Pic: Dean Macey with the biggest of the arapaima he caught while filming at Gilham’s 

‘Fishing TV’ has just returned from an unforgettable filming shoot at Gilham’s Fishing Resort in Thailand with Dean Macey, where they captured epic footage of some of the venue’s many exotic species. 

Among many huge fish, the trip produced Mekong catfish to over 180lb and a near-world-record Tambaqui of 62lb, and also included an incredible fight on the fly rod with a 400lb-plus arapaima which lasted nearly two hours! 

Fishery owner Stu Gilham hooked the massive predator on 12-weight fly rod and 45lb leader in what’s known as ‘arapaima bay’ on the fishery’s main lake, and despite all the venue’s guides getting involved, the monster fish eventually proved to be just too strong, pulling Stu clear under the water several times until the line eventually parted after a grueling 135 minutes! Ouch! 

 It wasn’t the only ‘one that got away’ though – out of nine arapaima hooked on the fly, the score ended up arapaima 9, anglers 0. However, Dean did manage to land fish to 180lb on specialist tactics, plus catfish to 160lb and Siamese carp to 60lb. 
The programmes will be aired on ‘Fishing TV’ soon – see www.fishingtv.com .