I drove past that rainbow place once. It’s pretty close to my house. Quite nice. The road climbs way up on one side of it, so you can see down. Pretty big man-made lake with both bank fishing and casting platforms. I watched a bloke hook, play and land what looked like at least a three-pounder when I was there.
Glad to see there’s been some action in this old fishing thread. I haven’t actually been for a while now, been going through a cycling phase.
I’d love to give this a try. I assume (or I hope) you mean giant snakeheads. I have a channa pleurophthalma (another smaller kind of snakehead) in a tank at home and it’s an awesome predator. The giants are called the great white sharks of freshwater and are apparently excellent sport.
Do you have any details about that?
Thanks!
They’re called Asian walking death fish.
i’ve got a giant snake head in my pants. it’s a monster predator. it’s probably off topic, so i’ll stop.
(reminds me of that old smash hit by Jersey Bulovski aka Alexei Sayle: I keep tropical fish… in me Underpants)
[quote=“urodacus”]I’ve got a giant snake head in my pants. it’s a monster predator. it’s probably off topic, so I’ll stop.
(reminds me of that old smash hit by Jersey Bulovski aka Alexei Sayle: I keep tropical fish… in me Underpants)[/quote]
Walking death fish plug-ins are ok, provided you’re pimping for charity. Respect. Aye.
I remember it being like $500NT but I’m not sure if there was an additional charge for keeping fish. I’ve never been there, but I did see the place on TV so it exists.
Sorry my Wade-Giles or Yale isn’t too good. Where is this place? With my mighty kindergarten grade Chinese reading skills, I’ve read that some of the pay-per-fish ponds stock largemouth bass. I mean they can’t all end up at Wellcome.
[quote=“JohnnyT”] Saltwater action good? Off a boat? or off shores?[/quote] Weren’t those poor bastards who got run over by a Japanese coast guard vessel on a recreational fishing charter? On a more pleasant note, there was a guide service that used to get in the Events Listing section of either the China Post or the Taipei Times on Fridays that offered either saltwater fishing from boats ($10000NT last year) or from shore ($3000NT).
Muzha Man - The no fishing signs vary from place to place. Some places the signs are serious “no fishing of any kind” but the ones along the Xindian River were “no spear fishing signs.” The parks up in Neihu have “no fishing of any kind” signs along some parts of their lakes and “Fishing Zone” signs in others.
You mean his name wasn’t really Alexei Sayle? My youthful Anglophile past is perplexed.
[quote=“teggs”]Glad to see there’s been some action in this old fishing thread. I haven’t actually been for a while now, been going through a cycling phase.
I’d love to give this a try. I assume (or I hope) you mean giant snakeheads. I have a channa pleurophthalma (another smaller kind of snakehead) in a tank at home and it’s an awesome predator. The giants are called the great white sharks of freshwater and are apparently excellent sport.
Do you have any details about that?
Thanks![/quote]
Since you appear to be as nerdy about fish as I am, I don’t believe Taiwan has any of the fish with the official English name of Giant Snakehead (Channa micopeltes). There is Channa maculata, referred in local English text as the Formosan Snakehead, though I think it’s called the Bullseye or Chevron Snakehead off of Renegade Isle. I think Striped Snakeheads (Channa striata) are present as well. These two species are of sport fishable size, though not as fearsomely big as the Giant Snakehead. There is also supposed to be the smaller Channa asiatica.
As for other details, the guy at the big fishing store in Xindian said that Snakeheads are mostly extinct in the wild in Northern Taiwan. The ROCT Water Authority has the Formosan Snakehead on the roster of species in Shihmen Reservoir and I’ve seen photos of guys with Largemouth Bass who claim to be at Shihmen. Neither are present at Sun-Moon Lake but Snakeheads are theoretically in most of the lakes and rivers from Taizhong south. The only public water that claims to have Largemouth Bass is Wushantou Reservoir near Tainan.
Good Lord, is this how I spent all my time at the Tai-Da Library?
If you can read Chinese (and I barely can, verrry slowly) the Taiwan-based Outdoor & Fishing magazine 山野釣游 had some useful information in it among the hiking, mountain biking and diving info. You could buy it at Eslite or at Corner Trail outdoors; hopefully it’s still published. Actually the best thing for me was the 台灣全紀錄 show on one of the SET-TV stations. The host loved fishing and for a while last year every third episode was a fishing episode.
You mean his name wasn’t really Alexei Sayle? My youthful Anglophile past is perplexed.[/quote]
Lol. the chartacters can be more memorable than the creator, like Ali G: he played Borat, remember, and that Cohen guy…
he was (and still is) Alexei Sayle, and Jersey Bulovski was his character in The Young Ones with Rik Myall, etc.
pop up toaster!!
sheer madness, all of it.
Giant Snakehead. Cool.
I had to check to be sure by Giant Snakehead you weren’t referring to Arowana. I was in a large park in Bangkok once and was startled to discover the lake was full of giant Arowana’s, many of them over 3 or 4 feet long. I imagine there’s probably not much else in that lake besides the turtles. I’ve had a couple of them in fish tanks and they are even more fearsome than they look.
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]I had to check to be sure by Giant Snakehead you weren’t referring to Arowana. I was in a large park in Bangkok once and was startled to discover the lake was full of giant Arowana’s, many of them over 3 or 4 feet long. I imagine there’s probably not much else in that lake besides the turtles. I’ve had a couple of them in fish tanks and they are even more fearsome than they look.
[/quote]
That isn’t an arowana (aro), it’s an arapaima gigas. It’s the largest (longest actually, not heaviest) freshwater fish. There are 7 fish in the aro (bony tongue) family. The Asian aro is the expensive one you see around here (I have 2 
), two Aussie species (jardini and leichardti), an African, 2 South American (black and silver aros, commonly seen in the States) and the arapaima, which can grow to 15ft.
All amazing fish and incredible predators… (although snakeheads are much more hardcore predators)
Urodacus- It’s been 23 years since I’ve an episode of The Young Ones which explains why I didn’t get the reference. I though you had just revealed Alexei “Five Year Plan Tractor” Sayle was a stage name.
One of
台灣全紀錄
's fishing episodes had the crew going to what I presume was the National aquarium to help move one of their arapaimas around. Amazing sight watching ten, eleven guys struggling to wrap a fish up in a net and carry it into another pond.
The pay pond business (well the ones that actually are focused on fishing) in Taiwan just doesn’t seem as big as in Thailand or Singapore where the pond owners will do crazy stuff like stock arapaima in the pond. I’m an occasional participant on a Singapore fishing board and the great achievement for the freshwater enthusiasts is going to Thailand and landing an arapaima.
Official English website for Shihmen Reservoir with fish list:
http://www.wranb.gov.tw/wranb_spring/wranb_eng/shihman/fisha1.asp
Official Wushantou Reservoir site. After the mandatory Flash movie, enter the website and go to the third menu item:
http://newwusanto.ho.net.tw/
Largemouth bass is the first fish in the bottom row.
I don’t mean to dig up an old post but this topic intrigued me.
I’m an avid freshwater angler here in the US(east coast NY), I’ve caught everything from small mouth bass, big mouth bass, pickerel, pike, etc… to carp. I’m told there’s nothing more aggressive than snakeheads, and in fact there is a permanent ban on snakeheads here in the US, they are known as an invasive species. They eat just about everything in the lake, claiming top of the food chain.
However in Taiwan, I believe it is part of their native habitat. I’ve only fished in Taiwan once and it was by some Danshui river run-off. Caught nothing, except may be a bad sun tan. There was one point where I was given a tour by a family member by the CKS Memorial, just right outside there’s a river stream that’s populated with fish, I was so tempted to just jump over and start fishing.
But I digress, as a fellow fishing nerd, can anyone tell me if they recognize this place?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsTK4iXNYbM
Appears to be adjacent to a cemetery, I’m not sure whether or not this is considered disrespectful but it sure looked like good fishing.
I’ve also attached a picture of the snakehead so that others don’t get confused by the name.
snakehead(known in the US), toman or sha-dow(Thailand), mud fish(Philippines)
Hello hhc1482 -
Apologies for the three month delay in response. I got to know a manager of a fishing store in Xindian and he told me that it’s rare to find snakeheads in the wild in the Northern half of Taiwan. Down south you’ll find snakeheads.
The video you embedded looks like an episode of the awesome “Dao Yu Gan Jue” (sorry no han zi on this computer). From the skyline, it looks like they’re in Kaoshiung, though I’ll defer to people who’ve actually been there. The sign by the cemetary lake says “Qing(?) Ren Hu” which doesn’t stand out as the name of lake I remember.
And since I’m blowing wind about it, though snakeheads are quite ban worthy, they have not taken over the larger waters where they are established in the USA. I live near the Potomac River and while the Northern Snakeheads are now a permanent member of the fishery in some part of the tidal river, the largemouth bass and rockfish are still there in numbers. The Chevron Snakeheads are just another blasted thing swimming around Lake Wilson on Oahu and the Bullseye Snakeheads have never gotten out of the Palm Beach area in Florida. In Singapore they share reservoir space with peacock bass from Brazil.
Tight Lines…
thanks for the reply, i’m glad i have my settings set so that i get an e-mail when someone replies. i’m grateful that while it was a slow answer/reply, it’s a lot better than none
If I’m not mistaken, Kaoshiung is located in the northern half of Taiwan, no? doesn’t that somewhat contradict the shop keeper’s notion?
also thanks for the guesstimation on the locale of the place in the video, i’ll check with relatives in Taiwan the next time I’m there. Hopefully they can help me seek out this mystical location.
As far as I know, snakeheads have only really invaded some portions of the US, and as I mentioned, they are on a permanent ban list. I recall seeing a few signs that say to behead the fish immediately if caught(in the US). It’s funny you mentioned Peacock Bass, it’s another species I’ve never had the pleasure of catching. I’ll have to remember to take a small fishing detour whenever i’m in Florida.
While we’re shooting the breeze on fish, one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had fishing(freshwater) was in Thailand. If your ever in that part of the woods, I highly recommend checking out this pay lake called Bang Sam(or Sum) Lang, the fee is a bit hefty, but as far as freshwater fish goes, I’ve caught some killer 60+ kg mekong catfish, heck those suckers(in the literal sense) require saltwater tackle to bring them in. Completely tired me out after a 30 minute battle and another hour or so battle with my second catch. I really wished I had the time to spare while in Thailand to go up country to Kanchanaburi, for some Cobra King snakeheads.
Tight Lines, fellow angler.
How about fishing off the eastern coast on a paddleboard? I provide the paddleboard , rig up the board to handle some fishingtackle and take you out? The problem is I don’t know any sweet spots and you might have to paddle on your knees and provide for your own fishing gear. I think Maoman said he wants to.
Do you mean one of these? Is it possible?
dbl. post…
Do you mean one of these? Is it possible?
[/quote]
I got three boards and yes it is. I’ll take the first person out for free, the rest of you mugs gotta pay me …a bottle of Kavalan or a few pints at The Galley Gong perhaps.
The holder I can get in Feb.
Everyone including me wants to marry this girl.
This guy’s rig is what I had in mind, some straps, a plastic box etc. catching bonita in Encinitas
I even have life jackets if you need one.
I dunno. I don’t think I could conceive of a more uncomfortable fishing position if I tried!