Fishing in Welland

In CIDA Alumni Newsletter, Written by Chenguang Lu

Recently I went fishing in a fishpond with a friend.  Though we have paid for it, we didn’t get much fun because the water wasn’t clean and the surroundings unagreeable.  This, however, reminds me of my angling experience in Welland, Canada ten years ago.

West of the Niagara River, which gives birth to the world famous Niagara Falls, there is a beautiful town named Welland.  East of it lies the Welland Canal, dug to overcome the sailing problems brought by the Niagara Falls.  Part of the old canal traverses the small town.  Its crystal clear water and the swimming fishes add much charm to the town.  Besides the canal, the Welland River also runs through the town.  It flows across the Welland Canal, passes a big watergate and heads for the southeast.  The water under the watergate abounds in many kinds of fishes---most of them are strange to me, and it is ideal for angling.  In fact, whenever we went angling, we could catch so many (what we caught most was bass) that it took us days to eat them up.  There were also many other anglers.  Unlike us, they angled mainly for fun, not for the fish.

It is the fishing children of Welland that impress me most and two incidents are especially worth affording for thought.

One spring day I was lucky enough to catch a big bass weighing around a kilo.  The children anglers around were thrilled by the rarity and helped me put it into the fish pot.   Then the fish turned out to be the yellow bass banned in spring.  They proposed I set it free, and I followed their advice.  They were happy about it and immediately became much more friendlier.  As I had only earthworms to use as bait---It was more effective to use small living fish---the children politely suggested I use theirs.  Later when they caught some fish, they even asked me whether I wanted some.

Another time when angling, my friend and I lost the tin weights successively. I asked an around-ten-year-old boy for help; he seemed to be reluctant. Then I proposed I would like to buy one, and asked about the price. The answer was a cent. I bought one, so did my friend.

But later when we went shopping in a supermarket, we were surprised to find tin weights like what we had bought worth two dimes at least. I came to understand that the child not only virtually gave us tin weights for free, also kept us from losing our dignity by refusing our “begging”.

What the Canadian fishes eat is also interesting. Almost all the fishes there eat smaller fishes (No wonder it is said that in the capitalist society the big fish feeds on the small fish.) with only one exception--the carp, which we managed to find out eventually. It is known as the Chinese carp because it originates in China. China is said by some westerners to be a dangerous country, yet what the carp eat is a proof that China is a peace-loving country.

If someone suggests that human nature is different from fish nature, I have another sound argument. Once when fishing in the Welland Canal, I saw a child fishing with glittering metal flakes as bait over the hook. Couldn’t it be likely that the fish prefers glittering metal flakes to earthworms or small living fish?  It turned out that he did catch a big fish.  Later in a party I found that many gorgeous women wore glittering metal flakes or rings on their ears. What’s more, when dancing, such women were more popular with men. Isn’t this a proof to the similarities between man and fish? Ever since the party whenever I see the metal flakes on the ears of western women, I am reminded of angling, and moreover I cannot help trying to find out the hooks hidden under the metal flakes.