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Newsletter April 2017

Newsletter Archive

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

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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.’ It was our pleasure indeed to welcome you all to Jurassic Mountain Resort and Fishing Park.

First and foremost, I’d like to tell you about an exciting new Jurassic Mountain prize that we are offering.

We are asking all our past, present and future guests to submit a photograph or two taken during their stay here at Jurassic Mountain. The photograph does not necessarily have to be of a fish but can also be of anything else of interest on the resort. All photographs received will be considered for posting on our Facebook page and for inclusion in our monthly newsletter and for the sender of the photo that is judged to be the best of the lot, we’ll award the following prize.

7 NIGHTS ACCOMMODATION FOR ONE PERSON IN A DELUXE DOUBLE OR TWIN POOLSIDE SUITE ON AN ALL INCLUSIVE BASIS CONSISTING OF BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER, PLUS 6 DAYS FISHING FOR ONE PERSON WITH 2 RODS COMPLETE WITH BAIT CONSISTING OF 10kg OF HIGH PROTEIN PELLET AND 10kg OF DEAD BAIT EACH DAY.

Not a bad prize eh? Hold on a minute, It gets a lot better …..
WE WILL ALSO PAY FOR YOUR RETURN FLIGHT TO THAILAND INCLUDING AIRPORT TRANSFERS TO AND FROM BANGKOK AIRPORT.

Mail your photos to enquiries@jurassicfishingthailand.com and at the very least you could get your name up in lights within this newsletter and who knows? It could well be you who wins this fabulous prize so get those photos sent in and I wish the very best of luck to you all.

The prize will be awarded at the end of April 2018, and the winner along with their photo, published in April 2018 Edition of the newsletter. So get sending!

Secondly, there’s still a couple of spaces left for our head to head carp competition set for July 2018 so if you’re interested in joining us for this prestigious event where you can win a fully inclusive 7 night 6 day fishing holiday absolutely free, please contact enquiries@jurassicfishingthailand.com to receive full details.

It seems I’ve reached a milestone in writing the newsletters because this edition completes two years of my doing so. Two years? It seems like only yesterday that I started with my editorial adventure here in Thailand and it’s simply flown by. Talking of flown by, I’ve recently noticed a pair of eagles who’ve taken a right fancy to Jurassic Mountain and they are regularly seen soaring on the rising thermals above our lake. Maybe they’re a pair of sea eagles looking for easy pickings but if they are, they’ll soon be on their way again because they’ll find sod all in our lake that they could manage to lift!

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Sea eagles such as this are often seen in this region of Thailand.

I was watching a full house of anglers this morning all tucking into their breakfasts and judging by the way that they cleared up every last morsel on their plates, it automatically led me to make this month’s ‘Why do we’ question.

‘ WHY DO WE BELIEVE THAT WE SERVE UP THE BEST FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST IN THAILAND?’

As we believe we’ve got the finest fishing resort in Thailand, why not supply you with the very best full English breakfast possible to go with it? ….. And after month’s of research which included sourcing ‘umpteen different products and having to teach our Thai chefs just how a good old fashioned fry up should be cooked and presented, even though it took a few whacks with a baseball bat to achieve it….. We’ve finally cracked it! No, not the chef’s skull…..the breakfast!

And not just by cracking the finest available organic free range eggs that we’ve sourced at over three times the cost of those insipid looking things similar to those that used to have that little lion stamped on them and that were sold by the millions every day (showing my age there) but also by making sure that we supply you with the very best of everything else that goes with them. For example, our bacon is dry cured by hand using sea salt and unrefined brown sugar. It has a flavour that harks back to the “good old days” – and because no water goes into it when it is made, none comes oozing back out when we cook it! It’s traditionally cold smoked for a more intense flavour and it is without a doubt the best bacon product in Thailand for the British palette, cured by an Englishman. Then there’s the sausages, Oh those lovely sausages! Just bursting with the taste of Olde England, these locally made (by a Yorkshireman!) English Breakfast Sausages are quite simply delicious and when served up with FRESH mushrooms, baked beans that are better than Heinz with fresh tomatoes and optional black pudding, you’ll find the perfect full English is complete when accompanied with our local baker’s delicious homemade toasted bread smothered with English butter and all washed down with a nice couple of cups of good old PG tips! Makes your mouth water don’t it and if that little lot doesn’t make you choose our fry up instead of a grapefruit and a bowl of bloody muesli ……. Nothing will

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Remember that old slogan ‘ Go to work on an egg?’ Surely it’s much better to just ‘go fishing on two’ accompanied by the very best of everything else that goes with them. Our full English fry up is the perfect way to begin your Jurassic Mountain experience.

You don’t need me to remind you just how popular Jurassic Mountain has become but it seems that everybody is just itching to get on here whether it be for the fishing or even when applying for a job vacancy on the resort. For example, last month a head bailiff position became available and the response to the advert was overwhelming. We were inundated with enquiries and here’s one enquiry from a guy called Daniel that I answered myself.

Daniel ….. HELLO, I’M ENQUIRING ABOUT THE BAILIFF POSITION, HAVE YOU HAD MUCH INTEREST?
Me ….. WELL, PUT IT THIS WAY MATE, YOU’LL HAVE TO GO TO BANGKOK IF YOU’RE APPLYING..
Daniel….. BANGKOK? REALLY? ARE YOU SITUATED IN BANGKOK?
Me….. NOWHERE NEAR IT MATE, WE’RE 100 MILES FURTHER SOUTH, BANGKOK’S WHERE THE END OF THE BLOODY QUEUE IS!

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I told you Jurassic Mountain is popular! Our car park…. just before we started interviewing!

On a more serious note and whilst on the subject of crowds, we are proud to have recorded record attendances for the 2016/17 season with large parts of the high season fully booked and with the amount of advance bookings already in for next year, it looks like that record is about to be broken once again. We’ve already taken deposits for the year 2020 would you believe so if you have any future plans of paying us a visit here in paradise, we respectfully suggest that you book sooner rather than later. Personally I think this is a phenomenal achievement for Jurassic Mountain considering that we’ve had to contend with Brexit which caused the subsequent decline of the pound (hopefully only temporary) and combined with the fact that holidaymaking isn’t the most important issue on people’s agenda in this troubled world that we live in today.

So where are all these people coming from? I mean it’s not as if we spend extortionate amounts on marketing each year. Sure, we allocate a certain amount each year to cover the costs of a few magazine adverts here and there and my wages for writing this newsletter (yeah, I wish) but nothing like the amounts that some businesses spend on marketing so where are they all coming from?

Well it doesn’t really take much working out does it? It’s from you! Yes, you, because combined with Jurassic Mountain’s endeavour to provide a first class service at all times in every department during your stay on the resort, it’s almost inevitable that you will leave here and do our advertising for us. Simple yeah? How satisfying is that to know that we’re getting our praises sung from all over the world? Oh the joys of social media! You can’t beat it! Word of mouth is by far the best form of advertising there is and just as long as Jurassic Mountain continue with the excellent service that they provide in every aspect of your stay, long will it continue and on behalf of all the team here at ‘The Mountain,’ I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your very much appreciated and continued support. Yes, I suppose you could say that I’m pretty pleased and rather proud to be involved in this wonderful project over here in beautiful Thailand and owning a villa here is indeed a privilege.

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And here’s a shot of a bunch of extremely happy anglers who couldn’t wait to blow the Jurassic Mountain trumpet for us. Since Martin Bowler brought this group out in 2016 literally hundreds have followed! So thank you Martin for your continued support of Jurassic too!

There is one particular fish amongst our extensive stock of Siamese carp who for whatever reason takes it upon himself to make an appearance about once or twice a month on average. He’s affectionately known as ‘Scarface’ due to the unmistakable scar that he wears on his right cheek and that’s him in the above photo when he was landed during the Martin Bowler hosted trip last year.

Now, why is it that this particular fish is a pretty frequent visitor to the net compared with others of the same size who are considerably more wary than him? For example, there’s the massive lump in the lake that’s been hooked on a few occasions but never yet landed that has been dubbed ‘the grim reaper’. This particular fish has myself as one of its ‘victims’ when I hooked into it at 6pm and parted company with him at 10! All I had to show for my four hours work was a tantalising glimpse of him as he broke the surface in a turbulent boil of water before spitting the hook……. and then he was gone! So is Scarface just plain dumb, extra greedy or does he actually relish the battle with the fortunate few who have made his acquaintance? For whatever reason it is, Scarface has become a bit of a legend in his own right here at Jurassic Mountain so next time you hook into and land a carp that is north of 180lbs, take a peek at his right cheek, you might just have landed our Scarface which will automatically see your name amongst the very few anglers who can say they have caught one of the biggest carp available to anglers to catch anywhere in the world.

Right, let’s now take a light hearted look at some of the antics of a selection of anglers who graced Jurassic Mountain for the month of April. My apologies are extended to those who visited us and who didn’t get a mention, it’s nothing personal, there’s just far too many of you for me to keep up with. Here goes:-

The April Angler photo of the month award goes to Charlie Carline from Chester. That’s Charlie in the main newsletter photo showing his strength as he lifts this superb carp for the photo which weighed in and at 112 pounds. Nice carp Charlie, now let’s see you go for the bigger boys.

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The first Chao Phraya of the month fell to Pierre. It’s always a nice surprise when one of these beauties pick up the bait.
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A very frequent visitor to Jurassic Mountain is Steve Rutter from Crawley in the UK (above) and is always accompanied by his good pal Malcolm Skeggs.

My new found mate Steve is none too nimble on his old legs these days due to the ‘dozens’ of major operations that he’s had on them (well that’s what he tells us) and also, as Steve is rather fond of giving a full blown detailed summary about each and every one of them, if you ever bump into him, it’s best to avoid the subject or you’ll be there all bloody night. However, to everybodies relief, a cracking carp that was eventually landed and weighed at 112 pounds kept Steve occupied for long enough for everybody to get a well earned rest from the next installment of Steve’s surgical mishaps. Nice fish Steve, did the old legs stand up to the fight? Er, best not answer that, I’ve got a bloody newsletter to write!

So how did Steve’s pal Malcolm react when Steve landed this beauty of a Siamese carp? Was he pleased for his pal or was he just a tad jealous? Well, apart from having to endure Steve’s bragging rights for hours on end which actually made a nice change from having to listen to his operation details, Malcolm did the only thing that was available for him to do…… and went out and landed one a lot lot bigger, accurately weighed at 185 pounds which thankfully, for a short moment in time, left his mate Steve almost speechless! Just look at Malcolm’s smile in the photo below, it says it all. A memorable trip it was indeed for these two very good friends who are not only just happy to fish at what is widely acclaimed to be Thailand’s top carp fishery but are even happier when they catch carp such as this which actually proves it.

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Malcolm with Scarface weighed for the first time in over year at a tad over 185lbs. Around 10lbs heavier than when we last placed him on the scales.
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April saw the departure from Jurassic Mountain of a particularly nice lad and a very good friend, Anthony Heron from Sunderland. For me personally it was a pleasure to have met you Tony and I’m sure that I speak from everybody here at The Mountain in wishing you nothing but good luck and good fortune for the future..
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This fabulous arapaima provided Thomas with a Thailand memory that he’ll never forget.

Thomas, fishing with his father Simon, paid Jurassic a compliment that ranks up there with the best of them and is food for thought for all you guys wondering whether your partners will enjoy the Jurassic Mountain experience just as much as you will. Simon’s quote was ….”The biggest accolade I can give your resort is that my wife actually preferred to stay at Jurassic Mountain rather than stay at the five star Dusit thani hotel in Hua hin. Thanks again, we’ll be back” . Thanks for that Simon, that’s fair praise indeed. We look forward to seeing you again in the future.

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Jaws ate the stag!

Don’t panic! It’s not real! Jurassic haven’t got around to introducing sharks just yet but you never know what’s going to turn up next considering the amount of monster species that are making Jurassic Mountain their home. The above photo is of Matty from Norwich with just one of the many different costumes that he dressed himself up in whilst out in Thailand on his stag do. I wish you good luck with your future married life Matty but taking into account my past experiences of wedlock………… I’d rather take my chances with that bloody shark!

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Arapaima Health and Safety?.

Jack from Birmingham (above) looks like he’s holding an arapaima whilst sitting on a submerged Suzuki. Why is he wearing a crash helmet you may well ask? The answer is because this situation is reminiscent of a young lad’s first day at his new job where he’s ripe to have the mickey taken out of him. For example, apart from the classic ones where the lad is sent to the hardware shop for a left handed screwdriver, a packet of sky hooks and a skirting board ladder, the one that I fell for many years ago was when I was sent to collect the ‘long weight’ that had been previously ordered. So over I goes to the Ironmongers and duly asked, ‘could I have the long weight please?’ That sadistic old sod in the shop who must have heard it a hundred times before told me to wait in the corner of the shop and had me stood there for almost two bloody hours before I twigged it.

Anyway, what happened here at Jurassic was that young Jack from Birmingham wanted to get involved in a bit of gillying so the existing gillies decided to have a laugh at his expense. They told him that as he was new to this gillying lark and because the arapaima’s were known to get a touch angry when handled, it was Jurassic Mountain policy that he had to wear a crash helmet whilst assisting in landing of them until such time that he was confident enough to handle them without one. He fell for it! Hook, line, helmet and sinker!
Matty from Norwich was the lucky angler who hooked into the ‘arri’ with Jack in close attendance and the strategically placed helmet was duly produced which Jack dutifully stuck on his nut in accordance with the Jurassic Mountain health and safety code of conduct article 3, section 4a clause 3b. Poor old Jack! Not only was he made to wear a crash helmet in almost 100 degrees of stifling Thai sun but was left looking like a right dipstick in the process too. Anyway, fair play to Jack who took in all in good spirit and I have no doubts that he’ll be seeking payback time in due course for being the recipient of the Jurassic Mountain Wally of the month award and, for those gillies who had a good old laugh at Jack’s expense, you’d better beware because as the old saying goes…..revenge is a dish best served cold..

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Essex boy Sam proudly shows off just one of the many carp that he landed during his three day fishing stint. Sam was more than happy to chill out at Jurassic whilst his pals were partying down on the islands and he has assured us that a return visit in the future is a definite……..for him and his pals!.
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A regular visitor to Jurassic Mountain is Alan (above), a UK expat who resides in nearby Hua hin. Fellow Chelsea fan Alan has fished all over Thailand but saves the special compliments for this place. For example, and I quote …..
‘Jurassic Mountain’s stock of specimen fish is not the only reason that it gets my vote as Thailand’s number one venue because although there are large fish to be caught all over Thailand, Jurassic Mountain has an air of exclusivity which makes it a totally unique experience’
Thanks Alan, couldn’t have put it better myself. Nice carp by the way.

I was doing my daily stroll around the lake generally checking on who was catching what when I came across Scottish John fishing out of peg 3 known as Mountain view. ‘Caught anything John?’ I casually enquired, ‘Not yet’ he replied and I noticed that he was fishing pretty close in to the bank. So seeing as I profess to pretty much know every decent location in the lake, I decided to give him the benefit of my superior knowledge and said. ‘ If I were you John, I’d reel that one in and cast it out to…..’ and before I could say another word, the line screamed off with the eventual capture of a fine Siamese around the seventy pound mark. So the moral of this story is, if you see me coming to offer you my words of undoubted wisdom………… Don’t take a blind bit of bloody notice!

I’d like to finish off two years of writing this newsletter with a memory of when I first ventured into Jurassic Mountain some four years ago. Basically, I came here for a day’s fishing ……. and more or less never went home! It wasn’t just the nineteen Siamese carp that I landed on that first day that got me hooked on Jurassic but there was also something magical about the whole place that drew me to decide in an instant that this was where I was meant to be and as I stood in awe of the majestic mountain that towered over the lakeside plot that was to eventually become the site where I’d build my new home…… so it came to pass. Four years later and happily settled in the house of my dreams, my passion for this wonderful place shows no signs of diminishing. In fact it’s quite the contrary because as Jurassic Mountain grows and flourishes by the day, my love for the place simply grows and flourishes with it and I cherish each and every day that I awake to see the sun rise over my little piece of paradise set here in beautiful Thailand. Paradise? The name Jurassic Mountain exemplifies the very word so why not come and join me and see for yourself? It’s very easy to get here……but a damn sight harder to leave!

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Jurassic…where dreams come true. My very first Arapaima.

The photo above is a magical memory of my very first arapaima that I landed here almost four years ago. Little did I know that this was the place that was to become my future home and what a good choice it was too. Definitely one of the better decisions in my life that’s for sure!

So if you’re debating whether to come to Thailand and see what all the fuss is about on the fishing scene over here, whether it’s the monster fish that you’re looking for or whether it’s luxurious accommodation that’s set in fabulous tropical surroundings or whether it’s the delicious home cooked Thai & European cuisine that’s presented by the friendliest service in Thailand, look no further than Jurassic Mountain Resort and Fishing Park. This exclusive piece of paradise that we’ve created here in Thailand is purely and simply….. ‘Way out in front on all fronts!’

I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter and I sincerely hope that it tempts you to sample the delights that Jurassic Mountain has to offer. Hopefully we’ll have the pleasure of your company in the future where you might just realise your dreams and catch the fish of your lifetime. However, in the event that the fishing gods decree that the monster fish lurking in the murky depths eludes you on the day, at least you’ll return home safe in the knowledge that you’ve just fished at what is widely considered to be Thailand’s number one fishing resort and the closest place resembling paradise that you could ever imagine possible.

Well readers, that’s it for this month, if you have any comments regarding this newsletter whether they be complimentary, constructive or critical, they’ll all be very gratefully received so kindly post them on the Jurassic Mountain newsletter post on our facebook page.

TIGHT LINES, SEE YOU ALL ON HERE NEXT MONTH.

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