Last Monday was China's National Day....it is really a week long vacation for everyone. Some friends that I have made offered to take the other American and me fishing. Great, I thought....I was not expecting to do any fishing after seeing/smelling the condition of the waterways here. We drove West out of Bao-vegas for about an hour until we arrived at the "fishing hole." There were actually six "holes," or shallow swimming pools with walkways all around. 4 had fish in them of varying sizes, species and proximity to death's door. I was promptly given a rod....long stick with fishing line tied to the tip and 2 hooks....no reel. The bait was some sort of fish meal made from wheat. Being a verteran angler, I went for the pool with the largest fish. Since the pools were so small (about the size of an above-ground pool), the fish could see the crowd above and were pretty spooked and thus not biting. After about an hour it was time for Plan B.
Out came a 15-20 ft long bamboo tree with a rope tied to the end. On the other end were tied 3 treble hooks that looked as though they were for manatee fishing or stealthily scaling a building a la Batman and Robin. One of the workers gave me a quick demo...flop the hooks to the other side and wait for the school to swim by and then pull hard until you drag one on to the walkway. The purist fly-fisherman in me was wretching on the inside and I really did not want to hook one. Then I learned that the rest of my party was counting on me to provide lunch with my catch and had to ignore the feeling of fishing at Sea World. After several "pulls" and only coming up with scales from grazing sides of fish, I managed to dredge one up and heave it on to the sidewalk to the hoots and hollers of my party. This was certainly a long way off from Grants Kennebago Camps in the Western mountains of Maine. I really hope the trout and salmon of my fair state will forgive me for my barbarism. No, there are no pictures as I did not want any photo evidence.
