Castwell:

Wow - it is amazing how two people can read the same sentence and come to opposite meanings. My comments were that the Chinese have the craftsmen but to the best of my knowledge do not have much of a fly fishing tradition. I may be wrong but have never observed anyone there flyfishing. It may be that folks at Elkhorn have established this capacity - don't know I have never seen or fished their rods. I have traveled to China several times to visit with friends, former students and colleagues, and have never to my memory ever seen anyone fishing with rod and reel. You see people fishing with nets and occasionally fish traps.

The most interesting I have ever seen are fishermen using cormorants. The times I have observed it a fisherman in a small skiff "fishes" 8 to 10 of the large black birds. The birds dive near the boat into a river pool and catch small fish. Apparently the birds are unable to swallow the fish because of a ring that the fisherman has placed around their neck. When the birds surface, the fisherman removes the fish and rewards the bird with a small sliver of fish that it can swallow. I have no idea how widely the method is practices as I have only seen it over near the Yellow Mountains. It is supposed to be a very old technology.

David