The island never ceases to amaze me. Taiwan produces 85% of our laptops, most LCD, and LED screens and host a population not shackled by alcohol or drug abuse. We were visiting this tropical island to see our son studying Mandarin. I envision a mini Silicon Valley void of greenness, embedded with pompous materialist University culture with parochiality and urbane arrogance. How wrong I was. All's well in Taipei. And there is time for the gentleman's pursuits including fly fishing.
Mastering the Chinese dialect at the National Taiwan University and organizing a fly fishing expedition was more than I could wish. I was stunned at how accomplished the baseball mad man-boy had become and how confident Tom has become within this vibrant culture. Talk about fanatics fishermen. Although there seems to be about 50 fly fisher out of 22 million, they are a dedicated bunch fishing gin-clear streams albeit too warm to support reproducing trout. Their weapon of choice is 2 or 3 weight fast action rods. Although I never had the pleasure to cast a 2 weight before, there is a place for them on our western beaver pond brookies and high elevation goldens.
We spent hours in 90/90 weather casting dry flies attached to 8x tippets. The river was filled with rising 6-8 inch red tails a native chub type. I couldn't see a hatch and suspected they were sucking up air to compensate for the warm waters lack of O2. But they provided great angles on a 2 weight. Baby tarpon was a blast on 6 weights. Needless to say, these are island people and so they are obsessive travelers. Many had fly fished Montana, Mongolia, Japan even Korea. We are going to have a reunion next year in Montana
Taiwan's east coast is an undiscovered saltwater fishery. Within 20 minutes, you are into dorardo, (dolphin fish for the Floridians), wahoo, yellow fin tuna and a sailfish. And this isn't the best season for blue water fishing. True the waves were almost typhoon class but the Philippine Sea is a gold mine. It made Mexico and Panama seem tame. The fisherman didn't know the finer points of handling boats (panga class) for fly fishers but fish is a fish.
"In Taipei, everything is new", my friend Tu said as we drove out to watch the sunset over the Taiwan Straits. Tu got his Ph.D. several weeks after I and never saw another Purdue grad student until I showed up in Taipei. He had risen high in the government and I could tell he missed doing the science he was skilled. The island, Taiwan, was known as Formosa, Portuguese for beautiful, until 1952. The mountainous island rest upon the Tropic of Capricorn and will never host the winter Olympics unless....
A varied history lends itself to the uniqueness of present day culture. It was conquered by the Dutch, the English, then came the Missionaries, Chinese again, the Imperial Japanese and the Chiang Chi's KMT whose 2 million members fled the mainland by boat after loosing the 1949 civil war to the Communist.
The last occupiers, the Japanese, inhabited the island from 1919 till 1945. They left an indelible imprint many Taiwanese claim is responsible for the rise to an economic power. It wasn't the Japanese, in fact as my history enrich son said, "It was Stalin's brutality and the Americans fear of the "Red Menace." Truman and Eisenhower, pumped billions into this tiny island to offset this threat." This "Red Threat," and the Americans reaction to it eventually led to the Korean and the Vietnam war. Had only Eisenhower and Truman listened to General Patton who wanted to cripple Stalinist after the fall of Germany, we'd would have dealt with Islamic extremist years ago and won the battle for the minds. The Taiwan Straits, I fear, again will soon be center stage when the China -American debt crisis escalates
Taiwan is a refuge where freedom to worship, a strong work ethic hybridized with the Japanese-British influence and thriving Chinese culture freed from 1,500 years of imperial social biology. They combined a transition from hectare agriculture to high- high tech.
The island has an real anxiety and lives for the moment. Taipei, a city of 6 million, is 50 years old and reflects the miracle of economic prowess. They've built a subway system second to none and a road infrastructure that rivals anything in America. And best of all, they broadcast Yankee baseball 24/7. They sense their future is dictated by the American's debt to China. But they have learned never to underestimate the, "Yankee Trader."
