An Isaan Pond

[CalEden]

Its like Chitty trying to catch that fuckin mouse...all over again

5555!

[naptownmike]

Nice I hope it works out. It seems bizarre that your not even getting catfish in that trap.

I used to work on a commercial crab boat and they were very finicky about how the traps were set up.

If you don't have luck this time maybe try a different bait.

[Mendip]

Ya know... I was full of optimism this morning.

I'm now on retrieval duties as the daughter seems to be worried about rotten pla nin head splash-back stench getting on her school uniform. She's growing up fast.

The trap certainly felt heavy, but then I remembered it's weighted down with six bricks.



Absolutely nothing. This is getting frustrating.



I know that pla chon are in the pond and I know that they like to eat my pla nin. I'm starting to think that they only go for live fish. I know that some snakes will only eat live food and not touch something dead given to them.

^ Mike, I'm not so surprised that no catfish are ending up in the trap as I believe that pla duk and pla sawai are vegetarians. I am surprised that no pla chon are turning up, or at least an eel. We used to have a couple of big eels in the pond.

I think tonight I'll try a sock filled with fish pellets just to see if I can catch a nice pla duk to prove that the trap works. It's the pla chon I'm really after though.

[lom]

pla chon - Mendip 3-0

[ootai]

Mendip
If you think they might prefer live bait then you need to catch 3 fish with your rod so you can use 1 to bait the trap and 2 for your fish and chips.
I don't think your gardener will have any live fish in his stash for you to use.

[David48atTD]

Cough!

Mate, forget fishing lines, make a small version of this net ...



Don't feed the fish for a couple of days, drop the net in the Pond, drop a bit of food in the water over the centre of the net.

And Flo's your Aunt

[David48atTD]

Mate, fish swim in stratas.

If the fish you are trying to catch isn't a bottom feeder then it's near useless putting your net on the bottom of the pond.

Just saying like

If you are going to try and stick with your net, but it a foot or two below the waters surface.

Try for a couple of nights.

No luck? Suspend a light above the net.

[ootai]

David
I was only suggesting a fishing rod because I know he enjoys that and the fish and chips as well.
If it were up to me I would just bite the bullet pump the pond dry then clean the whole thing out and let the sun shine on the bottom for a week.
After that I would start over again and this time not put the fish i don't want in there in the first place.
Not having a crack at Mendip as he has stated a few times he wish he hadn't put them in there.

What he needs to focus on is the fact that in spite of all the issues he has had the fish seem to thrive in the pond most of the time so he must be doing something right.
Life is a learning experience.

[Joe 90]

Mendip will get more protein from the woodworm in his jetty than that fishing umbrella contraption.

[Mendip]

^ I fear you are right Joe.

I held off answering any pond issues last night as I baited the trap with pellets just to show how effective it can be for the bottom feeding pla duk.

^ Dave, the pla duk are bottom feeders and when I catch pla sawai and pla nin on rod and line using a float I usually set the bread bait close to the bottom to avoid all the pla nin fry at the surface. I think many of these fish feed at all levels. That big fish net thing of your would always be an option but the whole point of the pond isn't juts to harvest fish... it was to catch the occasional nice fish on rod and line to cook up on the pond-side barbecue. In theory a nice way to spend an afternoon and for the first few years I could easily catch six or so decent pla nin in half an hour, no problem.

The net traps came into use to try and get rid pf these damn pla chon which I introduced.

Yes, Ootai... I enjoy the fishing with rod and line and it's been a good way to get the daughter off her tablet and outside. She also enjoys a biology lesson when I clean the fish which is an added bonus. Sadly I think that you are correct and the pond needs draining and starting afresh but in the meantime I'll try and catch one of these bladdy pla chon, just for my own personal satisfaction. How difficult can it be? I've bought some snakehead frog lures from Lazada as well now... but no luck as yet.

When I get my other jobs out of the way I'll turn my attention to the pond. First there is digging a trench and laying a new chicken fan electric cable, relaying the coping stones around the pool, sorting out my visa extension, painting the daughter's room because she's 'gone off' pink, building a new pond jetty, plus of course losing three hours a day battling Korat traffic to and from school. The days are cut short by the afternoon school run since once we get back I like to take the daughter for a swim before it gets dark and then cook while she does her homework. I don't seem to get much time to dither these days and the relaxation I enjoyed during ASQ is now a distant memory.

I am planning the pond rejuvenation and think I've sourced a solar powered paddle aerator in Chon Buri... so that could be a nice little outing.

But anyway, I digress. Like I said last night I baited the fish trap with fish pellets for a few pla duk, just to prove how effective it can be.

Well, the bricks seem to be too heavy for the trap and the bloody thing had collapsed. I'm starting to get pissed off with this and think I've probably wasted that 68 Baht.

[cyrille]

I baited the trap with pellets

On the upside, that might be the first time ever on TD that 'baited' has been the correct spelling.

Bravo!

[Mendip]

^ Praise indeed!

As Ootai said, I'm doing something right.

[Mendip]

Against my better judgement I decided to give it one last go... I don't want the daughter thinking her old man's a quitter.

I bent the trap back into shape, baited it with fish pellets and put it in a new place where I've seen a few fish swirling around the margins.

If the trap's empty tomorrow morning I'm gonna burn the damn thing and it's off to Cambodia for some hand grenades.

[Klondyke]

^Why not to leave it to the free hand of the nature, like we leave the economy - and our future - to the free hand of the market?

[Dillinger]

When I get my other jobs out of the way I'll turn my attention to the pond. First there is digging a trench and laying a new chicken fan electric cable, relaying the coping stones around the pool, sorting out my visa extension, painting the daughter's room because she's 'gone off' pink, building a new pond jetty, plus of course losing three hours a day battling Korat traffic to and from school. The days are cut short by the afternoon school run since once we get back I like to take the daughter for a swim before it gets dark and then cook while she does her homework. I don't seem to get much time to dither these days and the relaxation I enjoyed during ASQ is now a distant memory.

Living the dream

At least its keeping you busy and away from boozing, eh?

You need to delegate, or pay off and sack that waste of space of a gardener/handyman/voyeur.

Any Thai with a hole in his arse will know how to catch those pla chon and would have your pond free of them in no time.

[strigils]

Elastictrickery, with the choice of gardener in or out of the pond at switch on time.

[Mendip]

Living the dream

At least its keeping you busy and away from boozing, eh?

You need to delegate, or pay off and sack that waste of space of a gardener/handyman/voyeur.

Any Thai with a hole in his arse will know how to catch those pla chon and would have your pond free of them in no time.

To be honest it's not all keeping me away from the booze as much as I was hoping.

Pla Chon are notoriously difficult to catch... that guy or girl in your video was preparing pla chon... that's the easy part. But how did he or she catch 'em? Try finding a video about that!

I'd have to say I'm not really living the dream... it's bloody hard work here. One job I forgot to mention was replacing the top few inches of soil in the chicken run every year. Well tonight the soil turned up... tomorrow will be hard work. First I'll wheelbarrow out 40 odd loads of dirty soil, and then I'll wheelbarrow back in 40 odd loads of clean soil.

Still, it's good exercise!

[Dillinger]

^ wonder where they dug that from. Its still got grass in it

[Mendip]

^ Yeah, it wasn't the rice paddy 'black' soil I was expecting... but what can ya do?

[Dillinger]

Your missus got a stash of live frogs anywhere?

In the past there were people who made their living catching them for sale. They would go out at night with a fishing rod made from a long bamboo pole, baited with a live baby frog and walk through shallow water where there were tall weeds, lowering the bait into it repeatedly. The pla chon, which liked to hide among the weeds, were attracted, and bit. The ones caught this way were the best of all and be sold at a high price, but nowadays there don’t appear to be any of these professional pla chon fishermen left.

All hail the snakehead fish

[CalEden]

If the trap's empty tomorrow morning I'm gonna burn the damn thing and it's off to Cambodia for some hand grenades.

Finally! Holly Cow, Mendip, Cambodian Hand Grenades and loud explosions. Will it soon be raining dead fish! What could go wrong? I can't wait!

[CalEden]

Dead Whale Carcus Removal





Mendip, you might want to buy an extra grenade for the dirt salesman.

[Shutree]

Dead Whale Carcus Removal

An object lesson in how not to deal with a whale carcass.

[Mendip]

^^^ I must admit that after watching that whale video I was having second thoughts about using hand grenades in my pond... but I'm a man of my word so I filled up the tank in the car, got the missus to make me some corned beef and tomato ketchup sandwiches and I entered 'ammo shops Cambodia' into Google Maps. I was all set.

The daughter wanted to check the trap one last time this morning, then off she'd go to school and I'd head in the opposite direction to the border.

I pulled in the net from amongst the reeds.



Bugger... empty again. It wasn't just having to go to Cambodia and using live ammunition on my pond that I was worried about... but also another 15 days ASQ to get back home. But my word is my word.



But hang on... what's that?

Lo and behold there were a couple of nice pla nin in the net, hiding under some mud.



And further investigation revealed yet another pla nin buried in the fish pellet sludge.



Three pla nin no less! I put them back to fight another day.

It's a shame there will be no trip to Cambodia now, but where does this leave me? The pla nin are obviously breeding and the pond is full of fry... this was why I introduced the snakehead in the first place, although now it seems the snakehead are so big they're eating the adult pla nin.

Maybe I'm not catching the snakehead in my trap because they have such an abundance of fresh food to choose from?

How can I prevent the pla nin breeding and casuing overcrowding in the future if I drain and restock the pond?

Your missus got a stash of live frogs anywhere?

Sadly the wife gave up her frog raising enterprise because she said the frogs kept disappearing.

Little did she know I was secretly setting them free in the pond... although it now looks as though I was just giving the pla chon an easy meal.

I don't fancy sticking a live baby frog on a hook but we do get a lot of dead baby frogs in the pool skimmer box. They may be a bit chloriney but I'll try using some as bait, see what happens. I'm not ready to give up just yet.

[baldrick]

repurpose the trap to catch frogs