So last couple of days I had been off fishing. I was up at Lake Kaeng Krachen fishing for Giant Snakeheads and other species. Beautiful lake. Excellent time. You can rent(Charter) a long boat for 1000 bht a day for 6hrs and be taken around the lake. Not a bad deal for a day on the water tossing plugs and lures.
On my way back I stopped off at a couple of "Fishing parks" that I had googled and was curious what they were about as I had seen some big fish on their websites and thought where are they going to get them etc etc. So all 3 places were the same. Basically a large muddy pond about half the size of a football field loaded with mostly catfish. There are some other species of large fish as I saw them posted on the wall with foreigners holding them. However I noticed the same fish with a different foreigner holding it up. Hmmm I asked the question to myself.... Is this really fishing?
So at one place I sat and watched. It was fairly crowded. The event I witnessed was a Thai helper doing all the work. He uses white bread(red bag) from 7/11 and a bobber. He tosses it out on the water. He hooked up the fish and handed the pole to the foreigner guy who was waiting. The guy played along until the fish tired. The Thai guy jumped in the water, brought the fish up to the shore, the foreigner guy held it up, people took pictures then the Thai guy let it go. Now I am not a purist but have been an avid angler since a little boy. I do not see this as fishing at all, basically you are catching some guys pets and taking a picture to make it appear you really geared up, carefully fished a stream or lake and caught a 20 to 50 kg fish. This one particular guy struggled reeling it in and handed the pole back to the Thai guy and he finished the deal. Now I did see a few guys fishing on their own using the same bread/bobber set up. I asked around, plugs and lures do not work in these ponds nor would fly fishing. The fish have been raised on bread. Nobody used any ultralight gear, everything was HUGE.
In the end these places appear more like "Amusement parks" not really fishing but the websites sure make it seem like you go on a tour somewhere and land "Wild" fish. You catch something every cast(mostly catfish). In fact one guy said the catfish are annoying and he had already caught 40(I was like WTF). The prices vary from 200 bht to fish with your gear to 500bht to fish and use their gear. If you are a fisherman or angler I do not recommend these places, I think it would disappoint you. Probably a good place to take your very young son or daughter to give them the feel of playing a fish.