Fly Fishing in Taiwan?

I’m in Taipei and will be in here for two months.
Anyone know of any good places to fly fish in Taiwan.
I’m willing to travel in the weekends, and I have with
me a range of rods and reels, fresh and salt.

Or, does anyone know if there are other flyfishers on
this Island?

-Sing

I have just recently discovered the ForUmosa forums, but I have lived here for a good few years. I used to go fly fishing at home in Ireland (not with any great degree of competence mind you) when I was much younger. I see you haven’t have yet had any replies on the post as yet, and wondered if you have had any luck elsewhere. Only recently I have really thought about getting back in to fly fishing but unfortunately have though it a bit of a lost cause here in Taiwan. I have watched the fishermen in some of the local rivers and they seem to go for mostly bottom feeding species.

I have seen fish rising on some of the local rivers though, and have often wondered are there any species in there feeding on flies, and if so what type. I intend to go and sit by the rivers and watch closely and see what is happening (but time constraints meant that I haven’t had the chance yet). This is partly because I have no gear here (or at home anymore) so I want to see what the situation is before I invest in any new gear.

What I do know is that of recent years there have been a number of trout farms springing up on Yangminshan. If some of these are close to rivers then there are no doubt some escapees getting into the rivers after typhoons etc., whether the rivers up there can sustain them or not I suppose is debatable.

Anyway sorry I cannot be of any help on this, but it is one of those things I am looking into long term, so if you do get any info let me know.

I have put the idea to some people of actually opening up a nice trout fishery for fly fishing here, but it doesn’t seem to be a goer (as yet anyway). Some of the people I know with the wherewithal to do so are more interested in opening up yet another shopping mall (after all we really don’t have enough Esprit, G2000, Mango stores do we?).

I had searched on the net (as no doubt have you so sorry if you already read this one) for info and got the following tackletour.com/reviewfishingtw.shtm . Not very specific unfortunately.

All the best in your quest.

I know of one out past my place in the hills behind Bitan. Never fished it but I watched someone take a nice 2-pounder from it on the fly. I may go back there this weekend. If I do, I’ll post details on Monday.
As for your conjecture about farm escapees, yes, they do escape during heavy rain and typhoons, and some of them do make their way into the river systems. I have been at one river, sans tackle, and saw what I’d estimate to be several 2-3 pound rainbows feeding. However, fishing for them would require a hike/boulder scramble of several hours just to get there, and anyway, it’s a secret, at least until I’ve put a nymph over them. :wink:

I thought there is a moratorium on all river fishing.

There is – supposedly. Very heavy fines, too. But the last time I was on a river, about a month ago, there were still plenty of anglers, and even a couple of fuckers using those big circular nets.

The place I was referring to near Bitan isn’t a river, though – it’s a man-made pond, but a “proper” one, fed by a little stream. Not one of those little concrete things, this one has proper banks and even a couple of casting platforms extending out into the water. Also seemed to have a picnic area with wooden tables, etc.

Any updates on this? I’ve been hunting for good fly fishing supplies in a brick and mortar store. Anyone have any favorites?
I’m heading to New Zealand in 2 weeks and i’m pretty keen to get some stuff to take.

[quote=“manukaman”]Any updates on this? I’ve been hunting for good fly fishing supplies in a brick and mortar store. Anyone have any favorites?
I’m heading to New Zealand in 2 weeks and I’m pretty keen to get some stuff to take.[/quote]

Fly fishing is pretty popular in NZ so there are plenty of really good brands there available. You can easily pop into a Hunting and Fishing, Hamills etc. Otherwise if you want to have a good yarn with a shop owner, check out the little shops in the small towns. The owners there are always up for a chat about fishing.

Gamakatsu has a distributor in NZ, and they’re fantastic high-quality Japanese hooks. More suited to deep sea fishing but definitely have a range for fly fishing. Black Magic is good too, but they’re not as good a quality as Gamakatsu hooks.

Is there such thing as deep sea fishing here? I used to go down to San Diego in California onto my buddy’s boat and fish outside the bay for some sea bass and halibut… I heard there’s no such thing here… :frowning: I’m horrible at fishing, but love to fish and eat the ones my buddies catch…

Yep. Do a search and you should come up with something. There was a guy who posted some info a few years back about deep sea fishing.

Here it is:

taiwanangler.com/journal/201 … -trip.html

Hi all,

I will be moving out to Taiwan in a cole of weeks from th UK. I fish a lot here for lots of species using most methods. I enjoy fly fishing and recently started getting into lure fishing from the shore.

Can anybody tell me what are the rules for shore fishing, lure and beach casting with baits?

Am I correct in thinking that you can’t fish any rivers?

Any information will be greatly appreciated. It would be great to hook up (excuse the pun) with any other anglers too, I will be based in Taipei.

Cheers…

Just wondering if that trout fishery was still there. My brother came for a visit and brought a couple of rods.

I don’t think they are but it looks like they’re fly fishing or practicing.

Bitan.