I’ve made several trips into Tokyo for training at the agency’s head office and each time the train crosses a rather wide river with several smaller channels. Invariably, there is someone fishing while I stand on the train wishing I could trade places.
Today was Sunday and I managed to go to the Futoka Tamagawa station to see the Tamagawa River. The Tamagawa begins in the central mountains of Japan and runs all the way to the ocean. The spot where I visited it is about 10 kms from the ocean.
It was overcast when my girlfriend and I arrived and the park land along both banks was crowded with pinickers, musicians, families out for the day, and cyclists. Of course, there were anglers of all kinds including a couple of fly fishers. In a back channel of no more than 10 meters across I saw large carp swimming about and there were several anglers after them, one of whom was on the fly.
I walked over to the bank near where he was fishing and quietly observed how he went about his business. It was obvious that he was trying to catch one of the huge goldfish that had been washed into the river during a flood. I could also see the long dorsal fins of several carp that were hovering around in the area. The fly fisher tossed his smallish fly at the pod of fish and tried to hook up. After several failed attempts, he reached into his pocket and threw what appeared to be bread crusts into the water where the fish were swimming. The water came alive with fish and the man tossed his fly into their midst.
Within seconds his line went taut and his reel screamed. His fly rod was bent, straining under the weight of what looked like a really nice carp. Several times he brought it close to his net and each time the fish sped away.
After about 10 minutes of this, the fish tired and the man scooped it up into his net. He brought the fish onto the river bank and a small crowd gathered around his catch. “Tabemasu ka? (Are you gonna eat that thing?)†asked one woman. “Ii-ee (nope), he answered. “Kono gawa wa totemo kitennaii. (The river’s really dirty.)†he added.
The man measured the fish – 90 cm – and weighed it – 6.5 kg and then carefully noted the details in his log book. I managed to ask him a few questions in my broken Japanese and my girlfriend (she’s Japanese) asked a few more on my behalf. He fishes there every Sunday, mostly for carp. He was using an 8-wt with a small #10 beige colored minnow pattern that looked a lot like a bread crust. Within a couple of minutes, he brought the fish to the water and carefully revived it.
I asked the man about fishing licenses. While most people don’t bother to obtain one, legally you need a license to fish. It turns out that his good friend – who was absent today – is the guy who sells the licenses. Fishing license management in Japan, and stream management, has been turned over to individuals in fishing clubs. The government doesn’t police it at all. I asked about other species and he replied that there are sea-run trout and salmon in the spring. He also noted that the river is usually dangerously high during those periods and that each year there are a few people who drown.
I thanked the man very much for his patience and let him get about to the business of carp fishing on the fly. Next weekend I intend to return to the Tamagawa and seek out the license guy. With any luck, I’ll be into some of the carp that my new friend caught today.
Please excuse the poor quality of the photos - they were taken with my cell-phone camera.
