By Harold Brutlag
Don Dittberner, his wife Ada, and a contingent of relatives and friends took a vacation in Cambodia recently to visit other relatives of Ada’s.
Their flight included a layover in Seoul, South Korea before they took the final leg of their journey to Cambodia.
Dittberner is an avid angler in Minnesota’s fresh water lakes, both in summer and winter, and their group decided a day of fishing around the Koh Rong Samloem island of Cambodia in the ocean would be something different. As it turned out six in the group decided to fish, which meant they would need a guide and a boat. Don said the boat and guide rental was $60.00 or $6.00 per person which included tackle and the necessary rods and reels which he felt was dirt cheap. He said most of the Cambodians use nets and tend to keep every thing they catch.
The tackle provided for them was limited and contained something like fishing line on raddle wheels, not rods and reels. They baited their hooks with small pieces of wood and let their lines roll off the rattle wheels fishing just off the bottom. He likened it to fishing with drop lines when he was a kid, but he said it was productive and they caught a variety of ocean fish including, Coral Trout, Grouper, and Rock Cod.
Don said one specie of fish, shown below, had spots on them that looked like they were florescent and very attractive when visible in shallow water. He said he was throwing back the small fish, but was urged to keep them for a meal on the beach when they were done fishing. He caught the second largest fish.
He said the boat had a canopy to shield them from the sun and keep them cool, but even with that some of the group got sunburned. The weather was hot and very humid, he said.
He didn’t recommend Cambodia as a prime spot for fishing, but said it was quite an experience nevertheless.
They also did some snorkeling near the coral reefs.