Fishing in Phuket Thailand

[LTMatt1]

In early-mid October I took two weeks leave from my tour in Iraq to visit Phuket, Thailand. Well before the trip I found Dan McGatha on SF here who actually lives in Phuket and runs the ThaiOneOn sportfishing boat.
It was still on the tail end of monsoon season so the weather was hit and miss and we ended up going out about every other day.
Total Count:
1 Sailfish (my first billfish)
2-3 Dorado (we had a double hookup on a daisy chain but one of them got off at the boat)
A couple of Barricuda and Wahoo (Barricuda were small, but the Wahoo were all in the right range)
Lots of Longtail Tuna
1 probable Marlin (hook pulled)
Overall the fishing wasn’t spectacular which was due to the season and weather. We spent the lions share of time local trolling around Yai & Noi.
One takeaway I wanted to share with the board is this: Dan of the ThaiOneOn is a first rate fisherman. Many of you probably know who Fred Archer is; I haven’t ever met Fred but I have read almost off of his books of saltwater fishing. Dan reminds me of what I imagine Fred would be like when it comes to fishing. Dan doesn’t trust store bought leaders and makes just about anything that he can. The man buys fresh Ballyhoo, processes and freezes them himself. He’s got the science down and it was incredibly educational just fishing with the guy and observing his rigging.

Apparently the time to go if you want the best fishing experience is in February. The internet isn’t clear on this and has lots of conflicting information about the best seasons for the various species you’ll find out there. We saw lots of bait (LOTS of bait) which I take to mean that fishing will be improving in the coming months as the bait brings in more and larger predatory fish.

When trolling on the western side of one of the islands (Yai or Noi, whichever is the closest to Phuket) suddenly the right outrigger went off with a POP and zzzzzZZZZZZZZ. The deckhand was already halfway up the ladder as I started to stand up. A second later the line went slack and then the next line on the inside of the outrigger took off, ZZZZZZZZZZZZ. After an unsuccessful setting of the hook the line went slack and then the NEXT line, now on the back left side of the boat went off. Finally the hook was in the creature’s mouth and I was in the chair watching it strip line off at about 35lbs of drag. I was focused on the reel at the time but Dan later told me that there was a great deal of splashing, it was definitely a billfish. After 10-15 seconds the fish went down and disappeared below the ocean’s surface, still pulling off drag and there was nothing for me to do but hold on and watch. Another 30-45 seconds and the hook pulled, or the fish just spit the bait out, not sure which. One thing I can definitely say after having caught a good 30 kilo sailfish several days later is that the fight was NOTHING like a sailfish. The sailfish I caught, which wasn’t huge but a good size, barely took line off the drag during the fight and was only maybe 5-7 minutes to leader. All of this led Dan and I to conclude that it was probably a marlin which isn’t extremely rare but is unusual to catch in the local area there around the islands.

Overall it was a very good time. If the fishing isn’t good the scenery certainly is. Although slow we outfished the other boats in the area most days which is a testament to Dan’s knowledge of the area and superior rigging. Anyone considering a trip to Phuket that wants to fish locally I would suggest going in the Feb timeframe and shoot Dan an e-mail to check on his availability. www.thaisportfishing.com

*some may notice that the sailfish looks dead, that's because unfortunately it died as a result of the fight.

[WAHOONBOX]

GREAT WRITE UP MATT! .....YOU DESERVED A VACATION...HAPPY HOLIDAY AND THANK YOU FOR SERVING YOUR COUNTRY....

WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING MORE FROM THAIONEON CHARTERS...


"YOU DIDN'T FALL OUT THE BACK OF THAT BOAT DID YA?"

[JasonB]

Nice,
A bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work!

Stay safe,

JasonB

[hdmcgatha]

Matt,
glad to see you made it back safe. We had a Great time on the fishing grounds and I will be looking for other spots for future sport fishing local. I hope we can get a marlin to the boat next time. Thanks for the Great report. Take care keep safe and again Thanks for the service you give us all.

[gottaflylee]

Great report and pictures, glad you were able to get leave to do this and glad you had a good time. Thanks for doing what you do so we can do what we do...

[Ponce]

Nice report and pictures, thanks for sharing. Sounds like you had a nice break from the sand box.

[SeaBiscuit]

Sounds like a very nice fishing vacation. Loved the description and pictures and hope to visit that part of the world someday.
Cheers,
SeaBiscuit