Reef Fishing on Koh Mak Island in Thailand

[gavin310]

(From http://trek24.com/report_thailand_ko...ef_fishing.php)

I've been living on a small island in the Gulf of Thailand called Koh Mak for the past three months. In the low/rainy season it's very quiet as most of the resorts and restaurants close down due to very low tourist activity. While at times there's not much to do, it's nice because you can explore the entire island without seeing too many people, and almost never a foreigner.


My friend Ben, who is also an American and is now teaching in Thailand, came out to the island with his girlfriend for a weekend vacation. We took some time apart from the drinking and partying to do a bit of fishing. Our goal was to bring back fish for dinner, as my girlfriend keeps teasing me for having many unsuccessful fishing trips. We wanted to increase our odds, so Ben brought along a snorkeling mask so we could scope out the sea life before committing to a spot.


We only had a small motorbike that's owned by the people who own the resort I stay at. Ben, his girlfriend, and myself were the ones going. Since the dirt road leading to the resort is very bad and full of big, slippery pools of water, we decided to do two trips to the main road. Three people on a small motorbike going through mud is pretty tricky. Ben dropped me off with the fishing gear at the main road and went to pick up his girlfriend.





I should have picked a shady spot to be dropped off at, because it was pretty damn hot. Luckily I had a fisherman's hat to keep some of the sun off me.


Ben arrived not long after and we all crammed onto the bike. It's actually pretty amazing how many people you can fit on a motorbike. Many families can't afford more than one bike, so you basically learn how to play Tetris with your family. You may have seen photos from Asia of families of five or even six all loaded onto a small bike. That's extreme, but you can do it.


We saw on Google Earth a point that looked like it would have good fishing, so we went to scope it out and see if it had accessible access to the sea.





There was a weeded-over road that lead to a very cool house on top of a hill. This house had the most amazing view.





We found a small path that lead us close to the ocean, so we parked the bike and hiked down to the shore. We arrived at a beautiful rocky shore.





We took a few minutes to relax. I caught a nice moment with Ben and his girlfriend being all relationshipy.





As I mentioned earlier, we wanted to increase our chances of success, so Ben got the snorkeling mask and started making his way out to the water.





After about ten minutes, he came back and said he saw lots of pretty big fish that looked like parrot fish. Those would be great for dinner, so we were happy with our location. The problem was that the rocks went out a bit too far and would make fishing here pretty difficult.


Down a ways we saw that the rocks seemed to drop off not far after the waves were breaking, so we moved up a bit.





On the walk over there were huge pieces of dead coral.





The new location's terrain was much easier to get around on. There was a nice drop off so we could fish without getting snagged in between rocks.





We got the rods ready and baited them up with small pieces of shrimp about 6 feet below a float. Lots of the fish in these parts have very sharp teeth, so we had to use wire leaders to avoid getting cut off.


A big storm was brewing out at sea and moving towards us. In the photo below you can see the rain where the island fades out. Luckily the wind was on our side and it blew right across the front of us.





With the storm blown away, we could ease up and enjoy ourselves. Ben was fishing down a ways from me. The huge clouds in the distance really made standing out here feel surreal.





There were lots of smaller fish nibbling at the bait. I hooked the first fish, which was a beautiful little leopard spotted rock fish. It's a good thing I had the metal leader, because these are the types of fish that have teeth that will cut through plastic fishing line.





Ben was next on a small fish. This is officially the most beautiful fish I have ever seen. It looked plastic. I'm still in awe of the colors.





I got another small fish, but it really wasn't anything special. After a while I decided to switch up the bait. I found some snails on the rocks where the waves were breaking. I cracked them open with a big rock, which actually took many hard hits to crack the shell, and got them onto the hook. This attracted a new type of fish. After getting a pretty strong bite without a hookup, I knew something a little bigger was down there. As I was reeling in, suddenly I felt weight on the end. I thought maybe I hooked a trash bag, which unfortunately isn't uncommon in Thailand, but I saw a fish as I got it close to the rock shelf. It didn't fight too much, but I took my time as I knew this may be the only chance at something large enough for dinner. I managed to get it above the rock shelf and waiting for a wave to surf it in. I got it to a shallow spot and pulled it up to safer ground.





Another incredibly beautiful fish. The patterns and colors were really amazing. I researched it later and I believe it's a type of wrasse, although I can't figure out the exact name. I usually don't like killing a fish if it's sporting some radical 80's colors, but we wanted fish for dinner and it looked edible. I found a tide pool to keep it in until we were ready to leave.


I caught another of the same type, but it was much smaller. I thought that if we ran out of shrimp we could use it as bait, but we ended up including it on our dinner menu.


Ben saw a nice sized crab and lured it out using a piece of shrimp.





We took it home to eat, but my girlfriend snuck it down to the ocean and let it go. She has a big heart for animals, so if I plan on eating something I catch I have to keep a close eye on it. I cleaned my fish before coming home to avoid a stealthy release while I wasn't looking.


We got home and began getting ready for dinner. Some types of reef fish like these cannot be eaten due to them being toxic from what they eat. My girlfriend posted on Facebook asking if you can eat this fish, but no one seemed to really know. I emailed my survival expert friend, Dave Williams at PaddleAsia, and he said he wasn't sure, but if it were him and he was deciding whether to eat it or not, he'd eat it. That was good enough for me.


I started to scale the fish and was amazed at how big the scales were. All of the scales had tints of blue and green, which is where all of the fish's bright colors came from.





It took a lot of work, but I got the scales removed.





My girlfriend smothered it in salt and got it ready for the fryer.





And in it goes...








Probably the worse day of his life.





It didn't turn out pretty, but I knew I'd like any fish that is salted and fried.





On lots of Thai fried fish dishes they put some type of fried garlic on top. You put it into this strainer and dip it into the oil quickly. It's salt and garlicky and I love it.





The end result.





Everyone was still pretty skeptical of the fish, but they tried a little bit. I ended up eating almost all of it.





I'm still alive and feeling fine, so thanks for the advice Dave, you were right. I had a great time that day. Beautiful weather and scenery, good friends, and fresh fish for dinner. Couldn't ask for more!

[City Dad]

Cool report and pics! Incredible how many different species of wrasse are found in the tropics.

[Wingnut]

Seafood Russian Roulette...
Lol, I'm sure you weren't really at risk, just stay away from the "puffer" like species.
What an awesome report and the pics got me day dreaming...
Enjoy your time in paradise Gavin, what a life!

[bachiboy]

Awesome report! Those photos are really amazing. Capturing the colors on fish is usually pretty hard but those came out great!

[bassfishing24/7]

Great report once again,those r some beautiful fish u caught out there!keep the reports coming!

[5150fishn]

The colors of the fish are amazing! Thanks for the report and pics. Keep them coming for those of us not lucky enough to enjoy an exotic place like this.

[Troutman65]

What an amazing fishing report . The colors on those fish simply are amazing also . Thanks for sharing your fishing adventure with us on FNN.