I spent the last month traveling around the world (literally). China, India, and Italy. Of course I had my eyes peeled along the way for any piscatorial activity, and now I am here to report back and my glimpse of fishing around the world.

China

My first fish sighting in China came on the second day of the trip, and I was surprised to see a familiar species. These bass were looking like they had seen better days, and I decided not to order any of the live critters they had available at this restaurant. I was sort of wondering how often the frogs jump out of the tank :)

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/dead_bass.jpg

On the way to the Great Wall there were some nice looking rivers and lakes. And all along the road are restaurants where you can catch your dinner in a cement pond and eat it right there on the spot. This lake had some nice looking frog water...

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/beijing_lake.jpg

The live markets in China are super knarly. They have all sorts of live animals there which you can select for immediate butchering. Here are some shots of the fish, crustaceans, amphibians, and eels that you could choose for din din:

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/crawdads.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/eels.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/ribbon_fish.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/squid_and_pompano.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/wierd.jpg

In Suzhou (the Venice of China I am told) I saw these guys who appeared to be fishing. But then I realized that they were just fishing out the garbage from the canal.

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/suzhou_trash.jpg

At the Yangshan deepwater port, off the coast of Shanghai, there were several small lakes that looked like popular fishin holes. I caught this photo of a local angler:

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/deepwater_port.jpg

In general, I was surprised that there was not more fishing activity in China. We did see a lot of aquaculture on the side of the road, and I occasionally spotted people fishing in the canals around Suzhou and Shanghai, but it did not seem like a popular sport here.

India

I would recommend, if you go fishing here, that you practice catch and release. This picture can help explain why:

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/uip.jpg

On the train from Delhi to Mumbai (Bombay) we passed a huge river that was filled with fishing boats. It reminded me of the commercial tilapia fishing that goes on at El Salto in Mexico:

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/Img_3638.jpg

I didn't find much fishing on the way from Delhi to the Taj Majal, but there was plenty of water:

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/traffic.jpg

There is one lake however in Mumbai that was a hotbed of angling activity. I don't know the name of the lake, but there were at least 40 people trying the waters here. Pokepoling the grass mats with a wooden rod seemed the popular method:

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/india_pokepole.jpg

And, much to my surprise and excitement, I saw these brave anglers in the middle of the lake in a makeshift float tube! To funny...

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/india_float_tubing.jpg

Maybe a Bass-n-Tubes India region will be in the cards down the road :D

Italy

Trolling the ruins of Rome, it seemed that in ancient times, most people were more interested in fighting than fishing:

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/fighting.jpg

The Vatican museum had the best maps, and I couldn't help but wonder if the fishermen of earlier times here didn't try to sneak a peek at these early versions of Google Earth

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/google_map.jpg

Rome and Florence had medium sized rivers flowing through town. Both were brown and a bit mucky. There were some areas outside of Florence however that looked rather like Old River on the Delta. I saw one person fishing, and he was using one of the longest fishing rod's I've ever seen. Easily 20' long. I would assume the target was carp. We didn't go to the lakes region in Italy where there is a decent amount of largemouth fishing.

Roma
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/roma_river.jpg

Firenze
http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/firenze_river.jpg

On the last day I saw this sign, which has the word pesce (fish). I don't know what it means, but my translation was that if you want some bad ass fish, you should go to this event.

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/world_fishing/badesse.jpg

That's all from around the world.

Thanks for posting the international report and pictures Rob.

Now I don't feel so silly always wondering what the locals are fishing for and what may swim in every body of water I see in Japan when I'm on business trips.

Tim

That was awesome Rob! Thanx for sharing.

yea i figured you were'nt around latley havent seen any new big bass photos of ya latley... so what was the occaion for the big trip you took?

Hey let that Bass go I wanna catch her some day
http://www.calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/tmcustoms/

Entertaining pictorial of your trip, thanks for sharing.

Nice!
Thanks for saving me the trip.

Rob, too bad you didn't fish for bass while you were in Italy. The bass fishing is really good there, in both the rivers and in the lakes. I fished a couple of the lakes there, and cleaned up on a dropshot. You can read about my trip in an upcoming issue of BAG.

ciao,
Marc

Thanx for the report Rob.
The pics of the fish (especially the cutlassfish and pink squid) do not look fresh at all. Very different than the fish markets here in Japan. When I was in China, I saw the same thing in the markets. Even the live fish look like they have seen better days.

Most of our bass reservoirs are very, very clean, along with most of our big natural lake, Biwako. The south end of Biwako in in the 'city' complete with high rise bldgs, and the pollution to match.

The cleanest (visibility) water I have seen is in Japan. I attached a few photos of some very transparent water.

I am glad you got to experience some different parts of the world.
Next time stop by and see me!


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/6901-6_clear_water.jpg


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/6902-DSC01112.JPG

"Known as the person who introduced swimbait fishing to Japan"

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)
Attachment #2, (.JPG file)

Wow, cool post.

I got the Cal Poly Business School magazine, and saw you in the group photos from the trip! Funny pics.

That had to be a great experience.

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South