Junior fisherman Conan Quigley, from Ireland, struggles with all his might to reel in the line. His dad Michael encourages him and gets ready with a big net.
Conan is doing well, hanging on tight as his fishing rod curves into a tight, straining bow. His friend Euan Barrowcliffe, from Scotland, helps. Will the line snap and the big fish slip back into the lake?
The big striped catfish, pla sawai in Thai, about 15 kilograms in weight, surfaces to the excitement of the boys, and is brought wriggling onto the grass.
The boys struggle to lift the big fish together to pose for a quick photo and then slip it back in the water again, so that it is not too stressed by being caught.
“We’ve got the record,” shouts Conan.
It’s the 20th of these hefty fish of many species that his family party has pulled in that day, just beating the day record of 19 chalked on the record board.
About four months ago owner of the Phuket Fishing Park, Andres Pira, who is haf-Colombian and half-Swedish, bought this fishing park in Koh Kaew from the previous owner who only kept local species that can be fished by customers, to be cooked for them in the restaurant.
He stocked the large lake, which may have once been a deep excavated tin mine, with about 700 exotic species such as arapaima, from the Amazon River, piraya pacu and alligator gar also from South America, red-tailed catfish, Julian golden and Siamese carps plus the mighty pla beuk (giant Mekong catfish) that are now bred in fish farms from the monsters in the Mekong River that can grow to three metres long and weigh 350 kg.
The fish are fed bread and sardines daily and they now range in weight between four to 98 kg.
Would-be fishers can choose to tackle either the herbivore fish, using bread bait, or the predator giants that snap up baits of little whole fish, paying for a half-day or the whole day to do so.
The predator fish put up more of a fight and need up to an hour to be reeled in. The big piranas often simply bite the line with their razor-sharp teeth and swim away with disdain.
All large stock fish are required to be let go again but fishers can take smaller local fish home, or have it cooked for them in the restaurant.
If you don’t catch anything, the park guarantees give you another free day to catch some.
But as Conan and Euan can tell you, it’s more like whether or not your strength will last from pulling in 10-20kg fish or larger all day that do not necessarily want to be landed.
The park is at 48/3 Thepkrassattri Rd, near the Heroine’s Monument roundabout, on the left side of the road heading into Phuket Town from the airport. It is open from 8am to 5pm everyday except Monday.
Visit phuket-fishing-park.com or phone 081 459 0152 for more information.