Nam Ngum again

I was able to get out on Nam Ngum again today. The weather was a fantastic 75 degrees today (sorry guys). We ended up with 6 fish total (4 Hampalas and 2 Eye Spot Barbs). These Barbs will break the surface on baitfish in open water much like White Bass do. We saw several schools feeding this way; what a cool sight.

Another highlight was finding the Giant Snakehead today. This is my 4th trip here so far and it is the first time I saw the Snakehead. When the Giant Snakehead spawns, the parents guard their fry very diligently. They need to breathe air so the parents push their babies to the surface. As they continue to grow, mom and dad leave the youngsters to fend for themselves. They continue to school together for awhile and you can see them come to the surface for air. They surface for air about every 2-4 minutes, so if you see them it’s good to just sit still and wait to see them rise again to know where to make a quick cast. It is a very distinct disturbance they make at the surface. Well, I witnessed that today and I hurried to make a cast and sure enough I was hooked up with a Giant Snakehead; a baby one but it was still cool.

My cool little Snakehead. When they are babies, they are red in color and as they grow their coloration changes.

The Eye-Spot Barb is a little smaller than it’s Hampala cousin.

A pair of Hampala Barb’s.

My buddy with a 5 lber.

One beautiful mountain reservoir.

Good natural structure.

Lao Fisherman

Nam Ngum River which I am chomping at the bit to discover.

way cool!!

How big do the snakeheads get. Pretty fish.

Can a person go buy a boat in this area?? I can’t picture many “lund” dealerships around. Wondering how “public” access is to these waters too.

Thanks for sharing!!!

Great pics again

Hey Mike,

Nice to see you out and fishing! I can’t wait to get out there and fish with you……mmmmm….maybe only 11 months away!

We sure look forward to your posts, pictures, and stories. Thank you and happy fishing.

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How big do the snakeheads get. Pretty fish.

Can a person go buy a boat in this area?? I can’t picture many “lund” dealerships around. Wondering how “public” access is to these waters too.

Thanks for sharing!!!

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There are 6 different Snakehead species here. That one in the picture is a baby one of the largest species. It is called the “Giant Snakhead.” The record Giant Snakehead is like 40 lbs. An average adult would be about 15-25 lbs.

It’s not like back home. You need to know somebody over here and learn the language. I was lucky to run into the boatman I did. I know enough language to communicate when I want to go fishing with him. There are homemade boats you could buy here but you would need to find a safe place to store it so it doesn’t get stolen. If you knew the language well you could probably figure out a way to sort all these things out. But right now it’s just easier to use the boatman I got. Tourism is growing here but nothing is offered for sport fishing yet. It’s all up to who you know and ability to communicate.

I was assuming that to some extent, but it’s so intriguing learning about this other culture. Thanks again for taking the time to share!!

What type of equipment do the native “hook and line” fisherman use? In other words, are you the only ones employing “Western” tactics?

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What type of equipment do the native “hook and line” fisherman use? In other words, are you the only ones employing “Western” tactics?

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No, we are not the only ones. Occasionally, you will see others fishing like us. Most of the other fishermen are targeting small minnow-like fish. They have an abundant minnow here that they love to eat. Unfortunately, I have heard stories of them using bombs and poison too. This reservoir is bigger than Mille Lacs and has relatively few fishermen. In a days outing you will see very few other fishermen. It is nice that there is no large population center near the lake. They would have a real treasure though if they would have some regulations on fishing. The Snakeheads and Featherbacks are being overharvested during the spawn in my opinion. The Hampalas are also open water fish so they come and go and so are able to avoid being decimated. Everytime out we seem to catch a 5 lb. Hampala which is a nice fish. It’s hard to teach “Catch and Release” ethics to people of a poor country.

One last question. Is this on your Lakemaster chip?? Seriously, any electronics? Seems if you could invest in your own boat and a graph a person could have some real fun. Although, I gotta believe “stepping” back in time to this style of fishing is also a lot of fun.

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One last question. Is this on your Lakemaster chip?? Seriously, any electronics? Seems if you could invest in your own boat and a graph a person could have some real fun. Although, I gotta believe “stepping” back in time to this style of fishing is also a lot of fun.

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I would just love to have a contour map of this place. My friend Outdoors4life gave me a portable fish locator that I can just throw over the side of the boat. I just need to build a bracket for the transducer so I can clamp it to the side of the boat.

It is exciting to think that I may be the first to use electronics here. It’s kind of like stepping back in time; bringing modern day technology into a third world land.

Great post C&B
Thanks and keep them coming.

speaking of bombing and poisoning, I still know of people who do that over there and I really disagree with it. the the government allows it so the villagers just do it. the thing that sucks with this is that only the big fish are harvested, every other small fish there just dies and are never found. this is an over kill. but on the other hand there are some really cool methods to catching fish too. some people go out to rivers and look under giant boulders for schools of fish that are are hiding from the daylight. the cool thing about this according to my dad is that the fish do not get spooked because there is so many of them. they dont know if its another fish rubbing against them or a human trying to grab them. if you get a good spot you can easily catch tons of fish. but there are snakes and turtles there too. speaking of fishing with technology, you should really try to see if you can catch a giant snake head or a giant carp. I would love to see a photo of it. thanks for the post, its always so interesting to hear from you.

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speaking of bombing and poisoning, I still know of people who do that over there and I really disagree with it. the the government allows it so the villagers just do it. the thing that sucks with this is that only the big fish are harvested, every other small fish there just dies and are never found. this is an over kill. but on the other hand there are some really cool methods to catching fish too. some people go out to rivers and look under giant boulders for schools of fish that are are hiding from the daylight. the cool thing about this according to my dad is that the fish do not get spooked because there is so many of them. they dont know if its another fish rubbing against them or a human trying to grab them. if you get a good spot you can easily catch tons of fish. but there are snakes and turtles there too. speaking of fishing with technology, you should really try to see if you can catch a giant snake head or a giant carp. I would love to see a photo of it. thanks for the post, its always so interesting to hear from you.

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Haven’t they ever heard of the word, “sustainability” before? They could have the best water in all of SE Asia if they could harvest responsibly. Bombs and poison are very destructive to everything in the ecosystem including humans. Who would want to eat a poisoned fish?

Snakehead and Carp species are high on my fishing priority list. Hopefully, you won’t have to wait long.