Fish-Hawk.Net

I finally made it out on Sunday. I hopped on the train for the 15-minute ride to the Tamagawa for some carp. It was a little chilly by Japanese standards (17 degrees celsius) when I arrived and I was pleased to find no one else on the back channel I intended to fish. Photos of the fish and this section were featured in my post of a few weeks ago

I tried in vain to find the guy who sells licenses (he's supposed to be there every Sunday), so I threw caution to the wind and rigged up the 9-wt. I decided to try some larger nymph patterns, stoneflies, and some light colored dries. The carp were running up and down the channel and would swim as close as just a meter away. There were about a dozen good sized carp milling about in front of me. The largest looked to be around 50 cm long.

These fish had lock-jaw. I threw everything at them varying the presentation from slow to medium to fast....from drift to bottom bounce to let the fly just sit in the bottom. Nothing worked. I changed pools, fished above, in, and below the riffles. Not even one fish came to have a sniff.

After about an hour of this, another fly fisher made an appearance. He waved at me and I walked over to meet him. In my broken Japanese I asked him where the license guy was. He replied in broken English that he wouldn't be at the river that day and that it was OK to fish without a license for the day. (Licensing, management, and policing of the sport fishery is handled by private citizen's groups.)

We chatted briefly and he offered me one of his own creations - the bread crust fly. This is a fly that is designed to look and float just like a bread crust. It has a tan foam head, and a white wool body mounted on a size 10 egg hook. The idea is to throw real bread crusts on the surface of the water and wait for the carp to rise. Then you toss the fly into the mix and hope for the best.

I watched the guy fish for a while as I drifted my "crust" down the channel. He hooked a couple in roughly 30 minutes of fishing and that was all he managed over the hour or so I watched. I had no bread to throw and my fly was attracting nothing.

I'll try to head back this weekend armed with bread and a few more bread flies. My dear hair popper should do the trick in place of the bread fly. Keep you posted on the results.

For those of you who are interested, here is the guy's website:

http://www.level4.jp/carp_fly/

Check out the fly patterns and photos!

Interesting fishing technique, but hey, when in Rome (or Japan) .....

Seems like fly fishers are the same everywhere - always willing to help out a fellow fisherman. It's nice to see.

On visiting the website, I didn't bother installing the Japanese language pack, so it made navigation a bit of a challenge, but site's well worth a visit.

On a side note, how are you adjusting to life in Japan? Are you still in the culture shock phase? Having lived in a few other countries, I found that it can take upwards of a year before feeling more or less at home.

Good luck to you.

Hey Brian,

You are making progress! Thanks for the updates and keep us posted.

Cheers,
Dennis

My dear hair popper should do the trick in place of the bread fly

I don't want this to come across as mean but a few weeks back at Kenauk I saw a few rises and tied on one of the little deer hair poppers you gave me back in the spring. About 2 dozen Sugarbush 'bows later, there wasn't much left of the little deer hair popper. It is a fantastic little fly and I hope the carp like them as much as the Kenauk 'bows did.

Doug

Fishboy,

I was about half-way through your original post when I thought about my trip to Upper Canada Village this summer with The Wife and The Boy. I recalled seeing a bunch of carp rising to breadcrumbs there and I thought to myself, "Dude, Fishboy should tie a breadcrumb fly." I was greatly amused to read a few lines lower that someone offered you just that.

However, Fishboy, I recall you being an exceptionally ethical angler and I would invite you to ponder the various ethical implications of baiting the water with real breadcrumbs before tossing in your imitation. It just does not seem like you.

As for me, I have planned to make a quick mid-week jaunt to the Pulaski Salmon River for the past four weeks, only to be thwarted by a stubborn cold and computer problems at the occife. I still hold out some hope of catching my first steelhead, if not this calendar year, then next.

Isn't Kamchatka over there somewhere? Could you save some Yen and go there? I recall reading about a taxonomic brouhaha before everyone decided that Kamchatka trout were really the same old Oncorhynchus mykiss that you fished for in Calabogie and I pursue in Malone.

Do keep the Japanese fly-fishing stories coming. They are fun to read.

A little culture shock? Glad you're getting a line wet. I'm sure those bugle-mouths will be more cooperative next time you're out. Keep us informed.

Thanks

Manfred - While I am an ethical angler, these fish can test the most ethical among us. The interesting thing is that seeding the water didn't really produce all that well for my friend. He didn't land any fish, either.

Russia is relatively close, but out of my price range, I'm afraid. I'm more interested in the northeast of Japan. There are fantastic rivers filled with trout that are not fished all that much.

Beachburger - Bobfly told me about your success with the popper. I was pleased AND jealous!

GTN - I was going absolutely bonkers without fishing. The good news here is that there really isn't any winter here. It's pretty much above zero temperatures and open rivers all year.