Gone fishin’
March 29, 2009. The Andaman Sea. A calm, clear and hot day. Perfect conditions for a spot of fishing.
Never having been sea fishing with the proper gear, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I took up the invitation of three Swedish friends staying at Phuket Garden Home to join them for the day on the good ship Tail Walker owned by Englishman Kurt Lewis. They’d hired Kurt and his boat and crew on several previous occasions and they assured me that the fish would be virtually jumping into the boat.
We set off from Chalong pier around 10.30 a.m., heading at a steady 8 knots towards the two islands Racha Noi and Racha Yai south west of Phuket. Only a few minutes after setting off, Kurt and the crew were sorting out the five rods for general use, two of them linked to outriggers and baited for squid, the others aimed more towards tuna and other larger fish. A sixth rod was set up for Terry, one of the Swedes, who is disabled and has a special rig that enables him to use the rod when something bites…
The equipment on the Tail Walker is first class, from the rods and reels to the navigation and safety gear. The boat and passengers are also fully insured, not always the case with boats for hire.
Lars and Daniel explained the set-up to me. Basically we were to have half-hour shift on the five rods. A bite on any of the lines during your shift, indicated of course by sudden chatter from a reel as it starts spinning, meant that you took over the rod, set it into the central chair and started reeling in. If you landed a fish, your shift ended and the next person took over. As the greenhorn among these experienced fishermen – Lars has a fishing boat in Sweden which he charters to fishing groups (link here) – I agreed to take third turn while watching and learning from the others for the first hour.
Tuna Sashimi
As a taster for the huge catch awaiting us, one of the crew retrieved from the ice box a tuna that had been caught a couple of days earlier and proceeded to skin and slice it thinly on the stern platform. Kurt brought out the wasabi and soy sauce and we all enjoy wonderfully fresh sashimi. Delicious.
Jonah
On the couple of occasions I have been involved in a fishing expedition, the trips have been remarkable for their lack of fish. After our first three shifts went by without a twitch from any of the reels and then Lars and Daniel’s next shifts passed the same way, I decided that my jinx on such trips was still with me. However, 20 minutes into my second shift, one of the outrigger lines started whirring away and I found myself directed to the chair, the rod was plunged into its mount and I was told to start reeling the beast in. Everyone was prancing around in excitement as the fish came closer and I reeled a thrashing 40cm tuna close to the stern of the boat. One of the crew then took the line and deftly lifted the fish into the ice box on the stern and shut the lid.
Handshakes all round and Lars took over to wait for the next bite… and wait… and wait. Just before the end of his shift, a reel started spinning and he was quickly in position. But just as quickly, his line went slack and whatever it was went on its way.
We chugged through obvious fish activity in the water and other boats started arriving, encouraged by news of our catch proudly announced over the radio by the captain. But nary another twitch from the reels until about ten minutes into my next shift when one of the tuna lines started to whir. Repeat of frenetic activity – it felt heavier than the last one - but suddenly the line went slack and the catch was gone. Then, only 5 minutes later, another chatter and this time the little chap stayed on the line, enabling me to haul him in and let him join the first tuna. This one was a little smaller, but still good potential sashimi.
For the catch, that was it. Lars had one more bite that quickly got way, and then later Terry’s reel started spinning, but having hitched himself up to the rod, he reeled it in for a few seconds but the line quickly went slack. Daniel had to content himself with being a very efficient timekeeper. The captain told us through Kurt that other boats in the area were catching nothing, so I suppose we were lucky my jinx had been defeated by at least two tuna determined to be landed.
Racha Yai
In the late afternoon, we chugged along the south-eastern side of Racha Yai where a couple of weeks earlier Kurt had seen a large shark in the otherwise flat and enticing waters. As we circled for a while – there are often tuna and sail fish feeding there – we saw a school of tuna playing, jumping out of the water and generally enjoying the day while carefully keeping their distance from noisy, chugging things that had them labelled as lunch.
There was suddenly activity near the shoreline and a sail fish breached several times, showing us it’s beautiful sleek lines. These wonderful fish are of course not caught to eat by honourable fishermen: they are reeled in if they bite, admired, measured and returned to the water. Sadly a fair number end up in the nets of trawlers where they are not so well-treated.
Sunset
To finish the day – a slightly frustrating one for the others, but that’s fishing – we witnessed the most glorious sunset across the Andman Sea as we made our way back to Phuket Island.
Kurt Lewis and Tail Walker are available for hire all year round at good rates. There are various trips, including night fishing, and lunch etc. plus drinks are all provided. Kurt is great company and has plenty of stories and local knowledge to occupy the periods between bites. There isn’t a website but you can contact him on +66 (0)86-8305545.
Why Tail Walker? – I think a glance at this shot of a sail fish explains it.
