite a bit longer.
The last time Bradley was here he spent quite a bit of time in his room nursing a hangover after overdoing the Thailand nighltlife but he was determined to put in more angling this time around and did his efforts pay dividends or what?
With well over a dozen quality Siamese carp safely to his net including a couple at over the 100 pound mark, Bradley hooked into a monster carp that took him from peg 4 into peg 1 but sadly lost it after a major 30 minute tussle.

We welcomed back Jake Casson again who everybody in the angling world recognizes as the legendary guy who fought a monster carp here for 12 solid hours…… and lost it.
Jake arrived with his new girlfriend Katie who I assume was bought along for consoling purposes should the same thing happen again and although Jake and the ‘grim reaper’ didn’t make acquaintance this time around, a Siamese of around a100 pounds was the best of a pretty good bunch for Jake on his 2 day stint.
I was reliably informed that Jakes nickname is ‘Jake the Snake’ and as Jake is a really nice guy, it does tend to narrow the field somewhat as to what this nickname actually refers to. However, I also think that the permanent smile on Katie’s face gives a further clue as to it’s meaning.

We also welcomed father and son bonding team Albert and Albertson from the Philippines who arrived for a 2 day stint and we assume that a netful of fine redtails along with Siamese carp ensured that these two departed from Jurassic Mountain closer than ever.

Jurassic Mountain’s latest resident is ‘Ninja’ Neil from London. Neil is a black belt in Karate amongst other martial art accolades and is soon to fly off to Japan to fight for his 6th dan in Judo. Should Neil be successful, he will become the youngest person in the world outside of Japan to achieve this and we wish him all the luck and best wishes. Go get him Neil.
Neil spent many hours on the lake and a Siamese carp around the 100 pounds mark proved to be the best of his visit that you can see Neil struggling to contain. Let’s hope that guy in Japan don’t prove to be as slippery.

Last year we had the pleasure of the company of 3 good friends from the UK, Cliff, Paul and Ron Hopper who enjoyed their visit to Jurassic so much that they booked up again this year.
Sadly only Cliff and Paul walked through the Jurassic Mountain gates this time as Ron tragically lost his battle with cancer and passed away just before Christmas.
So what do good mates do for each other when one of them passes away? Well, Cliff and Paul decided to bring Ron’s ashes here to Jurassic but not to spread them in the conventional form that usually takes place. Oh no, not a chance. They had something very special in mind for their good mate Ron. Instead, with Ron’s prior blessing, they got their best mates ashes and made boilies out of them….. bloody dozens of ’em in fact which they christened ‘purple Ronnies’ and after catapulting Ron out into his final resting place being the depths of Jurassic lake, within no time they both cracked into a redtail each that took a fancy to the newly presented bait. Siamese carp and more redtails made an appearance along with arapaima and Chao Phraya catfish on an alternative bait and if this story was to have an ending that was just meant to be, we got it at the end of day 5 on the lake. Fishing from peg 6 known as ‘the point’ being the very same peg that last year Ron caught his 154 pound specimen carp from, Cliff casted out what was left of the purple Ronnie’s and with fingers crossed and no doubt a little prayer to his dearly departed friend, he sat down and waited to see if anything would come along. He didn’t have to wait long. As if prompted by some spiritual force, the line screamed from the reel as a monster carp picked up the bait and made a bolt for Bangkok with the boilie which consisted of what was left of dear old Ron mixed in with a large dose of ‘Sticky baits’ krill dip.
An almighty 3 hour battle ensued for Cliff and also for Paul who’d run up from his swim to view the action and who got to share the rod over the 3 hour tussle. Time and time again the carp made run after run until eventually being subdued sufficiently enough to be brought safely to the net albeit that we were now in complete darkness as the sun had set over an hour previously. A magnificent and flawless Siamese carp being one of several that we have in the lake approaching 200 pounds was their prize and one which had never been landed before thereby confirming that Sticky baits, combined with the magic ‘Ronnie’ ingredient reigned supreme. That’s Cliff and Paul posing with this beauty in the main photo of this newsletter. A fabulous fish indeed that from now on will be known simply as ‘Ronnie.’
You couldn’t make this story up could you? It was if it was written in the stars and that it was just meant to be and if I hadn’t seen it for myself I would have deemed it too far fetched to be true……. but true it certainly is.
Well, that’s one sure novel way of getting one’s ashes spread in the lake and I’m sure dear old Ron would be the first to congratulate his pals on their intuition in this regard.
From all of us here we send our condolences to Ron’s family and our congratulations to Cliff and Paul for providing us with a ‘first’ here at Jurassic Mountain along with a great story for this newsletter.
On a final note, we shall all look forward to seeing these two back here again soon and when they do …….. we sincerely hope that neither of them arrive as boilies in a bait box.

Newsletter April 2016 1
Thats the late Ron Hopper on the left during last years visit blissfully unaware that his next visit to Jurassic would see him in a bag of boilies and catapulted into oblivion. A great story presented by great friends and I bet Ron would be proud of his pals as he looked down from that anglers paradise in the heavens above. Rest in peace Ron Hopper and thanks for being a major player in the story that i’ve named…… ‘LATE GREAT MATE USED AS BAIT.’

Take a look at the photo below. This is Peter from Liverpool posing with a fine Siamese with the Jurassic Mountain resort as a backdrop. Nothing untoward about this photo you might think except for the fact that due to Peter ripping off his shorts earlier, he’s almost naked from the waist down. Whatever turns you on I suppose but I’d be careful of those snakehead Pete …. they’ve got teeth.

From across the pond in the U.S.A. came fishing fanatic Mitch from Baltimore soon followed in by Dylan from Colorado. Our American friends had a great time here at The Mountain especially Dylan who got himself well into double figures with his haul of Siamese carp and redtails.

I’ve said this many times before and once more I’ll say it again. I’ve lost count of how many times visitors to Jurassic Mountain wish they’d spent more time here not only for the fabulous fishing results that can be achieved but also for the quality of the resort itself.
This especially applied to Jason Street from England who booked himself in for a one day visit during his Thailand trip and managed to bank no less than NINE Siamese carp during his session. Well done Jason and I presume we’ll see you again in the future, next time for an extended visit no doubt.

One of the major benefits for me living in Thailand is that any Asian destination is basically only a short flight away and it was with this in mind that I ‘popped’ over to Bali for a weeks holiday with Neti during the month of April. Bali could then be ticked off my bucket list of visiting most Asian destinations during my retirement as have Vietnam and Cambodia that I’d ventured into last year whilst Japan and the Philippines will be the next in line for a visit from me. Well it certainly beats Bognor and Blackpool on a dull damp day for a start whilst the slippers and the pipe are nowhere near on the agenda just yet for yours truly that’s for sure.

Whilst I was sunning myself on a Balinese beach with a few of those fabulous Bali Bintang beers, my thoughts drifted back to Jurassic Mountain and I wondered just how things were going and if I was missing anything but as I’d given strict instructions to the gillies to make a note of anyone and anything that would be deemed interesting for the newsletter, I needn’t have worried. Here’s a selection of the anglers and their catches that they provided me on my return …..

My apologies to all those who fished successfully here in April but whose mugshot was not included within my limited photo gallery but we extend our congratulations to you all and hopefully look forward to seeing you all again in the future here at Jurassic Mountain.

Finally, our last anglers report …..
People celebrate their birthdays in various ways. Mike Cobb who arrived here with his son Jamie celebrated his 71st in style and soon had this redtail for company that had invited itself to his birthday party.

And just like at the beginning of the month, we left April to a savage thunderstorm that blackened the skies over Jurassic Mountain once more before unleashing its fury upon us which for fifteen minutes gave us torrential rain and a howling wind that made each and every tree groan to its very roots. It orchestrated a crescendo of ear splitting thunderclaps accompanied in unison by a lightning that illuminated the blackened skies in vivid angry flashes of blinding light.
As the storm began to subside, it allowed the black sky to open up to form crevices of beaming sheets of sunlight that came cascading through like orange lasers and I knew that it’s time was short.
Within a few minutes, as the last squall blew the remnants of the storm away into oblivion, the darkened skies had given way to a bright blue canopy that surrounded a blazing setting sun and as the birds began to sing in unison around the now deserted lake just before the sun disappeared for the final time in April, it was almost …. Well It was almost as though it had never happened at all.

Tight lines all, see you next month.

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