Upon hearing of my soon departure to the States, my friend Francois decided to make another trip to fish with me in Laos again. We went back to our Mahseer spot to see if we could break any more records or catch any new lifers.
This is a different time of year here now. The rainy season has begun causing the rivers to swell and turn to a red brown color. The time to plant rice is now and the views are magnificent. I never knew there were so many different shades of green.
We started in this lagoon I found last time that had crystal clear water last time but now was more dirty from the heavy rains. Last time I saw world record Eye Spot Barbs swimming in these waters but we were too late. I did end up catching a new lifer, White Lined Mystus though.
We then went to the Mahseer spot where Francois started out with a double Laotian Barb.
I then connected with another new lifer, (Thai?) Mahseer. I am still waiting on the ID confirmation But I do know that it is new for me and it is some sort of Mahseer specie. I caught about 5 or 6 of them.
I then finally caught the new lifer Bumblebee Catfish and I caught 3 of them. I just about wet my pants when I pulled the first one out. When you are a lifelist angler a new specie is almost as exciting as a big fish.
The main difference for me this time was I was using worms for bait as opposed to the paste bait on the coil feeder. I worked this hole under the bridge where a pulled up a few different species including the new lifer Beaufort’s Loach.
Others include the Zigzag Eel, Brown Puffer, and Spiny Barb.
There are other cool and unique sights here too.
Here Francois is sporting his commie garb to gain extra favor with local officials. A passionate angler does what it takes to find good fishing as the Great Francois displays here.
Anyway, no really big fish were caught but I’ll take 4 new lifelisters any day.
Hope your return trip goes well and welcome back to the states 
