Blog · field notes
Blog
What we know about the waters we fish: destinations compared, permits, species and conservation. Field records, not marketing.
Comparing destinations
- Taimen Fishing: Mongolia or China?For taimen fishing, the honest answer is Mongolia. China's Sichuan taimen is critically endangered and is never fished. Two species, two very different answers.
- Fly Fishing in Asia: 8 Destinations ComparedFrom Mongolian taimen to Himalayan mahseer, eight fly fishing destinations in Asia compared by species, season, style and access, so you can pick the right one.
- Off the beaten path fly fishing: where to look nowOff the beaten path fly fishing means trading famous water for empty water. Where the real frontier destinations are, and why western Sichuan leads the list.
Feasibility
- Tibetan Sichuan: No Permit Needed, Unlike TibetWestern Sichuan's Tibetan prefectures, Aba and Garze, are open to foreigners with no special permit, unlike the Tibet Autonomous Region. Here is what it means.
- Fishing in China as a Foreigner: Permits and RulesCan foreigners fish in China? Yes, and there is no foreigner fishing permit; the real limits are the Yangtze moratorium, protected areas and closed seasons.
- Are Chinese rivers polluted? The truth for anglersAre Chinese rivers too polluted to fly fish? Altitude decides: lowland basins carry the reputation, high headwaters run clean. Poaching is the real threat.
Species
- Snakehead Species in China: What You Can Actually CatchThe giant snakehead (toman, Channa micropeltes) is not native to China. China's snakeheads are other species: Channa maculata, argus, asiatica.
- Schizothorax: The Snow Trout of the Himalayan PlateauThe snow trout (Schizothorax) is not a trout but a cold-water cyprinid endemic to the Tibetan plateau. Its biology, diet and how it is fly fished.
Conservation
- Sichuan taimen: why we do not fish itThe Sichuan taimen (Hucho bleekeri) is critically endangered. Why it appears on none of our trips, and how our no-kill charter protects it.
- Catch and release policy in China: how we fishOur catch and release policy in China: mandatory release, barbless hooks, named target species and no threatened fish ever targeted. Why the rules are strict.