There are many ways to enjoy the waters. It is, perhaps, not as interesting to onlookers, but the ones engaged in fishing will tell you it is just as fun and exciting. It can give you an adrenaline rush, even if you don’t have fly meters above the water or dive several fathoms deep. There is that eager moment of anticipation waiting for the fish to be lured by the bait. Once a fish takes the bait, the ensuing struggle between the aquatic animal and the angler will cause the adrenaline to surge. The patience, effort and the skill of the angler are rewarded when the fish is pulled out of the water and lands neatly onto the boat or pail.
There are many great reasons and benefits you’ll discover as you pursue this recreation. Before you know it, you’ll be setting your sights to a bigger catch, different difficulty levels, diverse species of fish, and coveted fishing spots. This means you might be planning your next travel around the hobby. Tamara Sheward shares a list of fishing destinations for you in this Lonely Planet post Bait a hook: top 10 fishing spots around the world. Sheward writes:
“Whether it’s pinning down piranha, battling black marlin or shrimping on horseback, fishing offers holiday fun and local insight. Not to mention dinner.”
Here’s the list”
- Salmon: Umba River, Kola Peninsula, Russia
The destination is an icy wonderland during the winter and a salmon dreamland come spring. Umba is believed to have up to five salmon runs per year, making for an almost endless flow of fish. The best time to fish in Kola’s 123km-long Umba River, however, is May. The fishing season ends in October.
2. Giant Black Marlin: Cairns, Australia
The Great Barrier Reef is an enormous ground for any angler “…But it takes a tough cookie to land a legend. The giant black marlin…” It is considered to be among the prized catches being fast swimmers and with some reaching up to 750kg. The perfect place to cast your line is between Cairns and Lizard Island. Come to Cairns for marlin fishing from early September to late December.
- Catfish: Southern USA
Catching the catfish is also called ‘noodling,’ ‘gurgling,’ ‘cat-daddling’ and ‘hillbilly’ handfishing. It entails “… shoving your hand into an underwater hole, waiting until you get bitten by a flathead catfish and wrestling the thrashing ‘mudcat’ to the surface.” Noodling can be dangerous, but it has turned to be a tradition among Native Americans and is legal in the southern states, running from May to August.
- Taimen: Eg-Uur River Basin, Mongolia
If you are adventurous, Taimen fishing in Mongolia is for you. Taimen is the world’s largest trout and Eg-Uur River is located in Mongolia, a remote central Asian settlement. “… taimen can grow up to 2m and smash the scales at 90kg; fishing for these whoppers is not for the faint of heart or the feeble of arm. The fish can live for up to 50 years, giving determined taimen trollers a lifetime to land the perfect beast.” The season to catch this beast is June to November.
- Piranha, Amazon Basin, Brazil
If you aren’t scared of piranha, you can spend your time catching them than swimming (swimming is not allowed anymore in the Amazon) and letting them catch you to snack on. You can join a piranha fishing tour in Manaus, capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonia. The best time to come is during the dry season – July to October.
The Rest of the Destinations
- Horse-shrimping is the manner by which shrimps are harvested from Belgium’s southwest coast, Oostduinkerke by the traditional prawn fishers called ‘paardenvissers.’ They use horse to drag nets and carriage drive the scared shrimps to the nets. Score a ride in the shrimp-scaring rig anytime from February – May, and September – November.
- Hunt the toothy, Goliath tigerfish (mbenga in the vernacular) down the Congo River. Growing up to 1.5m long and 70kg-plus heavy, the mbenga is both tough and risky. Congo’s dry season from June to October is the best time to go to Congo River.
- Join more than 12,000 hopefuls on hooking not only fish, but a cool money reward when you win ‘The Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza’ every January. Ice fishing of bass, walleye and perch is done on holes pre-drilled into the frozen Gull Lake.
- “With only a bamboo rod, a catch net and a lamp … attract the squid to the surface … (and) hook an impressive 30-plus squid …” A number of boats sail across the scenic, jade-green Halong Bay in Vietnam to catch these slippery invertebrates on moonless nights. The squid fishing is virtually done all year round, except February and March. The best months are October and November.
- Angling for brown trout, weighing 4 to 11 kilos in Rio Grande estimated to have a population of about 70,000 makes Tierra del Fuego live up to its name, “Land of Fire.” The stock is maintained due to the strict fishing restrictions imposed by Tierra del Fuego. You may come and fish only from December to mid-April.
If fishing is giving you immense satisfaction and you wish to plan your next trip around the hobby, these destinations will give ideas. But first ask yourself: are you ready to move to the next level?
