Monday, May 14, 2012

China Fishing 2.0

Right after Shanghai's trip, I bound for Beijing to another gathering with some friends.... The famous Chinese saying:"不到长城非好汉" means "You are not a hero unless you climb on the Great Wall".....
Or "He who does not reach the Great Wall is not a true man".......
Ok! Now I am a true man...... Ha Ha Ha!!! What am I before this????!.....
There is a small stream near this part of the Great Wall.....
Well, what can I say,... let's do some fishing..... Ooops! Caught one!
马口鱼(Opsariichthys bidens) a ray-finned fish..... Beautiful specie isn't it? And it's easy to lure it with a small spoon.....
Ever since Lure Fishing became popular in China,.... Large Mouth Bass was largely introduced and spread out in the main land of China, it is now the love for the lure fishing beginners.... Look how warm this fish greet us..... easy game!!

A small BBQ party gathering at my friend's place.....
The ray-finned fishes are kept for the BBQ too.....
Night hunting for night hawk...... It ended up at the BBQ party too....
Cool stuff!! Look at this small carved seed which was my friend's masterpiece,.... Isn't it awesome?!!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

China Fishing 1.0

Yellow Cheek Carp (Elopichthys bambusa) which belong to Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae, of the Leuciscus subfamily..... Commonly known as: Huang Lian (黄脸), Yellow Diamond, Yellow Cheek Fish Pole, Freshwater Tigers, Large Mouth Yellow Ceek Carp and etc.... and It is a purely freshwater fish in China.

The sub-cylindrical long slender body, sharp pointed head, large mouth, a hard round prominence in front the lower jaw, and two pharyngeal hard teeth line with no sharp teeth, small eyes, small scales. small dorsal, brownish gray on the back, silvery white abdomen, cheek and the other fins yellowish...

Widely distributed in the rivers and lakes in China through out from North to South and even some part of Amur River, Russia..... The fish is fast growing with sexual maturity at 3-4 years age, some individual can grow up to maximum long of 2 meters and weighing over 60kg,... the adult fish spawn in the rivers and rapids from April to June.

The Yellow Cheek Carp, resembling the Torpedo, is a very strong swimmer, sexually violent, quick action, often attack and chase the other smaller fish... Once being pursuit it can hardly escape,..... this typical predatory fish due to it's natural behaviour of a predatory fish, which can swallow abundant of other economic fish, and is seen as a "harm fish" in aquaculture.

This aggressive predatory freshwater fish will attack most of the top water lures,.... you name it,
Popper, Pencil Bait, Swim Bait and etc.... but when the sun rose high I normally choose Minnow
Lures and Swim Bait,... sometimes even Spinnerbait. The most thrilling part is when the fish hit
the lure on the surface, splashing and bursting with a large sound.... a lightning long dash in the
beginning and stamina fight till the end makes this fish one of the most exotic game fish in the world.
Skygazer that was caught by swimbait...
A mighty big mouth of the Yellow Cheek Carp....
Good job, Take! Congrats to him for his very first catch of the Yellow Cheek....
 
Yes! Kazu-San, way to go!~ Congrats!!!..... 
Yes!! I caught one too.....
Look at it's yellow cheek, that is how it gets it's name.....
A really powerful fish indeed, this 3X Owner hook can be straightened easily.....
Wooopee! Another catch for Take... Not bad bro!!
A nice size of Mandarin Bass caught by Gong..... right after our return home.... Aaarghh!!!!
I will back for this.....

Saturday, May 5, 2012

North Myanmar - In Search of Golden Masheer (2)

Finally, we reached the river where we can start fishing. It seems to be a big deep clear water river.... and we are lucky that the river was not murky even with all the incessant raining....  
This is the real deal....., pristine waters and wonderful scenery....... NICE!!! I have no words to describe how spectacular this place is.....
After some trying, here comes my first Masheer in Myanmar,.... Wow! Such beautiful colours, right?!....
What a beautiful fish.....
It looks similar to the Thai Golden Masheer (Neolissochilus stracheyi) except without the black stripe, or is it more like the Indian Masheer (Neolissochilus hexagonolepis)?!!........
We have a good fishing spot here where the two rivers meet, plentiful food, plentiful oxygen and most of all - plentiful catches for everyone.....
Everyone getting a taste of what the Northern Myanmar wilderness has to offer......
What an awesome looking Masheer.....  SWEET!
Calm and peaceful nightfall.....
Talking about our stay here,... Normally, we would just camp in the middle of nowhere and gaze at the beautiful starry night sky and sometimes we homestay at some friendly native house.... 
Spending a night with the locals.....
A simple and practical abode.....
Bunking here for the night.....
The friendly people of Rawan and Lisu around this region.....
They live a simple life but simple is WONDERFUL!!....
Knowing where to scout for food and resources, mother nature provides them everything.... This young woman has brought home a basket full of rattan canes and claims it is a tasty treat for us.... Well, it tasted like a baked potato with a little bitter flavour..... Not bad at all!!
Our young and strong porters were very curious at what we have been up to......
We got along very well even though we don't speak each others language.....
And off we went in search of more adventure......
When the going gets tough.....
...... the tough gets going!
When not fishing, what else can you do? Laze around of course.....
At slight daylight make the sky and the scenery look more clear..... Absolutely captivating....
This part of the Kachin state which is located at the most North of Myanmar is surrounded with thick mountain ridges of the Himalayan Tibetan Heights at an average height of between 3000 to 7000 feet,.... and certain places reaching 10,000 feet even, where snow-caps form at the peaks....
Unique flora and fauna abound found here......
At the destined river,... which was not part of our initial plan, was wider than expected. The water was deep and clear. During our visit it rained incessantly every day and the water level rose and fell according to the rain fall intensity but luckily it was not murky.....
And we were so lucky that we caught some fish between 1 - 2 kgs on average along this stretch of water..... 
And there were times when we caught 5kg sizes too..... We think the ones that got away could be even bigger too....... Heh Heh Heh! Some good size of a Himayan Golden Masheers (Tor putitora) for Carven and Ng....
A close up of the fish caught on camera.....
Care to join me.....??? DELICIOUS!!!

Supper or dinner? You named it. It's all the same here once the sun goes down......
Ah...... more delicious food......
Candle light dinner??? How romantic....
Smiling gleefuly - a sign of good and tasty food ....or is it just a case of being too HUNGRY???
Over here the most scary thing is being bitten by the Sandflies! We were attacked frequently most of the way.... All of us were stung beyond recognition, even the locals were not spared.... It is so itchy that you actually can't stop scratching it,.....and the more you scratch the more it becomes itchy,.....driving you insane!!....
But the fishing must still go on..... Luckily the many Masheers we caught made it all worth while even if we had to endure all the biting and scratching druing the whole journey......
One of my friends Danny were so lucky to catch a 15kg Himalayan Golden Masheer.....
Wow! Awesome!! Congrats to Danny on his first Himalayan Golden Masheer (Tor putitora).....
What a beauty!....
Finally on the last day... looking out from the verandah and reminiscing the good time we had here..... 
All good things must come to an end. But who knows, I might well be back again very soon...

Cheers everyone!!!