Four Bucket List Fishing Trips to Asia

For most of us in North America, planning a fishing trip to Asia is a daunting task, not only because there seems to be less information available about Asian fisheries, but also because of the time, distance and expense in getting to them. We’re simply more aware of the bucket list options closer to home and more able to take advantage of them.

I’ve been to Asia twice. When I was a teenager, my father had speaking engagements in Hong Kong and Japan, so we took a family trip to those two places (with brief sojourns to Macau and a model village in China). I didn’t know much about fishing at the time, and there was no internet to ferret out angling or tackle shopping opportunities, so one quick stop in a shop in a Tokyo mall (where I believe I bought a grand total of two lures) was it for the angling experience.

Fortunately, my brother spent many later years living in Japan, and Hanna and I returned for an exceptional vacation there in February of 2007, which included a trip to the Yokohama Tackle Show, an incredible day of shopping in Tokyo, and some time spent at the Jackall Lures factory with Seiji Kato and Ty Ono. I didn’t realize at the time that Lake Biwa, literally right outside the factory’s back door, was a premier trophy destination that would produce a World Record tying largemouth for Manabu Kurita just two years later.

One further tie to Asia is that my parents collect art primarily from India and have visited wide portions of that country on many occasions. I’ve been given the opportunity to go but have not taken advantage of it, at least partially because of the long haul to get there and competing vacation plans. My parents took the entire family, including Hanna, a few years ago, but I did not join them.

In retirement, I hope to have more time to take extended trips. Other than our 2016 vacation in Africa, and our two-week COVID-era trip to Anglers Inn El Salto last November, we rarely go anywhere for a period that’s longer than weekend-to-weekend. Finances permitting, that could change, and Asia is high on our lists. For example, I love Thai and Vietnamese food and culture, and would love to visit those countries (along with Cambodia and/or Laos), with or without fishing excursions. After researching the fishing scene in Singapore (and finding out that they have peacock bass) that’s high on my list, too. In the meantime, here are four Asian adventures that would be at the top of my agenda:

Lake Biwa, Japan

No matter how many exotic species I’m lucky enough to chase and capture over the course of my lifetime, largemouth bass will always be my home base and my bread and butter. They’re the species that ignited my love for this sport and the one that spawned my writing career. I’ve been to most of the famous fisheries stateside—like Guntersville, Okeechobee, Erie and the Cal Delta, to name just a few—plus several of the legendary Mexican lakes, but it seems shameful that I haven’t fished Biwa. That’s especially true since I was right there in 2007. I’ve heard from people including Aaron Martens and Chris Zaldain that it’s not an easy fishery by any means, but I’d like to give it a go.

Through my addiction to JDM tackle, I think I have enough contacts over there that I could set up a day or three on the lake with someone who could put me in position to succeed.

Andaman Islands

I’ve made no secret of the fact that Giant Trevally are at or near the top of my list of bucket list species. The initial deep dive into that possibility led me to places like the Seychelles and the Maldives—both of which I’d love to visit—but based on subsequent research I came across the Andamans, an archipelago of islands in the Indian Ocean. It’s an Indian territory, but closest to the coast of Myanmar (formerly Burma). In addition to GTs there are a range of both offshore and inshore species. One of the ones I’d like to catch are dogtooth tuna (“doggies”), which like GTs are reportedly one of the hardest-fighting toothy critters. They make blistering runs and use every trick in the world to cut you off. I may regret taking up that challenge.

Mongolia

I’m not a trout expert by any means, but during our trip to Montana and two subsequent visits to Alaska, I’ve fallen in love with cutthroats and rainbows, and learned to appreciate the art and science of fly fishing. Everyone I know who’s an avid fly angler seems to have the “mega-trout” called taimen at the top of their bucket lists, and Mongolia seems to be the most desirable destination. They catch them over 50 inches long there. That’s the size of a huge musky, like the ones we’ve caught on 9-foot casting rods. I can’t imagine presenting a fly to one and then trying to get it under control in a swift current. As long as I’m being wishful and greedy, I’d like to catch them on a surface lure. Taimen reportedly eat not just mice, rats and ducklings, but also gophers and beavers. We could upsize the “mouse fly” that Hanna used last summer on a flyout from Bear Trail Lodge. I don’t know if anything could match the topwater strike of a Panamanian yellowfin tuna or an Amazonian peacock bass, but I’m willing to find out.

Dubai

I occasionally scan Netflix and Amazon Prime for new fishing content, and while I usually end up disappointed (there is LOTS of crap available on both of those channels, as there is on YouTube), occasionally I find a gem. I was thrilled one day when I clicked on R.A. Beattie’s “Dubai on the Fly,” to find an epic story about fly fishing for queenfish. The piece was visually stunning, and not in the way most fishing videos tend to be. Many of our most memorable adventures take place “off the grid” in remote locations of the Amazon jungle, or on an island off the coast of Panama. This one, however, occurred in the shadow of one of the most famous and highly-developed skylines in the world. It would be a rare treat to catch a trophy fish in the afternoon and then repair to a five-star urban hotel, or—even better—ski on an indoor slope in the same day. It would be a real life analog to “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.” After watching the video, I coincidentally ended up with Beattie’s colleagues Bryan Gregson and Paul Bourcq in my boat, and they confirmed it was a distinct angling trip. I know that Dubai is generally thought of as the “Middle East,” but it’s still Asia as far as I’m concerned.

I’m sure that as soon as I press the “publish” button on this article I’ll think of four or five more places in Asia that I’d like to visit, most of which will have incredible fishing (that’s not entirely coincidental). Stay tuned for more features like this one in the future. I’m just dreaming out loud, and that’s the fun part of having a passion—developing dreams and then working to make them come true.