Spearing in Thailand

[No I'm Josh]

Hello crew,
Can anyone tell me anything abous spearing in Thailand? I'm going to be in the Phuket, Kohlanta area. I was in Malaysia earlier this year and was shut down by the marine reserves. I'm all for marine reserves but sometimes a man's got to kill a fish. Thanks anybody.
Josh

[whydec]

When will you be there I was thinking of taking a 7-10 days in Phukett myself?

[Man-O-War]

PM "jimbo" he was there just recently for a month

[No I'm Josh]

Thanks Stringy Bell. Your avatar is too much.

[t-rocks69]

try contacting thaidiver his of course in thailand or try mulloway his in singapore but travels the area a lot.

[No I'm Josh]

Thanks TRocks.

[Doc]

Ill be in thailand in about 3-4 weeks for 10 days or so... Id be into hanging out, maybe joining forces for a mac-daddy beach house, and maybe diving but I have no reason to spear while Im there. Let me know.

[t-rocks69]

anytime josh wish i could be there at the same time as you.

[No I'm Josh]

Doc, I'm a bit worried about what you said, "but I have no reason to spear while Im there." Do we need a reason? I'll be on the move but it would be cool to slay some fish together.
Can anybody give me an idea of the sort of equipment that will be neede in Thailand?
thanks crew.

[Farang Shao Ley]

Hi !

A 1m -1,10m Euro-gun or a railgun will be fine, if you fishing at the coast-line of Phuket. The visibility varies
from 5 m to 15 m, but right now it`s the monsun-season(onshore winds / no good), best time over there is from December to April.
Hope this helps
cheers

[No I'm Josh]

Holy sh...! That's a wicked brace of GTs. Farang, thanks for the advice. I'll be out on small islands too so I'm hoping for better vis out there. Can I get away with a reel on my gun or should I bring a buoy? How deep did you get those GTs? Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

[Farang Shao Ley]

Hi Josh,

I'll be out on small islands too so I'm hoping for better vis out there

Yepp, the raja-islands for instance are great, you can find vis up to 20-30 m, lots of fish, but be aware of diving-boats !!
It`s the same out there, like the in recent "flying fish incident" thread. Even if you arrive at some place first, they coming up very close with their big diving-boats and turning up the engine when you near the back of the boat..DANGEROUS :soapbox:
Best is to arrive very early before 10-11 a.clock (no boats) but be carefull with the tides around Newmoon and Fullmoon, the tides are very strong, you can make only drop-dives at the "hot-spots" , to much hussle if 4-5 spearos sharing a boat.
How deep did you get those GTs?
17-18m and a bottom of 25, but it has been 2 weeks after the tsunami, so no comercial fishing-boats out there for that period. I was lucky that day, to left with my little boat half hour before, because fishing is the best at high-tide :p (26.Dec 04 high tide at 10.05)
Can I get away with a reel on my gun or should I bring a buoy?
I´m the wrong person to ask this, cause I never ever used a reel on my gun, I allways using a buoy (Us-Liveguard xxl)
At raya-noy-island you can find descent GTs, cobias, dogteeth-tuna and yellow-fin tunas, a bunggee and a riffe torpedo float or similar wouldn`t be bad, me thinks :rolleyes:
(+ 2-3 rubber-band gun with break-away and bigger shaft)
http://members.dokom.net/zawisch/index.htm/bilder/p4.jpg
greetz

[No I'm Josh]

That GT is nuts. Can you eat the Barracudas there? Here they are not a good idea. Ciguatera not an issue I assume?
The depth of the GTs doesn't sound too bad as long you don't don't have to wait around too long down there.
Am I fooling myself thinking I can shore dive and get fish? It gives me the shits doing the tourist shuffle.
Thanks for the info regarding the buoy set-up.
Don't be shy posting more photos. Have any of Doggies?

[Farang Shao Ley]

Hi Josh,
Can you eat the Barracudas there? Here they are not a good idea. Ciguatera not an issue I assume?

You`re right, I`m going for winter- holidays over there for 2 decades allready, I`ve never heared of ciguatera .
By the way, my Thai-brother Chai gave me a call last week, he just shoot a 36 kg black cuda, must be a record fish :eek: :thumps:
He shot also a few tunas (one over 30 kg), but sorry , no pics, he`s not yet firm with computers .

I didn`t shoot a dog-teeth myself yet, I missed my first chance, cause after a few hours in the water I couldn`t clear my ears (pressure) and the desperate shot,
I made from to far away above , missed him completly.

Troy, an American mate, with only one leg (accident with a prop) laughed a lot, when we ate sushimi with wasabi/sour rice allready on the boat. He has been very happy , I left the 10 kg doggy for him. He is a good guy + spearo, he still can go down deep!

Anyway, the best spot is 20 miles away and it`s not easy
to find a boat ( costs 270$ / day), when the sea is not calm. Going over there with our small nutshell is a risky trip either, but "no risk , no fun" :D

http://members.dokom.net/zawisch/index.htm/bilder/P5.jpg
http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/1461/p1110124oi3.jpg

[No I'm Josh]

OK, great. Thanks again for the info and pictures.
So if I shore dive do you think I have any hope of finding Queenfish or GT's? I won't have the time to take any long boat trips but will cover several islands and a bunch of beaches. Thanks again.

[Farang Shao Ley]

Hi Josh,

You will find trevallys, red snappers , queenfish, groupers, sweetlips but I`ve doubts, you will see any GT`s .
Don`t expect too much from the Lantha area, it`s relativley shallow water over there , the visibility is not that good.
Phi phi Island is better, but its a marine-park
and has too much boat-traffic...
I didn`t knew it, when I speared there 15 years ago.
I was run over by a long-tail boat :(, luckely he noticed it
and took the engine up.
Koh Lipe is good, but also a marine-park...:(
greetz

[No I'm Josh]

Oh no. I was in Malaysia last year and it was just one big marine park. Marine parks are great and I'm all for them but please tell me if it's possible to get away from them? In Malaysia it wasn't. Now I'm wondering if I should even bring a gun.

[Farang Shao Ley]

Don`t worry, still a lot places left, where spearfishing is legal.
Here you can find out more :
http://www.clickthai.de/cgi-bin/MapIndex.pl?0020984
cheers

[No I'm Josh]

Here's a quick report on my trip to Thailand:
Great fishing. I shot some nice fish in Koh Phi Phi including a giant barracuda, some snapper, sweetlips and some other fish I don't know names of. I was blown away to see lobster looking out of holes at me in the middle of the day. Something you will NEVER see in Tahiti. Didn't grab any because I didn't have a bag and the stringer around my waist was pretty full.
After that I went to Koh Kradan. Got a beautiful Queenfish over a meter long and some other snapper type fish. Went down and layed on the bottom at 12m. Not deep but was down some time when a massive black fish with almost sharklike dorsal fins swam within the 4 meters of viz. I later found out the the 40kg + beast was a Kingfish. It gave me a nice shot; 3/4 from the back, up into the head. I hoped for a KO but just missed it. It swam under a coral ledge and cut the tether, leaving me more than a little frustrated. That was the only shaft I brought so my fishing ended then. Great trip though. Can't wait to go back.
Farang, thanks for your help.

[joelovesfishin]

It's just a fish story without any pictures...Let's see 'em.

[No I'm Josh]

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/joshhumbert/IMG_6817_2.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/joshhumbert/big-Paiihere.jpghttp://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/joshhumbert/mutapatai.jpg
Haha, you're right Joe. Here's some fish pictures but they're from home, not Thailand. Joke's on me. The big barracuda I shot was taken out of my hands by the hostel owner and promptly cooked up and the Queenfish has a funny story too. I was told that where I was going to fish was no problem so I was surprised to see a ranger way down the beach making his way toward me when I got out of the water. I tossed the Queenfish in the bushes a little off the beach and hightailed it up the trail with the smaller fish. I went back 15mins later to get it and as I was about to grab it the dude stepped out of the brush 50meters away. I waved to him and pretended to be looking out to sea while he stared at me. I turned around and headed back up the trail, listening for his steps behind me. I went back an hour later because I was told the monitor lizards would get it. He wasn't there but by that time it was nearly dark and the swarm of mozzies around my ankles convinced me to clean it as fast as I could and head for a shower. How's that for a story? For all you know, I live in the Ukraine and drive a horse drawn cart.

[Mulloway]

you are very lucky not to have been caught. the regulations on the west coast of thailand is very greyish. most of the rangers just assume that its illegal to spear there and if you are caught, you'll have to pay a fine. its a pity you didn't land that black kingfish(cobia). they are great tasting. here is a 1 i shot sometime back.

[Farang Shao Ley]

if you are caught, you'll have to pay a fine.
Might be 5000 Baht? :eek: I would asume :p,
funny story anyway...:lol:
one more cobia :D
http://members.dokom.net/zawisch/index.htm/bilder/coiba.jpg
cheers

[No I'm Josh]

The guy at the hostel we stayed at said that all I had to do was give them his name. He said that they buy cigs, booze and other illegal stuff from him and he has them all on the run. Maybe he was BS'ing but luckily I didn't have to find out. The image of that big black beast, hardly spooked by me, will forever be burned into my memory.

[DISKSKO]

Hey,
is anyone planning a trip there? Or somewhere exotic, like australia or tahiti? I have a free sky miles ticket, would like to go something crazy and shoot big fish.

PM me!

Ben.

[No I'm Josh]

Tahiti is not the best place to shoot something huge. Tahiti itself is really fished out so you have to get out to the Tuamotus for more opportunity. The problem out there though is the sharks which are numerous and aggressive. There are some good dogtooth to be had but if you aren't fishing below 60ft it's not worth having a lash at.