Taiwan fishermen to be asked to bring in sharks intact

This seems like a step in the right direction. We'll see how it plays out.

Taipei, July 10 (CNA) Taiwan will next year become the first Asian country to ban fishermen from bringing in dismembered sharks, as part of efforts to prevent finning, a local report said Sunday. 

Photo by CNATaiwan's Fisheries Agency (FA) under the Council of Agriculture expects to implement a new regulation to force fishermen to keep shark catches intact until they arrive in port, with violators set to face fines or suspension of their fishing licenses. 

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Exploration vs. the Sure Thing

This was a rare weekend when I managed to squeeze in two fishing outings—not always an easy feat when you have a wife and kids who have been waiting all week for some quality face time. My solution is to get up at 5:30 a.m. and hit the water to squeeze in a couple of hours of fishing before the rest of the family wakes up and notices I’m gone. So much for lazy weekend mornings!You can just see the heads of a couple of fellow anglers poking out of the reeds.

The question I face when heading out to do any fishing on limited schedule is whether to do a little exploring and find a new spot—preferably public or wild stretch of water—or head for one of my go-to ponds that almost always produce some action.

Saturday morning I drove up to the “wild” sediment pond in Dasi./Longtan near Shihmen Reservoir to see how the small bass I’ve encountered there in the past are growing up. Not much was happening but I did spot more young fish in the three to five-inch range. There were about three or four other anglers out who weren’t doing much better. One commented that my five-inch shakey worm was a little on the large size for that particular pond.

The other local anglers seemed to be using tiny plastic grubs and topwater lures with some success. One guy had a portable live well with an electric aerator that he opened to show me a small eight or nine-inch bass. I’m not sure what he planned to do with it, but I kind of hope/wish he left it in the pond to grow bigger and make more little bass.

Sunday I decided to try my luck at Longtan Pond, the big public park pond in the middle of town with the temple at its center. I’ve seen quite a few anglers fishing for tilapia and carp there, but I had been told that big bass can also be found around the temple. You have to fish from shore and are not allowed to fish from bridges to the temple itself, which is where the bass are rumored to be hiding. I walked around for about an hour trying a couple of different crankbaits before switching to my trusty plastic worms, but still nothing.

A "sure thing" pays off with a quartet of feisty two-pounders. With about an hour left I realize that I could drive to the Jinji Hu Pond in about 10 minutes and get in a little fishing at a “sure thing” before I had to race home to kids waiting for dad to make their Sunday breakfast.

Once at Jinji Hu, I position myself near the inflow where I know fish congregate and got down to business. The water had cleared up since last week and I started getting hookups on the Texas rigged Berkley Gulp shaky worms right away. A few strikes came just after the bait hit the water. Four nice two-pounders later I was ready to head home. After a bit of a drought, it felt good to have a few fish on the end of my line. Sometimes you have to go for the sure thing.

Final Note: I spotted a pretty nine-inch snakehead rising next to a weed bed along the sore at Jinji Hu. I didn’t know there were snakeheads in the pond.

A little post-storm fishing

I dropped by my old reliable pond in Pingjhen Sunday morning after Tropical Stom Meari moved out of the area. The ponds water was quite muddy and the laoban warned that the fishing was wouldn't be good today. Still, there were fish to be caught. This one grabbed the Berkley Gulp! shaky worm I was fishing Texas-rigged near the the pond's inflow pipe. It put up quite a tussle for a little guy before heading strait for the weeds. It took some work to pry him out, much to the amusement of my son. 

Fishing tournament + Tropical Storm Meari = Nooooooooooo!

Needless to say, it was a little damp this morning.Got up at 4:30 a.m. to check for some notice from Pure Fishing about the storm and the tournament. Nothing. Started driving to the event in torrential downpour through flooded streets with my wife's words about me being "crazy" still echoing in my head. After one mile, decided my health and marriage were more important than the offhand chance the tournament was still going on. Hey Pure Fishing Taiwan, how about providing some update on the storm and whether the tournament will continue or at least a phone number we could call?

Preview: Pure Fishing Asian Cup 2011 Third Leg

This was a recent scouting trip to Happy Farm. These guys were catching a few tilapia on lures, but weren't seeing much bass action.The final leg of the preliminary round of the Pure Fishing 2011 Asia Cup wraps up this Saturday with the tournament arriving at Happy Farm fishing pond in Bade, Taoyuan County. This is the round that I’ll be participating in and I wish I could say I was a bit more excited. I have scouted out this pond on three occasions and have yet to experience or witness any real action outside of the bait anglers landing tilapia.

If any readers are wondering why there haven’t been many new fishing reports of photos posted in the last month, the reason is that I keep heading back to Happy Farm and getting shut down. I have spotted the occasional largemouth bass, the target of this tournament leg, but haven’t seen that many being caught.

What I did notice was the visibility in the pond is pretty poor and the water his heavy stained green from algae. The oxygen content may be low because I notice several tilapia gulping air at windward end of the pond. I’ve also spotted a few sluggish and sick looking bass, carp and tilapia. That said, I’ve also seen many big fish jumping and rolling in the middle of the pond.*

So, it should at the very least be interesting to see what happens when 50 tournament anglers show up on Saturday. I have my doubts that the action will be as wide open as it was at the previous two legs.

Speaking of which, pure fishing has posted pics from the second leg in Tainan on their site. It looks like a good time was had by all catching a mixed bag of barramundi and bass. There are a couple of nice fish in a few of the shots.

*Just to clarify, I don't have a completely negative take on Happy Farm. The staff there are very friendly and so are the other anglers. It has a more family friendly atmosphere than some other ponds in the area and if you are a bait angler, you'll probably do well fishing there. I'm just a little dubious about the bass action.

Here is a map to Happy Farm in Bade for anyone interested in viewing or fishing their in the future.

檢視較大的地圖

Pure Fishing Asian Cup 2011 Second Leg

Pure Fishing is gearing up for the second leg of the 2011 Asian Cup Challenge fishing tournament Saturday, June 18. This time, the tournament moves south to Tainan. Whereas the main target of the first leg was largemouth bass, this time around anglers will target a wider variety of fish including barramundi, largemouth, striped bass and Japanese seabass. Organizers promise that the action will be even more fast and furious (my interpretation) than the previous leg in Hukou. 

Unfortunately, the leg I will be competing in on June 25 is at a pond that has yet to display any potential for action that the first to spots seem to deliver. I'm hoping that Happy Heart Farm in Bade gets restocked prior to the contest, or it could end up being a long morning. 

Below is a map to the tournament location. They don't give a specific name for the pond on the Pure Fishing Web site. You can check out the Pure Fishing site for additional details and translate the Chinese text to English with Google Translate.

View Larger Map

Video of the Week: East Coast Shore Jigging for GT

Another great YouTube post from bassell100 showing that that the GTs are still biting along the east coast. This looks like the southeast around Taitung.

Target Species: Giant Trevally

Family: Carangidae

Scientific name: Caranx ignobilis

Common names: giant trevally, GT, giant kingfish, barrier trevally

Chinese names: (transliterated) lang ren shen, jhen shen, niou gang shen

Habitat: Habit ranges from inshore reefs, lagoons and estuaries to offshore waters. Usually found near submerged structures such as reefs, banks and drop-offs.

Size range: Have been known to grow to sizes in excess of 160 cm. The giant trevally reaches sexual maturity at 60 cm.

A large female giant trevally cruising over a reef. Males darken as they mature. Photo by NOAA.A top target of saltwater anglers not just in Taiwan, but throughout the Indo-Pacific region, the giant trevally or GT is an apex predator of the tropical and sub-tropical zone. Strong and aggressive, they are a favorite on all types of tackle. Schools of juveniles congregate near inshore reefs and sandy lagoons, making them a fun diversion for light tackle anglers. Hefty solitary adults challenge inshore and offshore anglers alike.

A member of the family of jacks known as Carangidae, they can be distinguished from amberjacks and yellowtail by the deeper curve their bodies and their steeply sloping forehead profiles. Juveniles and adult females are silvery in color with irregular black spots, while adult mails darken to almost black as they mature.

As with amberjacks, GTs are frequently targeted by boat anglers speed jigging large blade lures near submerged structure. Another common approach is casting top-water or shallow-running lures, particularly large poppers, which imitate struggling or injured baitfish. These tactics often product the violent strikes and pitched battles that make GTs so beloved by saltwater anglers.

Because of their tendency to hunt near reefs, GTs are among the larger of species accessible to shore anglers. Rock outcroppings and jetties along Taiwan’s north shore and east coast are the preferred haunt of those hoping to hook one. Favorite spots for GT anglers in the north include the outflows of the island’s nuclear power plants where warm water used to cool the reactors is released back into the sea.

Giant trevally prowl all the waters surrounding Taiwan, including the offshore islands. Late winter and spring are considered the best time to pursuing them. While some anglers consider them a good table fish, trevally have frequently be implicated in cases of ciguatera poisoning. Because of this fact as well as the depletion of the species in some areas, many anglers practice catch-and-release with GTs.