Bikes, Buses, Boats, Beaches and Beer, on a Budget - Noddy's (mis)Adventures in Asia

WASANA FISHING PARK AND RESTAURANT

I fish hard with no success, even though I can see fish everywhere, after a few hours this little kid that lives there, comes out next to me, uses a small ball of sticky rice for bait on his crappy rod and lands a thumper within minutes?! He quickly takes it back to mum and there is dinner for the night. I am stunned and quickly steal his idea but there is a fine art to getting the rice to stay on the hook and I don’t have it!

I continue to fish for a short while after the sun goes down but am forced to retire for the evening without a score on the board. It is still a relaxing afternoon in beautiful surroundings, the food here is amazing and the staff very friendly, it is a fish farm and restaurant first and a place for customers to come and fish secondly, almost as an afterthought.

Mon and I are the only people staying there and I am the only fisherman in 2 days, getting the whole place to myself, but there is a steady stream of locals coming to the restaurant and it’s no wonder with the delicious food they serve up. A few cold beers and a whiskey nightcap and we retire to our entirely pink cabin! That’s right, pink. Everything! The inside, outside, the blankets, pillows, towels… hmmm.

Sunrise over the large pond the next morning is nice and I make an early start to the fishing, but halfway through the day I still haven’t caught anything and the owner takes pity on me! He invites me over to the fish farm section and there are literally hundreds of big sea bass just lurking in the crystal clear water.

It is almost too easy and although great fun and a nice change to be catching something, I get bored with the ease of it, thank the boss immensely and continue my quest to land something, anything, from this pond!

In the late afternoon Mon and I sit in the far corner of the pond on this tiny little jetty that looks like it could collapse at any minute, with some snacks, bucket of ice and some whiskey to wash it down with. It is a beautiful spot regardless of my poor fish tally and I can actually see some thumping big Pla Nin (Nile Tilapia) swimming around in front of me. It has been frustrating fishing here as I have been able to see the fish the whole trip in the clear water but they just refused to take anything I threw at them.

The sun has nearly set on day 2 and….. oh my god… I don’t believe it… I AM ON!! Yoo yoo! Finally! I figure it has to be one of those big Pla Nin I have been watching and it gives a decent fight on my 4 pound setup, I finally work him to the bank only to discover I have caught….. an Estuary Cod! A decent capture here for sure and very expensive to buy, but back home these things are like a plague up the creeks and I catch them all the time!

Haha I travelled all the way over here, came to this pond in the middle of nowhere and spent nearly 2 full days to land an Estuary Cod! The boys at home will love this story. But it doesn’t really matter, I have finally caught something and the whole trip has been great. I would still go back there again.

We have one more night in our awesome pink cabin and make tracks the next morning, the staff give us a lift with their scooter sidecar to the ‘town’ where we have some breakfast from a food cart and wait for the local baht bus to take us back to Ban Phe. From there it is another local bus back to Pattaya and when we finally make it back to the apartment it feels so nice to be home after 3 weeks on the road.

We settle back in, catch up with friends a lot, hit the fishing parks regularly, do a few quick side trips on the scooter and I teach Mon and her daughter how to swim at the apartment. When you are away this long, it’s not as fast paced as a 2 week holiday and many days are just spent relaxing, which also keeps the budget in line.

About the only information I could find online -

Wasana Fishing Park

Me and the pink cabin with my pink towel...