BARRAMUNDI CATCH OF A LIFETIME
Jean-Fracois Elias, from Thailand

It may not be as big as some of the record size Barra taken from Lake Tinaroo in Australia, but at that weight, it is still an exceptional fish catch for Southeast Asian waters. That silver super biggie, weighing an impressive 16 kilos, was caught in Thailand, on July 13-2009, by renowned angler Jean-Francois Helias, while shooting a movie for the New York based lure company Fishbelly ( http://www.fishbelly.com ). Francois was testing some of that company's various soft plastic lures before the camera when unexpectedly the Barra grabbed the one he had tied to his 12lb Ande mono line.

"The strike was particulary violent!" recalls Francois.

"Then as soon as I set the hook a bit deeper, the fish immediately went for a vertical aerial display. Big size Barra do not dance much. That one being too fat jumped only once but did instead a long serie of powerful runs. Though I only saw that fish exploding rocket-style out of the water for a split second, and from far away, I knew right away I had hooked up a big one. But I had no idea yet it would turn out to be this big, and would become my personal best for that species. I have caught a few hundreds of Barramudi in over two decades of Thai fishing, but my biggest until that latest catch was only in the 10 kilos mark.

It is said there are even bigger Barra in that lake, some close to 20 kilos. So there is still a challenge for us trying to nail one of these big Lates calcarifer in the years to come."

"Barramundi like Peacock bass are fast runners but are not gifted with a good stamina. But at that weight, that 16 kilos seemed to have enough of it to show us that it did not intend to be tamed without giving it all fighting for an eventual escape. It was running all over the place. I was using one of my Pro Kik custom built rods, coupled to a Shimano Sustain 5000 FD spooled with 12lb Ande mono line. Even with such a reliable combo to tame most Thai predators, that Barra put up a serious intense fight which lasted ten good minutes."

The French born resident in Thailand adding:

" I was truly blessed on that latest trip. The day before I caught that big Barra, I had another personal best, this time for the introduced Amazonian Redtail catfish species. I caught a well over 30 kilos catfish while float fishing with a live fish bait. One great catch on July 12, another one on July 13, those two captures could not be any better to make me feel good all day long while resting at home on Bastille Day!"

For more information: www.anglingthailand.com