You Have to Start Somewhere

Suzhou is a city full of canals, and one in particular runs along side our apartment complex. If you've met me, you know I've been eyeballing that canal since the day we landed. I've seen schools of minnows, and other slightly less tiny minnows...both pointing toward the possibility of larger fish.

I'd been asking around at work, and information about fishing in China is tough to come by. The sport/hobby isn't really a big deal here, and when people fish they're looking for dinner. As a recreational angler I'm a bit of a odd ball. Assured that "if there is no sign saying otherwise, fishing is allowed" I set out with rod and reel, still nearly in the shadows of our new home.

I decided to start slow and try for the slightly less tiny fish - I could see them and cast into their vicinity. Looking for something larger would mean blindly casting a randomly selected fly into murky water...a sure fire path to frustration. In the future, as I learn more about Chinese fish, I may choose to blindly cast a carefully selected fly into murky water.

My grizzly colored dry fly got a few looks, but it was size #16 and I suspect the fish had mouths built for a #20. Persistence paid off, and I finally found a willing fish with large enough mouth. Don't ask me to name the species...I couldn't...but it was long, skinny, silver and Asian.

Such is the story of my second outing in China (read the first here) and my first fish caught on foreign water. The take was meager but 'twas taken after all - these days I'm calling this a huge success and I'll celebrate as if it were a monster.

You have to start somewhere. Now I have officially started.