MALAYSIA SNAKEHEADS

Francois Helias of www.anglingthailand.com recently led a group of fishermen into the jungles of Malaysia for monster snakeheads.  A few IGFA lenth records were broken on this successful trip.  Many of the Malaysia waters have never seen a lure giving you a good chance of landing a monster snakehead. 

Francois also guides for a variety of species in the Thailand, Bangkok area.  Here you have a wide variety of monster fish species to go after.  For more info contact Francois at fishasia@ksc.th.com

LURE RETRIEVERS

While fishing the snag infested waters of Papua New Guinea, I learned the importance of having a good lure retriever onboard.  The retriever saved hundreds of dollars in getting high priced lures out of snags.  Two of the best retrievers I have seen are the Asari Lure Aid which is designed to go down your line, among the snags and catch onto your lure so that it can become free.  You can check out this product on www.prohuntertackle.com.  I recently purchased this lure aid while being in Australia.  The other top lure retriever is the telescopic type sold by www.cabelas.com.  This retriever end slides down your line while you hold the butt end to free the lure.  The telescopic length is 16ft while collapsed it is 5ft 3in.  This retriever was highly successful in Papua New Guinea saving us valuable lures.  So I highly recommend a top of the line lure retriever gets stored on your boat to save you valuable fishing dollars!

FAST START FOR PEACOCK BASS SEASON

With early low water conditions on tributaries off the Rio Negro and those in the southern region, Steve Yatomi of ATA, announces excellent peacock bass fishing in the Brazilian Amazon. These rivers constantly produce the largest peacocks in the world.  Early reports of over 1000 peacocks being landed per week with a few monsters over 20 pounds are being submitted by numerous fishermen.  Top lures are still topwater prop lures such as those made by www.klures.com.  Jigs and the old reliable live bait are still the choice should the water levels tend to go up.  The season is expected to remain good as the water levels in the Northern fisheries off the Rio Branco are coming down making November a good time to head to these fisheries.  Peacock bass fishing is totally dependent on water levels.  High water allows the peacocks to roam back into the jungle in search of baitfish making them practically impossible to catch.  If peacock bass is on your list get in touch with Steve Yatomi of Adventure Travel Alliance at zato1@earthlink.com or check out his facebook page or www.adventuretravelalliance.com

FALL TURNOVER WALLEYES

During the cold weather fall season, the water densities change causing much of the debris on the bottom of the lake to rise to the top thus creating the fall turnover season.  During this time, small baitfish will head towards to deeper waters to snack on insect larva especially in the deep mudflats.  Following these baitfish will be largers species such as walleye. To reach these depths a few tactics can be used.  In the state of Wisconsin, 3 rods are allowed per person.  Therefore, I use 1 rod spooled with 18lbs leadcore line.  I can reach depths around 26ft by letting out 4 colors while maintaining trolling speeds of 1.8-2.2mph.  I attach to the leadcore approximately 6ft leader of mono then tie on  a small Berkley cross-loc-snap.  I use downriggers for the other 2 rods watching my depth finder for any suspended fish. Normally I put the downrigger balls down about 15ft to get my lures down to the 20ft range.  Speed is the key, so make sure you are constantly making adjustments.  I normally put the lures about 75ft behind the downrigger balls.  Top lures are small hot-n-tots, deep diving Norman baby N, Cottton Cordell deep minnows, Rapala deep shad raps, Lindy shadlings, Rebel humpy, to name a few.  The key is the vibration of the lure type.  Hot-n-tots have a wide sweep thus producing a large vibration while Rapala shad raps have a very tight wobble.  Experiment each day to let the fish tell you which to use.  Also use colorations similar to the baitfish in your waters.  For me, walleyes are constantly feeding on small 2 to 3 inch perch so I tend to run perch colored lures.  So, when heading out for walleyes this fall, make sure to try trolling some deep water mud flats duirng the fall changeover season!

JURASSIC FISHING PARK

Eddie Mounce, of Fish Thailand, has recently announced a new Thailand fishing resort, Jurassic Fishing Park.  The venue is located about 2 hours from Bangkok besides the sea-side town of Cha Am.  Here, monster arapaima, redtail catfish, snakehead, siamese carp, mekong catfish, and others are swimming.  The lake is situated between a mountainous landscape and vivid rice paddies making for a stunning background.  Currently Jurassic Mountain Resort is being built which will include nine 2 bedroom villas set overlooking the lake.  Each villa is currently for sale and comes with life time fishing rights.  So far 4 villas have been sold, 3 of which to Fish Thailand.  Having had the opportunity to Thailand twice, I can vouch that the fishing here is world class and most likely you will land the largest fish in your life and leave with sore arms!  For more information contact Eddie Mounce at info@fishthailand.co.uk

MONSTER FLORIDA BASS

Heading for a family vacation to Disney World in Orlando Florida and want to get into some monster bass?  Give Capt Eddie Bussard a call at 18002415314.  Capt Eddie runs the Bass Challenger Guide Service while fishing areas such as the St. Johns River and Lake Toho which are minutes from Orlando.  Currently the fishing is red hot using top water lures and Eddie is expecting a fantastic upcoming shiner season for monster largemouths.  Eddie will pick you up at your local hotel and give you a great day of fishing for monster largemouths.  Check out his website at www.basschallenger.com

YELLOW LAKE, WISCONSIN LAKE STURGEON

Yellow Lake which is located in Webster, Wisconsin holds some of the largest lake sturgeon around.  In early September, an angler hooked and released back into Yellow Lake a monster sturgeon which measured 88 inches and weighed 200 pounds.  The angler however was fishing for walleye and accidentally snagged the beast which does not allow him to qualify for the state record which is at 170 pounds.
On September 22 about 30 anglers held a sturgeon tournament knowing this record was still alive and swimming in Yellow Lake.  For the day 33 sturgeon we landed and released with the largest sturgeon measuring 60 1/8 inches allowing for a winning prize of $1000.
The sturgeon season last throughout the month of September.  Top fishing tactics are setting nightcrawlers on the bottom in deep holes.  One sturgeon measuring 60 inches or over can be kept provided you purchase a sturgeon tag.
Yellow Lake is one of the few places where sturgeon are constantly landed on hook and line.  If sturgeon is on your wish list, make sure to visit Yellow Lake next September