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The Myths of Fishing at Bungsamran.

Bread is Bread...Isn't it?

We regularly see stories published by several guiding companies of “special” bait's, additives etc etc, and that these baits and additives are responsible for an increased catch rate. With a good catch history behind the companies making such claims, one could easily believe this to be true. But the truth of the matter is that no company has a special bait for Bungsamran, bread is bread, lum is lum, and its hard to disguise this fact to a fish no matter what we do with it! Some western guides might tell you that the additives being used in your bucket of bread is a secret but it appears this is not true  according to the Thai guides working for these companies that we have spoken too, the additives used are simply the standard ones available from Bungsamran for all to use if they choose to do so.

Now our company takes big fish out of Bungsamran nearly every single session of late, and I know that all the Pro Guides, feel that the truth should be told and the credit given to those that are the real reason for the great days of fishing that many customers have had. In my view, in the world of Professional Guiding here in Thailand the Thai guides get a bit of a raw deal at times, with the western owner of the guiding company often reaping the real benefits and the guide getting a small wage for the role he plays in giving a client a good days fishing, myths about special baits and ingredients do nothing to help lay the credit at the feet of those that are really responsible, the guides.

Taking a Thai Guide for your days fishing on Bungsamran is the single most important ingredient you can add to your days fishing and it will increase your catch significantly (not to mention make your day a lot less hard work!). If you don’t believe this then book a bungalow use the same bait and the same rod, have a day with a guide and a day without one and compare your catch rates. These guys are professionals; they have trained for many years to understand feeding habits and to understand the different species but most of all they have put in years behind a rod. I feel it sad that any company would devalue the guides efforts by claiming a secret bait was even partly responsible for their success.

Why do companies say they have this secret? Could it be about money, by any chance? They put it that they have the best guides but the secret is what is in the bait. Everybody loves a secret; if you are lucky you might find the “secret”, but only if you book a trip with a guide. Please remember that the “secret” is the Thai man standing on your bungalow… the GUIDE. When finishing your day please thank the right person for those fish that you have landed, the Guide, that will be the man that has put in the effort to cast the lines and to work the area that you are fishing, to mix the baits and additives to the correct texture and consistency, to constantly place your bait on the right spot over and over all day long.

Maybe in reading this it might seem this is just one company trying to discredit the others, so I will put some science behind my statement. These fish are picky eaters, they have there standard diet, that is what they like to eat, if you try to use something different then they may not like it at all. To give an example, in the UK, anglers use boilies, a small round bait that you put under your hook with a hair, these come in many flavours colours and base mixes. To train the typical carp population in a British lake how many kilos of your new boilie do you have to introduce into the lake before the carp except and hopefully look for this item as a useful food source? Now compare the fish population and the biomass of a UK lake in terms of kilos of fish, with the biomass of Bungsamran (a few tonnes compared to thousands of tonnes) and try and scale up your hypothetical baiting programme for Bungsamran, try and work out how many tonnes...YES TONNES of that new food source/ingredient/flavour you would have to introduce into Bungsam ran before even just 1% of the fish population ever come across your special bait let alone developed a taste for it! No company could possibly afford to carry out such a baiting programme except the owners themselves perhaps. Beside this not inconsiderable problem, anglers nor their guides are in fact  suppose to use baits and other additives purchased from anywhere but Bungsamran under the managements rules, and this is done for very good reason, that being to ensure the welfare of what are extremely valuable and rare fish residing in the lake, and these products are clearly displayed behind Bungsamran's reception counter for you to purchase if you wish, they are hardly kept secret, they are trying to sell the stuff to you! Are we starting to understand the reality of the situation here? Secret baits or additives are a marketing ploy!

We have discussed this subject in some detail not only with many of the other companies guides but also the owners of Bung Sam Ran, a “secret” cant stay a “secret” for long around here as this is one big family, the Pro Guides have tried everything over the years, when I was the new boy on the lake I thought there must be a better way to hook these fish, I WAS WRONG!!! I have tried a lot of different things, like looking at what they eat in the wild, this is not the wild, so that didn’t work, I have tried different terminal tackle, to try to overcome hook shyness that didn’t work, and yes of course I have tried numerous additives etc, non of which are secret, some days you could believe they are making a difference but the next day you'll catch twice as many fish using standard bread!

So what are we left with here? Simple. 99% of what lands the quality and quantity of fish at Bungsamran is SKILL provided by your guide no “secret ingredient” necessary. I really do wish it was as simple as putting a few drops of that secret flavour in the bait, then sitting back and waiting for the big fish!, These myths are purely a marketing ploy perpetuated by the companies putting such things out there in the public domain in various forms, to get you to book with them because their company apparently has a “secret” bait/additive that works well, that no other company has.

It's hard work to set up a lot of fish, or just one big fish for customers, it takes effort and skill to get it right. So for the other companies out there it is time to come clean and tell the truth, change the web pages and forms of advertising that do the guides a discredit. Because without them your company wouldn’t be around! The Kiwi Fishing Team consists of myself some local Thai anglers and a few Thai guides who fish for pleasure together, and in recent months we have been hooking and landing some of the biggest fish in Bung Sam Ran, we DON'T use “secret” baits, and we will never suggest it is down to such obscure and unrealistic reasons why our recent catch record has been so good, it is the skill of the team that makes it all possible. IT IS THE GUIDES SKILL THAT CATCHES FISH.

This being the fact I would like to take the time to Thank the Kiwi Fishing Team for the work and dedication that they put in to land such amazing fish and for being so willing to share the real secrets, this being that Thai's know their waters better than anyone else, without you guys I would not have been able to learn the real secrets of fishing at Bungsamran.

Article submitted by:- "Kiwi" of the Kiwi Fishing Team.