Cormorant fishing in Guilin (China)

<p>I will be travelling to China this summer and one of the things I'd like to do (and am thinking of organising) is go cormorant fishing. Of course, the goal is to take a few good shots. The question - and this goes to anyone who's been there - is multifold:</p>

<p>(1) is it usually very crowded and can you count on taking nice images?</p>

<p>(2) are the fishermen approachable? (i.e. would I be able to get some portraits off them?)</p>

<p>(3) Any useful hints and tips?</p>

<p>Thanks a million in advance</p>

<p>Marios</p>

<p>Pay people to take you out with them, at the times you want. Its that simple. It doesn't happen in Guilin, its in Yangshuo - which is the better and cheaper place to base yourself. Once you're there and walk around you'll find out what's going on - I haven't been back for a while and forget the pricing but as a rule, don't accept the first offer and haggle. Try offering 40% of the initial quoted price to begin with; even walk away until you understand where the pricing floor is.</p>

<p><img src="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1386/1436597370_43ac02a462_z.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>I've been to Guilin, intended to photograph the fishermen, and ended up not doing so. Here's the issues as i see them</p>

 

<ul>

<li>During daylight hours the river Li is very busy with boats and is permanently choppy. You simply can't imagine how many tourist boats make the journey daily from wherever the boats are starting from (downstream from Guilin) heading to Yangshuo. The light's wrong, the colours are wrong, the water's wrong and even if you pay a fisherman or two you won't like the results.</li>

<li>At Yangshuo ( backpacker paradise) the river is big enough to get the sort of shots you want , and runs close to the karst pinnacles. But see above for conditions</li>

<li>So from what I can see most cormorant fishing photography is organised by photo tours etc and takes place before dawn from villages quite a way north of Yangshuo-Yangdi and/or Xingping spring to mind. Up there, there's not the river traffic early in the day to wreck the water. All the silhouettes with great reflections etc you've seen come from round there.</li>

<li>So you need to do two things, first find a group, second find accommodation at the right point and a way of getting there. I think I've got a couple of links somewhere but I have a huge quantity of them and I haven't found them yet. There are a couple of threads on photo.net that might be useful. I'll post whatever info I can find on here , but no promises.</li>

</ul>

<p>I presume that your researches have uncovered first the dawn balloon ride from Yangshuo that would give a fantastic view of the karst scenery? Second the Dragons Backbone rice terraces. The best views of the rice terraces involve a walk up the mountains but its do-able (at least my wife and I did it and we're not hikers) and there is a pretty decent hotel up there (The Lian Lodge) where if conditions are right you can photograph right from the hotel. </p>

<p>There's a member called Mary Doo here on Photo.net who has done this, though as part of a photo tour. She suggested I get in touch with the tour company whose leader may be prepared to advise on where to stay/getting a fisherman or two. The company was Strabo Tours, the leader is Katherine Feng and she is still active ( a 2014 tour is being marketed.)</p>

<p>I have been to both Guilin and Yangshuo. The later is where you want to be for your fisherman photos. I can say it wasn't too crowed in Yangshuo, but as Craig noted you will want to pay someone to be your model. I actually saw fishermen walking around Yangshuo with their cormorants looking for 'gigs' so I wouldn't think it is all that hard to arrange. I know there are also tours that go to those spots, but they may not be necessarily the most photographable.<br>

My best tip is that the whole area around Yangshuo is gorgeous. The beautiful Li River the striking limestone peak mountains. Ride out to Half Moon Peak (something like that) well worth the walk and hike to the top. The area also has beautiful rice/water buffalo to photograph. Guilin is a great place for cultural photography and nice landscapes although in a more urban environment (Guilin has a population of about 2 million). In Guilin you might go to one of the caves (they way they are lighted willblow you away, if not a touch gaudy) and there are trips from Guilin to terraced Rice fields that photographers go ga-ga over. </p>

<p>One last tip; Yangshuo is sort of an artist's community. If you want to buy really nice wall art work, buy it here. You will be overwhelmed with the selection especially scrolled wall paintings.</p>

<p>Excuse my interruption/ignorance... so is this actually the hunting of cormorants? Is the subject in the above photo holding a spear? Or are the birds caught with fishing equipment?</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant_fishing">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant_fishing</a></p>

<blockquote>

<p>Excuse my interruption/ignorance... so is this actually the hunting of cormorants? Is the subject in the above photo holding a spear? Or are the birds caught with fishing equipment?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>You're correct that its about using cormorants to do the fish catching - they have small (loose) rings placed around their neck so they can't swallow the fish. What you're seeing in the above photo is just a pole used to direct and push the fishing platform along. Its just bamboo strapped together as a raft and is unpowered. The waters weren't that deep.</p>

<p>This question came up before - additional answers as well as my comments are:<br>

<a href="/travel-photography-forum/00atzW">http://www.photo.net/travel-photography-forum/00atzW</a></p>

<p>Thanks for the explanation and the link. We have a serious cormorant issue here that has affected our local sport fishing industry so it caught my interest. </p>

<p>As others have mentioned Guilin is not the ideal place for what you are trying to do.</p>

<p>However you will probably pass through there - we were heading into the hills of Guizhou and had one evening there. One 'advantage' is that being a tourist town there is a fair amount of light at night and several fishermen plying the river there at that time - I have no idea if that is a normal practice, I suspect it is solely tourist driven. However they are catching fish and you may get some interesting shots and at least practice your technique.</p>

<p>Not a good shot but to illustrate -<br>

<a href="http://4ntraveler.smugmug.com/Travel/Asia/China-Vietnam-2007-updated/17506119_qxCGb3#!i=1332400016&k=hkwSwFQ&lb=1&s=XL">http://4ntraveler.smugmug.com/Travel/Asia/China-Vietnam-2007-updated/17506119_qxCGb3#!i=1332400016&k=hkwSwFQ&lb=1&s=XL</a></p>

<p>Yet another photo image done to death. OK, I was guilty as well.</p>

<p>When I got off the cruise ship at the Yangshuo pier, a fisherman was standing there with a bamboo pole on his shoulder, and two cormorants on it. I thanked the Photo Gods for smiling on me, and clicked away. When I was done and leaving, the fisherman demanded payment. I refused and was rewarded with languages unprintable here.</p>

<p><a href="/photodb/folder?folder_id=1045493">http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=1045493</a><br /> Forget Guilin and Yangshuo. Most of the cormorant fishing images in this folder were taken at Xingping in October, 2012. I was on a photo tour with 12 other photographers. The tour operator hired two fishermen on rafts at Xingping each of whom had two cormorants. We went out on rafts at sunset, 3 to a raft. At Xingping, the 'models' perform with unobstructed views of the karsts in the background. I am sure you can make arrangements for a shoot at the hotels in Xingping, a couple hundred meters up from the river. I don't have any cost info. It is my understanding that there are no longer fishermen who actually fish on the Li River. They can make more money taking their turn one day per week posing for tourists. My only complaints were that we wasted 15 minutes of prime light because the dudes couldn't get their lanterns lit, and that tourists who were not in our group and had paid for the 'models' positioned their rafts opposite of us and tried to shoot for free while cluttering our photos. A little verbal abuse got them to disperse.<br /> Another option is near Dali in sw China (Xizhou Town) if I recall. This is a well oiled tourist trap on a lake rather than a river but you actually get to seem the birds catch fish. If you are in Lijiang (nothing to do with Li River), the Xizhou option (as opposed to Xingping option) is a good alternative. Have fun.</p>

<p>Most tour gouts will offer this type of excursion. Prepare to pay ($100+ US). Also you should bring a camera flash.</p>

<p>Following taken in June 2006 Guillin</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>Also this:</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>Well, we can't let those pesky birds screw up the sport fishin w/ their need to stay alive now, can we? I hope you are referring to the birds w/ the rings around their necks, not the free ones. Even then, that is cruel. It never ceases to amaze me how badly we treat other beings. Karma is real, not some New Age mumbo jumbo. End of sermon, but seriously, it is what it is.</p>

Ignorant and hypocritical comment that is not worthy of a response.

<p>I am planning a trip there sexy 2017. I was there june/july 3016. I will post a photos of the fisherman.</p><div></div>

<p>None of the photographs illustrating this thread are anything like the images I went to the Li River hoping for. Look at the website of the OP here- Marios Forsos, and you'll get a better idea of what's possible given the right place at the right time and ( I suspect) with the right guide. </p>

This isn't from Guilin but the link shows a short video that illustrates the tail end of cormorant fishing. The fisherman had let 3 birds dive into the water and they were down for about a minute or two. Surprisingly short time. Then he hauled them out of the water and forced the fish out of their throats. You can see the string tied around their throats.

 

 

Fishing with cormorants

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