Since Arriving in Baotou I have been so busy that I have not had much time to contact anyone. Recently I sent out a group email - which appears below - and one of my contacts replied with a lengthy email which he has given me permission to share. He has even provided photos.
Today I would just like to share this personal correspondance in the hope that you may find it entertaining. R.P. BenDedek rpbendedek@hotmail.com
A group email to let you all know that I have had a lovely afternoon today. It is the first day since I arrived that I have been out and enjoyed myself.
First I caught the no 11 bus to go to Baobai - which is supposed to be a shopping centre where I can find a xinhua bookstore. I was told the No. 25 and the No. 11 bus both go there. I took the No.11. Well we got so far and then the driver kicked everyone off the bus and said - END OF THE LINE and not a few people were cheesed off cause they wanted to go to BAOBAI.
I decided to walk back the way we came so I can find a bus back. I was in a small street from whence the No 11 bus had turned and I saw a hairdresser..... well isn't that intersting. I've only been looking for one for 3 weeks. So I went in and they were really nice people and talkative too .... had a nice time talking to them.
Then I continued on my way till I could find a bus stop and worked out that my bus must have turned into that street from yet another small street cause the next bus stop didn't show the No 11 bus on it. But I see on the No 33 sign that it goes to this place 4 stops from my place - so I catch that.
On the bus another guy starts to talk to me - I think he was drunk and eventually I saw a street that I knew and decided to get off the bus.
This street has a park along it. I crossed the road and decided to follow the path and explore the park but two guys were coming from a different angle and when they saw me their faces lit up and one says - 'hello' - so I decide to be a con artist and speak in French. Well it turned out they both spoke English fairly well and one comes from the same place where I lived for 2 years in Wuhan.
So we walk together through this park but not in the direction I was going to go but I thought - NOT a problem because it will still generally take me to where I will be able to find my apartment.
One boy ducks out of the park to buy a drink and comes back with one for the 3 of us. Very nice!
We had a wonderful walk through the park and they talked about how their 'flying school' went bankrupt so that now they can't get their licenses - they still need 160 hours of flying.
It was a nice - pleasant - interesting - friendly afternoon and I actually feel relaxed.
Angler181's reply:
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| Angler but obviously not on this particular trip |
NICE? ..... We have had NICE weather here. Clear blue skies and not a breath of wind for a week.
Such calm weather would be very NICE for a camping and fishing trip.
I have been wanting to fish near the dam wall, where the bass school up in their vain attempt to head downstream to breed.
The only access we have to this area is to peddle down from Logans Camping Ground, which is approximately 10 - 12 klm journey.
That's a bloody long peddle, considering you have to do that much again coming back, after spending more energy trolling in the area you want to fish. It would be foolish to attempt such a long journey if the conditions are anything other than calm.
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| Wivenhoe Dam which began recently to fill after 7 years of no rain. |
This NICE weather seemed the perfect opportunity to fish the dam wall. I had 4 days off, but before I could go fishing, I had to pick up Tony and Maria from the airport. By the time I got home and did the packing for the trip, the morning had long gone and it was around 2 pm when I head off to Wivenhoe dam with my camping and fishing gear, for some solitary piscatorial adventures.
I arrived at Wivenhoe and began preparing my tent, air mattress, cooking gear etc etc, before heading off to a 'special' spot for some surface action.
This area, for the first time in years, has trees semi-submerged by the recently rising water levels.
The sun is already low in the sky as I get close, but before I get there, I notice the swallows circling and diving just above the water, near the bank. This is a sign that they are chasing insects.
I also notice fish breaking the surface as they too attempt to catch whatever insects land on the surface. I turned off the sounder and moved silently to within casting distance and began flicking surface lures, but to no avail.
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| Red Claws (and big hands) |
If ever there seemed to be a perfect opportunity for surface action, this seemed to be it, yet no matter how I tried, I couldn't get anything to take my lure. I continued on to the trees and worked them for a while with no results, before being forced to return to camp before it became too dark to find it.
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| Is that Roy Orbison or Captain Sandy Stewart? |
As I ate my dinner, I was noticing the wind picking up a little, and it continued to pick up more and more during the night. I was up at 4.30am and after a cooked breakfast, I awaited the first rays of sunshine before peddling out from the protected area of the camping ground into open waters, where I immediately encountered some breeze and choppy water. NOT NICE !!!
There goes the plan to head down to the wall. If it is like this in the morning, you can bet your !!! it will be a tough trip home in the afternoon. I am not super fit, and therefore not up to the task, so I change my plan and head off to a steep drop off, just a couple of kms from camp. I thought I might be able to fish the edge of the drop-off, but the area was pretty exposed to the wind, which made it very difficult to just sit and flick soft plastics around the edges.
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| A Different but still Crazy Angler |
Once again, I changed the plan and moved on further to a bay which I thought might offer some protection from the wind. It has a deep trench that has offered up some good sized bass on past occassions, so I put on the diving lures and trolled for a while until even the bay became too rough and tiring to fish comfortably.
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| Look at me folks! |
I moved to the far side of the bay where there was good protection from the wind and anchored up whilst I had some coffee and something to eat.
I rigged the line with live shrimp and baby redclaw which I had trapped the night before, and just sat back and relaxed. All I managed to catch was catfish and eel, but at least I was getting some rest before heading back to camp.
It was only 11.30am when I put the deep diving lures back on and headed out from the protection of the bay into the main channel of the dam.
I could hear the howling wind and see the white caps as I approached the open water, and next thing you know I was bobbing up and down like a cork. I could see that fishing would be useless. If I did manage to hook a fish, landing it would be dangerous, as all my attention was needed on the waves.
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| Here is a 'Cat' out fishing. Angler's Daughter. |
I certainly didn't want to be leaning over to one side of the kayak to pull in my fish as a big wave hit me from the other side and dumped me overboard. I may be keen, but I am not THAT keen.
So off I went with the occasional wave breaking over the back of the kayak and thanking my lucky stars that I was going almost in the same direction as the waves. If I had gone to the dam wall, I would have been coming back directly INTO the waves and the wind. I doubt I would have had the stamina for the return trip.
I got back to the camp and hoped that the wind would drop off enough for a late afternoon sesssion, but alas, it was not meant to be. This was day 2, and so far, it was NOT NICE.
Day 3 started just the same as day 2. I headed out from the protected area of the camping ground into more open water and immediately started bobbing around in the choppy water. I turned around and headed back closer to the camp and started fishing. Once again, I started using live shrimp and baby redclaw. I pulled the line in to find HALF of my redlcaw left. The fish are so well fed that they don't even come back to finish their meal.
On 2 other occassions, I pulled the line in and thought I had some weed wrapped around it, only to find a big catfish had swallowed the hook and had not even bothered to swim away. I had been totally unaware that they had taken the bait until I had decided to wind in and check the condition of the bait. I gave up fishing after a couple of hours and headed back in, packed up the camp went home.
NOT NICE DAY, NOT NICE WEATHER, NOT NICE TIME, NOT NICE !!!
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| Angler's devoted Wife who prepares him such big meals. |
Perhaps Ana really wanted me to stay out there until such time as I could catch a fish.
She must know that for me to catch a fish lately, it may take a long time, so she packed enough food for a very long trip.
I only came home one day early, yet I brought home a couple of cans of beef stockpot, some roast lamb, leg ham, roast chicken, sausage, eggs, bacon, a couple of bowls of noodles, 5 apples, 6 mandarines, 4 bananas, a family size packet of potato chips, a family size block of chocolate, a family size packet of Arnotts assorted creams, as well as some other biscuits, a packet of cashews and a packet of peanuts.
Looking out the window now, the weather looks NICE !!!
I hope your days continue to be nice.
Cheers
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| A Rare Kangaroo indeed. |
P.S. As for the kangaroo ..... we watched as it went for a swim from one side to the other, at a narrow point that was only perhaps 50 meters wide.
It could have walked around, but it just went for a swim, and then came back again.
I also filmed it with my video camera and saved the film in Nero, and now my trial version has run out, I can't play the damned thing.
I guess it is not too often you see a kangaroo swimming just for the hell of it. Come to think of it, I have never seen a kangaroo swim at all !!!
Who knows ... maybe I am holding rare footage.
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| The Usual place for Kangaroos |
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