Philippe Pletincx, my Belgium friend and return client, had already landed a 30 kg stingray an hour before hooking up the 198 lb Stingray. So to be fair with my two angling guests whom we were guiding, when this second bite happened at 6.30 pm, I gave my personal 30-60 Graphite USA Custom built rod to Dave Garber, an American angler from Minneapolis. Dave had been fishing with us for 9 consecutive days around the country. It was his very last day fishing and was going to leave the next day at 4:00 am as he had to go to the airport catching his 7:00 am flight back to the USA. When the second bite happened at 6:30 pm I thought he would have enough time ahead of him to land the ray. We had initially planned to have a van picking him up at 1:00 am to transfer him back to Bangkok. But prior to this second bite, Dave had changed his mind asking me to leave earlier, around 8:00 pm instead. It was his last night in Bangkok so he wanted to have a nice Thai cuisine dinner and a good night rest.

After Dave had pumped the stingray for one and a half hour we already knew by then we were going to get into a marathon fight that could last several hours. There was no doubt in our minds that it had to be a big size specimen. Thai Freshwater stingrays are said to reach a max. weight of 1000 pounds (max. published weight). But according to locals, nowadays bigger specimens to be found at the Bank Pakong River are around 550 pounds. We did not have a clue about how big the ray we had hooked up could be, neither were we certain that we would be able to land it. Some Thai friends of us fought giant freshwater rays for 14 to 16 hours without being able to land them. We also have friends who landed last year a 200 pounder after a fight lasting 18 hours and ... two broken rods. Now Dave was gone. We had to take over and go on with the fight. Philippe, Kik and Noi, two of my team guides, and yours truly would be taking turns, helping taming the ray by giving our best personal share of pumping. We were not aware at this stage that the pumping session would be lasting for 6 long hours.....

Compared to our local friends, our advantage was the use of much better fishing gear than what they were using to catch their 200 pounder stingray. Though we did not have the best gear of all for this kind of big size specimen. My 30-60 Graphite USA SW70XH custom built rod was a largely good enough weapon "to go to war" with this big size ray but my personal 8000 Twin Power Shimano loaded with 80 lb Fins Braided line was kind of light for the size of our opponent. When the ray decided to stick on the bottom we could not move it a single inch. When it was crawling slowly on the river's muddy bottom we could not lift it at all, neither reeling in a single yard of line. And when it decided at last it was time to exercise a bit by starting swimming then the ray would be dragging our 2 wooden boats with a total of 7 people on them (2 captains, my wife Lek, two of my team guides: Kik & Noi, and yours truly) like if we were a bird's feather floating on a stream.

Several hours had already passed by. Everyone of us was starting to wonder how long we would have to go on with the fight before seeing the ray giving up. The atmosphere on board was nice. I was often cracking jokes as usual. But my message to all was clear. I was not going to miss the opportunity to land such a rare and big size specimen of Himantura chaophraya. There was no way I would give up the fight, whatever could be the weight of the ray underwater, and whatever would be the amount of hours we would have to fight it. If we had to lose the fish because of a broken line then it was fine with me. But as long as the braided line would stand the punishment it was taking I wanted each of us to go on with the fight. I had booked the 2 boats until 7:00 am the next day. The next clients we had to guide were booked for April 29, starting fishing at 7:30 am. So we had still another 36 hours to try landing the ray. I told both captains that if we could not land that ray before 7:00 am then I would be paying their day session fees to keep their boats. I told as well my 2 faithful team guides, Kik & Noi, they would also get their due guiding extra fees if we had to work extra time. We had coffee and cold drinks, we had food and cigarettes, and we were a nice bunch of good friends, all dedicated anglers, having a great time together and working as a team to try taming this heavyweight monster.

This recent fight with that 198 lb Freshwater Stingray was a pure tremendous moment of sportfishing and of true friendship that I will never forget. A catch of this weight is of course to any angler a very sweet one to remember. But even sweeter to me was all the good feeling we all shared together through a perfect well done team work.
This 198 lb stingray catch finally gave up the fight at half past midnight. It was released safely, after a short photo session by the river's bank.

Through the 18 years I have spent fishing here in Thailand, I have fought and landed hundreds of big Mekong Giant Catfish (max. weight 550 Ib), pound for pound certainly one of the world's hardest fighting freshwater fish. I have fought numerous record size specimens of the rare and elusive Siamese Giant Carp (max. weight over 400 lb), the "mother of all carp", a terrific and powerful "submarine with fins" who can whoop the ass of any well built angler. According to fishing writer Tony Davies-Patrick, my personal giant carp catches record makes me today "the most experienced Siamese Giant Carp expert on this planet" as he wrote in his last book "Globetrotter Quest, A Worldwide search for Carp and other Giant Fish". But let me tell you that both of these unique Thailand game fish species don't belong to the same warriors league than the Freshwater Stingray.

When thinking today about the unique encounter we had with this record size stingray the other night, I find myself in total admiration about the unbelievable strength displayed by this Thai freshwater stingray. It is absolutely out of this world. When it comes to freshwater sportfishing and to fight what worlwide anglers call "big ones" the "Himantura chaophraya" is without a doubt "the real thing"! We hooked up this almost 200 pounder at the Bang Pakong River....it dragged us like you cannot imagine for miles, taking us next to the Nakorn Nayok River, then to the Prachinburi River, then back to the Bang Pakong River, and was finally landed at the Nakorn Nayok River. That's what we can call being taken for a ride...

Jean-Francois Helias